Corruption is a very strong word, one I wouldn’t use to describe the Stapleton County Sheriff’s Office. Yes, you may notice that I’m a Corporal and SWAT Senior Operative in the department, but that doesn’t mean I will always agree with or back the department and defend it.
Every department has its issues, some rather larger than others. Yeah, recently the Sheriff’s Office has been receiving a large amount of heat, be it through its employees receiving a number of Public Safety investigations, the department being taken to trial in the District Court, or simple acts of misconduct and unprofessionalism from Deputies whilst on duty in Stapleton County V2. These don’t mean that the department as a whole is an issue, nor does it mean that all of its employees are the issue.
What irritates me is that whenever something poor in terms of conduct, etc, occurs, that shadow is cast on every employee of the department. This isn’t fair at all, nor is it an accurate representation of every employee. Just because one bad apple does something poor doesn’t make us all bad apples. I understand that recently, a large number of bad apples have come directly from the Sheriff’s Office, but don’t judge everyone employee of the department by it.
However, I won’t sit here and say that we’re a perfect department, because that isn’t true. If that were true, @JamesDeeks would be out of a job (he’s the Sheriff if you didn’t know that). He’s more than aware of the misconduct by Deputies that occurs on duty in Stapleton County V2, however it’s difficult for it to be punished. Why? because most complaints him and his High Command receive have 0 proof of identification. That means the problematic Deputy in question cannot be punished for it.
Yes, we’ve had several Public Safety audits and of the two, neither have highlighted that there have been any large issues within the Sheriff’s Office. The most they have shown is that an odd member of Command has been inactive, which has minorly slowed down internal operations for a short period.
I won’t lie to you though, of course there are issues. There have been times where members of Command and/or High Command have been seen specifically targeting employees such as crankyluke when moderating our Discord server. There have been times where Deputies have shot civilians in crossfire during gunfights, run over civilians during pursuits, sprayed/batoned/tased/handcuffed civilians during an attempt to apprehend a suspect - some of these completely accidental. There have been times where Deputies have acted/spoken in a toxic manner, unprofessionally or to purposefully be rude or disrespectful - this has been a larger issues in the more recent weeks and months.
I have to admit though, a lot of the time, people like you reading this don’t give the Sheriff or his High Command the time to investigate and deal with the issues I listed above. They aren’t always going to be able to solve the issues and they aren’t always going to make the right decisions when they do, but at the end of the day, they’re only human beings and they aren’t perfect.
If you want the issues to be dealt with, instead of shouting “SCSO just straight up sucks” or “the command is unstable”, be constructive in your criticism, provide evidence to support your criticism, give them the ability and the time to be able to look into and resolve the issues you highlight to them.
They’re only humans. Be kind but don’t be afraid to highlight your opinion respectfully.
@JamesDeeks, be nice too sir