TWO ROOKIE OFFICERS THAT RECEIVED $5K BONUS AND QUIT IDENTIFIED - ONE WAS TOP OF CLASS AND AWARD WINNER.

NATHAN LEE - TOP RECRUIT AND ONE OF TWO OFFICERS TO QUIT AND WALK AWAY WITH $5K FREE & CLEAR IN LESS THAN 6 MONTHS OF GRADUATING

On or about February 3, 2017 City Manager Bruce Moore decided that in order to attract recruits for the struggling Little Rock Police Department, the city would give recruits that completed basic training a $5,000.00 signing bonus. He also decided that the first group of recruits to receive it would be the ones graduating that day.

MOORE DISCUSSING HOW HE GO THE IDEA FOR THE BONUS

"Some very good news for you.  It is my pleasure to announce that each of you will receive a $5,000 check from me for because of your successful completion of your training," said Moore.

Well, that check was not really from Moore and the money did not come from his personal bank account, it was public funds from the taxpayers that was budgeted for salaries for the budgeted but unfilled 60 to 70 police officer positions.

"I did some research across the country and saw these signing bonuses and thought, this is what we're going to do," said Moore to reporters after the ceremony.


LRPD posted this on their Facebook page at around 2:55 p.m. that same day.

We know the exact time as they edited the post.

Officer Nathan Lee was the top recruit in the class and was a featured speaker at the ceremony.  Lee was presented with a symbolic check for the class and then like it one that bore his name. The other that graduated also received one of the big checks as well. Moore is never one to miss a photo opportunity.

MOORE AND LEE POSE FOR A PUBLICITY PHOTO

EACH GRADUATING RECRUIT RECEIVED A BIG CHECK FOR A PUBLICITY PHOTO

You can view a television news report about the ceremony  and "surprise" bonus payments. It is important to note that Moore states that the $5k is a "bonus." That will be important a little later.

Not everyone was happy with Moore's decision to issues the bonus. FOP president John Gilchrist was concerned about existing officers that not received raises or any type of bonus in several years.

Gilchrist told reporters that the biggest concern officer had is that in two contract negotiation attempts the city told the FOP that there was no money for raises.

Gilchrist also raised concerns that there were no stipulations about receiving the $5k and if one of the new officers left the next day they could take the $5k and run.

That is exactly what happened,but it was not the next day, it was less than six months later.

The first officer to leave was Samuel Ringgold. He quit for personal reason on 
May 24, 2017, just a little over three months after receiving the $5k bonus.

Officer Ringgold quit three months after completing his training and becoming a LRPD officer.


According to records from CLEST. Ringgold did not go to work for any other law enforcement agency.
 
Then on August 11, 2017, top recruit Nathan Lee quit, also for personal reasons.

Lee had just been awarded an award in July by the Little Rock Civitan Club for being the top recruit and best shot on the range.

We don't know why Lee quit, but it was not for another position in law enforcement. Records obtained from the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards & Training ("CLEST").

We had some difficulty initially in  getting the city to cooperate with our FOI request. 

Then Officer Lee told the city attorney Tom Carpenter he didn't care if we obtained his information and they sent it on. Carpenter stated that City Manager Bruce Moore had sent a letter to the Arkansas Attorney General requesting an opinion about their releasing information about the officers and the bonus.

You can view the Attorney General's response to Moore by clicking here.

Remember back a few paragraphs above we told you to remember that Moore call the $5k a "bonus"? Here is why. Moore claimed in his letter to the Attorney General that the $5k was not a bonus, but was incentive pay. Liar, liar pants on fire.  Watch that video clip again and see if you don't agree that Moore is a liar.

In that FOI request we also asked for policy or procedures regarding the $5k bonus/incentive. Guess what? No policy or procedures exist and there are no requirements that recruits have to remain on the job a set period of time to keep the bonus.

Most agencies or private companies that hand out bonus or incentive monies have specific requirements regarding issuance of the funds.

For City Manager to not have a written policy or procedure in place before issuing such is pure maleficence. And not having a permanent source of funding for them in a budget is unconscionable and poor management. 

Robbing Peter to pay Paul, by using funds set aside for salaries for unfilled positions is a step towards insolvency and ruin.

Changes are needed at city hall and the mayor, city manager (and others) need to removed from office and replaced by competent, credible individuals.

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Take a look at this LRPD recruit class #85 video. The highlight is the recruits getting to experience what it feels like to be shot by a Taser.

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Also check out what Max Brantley with the Arkansas Times had to say about this.

***UPDATE 9/23/17***

A reader sent an email advising us that Lee quit to attend law school. Guess we know how he paid for part of his first semester's tuition. Hope he doubles down on the ethics classes.

In an interview on February 3, 2017,  then Officer Lee, the top recruit in his class said he's ready for the challenges ahead...

"I think for a lot of us it's something we've always wanted to do [police work] despite kind of how things are going on in the world right now.  We all just see it as an opportunity to do what we're called to do and give back to our community," said Officer Lee.

With extra cash in their pocket, Lee says they're looking ahead, ready to overcome obstacles and put their training to work.

"None of us were expecting it.  It was a big blessing.  I think we were all totally shocked whenever we heard the news," said Officer Lee.

Maybe that call to Lee to be a cop was a misdial as he quit just months after graduating. 

Maybe Lee should give that $5k back.  Just a thought.

 

CITY OF LR TECH'S MISTAKENLY POST VIDEO EXPOSING THEIR TALENTS

 

WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY KENNETH?

We have posted about the city of Little Rock using camera in various "hot spots" around the city, especially at From his Throne Ministries and the Salvation Army on West Markham Street where the dangerous homeless population meets to eat and worship. You can review those posts by clicking here and here.

We found that technicians with the city inadvertently posted a video on their Youtube channel that revealed their technical expertise.

We downloaded the video before they could remove it.

The city sure hires the best and the brightest.

LITTLE ROCK BOARD WARD 6 DIRECTOR DORIS WRIGHT SHUT DOWN CITY AFFILIATED RADIO STATION OVER DISPUTES CONCERNING PROGRAMMING - IT WOULD BE HER WAY OR NO WAY

Posted September 18, 2017. Edited September 24, 2017

Director Doris Wright, the Ward 6 representative on the Little Rock Board of Directors, has used a city affiliated radio station and a city funded publication, the West Central Community Magazine to get and keep her face and message out in front of the public. 

Wright also appears to be using the West Central Community as a base of operations since she left employment with the Department of Human Services under sketchy circumstances (A FOI request response from DHS for her personnel file contains no documents regarding her separation or termination of employment; no DHS-1161 Form/ Request for Personnel Action, which is a required form for employees that quit, transfer, retire or get fired) and her personnel file appears to have been scrubbed. DHS can not explain why there is no record of Wright's departure from their agency. And the only possible explanation they gave is so ridiculous that it will be covered in a seperate post on our Bad Arkansas Department of Human Services blog in the coming weeks.

Max Brantley, the editor of the Arkansas Times made reference to Wright in the daily video his publication posts on their website, blog and social media pages and an article that appeared in the Sunday edition of the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette.

You can view the segment about Wright in the video clip posted below.

 

 

This is the article that Brantley mentioned.

Wright was pissed off that KWCP station manager Kwami Abdul-Bey  decided to kill a show Wright was behind, The Wrighteous Hour, in favor of programming that featured area youth. Wright was also upset that Abdul-Bey advised her that due to her involvement with the radio station, he would have to offer anyone that ran against her in the next election equal time on the station. Even thought the John Barrow Neighborhood Association's name was on the stations license, Abdul-Bey never met with anyone from that organization (other than Director Wright prior to or during his tenure as an employee).

 

KWAMI ABDUL-BEY

That show was produced by LeRon and Stacey McAdoo, both teacher at Little Rock Central High School. That show was hosted by their two children and their friends/classmates at LRCHS.

 

THE McADOO FAMILY

Wright wanted Abdul-Bey to move youth/student produced shows to the 10:00 p.mp to 6:00 a.m. slot and broadcast a syndicated show from a Boston Radio station the the slot that the youth/student shows aired. 

The show that Wright wanted is Inside the Ride, which is hosted by Ralph Tresvant, a former member of the R&B group New Edition, popular back in the 1980's.

Wright views the West Central Community Center as her center and the West Central Community Magazine as her publication. 

 

WRIGHT IS THE EDITOR IN CHIEF AS WELL AS A WRITER

WRIGHT PHOTO BOMBS THE MAGAZINE

This video clip from the September 12, 2014 Little Rock Board of Directors agenda meeting makes that fact abundantly clear.

It seems that funding could be used for a better purpose that for self-promotion of a city board member.

KWCP-LP was funded completely by the city of Little Rock to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.  

Director Wright used the John Barrow Neighborhood Association as her front organization to get the station license.  

Abdul-Bey reported directly to Director Wright until five months after the station went on the air when he began reporting to Dana Dossett, Director of Community Programs for the City of Little Rock.

DANA DOSSETT - DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

When Director Wright's plans to change the direction of the station and her directives began to interfere with the stated mission of the station. Abdul-Bey as manager, pushed back on Wright's plans favoring live programing in the 6:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m. time slot.

Abdul-Bey discussed resigning over Wright's meddling with the station's programing (after all he was the manger) and Dossett considered his resignation as a done deal. When  Abdul-Bey found out the extent of Wright's pressure on Dossett to get rid of him, he tried to rescind his "resignation" but Dossett refused to do so.  

Abdul-Bey had used music from his own library at the station and once he was out as manager, he removed his music from the station. There was no "sabotage" of station equipment as was falsely reported and with him out of the picture there was no one that had the knowledge and expertise and to do the daily programming that was required to run the radio station and keep it on air. Abdul-Bey had provided training to individuals to operate station equipment but none of the volunteers had obtained enough experience to be able to run the station without his assistance.

The city was paying a bottom dollar wage to Abdul-Bey for his extensive experience and once he was gone, there was no one ready to jump in and take over.  

Wright then hired a Dallas, TX, based public relations company, Balanced Communications, to run the station as she intended for it to be run: as a commercial radio station competing with stations like KOKY-FM.  

There will be more to follow about this and poor Tom Carpenter will have his hands full the next couple of week dealing with our FOI requests.

*****

LR City Attorney Tom Carpenter's snarky line in the newspaper about nailing jello to a wall was parroted from Senator John McCain when he was making comments about President Obama's tax plan in a presidential campaign - "Nailing down Senator Obama's various tax proposals is like nailing Jello to the wall." 

Being the sort of blog that investigates claims of public officials, we are pleased to inform Mr. Carpenter that you can actually nail jello to a wall.

 

LRPD OFFICER BREAKS LAW BY URINATING IN THE STREET - CAUGHT IN THE ACT BY A VIDEO SURVEILLANCE CAMERA

 

We recently posted about LRPD setting up a camera to spy on From His Throne Ministries and the Salvation Army in downtown Little Rock. This was an overreaction to a constant stream of complaints by Michelle Hastings, owner of Trivia Marketing. According to documents we obtained from LRPD via a FOI request most if not all of her complaints were unfounded. But LRPD spent $10k in overtime anyway to have cops in that area. It should be noted that Hastings is actually a law breaker herself.  She has been cited numerous times for putting up illegal signage on the public sidewalk in front of her building.

Now the tables have been turned on LRPD and a surveillance camera like the one of the 50 odd ones LRPD places at "hot spots"  has captured one of their officers violating Arkansas Code Annotated § 5-71-207 - Disorderly conduct, (9) In a public place, exposes his or her private parts.

LRPD issues tickets every day for what that officer did and they should do that it this case.

But they won't. And this why. 

LRPD and city leadership have placed LRPD officers above the law.

They will not issue a ticket to a LRPD officer for speeding or in the case of an at fault accident. We posted about that and you can read that post by clicking here.

LRPD Chief Kenton Tremar Buckner ran into two cars, one after eating lunch on a Sunday and the other while possibly heading to a downtown bar after work for a shot of bourbon. He was not ticketed in either instance.

We found out that LRPD has an unwritten policy, endorsed by city leadership, to not ticket any officer for any offense. In-f'ing-credible.

Is it any wonder why LR citizens have little or no confidence in LRPD officers and city leadership?

Over half of LRPD officer choose to live outside of the city. The city gives the cars and furnishes the gas to drive to and from work - one lives in Malvern, AR.

Two rookie cops received a $5k no-strings-attached signing bonus and told them to "take this job and shove it" and left with a nice chunk of change.

When Kenton Tremar Bucker was hired back in 2014, he stated that "the first thing an outsider thinks when they hear the words Little Rock is crime."

They also think of police corruption.