The interim chief of the Selma Police Department told the Selma City Council Aug. 11 that his biggest challenge hasn’t been crime. It’s been his police officers.
“In all my years in law enforcement, I’ve never seen a department that is as dysfunctional or show no interest in serving the public as the Selma Police Department,” Interim Chief Michael Perry told the city council Aug. 11. “And it’s a shame.”
“Most citizens have no trust in the Selma Police Department,” Perry said. “That’s sad. (Selma) deserves a police department way more better than what they are getting.”
Perry said his attempts to improve the department have “been met with resistance” by Selma police officers.
“My expectations are not extraordinary,” Perry said. “I expect employees to perform assigned duties, supervisors to supervise, overtime to be justified, investigations to be followed through, reports to be accurate, recruitment to be performed, people to be protected, follow the chain of command. I expect public money to be accounted for. These are basic expectations in a professional police department.”
Perry said that the problems “did not originate under my administration. I inherited it. There have been significant operational accountability problems for an extended time, going on for years.”
The “organizational culture problem” has been going on so long that officers “have became used to doing things their own way” and have resisted his efforts to reform, he said.
“What I have encountered is employees going outside the chain of command when they disagree with a management decision,” Perry said. “Resistance to overtime control, administrative matters, not adequate follow-up, resistance to change, repeated grievances to management reforms, inadequate record keeping.”
Perry said, “Holding people accountable feels like punishment, but it’s not. It’s management.”
He said his efforts to reduce overtime, which he said he decreased by about one third, have been a sore point with officers.
“Overtime is taxpayer money,” Perry said. “No employee is automatically entitled to overtime.” He said overtime should be “necessary and justified.”
Perry said that officers have a right to file a grievance, but “there is a difference between employee rights and employee defiance.”
The police department is a paramilitary organization, which means it follows a chain of command. “If you can’t follow (the chain of command) find somewhere else to work,” Perry said.
Perry acknowledged that the police department needs a new building, more vehicles and better equipment, but he said “we cannot purchase our way out of an organizational culture problem.”
“The organizational culture must change,” Perry told the council.
Perry was named interim chief on April 14 when then-Chief Kenta Fulford was placed on administrative leave. Fulford resigned under pressure in early May.
The city council approved a committee to review applications for a new Selma police chief. The police chief is hired by the city council, as are the fire chief, treasurer and city clerk.
(1) comment
Seems to be an epidemic in Dallas County....public servants don't serve the public.
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