January 12, 2008
- (Rutland Herald)
- "New
Bellows Falls chief named despite violations" -
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Article published Jan 12, 2008
New Bellows Falls chief named despite
violations
By Susan Smallheer
Herald Staff
BELLOWS FALLS — Municipal Manager Jim Mullen said Friday that he had
promoted Sgt. Ron Lake to be the new chief of the Bellows Falls Village
Police Department despite violations in his past job as training officer
for the Windham County Sheriff's Department.
Lake, a resident of Putney, will be sworn in Monday, Mullen said.
Mullen said that he had talked with R.J. Elrick, the director of the
Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council, about the 2006 investigation
into Lake's handling of training for the Windham County Sheriff's
Department, where he was sergeant.
"I am satisfied there was no impropriety on Ron's part and that it has
no bearing on his ability as police chief," Mullen said.
According to John Treadwell, an assistant attorney general, the attorney
general's office reviewed the field training records of the Windham
County Sheriff's Department and its review showed that Lake had
"improperly delegated field training responsibility to other officers
who were not certified."
According to an April 4, 2006 letter from Assistant Attorney General
David Tartter to Elrick, "Sgt. Lake delegated essentially all of the
field training for at least two deputies. Sgt. Lake then signed off on
these training sessions without an indication that someone else had
actually conducted the training."
Tartter also noted that Lake was signing off on field training from
April 2005 to November 2005, when his own certification has expired. The
Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council requires that all training
officers to be recertified every two years, and that recertifiable,
rather than recertified, officers are accepted.
"However, even in view of this policy, the gap in this case appears to
be lengthy," wrote Tartter.
Mullen said he was aware of the letter, and said he was satisfied with
Lake's abilities to be chief.
Lake, who was hired last summer to work for the Bellows Falls Police
Department, will be paid $51,355 a year.
Mullen said that while he appointed Lake to the permanent post, there is
a possibility that the trustees will eliminate the department later this
year and that Lake and the other officers in the department would be
without a job.
The trustees are considering eliminating the $1 million-a-year
department, especially in light of a bid from Windham County Sheriff
Keith Clark to provide 24-hour-a-day coverage for the village for
$650,000. Clark is a former Bellows Falls police chief who resigned from
the department in November 2006 after he was elected as the county
sheriff.
Lake had worked for the Windham County Sheriff's Department for several
years, and Mullen said that Lake came recommended by former sheriffs
William Graham and Henry Farnum, and interim Sheriff Richard Guthrie.
Lake and his brother, then Lt. Sherwood Lake, were part of the inner
circle of former Windham County Sheriff Sheila Prue, who was convicted
of embezzlement and dereliction of duty in 2006 after a lengthy
investigation by both the Vermont Attorney General's office and the
Vermont Auditor of Accounts office. That investigation concluded Prue
had misappropriated public funds for her own use.
The Lake brothers lost their jobs when Clark
took over the sheriff's department.
Contact Susan Smallheer at
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com. |
