Wright is frustrated by criticism

To the editor:
After I was surprisingly singled out by another board member at the June meeting, it has been brought to my attention that there may be a conspiracy in the making by the president and vice president of Redkey Town Council to replace me as department head and supervisor of the Redkey Police Department at the first of the year.
It seems they don’t like the way Redkey Town Marshal Todd Miller and I manage the department and the hours our officers work. They don’t like my having a personal friendship as well as working relationship with our officers. They don’t like me in the police car with our marshal.
They complain about the marshal and I going to lunch in Albany and Dunkirk. Sometimes these will also be a meeting with other police department officers.
Also, the marshal has to go to Portland, our county seat, to take paperwork to the prosecutor’s office, city court, Portland Police Department or Jay County Sheriff’s Office, and while in town will also have a lunch. They claim 1.5-hour lunches are being taken. You can’t go to all these places in one trip in much less time.
We have three very hard-working and dedicated officers in this department. These officers have to constantly attend mandatory training at the state level as well as the county level to keep their legal police powers. A lot of this is done on their off-duty time as well as weekends.
I always know who is on duty or on call in case someone asks me. If this department was in disarray or having personnel problems or not getting things done, I could understand the criticizing. But it’s not.
These officers have a good working relationship with other area departments. They include Albany, Dunkirk and Portland police and Jay County Sheriff’s Office. The marshal and I don’t always agree on things, but we work through them and do what is best for the town and the department.
During the last year and a half, this department has issued more citations, had fewer accidents and break ins, made more traffic stops, made more drug arrests and gotten more drugs off the streets than in the previous six years.
At our June meeting, we had a large than normal amount of people in attendance. The ones that spoke not only addressed their concerns, but said what a great and hard-working police department we have.
These people did nothing but praise our department for their work and hours they put in. The fire chief even said that this was the most aggressive police department he has ever seen in this town. But yet these other board members want to complain about the management of our police department.
I’m fed up with all of the backstabbing going on in our town hall. I don’t care if I’m ever in there again. I can get to the window to check to see if I have any town mail.
All of this is why I am an independent political board member. I’m not expected to vote along party lines or because of friendships. I do and vote for what is best for the citizens of Redkey.
Mike Wright
Redkey