Oakland Chief Faces Opposition From Aldermen
By David Howell
Editor
OAKLAND – Oakland Police Chief Russ Smith said a conflict about scheduling officers for shifts has created tension between the Board of Aldermen and his department. Smith, who has served as chief for 13 years, told the Herald the problem started back in August during budget deliberations when the Oakland Board of Aldermen reduced funding for his department.
“They blamed the cuts on lack of taxes,” the chief explained, adding the line item for payroll was cut from $86,000 annually to $70,000 at the start of the current budget year. But Smith said his department, which includes his full-time position as chief and four part-time officers, has operated within the reduced budget.
The chief also explained that the department doesn’t operate 24 hours a day and deputies often answer calls in the town.
“The sheriff’s department has been good to us, helping answer calls, especially here lately,” the chief explained. “But we can’t depend on them to answer all of the calls in Oakland.”
Smith said the situation has escalated since October, when aldermen approved a resolution to approve the police to work four days a week, Thursday to Sunday, and then only four eight-hour shifts starting after 2 p.m.
“I refused to run a department four nights a week, a total of 32 hours,” Smith explained. “You can’t put a price on crime “They brought it up again in the November meeting, saying that I was refusing to do what they told me to do when I didn’t shut down those days,” Smith continued.
At the December 4 city board meeting, the issue came to a head with allegations from town officials that the police chief and officers were disrespecting the board. “Basically they said we were working how we wanted to instead of how directed by the board,” Smith explained.
Smith said he exited the meeting early, following an altercation with aldermen about the responsibilities of the police chief.
“I asked them if they wanted me gone, a couple of them spoke up and said it may be time for me to go,” Smith said about the confrontation in the meeting. “I told them I couldn’t run the department the way they wanted to and left the meeting. I was ready to quit.”
But Smith said no action was taken during the meeting. However in a special meeting on Dec. 10, aldermen voted to accept his statements as a verbal resignation.
“I didn’t know about the meeting, or their decision until days later and continued to serve as police chief,” Smith explained. “The vote to terminate me wasn’t done right, because my statement wasn’t a verbal resignation.”
Smith said he reached out to the mayor and told him he was going to continue fulfilling his duties as chief unless he is terminated.
Smith also said the aldermen are overstepping their authority by dictating when officers are scheduled to work.
“There is an Attorney General’s opinion on this, they can’t interfere with the day-to-day operations of the department, it’s a violation of the separation of powers,” Smith told the Herald, adding that he reached out to the Attorney General’s office and received an opinion addressing a similar issue.
“Matters such as assignment of duties and scheduling work shifts is solely within the purview of the police chief, whether elected or appointed,” an attorney in the AG’s office wrote in the 2006 opinion.
Smith said he served each aldermen with a copy of the AG’s opinion.
“They put me in this position, I am responsible for running this position,” Smith explained about serving as chief. “The public safety rests on my back, if anything happens, I will be the first person to get sued,” Smith added.
