Let’s do a little thought exercise this morning. Don’t consider any specific names, or places, or dates. Put aside any of the specific circumstances for now, and just consider the following scenario.
A person has been appointed to a position. She’s been appointed in the same fashion that many other people have been hired, by the same processes used for years to conduct public business, without any real controversy or problems.
In this particular instance, though, there is some disagreement about whether she was, in fact, appropriately and legally hired. The appointing authority believes the hire was done correctly. The executive authority disagrees.
In almost any other real world scenario, this situation would be resolved by the various parties talking it out. There would be memos, emails, meetings. Personnel decisions can easily get acrimonious, so lawyers and judges might get involved. Things can get messy. But most of the time, these things stay civilized. There are multiple ways conflicts such as these are resolved peacefully, professionally.
What you wouldn’t do is call in cops and sheriff’s deputies, kitted out for a drug bust or major takedown. You wouldn’t bring in the city’s police director and a senior captain. You wouldn’t overreact. That would be, oh, I don’t know, kind of thuggish.
OK, you can stop thinking in the abstract now, and start using real names. This is Trenton, and yesterday saw this exact scenario play out at the City Clerk’s Office, as Trenton Police officers and Mercer Sheriff’s deputies were called in to eject Assistant City Clerk Cordelia Station from her office. Earlier in the week Mayor Tony Mack, believing that Ms. Staton had been illegally appointed to her position by the previous Council, impersonally dismissed her via a letter delivered to the Clerk’s office while she was at lunch on Monday. Council President George Muschal directed Ms. Staton to return to work yesterday, citing years of precedent to support the legality of her appointment.
Now, I had major problems with the appointment of Ms. Staton back in June. I thought it was a sleazy move by the outgoing Council to take care of one of their own. I still do. Sleazy, yes. Illegal, no. The previous Council had the right to make that appointment; however, it wasn’t the right thing to do. Mr. Muschal recognized that her appointment was valid, and was correct to ask Ms. Staton back to work.
Apparently, Mr. Mack believed that he hadn’t quite made an effective enough display of decisive management with his Monday Dismissal-by-Lunchtime-Letter, so decided that more a more assertive display of force was required. So, in went the police and deputies.
Yesterday’s show of force was uncalled for, excessive, brutal, thuggish and likely illegal. For the Mayor – and who else would have had the authority to order that kind of show of force? – to order armed officers into a City office under the authority of another c0-equal branch of the government with the intent to settle a political dispute by force is unacceptable.There are many questions from yesterday that need answers, now.
The Times describes how Police Director Ernie Williams and Captain Fred Reister “wandered in” during the situation, unaware of what was going on. Wandered In? Wandered In?? How could such an action as yesterday’s, with officers from the City and County called to Trenton City Hall have occurred without the City’s Public Safety Director knowing about it until he wandered in, let alone without having ordered it.
If Director Williams and a senior captain didn’t order the action, or know about it, who did? What was the chain of command yesterday? If the orders by-passed Mr. Williams, is he in fact truly in charge of that department? If not, who else is calling the shots? Are elements of Trenton PD personally available to the Mayor to settle political scores?
Mayor Mack personally needs to explain yesterday. Did he order the police in? Why? Does he believe this response and show of armed force against a woman who just completed eight years as a member of City Council to be reasonable and measured? Is this to be your standard operating procedure? The fallout from yesterday’s Raid on City Hall is likely to cost. Ms. Staton is already threatening legal action as a result of her ouster. The City will likely rack up significant legal bills to defend against such civil action. And there may be settlement costs down the line, too. We can’t afford any of this.
Mr. Mayor, is this what you promised us as a candidate? I don’t think so.
Had yesterday’s events happened in isolation, they would be serious and strange enough. But they are only the latest in a very long and bizarre string of news over the last week, providing further examples of an administration I had thought as merely incompetent. After yesterday’s show of force I have to wonder if the situation isn’t getting dangerous. We can’t get used to this kind of behavior, we can’t accept it as normal or routine.
This can’t go on.
UPDATE: While we’re at it, it’s probably worth asking Mercer Sheriff Kevin Larkin how his department came to send deputies to intervene in a City political dispute? Did the Sheriff personally dispatch the deputies to City Hall? Why?
FRIDAY UPDATE: Please read the comment below from “In the Know.” The writer takes exception to what he perceives as an accusatory tone in my post. I want to be clear: I was not and am not directing any of my questions to any of the police officers and deputies who were involved in Wednesday’s intervention at the City Clerk’s Office. My questions are directed to the department’s leadership, to the Mayor’s administration and to Sheriff Larkin. I would like to know the chain of command on Wednesday. Who ordered this? Or, as the Mayor suggested (rather non-credibly in my opinion) last night at Council, was this staged?
Also, In the Know suggests that the involvement of the Sheriff’s deputies came about not as the result of a specific order from their command, but as the result of the Sheriff’s Department having access to the same radio communications channels as TPD, and available deputies responding to a call made to the Police Department.
That sounds like a very possible scenario, coming from what sounds l;ike an informed source. Thanks, In the Know. However, I would feel better hearing that explanation on the record.
Kevin, while I don’t have any problem with you posing questions, I do take issue with you in your accusatory tone. TPD and the MC Sheriff’s have had the option of wearing tactical vests as part of their everyday uniform for quite some time now. Does that mean they’re SWAT members? No. You got caught up in the Paul Mickle hype. (Trentonian Breaking News headline: SWAT Team poised to remove Staton from City Clerk’s office) As for why the Sheriff’s officers were there, that’s simple. Sheriff Larkin has officers on patrol during the day and they routinely assist TPD. These officers have TPD radios and respond to calls with TPD and when necessary handle calls for TPD. (Thank you Sheriff Larkin) For this particular incident Trenton dispatch put out an assignment at city hall and the Sheriff’s officers responded WITH TPD. There was nothing unusual about their response, nothing nefarious in their motives and nothing political in their presence.
Fair enough. However, I didn’t call the police and deputies a SWAT team. That description came from the Trentonian’s account. My description came from both press accounts and the photographs accompanying the story. Councilman Muschal at last night’s Council meeting explained at some length the difference between standard kit and SWAT. I appreciate hearing that explanation. However, for a person on the receiving end of that attention, such as Ms. Staton, the finer points of protocols can easily get lost in the shuffle. When a number of city police and sheriff’s deputies, armed and in flak jackets even if not an actual SWAT response team, are trying to get you to do something, I would imagine there is a certain amount of intimidation felt, as the object of all that attention.
I also appreciate your explanation on how County Deputies reported to the scene as well. I have inquired of Mr. Larkin’s press deputy for their explanation of how they got involved. Your description is certainly credible. I’d still like to hear it from the sheriff’s office.
I stand by my post, though. I don’t accuse individual officers or deputies of anything. What happened Wednesday afternoon was an inappropriate use of police power to settle a political dispute. There are still enough serious outstanding questions (some raised by the Mayor last night: “Perhaps this was staged!”) about the chain of command leading to the dispatch of the officers and deputies.
This police intervention in Trenton City Hall can’t be routinely dismissed.
Thanks for writing.