I blogged a few days ago about the public image of the Topeka Police Department. Today, Howard Giles announced his resignation as Topeka's Fire Chief. The leaders of both of these two departments came from outside Topeka. Giles came from Georgia and Police Chief Ron Miller came from Kansas City, Kansas. During the past 2 years, Giles has been subjected to a barrage of complaints about his leadership.
Those complaints originated with the leaders of the firefighters' union. Clearly, morale is low in both departments and the public image of them is bad as well. The police officers seem too quick to protect their own rather than protecting the citizens. The firefighters are simply whiners who chose to take public their complaints about their boss.
There is no question that there is a connection between these outside hires and the internal problems with the departments. There are many well-qualified firefighters and police officers who could lead these departments, and the local officials who will select a new Fire Chief need to find someone within the department to provide new leadership.
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