02/18/2023
Thank you all!!
I have been overwhelmed by the amount of people who have been messaging me and coming up to me on the street with words of encouragement and support. I have tried talking to people in person, but I feel it is time I explain myself for the actions I have taken the past few months.
*****Long post follows*****
First, I apologize! I am sorry things become so volatile with the mayor and city council they felt the best measure was to disband the Marshal’s Office and contract the Maries County Sheriff’s Office in February of 2020. There were two years left in my term when they did that and I attempted to still be effective that first year, but I eventually felt I was being unfair to the taxpayers and resigned in April of 2021, with one year left in my elected term.
Second, I would like to thank my brothers and sisters at the Maries County Sheriff’s Office for taking such excellent care of Belle these past three years. I would also like to thank so many of you for treating them like family as well. The Deputies have spoken very highly of the citizen support received from all of you.
To begin, it is important each of you know my heart is in Belle and I am 100% committed to seeing Belle have a functional, safe, proactive, and qualified Marshal’s Office. I say again, “Marshal’s Office, not a police department” like it is now. It is my dream and goal, to once again, become your elected Marshal and retire at the end of my law enforcement career here in Belle. Before I get into the details, thank you for your open mind and consideration of my candidacy.
Now, to answer the two main questions I have been getting; Why did you come back if you were going to resign at the first sign of trouble? Why did you resign? These are both good questions, and I will answer them both today.
Why did I come back if I was going to resign at the first sign of trouble? Well, I absolutely expected “trouble”. When I was asked if I was interested in coming back as the Belle Police Chief, I was very hesitant. I knew it was going to be a monumental undertaking as almost everything from the Marshal’s Office had been either thrown away or was outdated. I also knew it may not be a popular decision with everyone to re-establish it, or to hire me. I was prepared to put in the work and prove both were the right decision. What I wasn’t prepared for was what I ran into and how I was treated.
Before I accepted the position, I had a conversation with the council and laid out my expectations at my “interview”. The interview felt to really be more of a formality, than an interview. We discussed the pay of the position, the pay any officers hired would receive, times of day I was expected to be seen around town, and asked if I could build the Marshal’s Office from the ground up. I told them I could without a doubt, especially with Maries County being responsible for handling the policing of the town while we were preparing to take back over at the end of their contract; that being a key agreement overlooked in almost no time by Mayor White. I requested $20/hour for the officers, $25/hour for my position (they were calling a police chief), and that I be allowed to rehire Jerry Coborn to return with me. I also emphasized that we must all agree to work together, or it would never work. I was told they would discuss it amongst themselves and I would be called when a decision was made. I received a call from Mayor White before I got out of my car in the driveway of my house. I was super excited to “be back”! Now, “why did I resign?” The answer to this question is much more telling of what happened before my departure.
The next day after I was hired, Councilwoman Kayla Bray immediately volunteered to assist me with the task of creating a list of to do’s, prioritizing those items, and helping me get them accomplished. She was a huge part of getting what we did get accomplished completed, without any thanks from Mayor White. Without going into every little detail of what we accomplished each day I’ll try to summarize, but some details are needed so you can understand. We were able to get the old Marshal’s Impala in patrol condition. It needed radios, programming of electronics, maintenance, decals installed, and numerous items for patrol duties. Every step of the way we both were being questioned by Mayor White on why things were costing so much and what was taking so long to begin writing tickets. I don’t believe he did any homework on what it was going to take. He believed we could get into a car, grab a radio, and go write some tickets. Not realistic at all.
It is important everyone understand, we did not have radios that were operational as the tower radio repeater the office used before had been given to the fire department. Purchasing new MOSWIN radios was way too expensive and not an option. We didn’t even have an agreement with any dispatch center to dispatch for us. We did not own any uniforms as almost all our old and tattered uniforms had been thrown away when we disbanded. We did not have a report writing system either. The one we used before, called Crimestar, had not been maintained since we were disbanded and numerous, expensive, software updates were needed to re-activate it. Very achievable but required money and time. Neither of which were well received by Mayor White.
The entire time Councilwoman Bray and I were trying to re-build we were being hounded by Mayor White, most times in a very condescending and critical way. We were trying to be problem solvers. Knowing he had offered, I reached out to the Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy, Scott John, and asked what equipment they would be able to sell us. They gave us a very fair deal on an almost new radar unit, some less lethal equipment, ammunition for our fi****ms, and a used MOSWIN radio. We were able to convince our installers to fit us in (usually 2-3 week wait) and we had a patrol car with an operational radar and radio a few days later. Mayor White still wasn’t happy. When he received the invoices for the equipment purchase and the installation he was irate and said, “not another damn dime goes into the police department until some tickets start getting wrote.” Keep in mind, we were still contracting Maries County to perform policing duties. From that point on, almost every conversation with Mayor White was about saving money. While I understand there is a limited budget, and we were being frugal, it once again appeared as if Mayor White jumped into a major decision without anything other than an emotional desire to see Maries County leave Belle.
Because Mayor White was so persistent with his complaints about expenses and that we begin writing tickets, I approached Chief Deputy Scott John once again to see what we could come up with. We met for lunch and discussed numerous ideas. The most logical decision, in my opinion, was to share patrol duties with Maries County and schedule opposite of one another. It takes four police officers to cover the streets of Belle 20+ hours a day, two rotating on day shifts and two on night shift. Chief John agreed to let Jerry and I cover two shifts while Maries County continued to cover the opposite two shifts, letting us pick the two shifts we would want. In exchange for this, Maries County would pull two of the four Deputies they had covering Belle into county coverage and would reduce the contract expense with us by 50%! I thought Mayor White would be ecstatic, he wasn’t. Instead I was scolded for “conspiring with the enemy” and ordered to stop meeting with Chief Deputy John. Mayor White said it was a bad look that he was trying to “get rid of Maries County” and I was working with them to extend the contract. He apparently did not listen to me. There was absolutely no conversation between us to extend it, only to cut the cost in half for the remainder of the contract freeing up much needed budget money for the rebuilding of the Marshal’s Office. When it comes to Maries County, Mayor White sees nothing but red and his hatred for Sheriff Chris Heitman became abundantly clear to me, and I would dare to say Councilwoman Bray had the same observation.
Things really went downhill after the tragic accident where 4 young men from Belle rolled a truck over, trapping one. That was a night I was off. Jerry Coborn had been on duty that day but had completed his 12 shift and had gone home. Once again, Maries County was on duty and responded professionally as contracted but Mayor White was beside himself because of the questions on social media of “where was Belle PD”. At that point Mayor White started making a schedule and demanding Officer Coborn and I follow it. It was completely designed around being seen in public and completely ignored officer safety. It required numerous days in a row where we would change from days to nights and back to days.
It wasn’t too long after the accident Mayor White ordered me to park the new Police Department Charger. Apparently it wasn’t insured and hadn’t been for the two weeks I had been driving it. The Charger sat idly at the City Hall for 3 weeks, needing to go to Jefferson City for equipment installation, while the bank paperwork was completed, and insurance put into place. The serious matter with the Police Charger? Mayor White purchased it without following state mandated purchasing guidelines. The vehicle is a civilian model vehicle. It doesn’t have the much-needed police package items such as oversized brakes to prevent overheating and oversized alternator to handle all the electronic demands, just to name a few. It was not purchased from the awarded state bid list nor did he secure competitive bids before purchasing it. He just showed up one day and asked if I liked the Chargers. I told him I did and he said “good, I just bought you one”. I was not comfortable being the named “Police Chief” of a department not following state guidelines.
It finally became too much. Not only did I feel Mayor White was not adhering to state purchasing guidelines or Sunshine Law, the constant belittling of what Councilwoman Bray and I were doing, the decisions Mayor White was making without my input, and the stress of working shifts on little sleep because of a crazy schedule and working on administrative tasks to rebuild while “off duty” was more than I could stand for. I can’t tell you how many hours were put in by Councilwoman Bray and I without asking for compensation. Our reward? We were asked by a city council person in closed session if we were having an affair because of the amount of time we were spending together. Mayor White did not call the behavior out for outrageously unprofessional and inappropriate but instead also wanted an answer to the question.
I tried to do things Mayor White’s way but I could not please him nor could I be a part of the dictatorship of a police department he was establishing. He made it clear I was Police Chief in title only and that he held all police department decisions. The citizens of Belle have voted numerous times to NOT have a police chief who answers to the mayor and have repeatedly said they desire to have a marshal that answers to the people only. That is why I resigned and THAT is what I promise to bring back to you if I am elected.
I respectfully thank you for your time and consideration,
Joe Turnbough, candidate for Belle Marshal
