l3wis UPDATE: Looks like former Sioux Falls Police Chief is padding his resume
UPDATE: So I guess the institute may still exist, in a charming Ranch style home. But I still can’t find any tax filings. The worst part is when you start doing searches on the internet for the place the ‘Institutes of Health Ethics, etc., comes up.
Whenever I open up the city council agenda for the following week on Friday night, I always take a deep breath before reading it. This week there was some gasps.
Besides the fact city councilors want to hire another employee (even though several of their current employees job duties are a mystery) and they want to get rid of taxi fare maximums (I thought we solved this when Lyft and Uber came to town?) the mayor has appointed former police chief Matt Burns to be on the ethics commission.
I know. WTF?
But the funny part is Mr. Burns BIO (Item #74);
• Sioux Falls Chief of Police 2015–2021.
• Bachelor of Science in criminal justice administration from the University of Central
Missouri.• Certified instructor—National Institute of Ethics.
I am not sure how you become a certified Instructor with an organization that hasn’t filed a tax filing since 2012(?) and no longer exists? I called the number, out of service.
Maybe I got the organization wrong? Or maybe they merged with another organization, but when you do a search, the last tax filing was in 2012. So how is it you are a certified instructor with an organization that disbanded 11 years ago?
I’m not sure you understand ‘ETHICS’ Mr. Burns;
Ethics examines the rational justification for our moral judgments; it studies what is morally right or wrong, just or unjust.
So is it ETHICAL to lie on your resume for a volunteer public service position? Maybe I should ask a certified instructor? If only there was an organization that still trains them.
You know, I won many animal showmanship awards when I was in 4-H, maybe I should put that on my resume? Doesn’t matter I haven’t been a member of the Country Wranglers for 30 years, I really knew how to stage a ewe!
Do I think he is lying about being an instructor? NO. But he should clarify what century he was an instructor.
Even the white lie on the resume isn’t the worst part about this BAAAAAAAAD appointment (sorry, sheep humor) it’s his conflict of interest being a former manger with the city of Sioux Falls. How can you judge your former peers on ethics when you have built professional relationships with these folks over several years?
It would be like your significant other asking if their butt looks big in a certain pair of pants.
Conflicts of interest are the main reason we have ethics commissions, to help us determine what is ethically doable within those relationships.
I’m not even going to blame Mr. Burns for accepting this appointment, desperate times.
But it makes you wonder if the reputation of city hall is getting so bad Poops is appointing former managers just to fill the seats of these boards?
You have to scratch your head a bit when in one breath you name a police shooting range after a dude then in the next breath ask him to be on the ethics board.
Homeless Shelter sees shakeup
A long time manager at the Dudley House has left the organization. This of course would not be breaking news unless a new food truck was involved, because most people who work for shelter organizations don’t last but a couple of years because of the stress of the job, so turnover is inevitable in the industry.
The issue with this departure is that this person was very popular amongst the staff and as I understand it this position will likely NOT be replaced making many employees questioning leadership and the board’s decision to leave the position open.
The Good and Bad of police radio encryption
For the record, it’s mostly bad.
At the beginning of October a South DaCola foot soldier informs me that the SFPD and Rapid City PD would be encrypting ALL police radio traffic on scanners. This was one of my better sources who is usually spot on with city hall tidbits. I do a little research on my own and found this has been a trend across the country and has been abused by some local government entities so badly states like California have been passing additional legislation that stops them from encrypting all calls.
I was getting nowhere with others in local government to verify this was the case (the council was likely left in the dark on this decision). I passed it on to a trusted local journalist but they were unable to put a story together before the SFPD made an announcement yesterday. I have been openly talking to people about the encryption over the past couple of weeks seeing if anyone knew more, so I am sure that made it up the chain of command that others in town were talking about it and unlike the dead animal blowup, they better announce this before the media does.
While the mayor has the right and the duty according to charter to manage the police department, the city council has the power to create policy and ordinances that the SFPD must enforce.
In other words, the mayor has the right to direct the SFPD to do this, and the council is powerless in directly managing the police department, but they CAN create an ordinance that pulls back the encryption guidelines. They would likely have to do this in coordination with the Lincoln and Minnehaha County Commissions.
I know, a big lift, but I do think there are some councilors and commissioners that would be willing to sponsor such legislation.
Originally created by the FEDS, the encryption is allowed for many reasons, mostly for sensitive medical situations or sting operations, but many local governments decided to just encrypt all calls, mostly out of laziness and in the name of closed government.
Called Project 25, it has been an effort for switching police radios from analog to digital which basically makes encrypting as easy as pressing a button, so the argument that it is just easier to encrypt ALL calls is about as pathetic and lazy as you can get.
I do understand that there are probably many reasons you would want to encrypt a police call, as I mentioned above, but like most new technologies, criminals will be ahead of the curve, and keeping valuable information from the general public so you can catch a couple of bad guys just doesn’t cut it for me.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – Ben Franklin
This is about keeping information from the media and the public and little else and just another example of the slow (fast) degradation of open government in Sioux Falls. While I don’t need to know if Gladys Johnson fell down in her shower on North Duluth Avenue, it would be nice to know when a man-made disaster is happening in real time.
I have a feeling the ACLU or a similar civil liberties organization will be challenging this decision, but it is sticky.
At first glance, I think SF and RC have the legal authority to do this, BUT like most open government laws in our state, it gives local governments wide authority to abuse their power.
Unless the counties, the cities involved and the state change laws and ordinances, it looks like next month we will experience radio silence.
I wonder if they are also encrypting the tornado sirens?
The Charter Revision Commission reveals our childcare crisis in Sioux Falls
I am sure you are expecting that the CRC got a proposal at their meeting today that would aid in combatting our childcare crisis in Sioux Falls. You would be wrong. What they got was a whole bunch of folks that need childcare (elder care) and I am not talking about the constituent’s proposals but the response from the commission itself.
I encourage you to watch how the chair was eager to kill a proposal and one member was confused by the authoritarian nature of the mayor’s office asking ‘What is the issue?’
IDK, Dictatorships are bad?
Commission Member Larry Long to the rescue who moved to have all proposals moved to the last meeting for approval instead of killing them several months before the election.
Let’s make it clear, the people making the proposals know they will be killed by the CRC, the funny part to watch is how the CRC plans to kill them eloquently. So far it looks like the He Man Woman Hater’s Club has been convening instead of a commission that’s duty is to recommend ballot questions.
Thought I would never say it, but can we please have Justin Smith back as chair? Pretty Please? He seemed to be awake and engaged in the meetings. Is that to much to ask from a volunteer?
I have felt for awhile there is an underground tow to change our city charter, not sure who is going to bare that fruit, but I think it is coming sooner rather than later, and these clowns on the CRC can kill, kill, kill, all they want, but at the end of the day, it is the people who rule.