Facebook post draws council ire

A Crowley police officer faces possible disciplinary action from the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board for postings on Facebook.
Meanwhile, the police chief has asked that the chairman of the city’s Public Safety Committee be replaced.
Five members of the Crowley City Council have submitted grievance letters against Officer Aaron Bertrand based on Bertrand’s March 8 posting on the social media site in which the officer complained about the council’s recent action concerning police units.
Public Safety Committee Chairman Brad Core and committee member Kim Stringfellow were joined by non-committee members Samuel Reggie III, Clint Cradeur and Jeff Cavell in filing grievances. All five are three months into their first term of office.
The board will meet at 8 a.m. Thursday at the Fireman’s Training Center at 111 W. 10th St., to consider the grievances.
In his post on the Crowley Je te vois (I see you) site — a site open only to invited members — Bertrand first commented: “Maybe if our City would approve the hiring of more officers, we wouldn’t have to be working with 2-3 officers on a shift at any given time. Does anyone know who approved more Officer slots? I believe it’s the City Council that does those types of approvals. Oh wait! But then we wouldn’t have enough police units for the new officers to use because those were debunked by the Mickey Mouse City Council that this city has.”
In the very next posting, Bertrand said: “Maybe the Fire Department can sit out there since the Council wasn’t opposed to getting them 17 new employees, two new pumper trucks, and a new ladder truck. They seem to have the resources that the Police Department has been begging for. We can’t even get 4 more employees or six new SUVs which are vital for the work that needs to be done.”
Those two posts set off a firestorm of comments from site members, including Cavell, who said, “There’s not a person on the council that doesn’t support the police.”
He invited the officer to meet personally with him to “discuss your concerns.”
Bertrand answered that he was not directing his comment at Cavell directly but “the Council as a whole.”
He said he felt the police department had been “screwed over for years by previous councils” and that officers “had extremely high hopes with the new council coming in that we would finally be granted the things that we need to function as a whole.”
The comments on the post, which has since been removed by the site administrator, quickly deteriorated into complaints about speeding in various neighborhoods and areas of the city until one participant called Bertrand out for his remarks about the fire department.
But Bertrand responded: “I was not talking down on the fire department.”
He explained, that he feels the council “is more willing to grant the fire department then (sic) they are to us.
“Yes, I am an employee of the Police Department,” he said, “but I’m also a citizen of this City and don’t think my opinions should be shushed away.”
Members of the city council, however, apparently took offense, especially at the “Mickey Mouse” reference.
“I found Officer Bertrand’s comments to be very disrespectful and unprofessional, especially from someone of a civil service background,” Reggie wrote in his letter to the Civil Service Board dated March 11. “I also believe his comment was unwarranted and could be misconstrued to influence public support against my efforts to make well-informed and sound financial decisions on behalf of the citizens of Crowley.”
Core’s sentiments practically mirrored Reggie’s. He wrote that he also found Bertrand’s comments “offensive” and that he believed Bertrand’s use of social media “was intended to intimidate me by garnering public support against my efforts to make well-informed and sound financial decisions on behalf of the citizens of Crowley.”
Cradeur said he “was appalled at the reference made by an employee of the Crowley Police Department calling the City council the ‘Mickey Mouse Club’.”
Stringfellow said that although she was not personally offended by Bertrand’s remarks, “I am concerned as to how this negativity played out on social media will affect our efforts to work together for the betterment of our town.”
Cavell, the lone council member to engage Bertrand on the Facebook string, said he had dual purpose for writing to the board.
“My purpose in writing this letter is not solely based on Officer Bertrand’s comments, but what I have witnessed as a growing virus within our City Police Department,” he wrote.
He compared Bertrand’s postings to what he called a “rant” by Capt. Tammy Mallet at the last council meeting, saying Mallet’s letter, “much like Officer Bertrand’s comments (are) made up of falsehoods derived from emotion for the sole purpose of pinning one department against another.
“These actions I see as a growing problem within this department and we are witness to that.”
He continued, “These actions, as previously stated seem to have infected the Police Department, but could and should easily be handled from the top down.”
Citing the letters of grievance, particularly the letter filed by Core, Police Chief Jimmy Broussard has formally asked Mayor Tim Monceaux for the “removal and replacement” of Core as both a member and chairman of the Public Safety Committee.
“It is my opinion that Alderman Core serving on a committee which has indirect contact with both this officer and this department constitutes a conflict of interest,” Broussard said.
He added that the formal grievance “has succeeded in causing irreparable hurt and possible animosity on at least some of the parties involved. Therefore, it is my feeling that at least some of the parties have lost faith and trust in the Chairperson they look to, not excluding myself as his formal grievance impaired my ability to operate an efficient department and tied my hands after I had verbally reprimanded said officer.”
Broussard said that, because of Core’s actions, he feels Core “will not be able to make an informed, unbiased decision when it involves the police department.”
Broussard also asked that Reggie not be considered for appointment to the committee “as he is a co-filer in this grievance.”
The Wednesday morning meeting is open to the general public. However, because the grievances are considered “personnel” issues, an executive (closed) session may be considered.
Members of the Fire and Police Civil Service Board include Louis Romero, chairman; Betty Miller, vice chair; Lois Richard, secretary; and members Ryan Temple, Louis Dugas and John Bellard.