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| Entire Police Force of SC Town resigns. |
| 2015-12-04 |
| The entire small police force of North, South Carolina, including police chief Mark Fallaw, has resigned, prompted by the city's new mayor issuing a gag order for the department. Fallaw, along with fellow officer Anthony Blanchard, submitted his resignation on November 17, giving two weeks notice. Fallaw, who served on the force for 14 years, asserted that Mayor Patty Carson told the department all requests from media would have to be handled by her; she wanted to monitor the department's incoming and outgoing emails, and she demanded that members of the department give her two weeks notice before they made any public appearances. He also claimed she wanted him to write three times as many tickets and would only permit him to buy gas or tires with her approval. And you should have seen the form we had to fill out to take a piss! Three pages - in triplicate! Fallaw told WLTX 19, "For her to be directing procedures that were contrary to national standards, that was going to cause a problem. So I just said it was best for me probably to step down." One officer left just before Carson's election, and another regular officer and a reserve officer followed Fallaw when he left. Two other officers resigned earlier in 2015, finding jobs at other agencies. The county's law enforcement has had to step up and substitute for the police; When contacted by WLTX 19, Carson refused to comment, arguing that personnel issues should not be discussed publicly. He noted that replacing the officers may be difficult, because similar jobs in other towns offer more pay. Not to mention not having a micromanaging mayor... |
| Posted by:CrazyFool |
| #7 Also, she is holding the officers’ last checks Lawyer up! |
| Posted by: gorb 2015-12-04 22:05 |
| #6 But the department can buy lubricating oil without any red tape. I think........ |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2015-12-04 12:59 |
| #5 Does Ms. Carson, by any chance, have a "D" after her name? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2015-12-04 12:08 |
| #4 And you should have seen the form we had to fill out to take a piss! Three pages - in triplicate! I'd have signed it once, highlighted, John Spartan style, basically what the department did. Better yet, make her change the tires, for her own confirmation of course. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2015-12-04 10:26 |
| #3 Having to presumably get each tank of gas pre-approved seems more like micro-management to me. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2015-12-04 09:26 |
| #2 It gets better: Fallaw admits he and Carson have “history.” It started after she was first elected to council in 2010. She wanted to see the cellphone records for the police, but not other departments, Fallaw said. When she insisted under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act, Fallaw said he told her it would cost an estimated $700 for him to go through the records and weed out the numbers of confidential informants, victims and others. She no longer sought the information. “Some of this seems a little vindictive if I had to guess,” he said. For instance, he resigned on a Tuesday, Nov. 17. She had him clean out his office by the next Friday, not waiting until he left, Fallaw said. “She also kicked the sergeant out of his office. She now occupies that office,” Fallaw said. Also, she is holding the officers’ last checks to ensure nothing was compromised, even though she signed receipts saying all the town’s property was returned by the officers, Fallaw said. But he notes the people of North voted for Carson over the other candidates. “They elected Ms. Carson, and we can’t deny that,” he said. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2015-12-04 08:32 |
| #1 Wonder why she bothered. Could it be that the cops were abusing the city credit cards? Writing practically no tickets? Got to be another side if the mayor wanted to take on those additional problems. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2015-12-04 08:20 |