Posted by RollEyes at 07/31/10 04:02AM        Post ID#: #39325

Not that I'm referring to any one person in this article in particular - of course I would never point an accusing finger - but... when you develop the attitude that you're some kind of holy diety, and your ego reaches the outer limits of what can be supported by those around you, the fall is far indeed.

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Posted by nomdeplume at 07/31/10 05:46AM        Post ID#: #39328

Pretty good article YHR. You are finally getting closer to the truth of these phony allegations by an insubordinate command staff and the finger-pointing, lawsuit-happy patrolman's union.

"Meanwhile, Rosenow was recently forced into early retirement by Zais after a two-year tenure as the city's first deputy police chief that was marked by clashes with union officials and command staff."

Why would you expect there to be when Rosenow's job was to find the people responsible for all the internal problems at the department? HE succeeded in doing so and this was his reward. Politics sucks. We lost a good and capable person and in my opinion, the City Manager was wrong to do this.

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Posted by studebaker at 07/31/10 08:48AM        Post ID#: #39336

Nondeplume- was it the city manager or was it city council and there deal making? Rumour has it--- our Mayor parties with the Police Union- he was an YPD explorer as a teen.

I agree our community lost a valueable asset when the deal was made to retire Rosenow. Maybe the city should reconsider and have a postponement of his retirement until the YPD and crime on the streets are cleaned up. Looks like he was doing his job.

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Posted by sagemenscircle at 07/31/10 09:17AM        Post ID#: #39343

Relationships with female subordinates didn't violate policies? Really? I don't know about city/police policies, but in the real world (private business) any manager caught being involved, even consensually, with an employee under his direct supervision can expect to be fired.
Maybe the unions can protect the employees from sexual harassment charges...

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Posted by bornandraised at 07/31/10 09:30AM        Post ID#: #39345

Here's a shocker, Nickdeplume is still trying to rally for his buddy Rosenow that got squeezed out for not doing his job and you are jumping to conclusion regarding other lawsuits that you know nothing about and YHR didn't even comment on. Your posts do not exude intelligence.

And as far as Studebaker claiming that the Mayor has previous involvements with YPD I would love to see your source, because I am very confident you are incorrect. I am sure everything has been "covered up" in some kind of government scandal right?

So here's an article that someone is found to have screwed up and the naysayer are still not happy.... what planet are they from?

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Posted by GOHUSKIES at 07/31/10 11:43AM        Post ID#: #39352

“Not that I'm referring to any one person in this article in particular - of course I would never point an accusing finger - but... when you develop the attitude that you're some kind of holy deity, and your ego reaches the outer limits of what can be supported by those around you, the fall is far indeed.”

Rolleyes. So whom are you referring to? Zais, Granato, Rosenow, or Light? Oh that’s right, all of them!

The dysfunction of our police department is almost unbelievable. How much !*$%#! time and money has and will continue to be wasted between all these issues in the police department….and the salaries paid for such incompetence. Nice to see we have such “professional” police and city department administrators.

It’s too bad for all those employees who do bring professionalism to their job. Oh maybe that’s one reason they are called “Professionals!” Hang in there. Just remember to not let their “Leadership,” rub off on you.

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Posted by phantom at 07/31/10 01:37PM        Post ID#: #39366

Light's attorney, Bill Pickett, said the investigation concluded the captain's admitted relationships with female subordinates didn't violate police department or city policies.

Well is it not past time to make this against policy or would that be asking to much?

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Posted by RollEyes at 07/31/10 03:19PM        Post ID#: #39372

GOHUSKIES, you are a perceptive person. Points for understanding what I meant.

phantom, if you knew of some of the shenanigans in which some of these so-called "servers and protectors" have indulged over the years, both on and off-duty, you'd be as surprised as I have been at times. And yes I do know about some things first-hand, I'm not just talking through my hat.

When the old school population finally retires from YPD and some younger, more egalitarian and modern-minded younger people get into those jobs, let's hope the closed-minded discriminatory favoritism, nepotism, good-ol'-boys-as-dinosaur-ism and all those other "isms" disappear, ushering n YPD's long-awaited move up into the 20th and even dare we hope, 21st centuries.

And that goes for YSO, too. Maybe someday they'll start hiring people besides those whose dads went to the academy with the Sheriff, those whose uncle is a judge, those with no particular skills as a cop but whose family names go back three and four generations in the Valley, and those with parents to whom someone in City Hall owes a favor. Maybe someday they'll actually abide by the civil service hiring list, and won't that be something new and different?

It would be nice to have some actual law enforcement going on in Yakima County, instead of the usual popularity contests, illicit affairs, and vicious infighting/backbiting/payback that have traditionally been so much a part of daily life in uniform around here.

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Posted by studebaker at 07/31/10 04:17PM        Post ID#: #39374

Why not demand an investigation into Rosenow's dismissal now that all this crud is coming out? Yakima needs him back on the force. Seem's like there may be a connection that he discovered all this- did City management covered it up, then retired him before it came out? Why did the union go after Rosenow? Lot's of unanswered questions???

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Posted by phantom at 07/31/10 05:01PM        Post ID#: #39376

RollEyes;I have to agree.Sexual harassment lawsuit have been around for a long time now.Most police dept. come up with policy's to try to minimize the taxpayers exposure to them.But apparently not hear.

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Posted by Paladin at 07/31/10 05:37PM        Post ID#: #39377

Well I see the Chief’s and the former DC’s horse holders are back at it. Let me try and enlighten you horse holders. There are several reasons as to why the former DC was forced to retire. One is the fact that he is not the sharpest tool in the shed; another fact is that he is ethically challenged, and lastly but certainly no less important is the fact that the DC was and is totally incompetent. The same can be said about his former boss, who by the way recommended hiring the DC in the first place.

As to who was the driving force behind getting rid of the DC, that would have been Kathy Coffey because she finally got tired of his incompetence.

Lastly, a word of advice to horse holders such as nomdeplume and studebaker. When you send out your cheer leading outfits to be cleaned, also send out your pompoms because you’re going to need them, the ethically challenged and equally incompetent Chief is next.

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Posted by Quixotic_Pursuit at 07/31/10 05:55PM        Post ID#: #39379

(This comment has been removed by a Yakima Herald-Republic moderator)

Posted by Scotty at 07/31/10 06:28PM        Post ID#: #39382

Nomdeplum- Captains are not in the patrol union; only sgts, detectives and patrol officers.

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Posted by nomdeplume at 07/31/10 07:59PM        Post ID#: #39383

Scotty - I know that - but they have their own union, do they not? Also, I suspect one or more of them teamed with the YPPA to get their way.

The whole thing reeks of a jr. high clique of vicious girls.

QP - Mercy did NOT die mysteriously "when his plane blew up" They determined it was engine failure and his son was at the controls when it went down shy of the runway. While I am upset that Zais probably has run the Chief and DC into the ground by pandering to the union guys, I still think he did a good enough job of running the City financially. As for Morrier, if it wasn't for him leaving his money and investments in downtown, there wouldn't be one even today.

AS for Capt Light, it is sad that his poor choices have left him in this embarrassing position. At least, he still has a job and a retirement. It could have been much worse for him.

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Posted by RollEyes at 07/31/10 10:41PM        Post ID#: #39390

It's interesting to see members and supporters of the Good Ol' Boy's club start resorting to using terms like "not the sharpest nail" and "incompetent" when their supremacy is challenged.

Paladin, here's a news flash. Everyone eventually retires, and even more shocking, everyone eventually passes away and new generations come along to replace them. Someday the hammerlock that your sacred old boy's club has on YPD will no longer exist except as a bad memory. The modern world will invade the mossy halls of the "stuck in the old ways" crowd, and fresh air will blow all that arrogant complacency out and away.

These lawsuits that the spoiled old school adult brats of YPD have brought against their chief are just another way of throwing a tantrum because they don't get to have things their way anymore.

"We've always done things that way" will soon become "That's the way it was done before we caught up with modern times and started acting like we work for the public instead of the other way around."

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Posted by BigDave at 08/01/10 11:22AM        Post ID#: #39395

A Police Force is closely relates to a Military type institution and in that, anytime a superior engages into an illicit affair with a subordinate, head would roll as with Light in this situation and his arrogance in doing so.

This in itself is out of place for any department where Men and Woman depend upon each other daily to defend life and liberty.

I have seen this first hand in other law enforcement agencies as to the good old boys not liking an outside Supervisor coming in and will make it @#$% for in this case, Granato.

It is the job of the Command Staff to follow the direction of the Police Chief not to pick and choose what they wish to happen as if they were in charge, that being what they would do.

I expect more from Professionals.

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Posted by studebaker at 08/02/10 09:21AM        Post ID#: #39406

city's first dep. police chief that was marked by clashes with union officials and command staff. Sounds like he was doing the job they hired him to do...and the problem with this is??? City Council needs to DEMAND an INDEPENDENT investigation. Why would you axe the DC when the Captains aren't following orders? Promote the good professional officers to do the job that apparently the captains are not.

Received this last week and it has some good points...
It’s all becoming such a bad joke…this entire pathetic & nonsensical municipal governance fiasco is laughable. Share this reply with anyone who might gain some knowledge from it, but understand it will be my last writing on the subject. Anymore, I find myself feeling nothing but disdain & distaste for the system, so please do not involve me any longer.

The comments are good, but that’s all they are…comments. The most damaging thing is that Yakima is “throwing the baby out with the bath water.” ROSENOW is most likely the only “diamond in the rough” in this whole unclean episode. At least he was intelligent enough to cover his own butt so the “System” couldn’t outright fire him!

Deductively, one would have to surmise that ROSENOW was hired by Zais for political reasons, that being to defuse the attention being placed on the YPPD, Zais & perhaps the Council Members, regarding the issues discovered in the independent evaluation of the YPPD (you have to wonder why Zais still won’t release). If you accept that, then it seems evident that there was never any true intent of getting the discovery problems fixed within YPPD. Evident, because “nothing” was “allowed” to be done…when ROSENOW tried to do his job, the result was the “No Confidence Vote.” So now, you have the “problem” (YPPD) becoming the Puppet Master. It is obvious that ROSENOW’s chain of command never really stepped up to support him (ROSENOW most likely backed them off him with evidential matter that if discovered publically would have exposed them - that’s why he was cleared). That said, if you follow the thread of subjugation then Zais’ primary goal in hiring ROSENOW could only have been to shift public opinion away from the real problem (YPPD & himself who they report to) & set up a scapegoat. In other words, ROSENOW was hired from inception…to be the scapegoat and fail.

Conclusion: Absolutely nothing has changed. It looks like the YPPD still has all the problems discovered in the independent study (and probably more by now) and Yakima has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars without any tangible results. Worst of all, Yakima will undoubtedly continue to go through the exact same process over & over. Why? Because if the entrenched perpetrators of misdirection & misinformation are still in power, how can the true “organic problems” ever be addressed and rectified. Perhaps, Yakima is getting exactly what they deserve. Ask yourself, what Yakima is going to do when Zais leaves. After 1 year, ROSENOW, the one hope, is gone, most likely the Chief of Police is gone, the YPPD problems still exist and no doubt further disparaging truths will be discovered. Who in their right minds is going to take on a job like that - unless they have a concrete contract that stipulates that - 1) they will be paid for a long time commitment - no matter the reason for any termination, 2) they are allowed carte blanche authority to invoke and enact change and 3) they are given the full and irrevocable “public” endorsement of whomever it is that he/she reports to (which hopefully represent the people of Yakima). That is going to be expensive…maybe FEMA can step in (you gotta find some humor in all of this).

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