John Chiv: "Though the city wears us down sometimes, we do love it. We love the citizens and we are here to protect you all but we can't do it any longer with Watson in power."

Sep 2, 2021

"Though the city wears us down sometimes, we do love it. We love the citizens and we are here to protect you all but we can't do it any longer with Watson in power."

John,

It seems as if the EPD issues aren't as much of a headline as they are dragging their feet as long as possible on the texting issues and Capt O'Neill misconduct.

Along with those issues lies another major problem which, as usual, Watson is doing nothing but making it worse. Staffing. Morale is dismal, officers are overworked and burnout. Watson is never present and when he rarely does show face, he can't even be bothered to wear a uniform.

The amount of officers leaving makes watches so short that many work with one officer and a supervisor and often times off duty officers are being called in, costing the city money in overtime pay. It leaves the quality of service the citizens in turn receive to be sub par with longer response times, fewer officers to complete investigations, and no ability to proactively patrol for the rampant crime that plagues our city.

Over the last several months six officers have left. The community services officer and the animal control officer are gone. Four of the six officers, Bishop, Horn, Gagnon and Dalby were extremely experienced and high performing officers. The other two officers, Mullen and Hooks, were exceptional young officers with long and bright careers ahead of them who clearly saw the light and jumped ship. You would have to reach out to each of them for their specific reasons but I would bet a strong argument could be made for Watson being one of the main reasons.

The POP team is all but disbanded due to the staffing issues.

So how much longer does the city have to pay for his inability to do his job? Those aren't the last to go, at least three others are in backgrounds in other departments.

Eureka deserves better. Though the city wears us down sometimes, we do love it. We love the citizens and we are here to protect you all but we can't do it any longer with Watson in power.

John Doe

I just received this letter from John Doe.

If any of these officers or anyone from EPD wants to contact me, by know you should know you can and it is confidential and you are free to express yourselves anonymously.

Some of you have moved. Some of you have retired. I will respect your privacy. You deserve to enjoy your retirement/ life without any further trauma or reminder of Humboldt.

I have noticed what John Doe said about EPD Chief Steve Watson. Just look at the Eureka Police Department Facebook page. It would seem EPD Captain Brian Stephens is the Chief.

John Doe did not mention Officer Jared Christiansen who I heard quit. Three of the best dispatchers are not there right now; two moved out of state. One is on leave.

The buck stops with Chief Watson's employers. The utterly useless and current Eureka Mayor and Eureka City Council, the City Manager and City of Eureka administration have given no update for months. I had to follow up and get non responses with no real information. The last time I checked was in June. What are we paying this Bay Area firm for? To sweep things under the rug?

The previous Eureka City Councils don't get a pass either. The morale, the short staffing, the lack of leadership, crime, drugs has been around for decades but it has never been as bad as it is now.

This is since the good ole gals and boys from "the left" took over from the good ole boys and gals from "the right." I don't care for politicians from either group, regardless of who I supported in the past. That support was before I started this blog.

Same funders, same faces, same campaign teams with a few new puppets thrown in with no change except for their cronies. Same "local media" around for decades doing the same CNN/Fox News agenda driven, PR sub standard slop enabling the systems they should be holding accountable.

The rest of the local media have done zilch, as usual with the follow up on the several issues raised below in previous posts on this blog.

I have always been very supportive of EPD more than any other local law enforcement.

But I was aware of the problems, the arrogant officers and the bad apples in EPD or anywhere else and I call them out. I don't need to regurgitate the Sacramento Bee or some national news and I don't ignore or do selective news like the rest of the local media that stays silent.

The bad apples at EPD remain while the good ones are retiring, being chased away or facing low morale and burnout. From the ones who are left; there are very few I still support. Many others are the stain on what used to be my favorite law enforcement department. The new ones have walked into a mess and time will tell.

I said years ago that driving away good police officers would result in what is happening now. The anti police zealots and the Humboldt naysayers create the constant negative environment and stagnation and they don't care. It is law abiding, hard working citizens and businesses who pay the price.

Previous posts:

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/06/spoke-with-lawyers-end-of-last-week.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/06/epd-officer-matt-white-quits-his-job.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/05/i-submit-this-to-you-john-in-hopes-that.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-recent-text-messages-leaked-to-sac.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/05/this-is-second-tip-i-have-received.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/04/city-of-eureka-has-no-update-yet-on-epd.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/04/epd-officer-pat-bishop-fired-few-days.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/03/fifth-officer-in-text-chain-broke-up.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/03/is-this-petition-about-racism-mental.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/03/former-sacramento-police-officer.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2021/03/ts-and-loco-besides-ripping-off-my-work.html?m=1