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Police union votes no confidence in Chief Houle |
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Wednesday, 26 December 2007 |
By JOSEPH FITZGERALDWOONSOCKET – A defiant Woonsocket Police Chief Michael L.A. Houle blasted the police union’s vote of no confidence on Wednesday, saying the union’s gripes have nothing to do with him but everything to do with the union’s need to control the Police Department.
“The fight is on,” Houle said shortly after the vote was taken. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t care what the union says. This is not about me. It’s about the fact that the union doesn’t have a contract and has filed for arbitration. It’s about the fact that the union doesn’t want to make co-payments for medical like the other two unions in this city. This has nothing to do with me or my job performance.”The International Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 404 took the vote on Wednesday with 79 officers voting no confidence and six in support of the chief. Union leaders say the vote is a reflection of the department’s lack of confidence in Houle’s leadership abilities.“The vote count was unambiguous,” said Det. Sgt. John Scully, president of IBPO Local 404. “More than 90 percent of officers, including captain, lieutenants, sergeants, detectives and patrol officers have clearly sent the city management a message with this vote.”“The men and women of the department have taken only the second vote of no confidence in 40 years,” Scully said. “This vote was not the action of a few disaffected members, but rather, represents a true accounting of the opinions of the Police Department as a whole.”The union has been at odds with Houle, a 26-year veteran of the police force, almost since the day he was appointed chief. During his tenure there has been a litany of problems and controversies plaguing the department.Houle, who was given the results of the union vote shortly after it was taken, is challenging its accuracy, saying “the numbers don’t add up.”“Think about it,” he said. “They (union) control the ballots, the ballot boxes and the sign-up sheets, and they expect everyone to believe the vote is accurate? Give me a break.”The union is claiming that there were 12 officers ineligible to vote, including seven probationary officers; three officers on long-term disability; and two deployed to the Middle East. Houle says most of those “ineligible” officers could have been contacted.“It’s a joke,” the chief said. “The fact of the matter is they don’t have a contract and they’ve filed for arbitration. This is all about the union wanting to control the department. They claim this is only the second time in 40 years that a no confidence vote in the chief has been taken, but they’ve threatened no confidence with the last three chiefs.”Houle says the union membership was given 10 issues of concern to base the no confidence vote on, but that the union leadership has not told him what those issues are. Scully has said in recent past press interviews that the issues are based on inadequate leadership and an uneven handling of department discipline, all of which has led to low morale within the department.Scully said the vote was “not taken arbitrarily.”“Members have continually called for a vote for the past nine months, but until recently the leadership of the local resisted such a measure,” he said.Instead, Scully said the union has attempted to remedy what he called “inappropriate actions of the chief” by seeking relief from the chain of command (public safety chief and City Council). “That asked-for-relief has been extremely slow in coming,” Scully said.For example, Scully said, a management study of the Police Department was requested at a public hearing before the City Council on June 18, but has not yet been done. “This is not the fault of the council,” he said. “They have been systematically thwarted in their efforts by the city’s administration.”Earlier this month, the council voted to hire an outside consultant to conduct an independent management study of the department, which comes after a tumultuous year for the police force.
The department has dealt with a series of recent suspensions, including Houle, who was suspended for two days in May after he admitted destroying drug evidence that he said was tainted.Two officers, Capt. Walter Warot and Lt. Timothy Paul, were suspended by Houle on July 13 on charges of violation of department operational policies and insubordination for their part in an investigation of Patrolman Steven Fairley, who is alleged to have tampered with a Police Department computer to embarrass a workplace rival. The charges were later dismissed in Superior Court.Earlier this month, several police officers were disciplined after a woman arrested on drug charges was able to bring a loaded handgun into her jail cell.
Scully said the union is calling on Houle to reflect upon his tenure and examine his future. “We maintain that the good of the department outweighs the continued selfish interest of an individual. We call upon the community to do the same.”Houle, 47, appointed chief of police by Mayor Susan D. Menard in December of 2005, defended his record, saying he’s done more for the department in the last year than previous chiefs have done in the past 20 years, including overhauling the department’s vehicles and computer system; bringing in more than $1 million in drug forfeiture money; and coming in under budget by more than $400,000.Houle was transferred to the detective division in 1990, earning the rank of sergeant the next year and lieutenant in 1992. In 2000, Houle was in charge of the day patrol officers until Menard named him deputy chief in 2003.When asked to comment on Wednesday’s vote, Menard said she “could care less.”“When I chief gets a no-confidence vote that’s usually an indication to me that he’s doing his job and running the Police Department the way it should be run. This is all about the contract and they’re taking it out on the police chief. They filed for arbitration last week because they didn’t get their way and this is their way of trying to get us back. Be my guest.”In the meantime, Houle says he will continue to run the department to the best of his ability.“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “They (union) can jump up and down all they want. I’ll go when I want to go and that time is not now.”
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 January 2008 )
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