Dear Governor and Citizens of the State of Firestone,
The Department of Public Safety has caused lots of conflict and inconveniences for both the citizens and employees of our state. No, I am not seeking an abolishment of the department, but rather a change in how their operations function. People resign because of this; tons of people who I have spoke to are against the current things that this department does, and I believe it needs a change - whether it be policies or administration.
- High Command = Useless
My first topic to bring upon this petition is the fact that the administration and high command of a department is completely USELESS. The Department of Public Safety has practically written an entire handbook for DOC, FSP, and SCSO — which basically maps out our departments. It virtually gives the administration of departments no power in creating their own guidelines, policies, and a general backbone of the entire department. No no, the Department of Public Safety creates all of this and barely gives any say to the administrations of a department. We aren’t able to setup our own departments without FDPS budding their heads in. One example is how recently they created a handbook basically dictating our departments, and they even made it so we have to do citation and arrest logs, which are done with a user interface and database at the county, not off-county. I, as the Sheriff, did not agree or provide my signature to the recently handbook and yet it was published.
- Power
The Department of Public Safety sure has a lot of control and power over departments. I had to go through a nomination and a passing of the county council to become Sheriff – yet they can basically control my department without any of that? Why should I trust these people with basically handling my entire department? The Department of Public safety also uses this power to hold to use impeachment threats against department heads who do not follow up or agree with their actions, even if people disagree.
- Investigations
DPS has developed a reputation for falsely investigating people and entering themselves into the most unnecessary situations. This department “investigates” people for such stupid things that don’t need any investigating in the first place. There could be a picture of somebody doing something immature at SCV2, and the person could fess up to it, yet DPS will still “investigate” it. There’s NOTHING to investigate, the situation is SOLVED and should be brought down to the high command of the respective department. I have also seen hypocrisy, bias, and disrespect derive from this department. I personally am not comfortable having these people oversee us and portray this type of behavior. The Department of Public Safety will try to intimidate, threaten, and remove people from positions for the most unnecessary behavior – and not to mention, they will do it without permission which is in some cases illegal.
From the citizens of this state, to the law enforcement officers, to the paramedics and firefighters, we need to put an end to this. Whether you agree or not, you are entitled to your own opinion – and if you wish to put a stand to this behavior, your opinion can contribute to ending it. By supporting and signing this forum post, we can let the Governor know that we WANT change and we NEED change. This is what the public wants, and since this department looks out for the “Public” Safety, they should respect our opinion.
*Side note, I don’t want this to become a heated/argumentative topic, please support or leave your opinion, no arguing or flaming at others.
Signed,
Straphos
SCSO Sheriff
