The Silver Lining Playbook: What the New Police Merger Really Means
Published today for your perusal is a 10-paragraph provisional agreement between Savannah City Manager Stephanie Cutter and Chatham County Manager Lee Smith establishing a framework for the new SCMPD.
It only took these two managers a full year to come to terms and it will take another two years to phase-in the new operations and cost share. Taxpayers will -- once again -- be forced to pay for an outside law enforcement consultant to provide guidance. In other words, friends, management admits that the oversight of SCMPD is well beyond their means and abilities and we've got to pay someone else to do the job of the City Manager and County Manager.
The first three paragraphs of this monumental agreement merely shifts the burden of management to an outside consultant and redefine the jobs of City Manager and County Manager. But it's going to take them another two years to come up with an amended agreement and cost formula after they've crunched the numbers on cost centers, currently estimated to run county residents a 39% cost share.
The remainder of this agreement reiterates that the Police Chief remains under the City's organizational structure; that the Counter Narcotics Team, EMS, Animal Control, and Marine Patrol will be realigned under County management; a resolution of prior claims; cost estimates and the City's agreement to reimburse the County for the purchase of the old Comcast building; and the affirmation of a new Recorder's Court.
It doesn't take a law degree to understand this agreement. But it is a troubling thing to read and a frank admission that the City Manager cannot manage SCMPD yet refuses to give up authority. That it took a year to draft this thing is testament to the inability of management and staff to respond to the single most pressing issue of Public Safety in a timely manner. And still there are no provisions to address the department's biggest problem: corruption.
From Day One of my campaign I have outlined the necessity of a police commission to root out corruption in the ranks and have published the details on how such a commission is constituted, as provided by a veteran SCMPD detective. Further, this new agreement fails to take into consideration that the rank and file want either a new City Manager who is capable of overseeing SCMPD or they want the City Manager removed from the chain of command. As far as the department is concerned, this new agreement fails to fix the problem that starts at the top and affects the rest of the agreement.
In her 2015 State of the City address, Mayor Edna Jackson admitted that the corruption scandal at SCMPD was the result of council having ignored the situation for years. This new agreement admits that the management of the police department is too much for the City Manager yet does not relinquish her choke hold on the chief, merely shifting responsibility to an outside consultant.
In the opinion of the rank and file, this new agreement is nothing more than moving day and more busy work for accountants. The issues of greatest concern have-- once again-- been ignored by this administration.