In my opinion Wanda Halbert should still be dealing with her involvement with Bruce Thompson and his bilking of the Shelby county taxpayers. Plea bargaining out, is not the same as being found not guilty. She has jumped on board this racially divided residency issue. Thus taking the attention off the fact that she has the credibility of a can of kraut. I heard Kemp Conrad was on the "Ben Ferguson Show" this morning explaining his vote last night. I didn't hear him defend his position. So I can't comment on what he said. I do agree with his vote though. I'm sure he did a better job than his opposition did. I did hear Ms. Halbert, and she didn't prove her point. I guess Wanda Halbert wanted to test the waters on a shallow format where she wouldn't be tested. Needless to say where she appeared.The statistics she gave didn't really support her argument in my opinion. But I'm objective in my views. Unlike those seven council members. I'm not concerned with keeping my seat. There could possibly be a case made if she didn't have a history of questionable associations in the past. Unfortunately that's not the case. I would bet a dollar to a dozen donuts this complaint has it's roots in her pulling strings for somebody she knows. Having your record expunged is not the same as not being convicted in the first place. There are a couple of seats on the council that don't require much critical thinking. Just vote strictly along racial lines and you'll be fine. That will appease the majority of your constituents. Wanda Halbert has been elected to one of those seats. What we witnessed yesterday is just the beginning of things to come. With stunts like these she'll be there a long time. She'll be busy preparing for the next election.
Rejected police recruiting extension under fire
ReplyDeleteSome officials, residents irate at council vote
By Amos Maki (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Emotions were raw the day after the Memphis City Council voted along racial lines to kill a resolution that would broaden residency requirements to allow new police hires to live within 20 miles of the Shelby County line.
Council members and residents who supported the resolution were questioning how legislation with strong support from the political, law enforcement and business establishments could possibly fail in a 7-6 vote.
Council members who opposed the resolution were busy defending their actions Wednesday as phone lines and e-mail inboxes were jammed all day by angry citizens.
"I was disgusted and disappointed," said Councilman Jim Strickland, who voted for the resolution. "I am so disappointed because this city is under siege by criminals, which is driving businesses and residents out of the community, and here we have got an easy, partial solution to hiring more police officers and it was rejected."
Council chairman Myron Lowery said he voted against the resolution because he wanted to see how the council's previous decision to allow officers to live outside the city but in Shelby County affected recruiting. That decision is set to expire in February.
"I'm open for change, but I wasn't open for change before the end of the two-year period," said Lowery.
Council members Barbara Swearengen Ware, Janis Fullilove and Wanda Halbert argued at Tuesday's meeting that the Memphis Police Department needed to do a better job of hiring local recruits.
Halbert has said for months that she has been contacted by recruits who were turned away, she says unfairly, because of dismissed arrest records and other minor violations.
The resolution contained an amendment directing the city Human Resources division to launch an investigation of the department's hiring practices.
Halbert's fellow council members have pleaded with her for months to turn over the names of the recruits so they could investigate, but she has yet to do so.
Police Director Larry Godwin said he had received one request from Halbert to investigate, and he did. If there are names, he hasn't seen them.
"I'm not going to sit back and let somebody slander this department without the facts to support it," Godwin said. "I think that is irresponsible of an elected official."
Halbert could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Nearly every public opinion poll taken in Memphis over the last four years lists crime as the top concern.
According to a January poll commissioned by The Commercial Appeal, crime was the No. 1 concern for Memphians, black and white.
Memphis has been struggling to hire more police officers for years. The Police Department has 2,157 officers, which is below the budgeted staffing complement of 2,345.
Councilman Shea Flinn said the council may now have to look at innovative ways to protect citizens, including security grants.
"We have to provide more security, and if we can't do it the quick, cheap way, we'll do it the long and expensive way," he said.
Meanwhile, businesses continue to struggle to recruit talent to Memphis, due in large part to the crime problem. The heads of International Paper, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Smith & Nephew, Medtronic, AutoZone and First Tennessee all endorsed the resolution.
"A vote in favor of this resolution would be a demonstration that you understand the sense of urgency about addressing crime," said AutoZone chairman, president and CEO Bill Rhodes in a letter to the council.
Councilman Bill Boyd said he had a hard time sleeping Tuesday night, and he worried about the message the council vote sent to the city.
"The seven who voted 'no' may not understand how devastating a message they communicated to our average citizen as well as to our business community," he said. "To many of those seven, I feel certain that they considered it a 'victory.' But to me, I'm afraid it was only another step for Memphis toward losing the 'war.'"
-- Amos Maki: 529-2351
Thin Blue Line
MPD officials say the biggest reason police recruits are disqualified is not showing up. Through June 1 of this year, 25 percent of the applicants were rejected because they did not show up for the training.
The next biggest reason for disqualification is failure of physical or written tests.
The third reason is the psychological exam. Between 2006 and June 1 of this year, 12 to 20 percent of the applicants were rejected for this reason.
Between 2006 and June 1 of this year, 2,644 black men and women applied to be police officers and 332 were hired. Over the same period, 1,024 white men and women applied and 222 were hired. Between 2006 and 2008, black applicants accounted for 57-65 percent of new officers hired.
Apparently they wont be happy until the Memphis Police Department is all black. They want to show they are the majority, have the power and stick it to the man. Memphis is the laughing stock of the big cities and is still stuck in the 60's as far as mentality.
ReplyDelete"Preparing For The Next Election"
ReplyDeleteEither that or Wanda and Thaddeus are on the DL...
Councilwoman Halbert showing up on Thaddeus Matthew's show backfired on her. Today she was either backpeddling or doesn't have a grasp of the issue. I think it was a little of both.
ReplyDeleteLooks like they're both doing the same thing.
ReplyDeleteHERE'S HEDGEPETH'S EMAIL:
--- On Thu, 11/20/08, wrote:
Wanda
I believe you when you say that you are trying to serve the public's interest, but it's your approach that I think is flawed. We have already agreed to look the hiring practices of the MPD, and in fact I put that in writing as a friendly amendment to my resolution on Tuesday night. The problem is that this is the ONLY thing you seem to want to address, and alone it will not solve the problem. There very well may be some qualified applicants being turned away for the wrong reasons, but I do not believe we will get the full complement of MPD officers from resolving this issue alone. These examples seem to be the exception and not the rule, as most people are rejected for far more serious reasons (if they even show up at all). What you are trying to do here is akin to putting a band-aid over a gunshot wound!
We need to pursue EVERY option available to us in finding more qualified officers, which is why I want to not only address the MPD's hiring practices (as you keep railing on about), but also to broaden our pool of potential applicants. Neither of these on their own are likely to resolve the crime problem in this city, but only by using every option at our disposal will we ever be able to protect our citizens. So, again, it's not an "either/or" scenario . We can do both, which is essentially what the task force we assembled told us to do (among even more options we ought to be pursuing).
At the end of the day, though, people are losing hope and are leaving this city because of crime. Our tax base is leaving. Our jobs are leaving. And we sent them the worst possible message we could have sent them on Tuesday night, and that is that we are basically unwilling to do what so many other cities have done in order to protect their population. We are limiting ourselves needlessly here, and the reason people are up in arms about it is because they realize that and are as frustrated and disappointed as I am about it. You can try to blame the media all you want, but that's the reality of the situation.
I am always open to any suggestions that you and the other opposing council members have for addressing crime in this city, but you have beaten this one to death and are "selling past the close." We are addressing it. What ELSE do you propose?
Regards,
Reid
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld
HERE'S HALBERT RESPONSE:
Reid:
It is rather disturbing when some (especially women) aggressively stand for or address concerns, there is always the, "but it's your approach that is flawed" notion. Not sure if that is suggesting I need to do something the way someone expects or thinks I should. I don't feel the need to justify my leadership approach. One could view such a statement as disrespectful arrogance but I am hopeful you intended it to be constructive.
I don't always agree with your approach, but I certainly respect and value your leadership nor do I feel the need to challenge it unless you display disrespect (of which I don't expect). Differences of views, opinions, and the ways in which we address them allow for great debate. The concerns surrounding how or why Memphis could not find a sufficient number of applicants was put on the table months ago, the very first day you expressed the interest in relaxing the residency requirement.
Shortly thereafter the inquiries of the other issues followed. To date, no one has done anything to address the concerns except get defensive, deny knowledge/inclusion, and put them on the back burner. From the beginning, it was asked to look into all the issues collectively, however, we're still only dealing with one, allowing non city/county residents to take jobs others may inappropriately have been denied. My conscious simply will not allow me to place that above all else. Contrary to your recollection, only the lack of a more competitive applicant pool was stated to be a potential barrier to hiring by the Task Force.
Dr. Essex of the HR department has announced new processes she and the director are developing to address the myriad of concerns. While the city ordinance clearly does not delegate the hiring authority of police be removed from HR, Dr. Essex has publicly stated, HR only prepares the letter of offer or rejection to potential employees - - maybe somewhere this is hiring, I will seek a stronger opinion by the City Attorney. I have a growing concerned the council is choosing to overturn the will of the voters. They have spoken on this issue twice and the last referendum received an overwhelming 70% approval. Are we abandoning the expressed wishes of the majority to satisfy the minority?
While I will not engage in additional back and forth discussion regarding this issue as my debate occurs before the pubic in open forum, I am working on recommending solutions to reduce crime and hire police in addition to requesting discussion of a plan of action from the mayor and his administration. In light of the recent divisiness created throughout our community by this issue, I am going to recommend our chairman consider the potential need to pursue discussion/work with Common Ground to help work with through obvious challenges we need to overcome.
Wanda Halbert, Councilwoman District 4Memphis City Councilwanda.halbert@memphistn.govwmhalbert@yahoo.com901 576-6786 Office
I don't know what it is, but they know something about each other.
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