FOP is unified in joyous support of police administration; anyone who disagrees will be made to shut the hell up

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OK, this is where PR goes hilariously wonky.

Remember that FOP vote of confidence I reported on nearly a month ago? The one where a majority of Venice Police administrators voted that they support and are in favor of the VPD administration, while the patrol and beat cops either voted the opposite or didn't vote at all?

The union, nearly one month later, has finally issued the results of their vote of confidence in Chief Williams, this in a press release. Well, they released some of the results, anyway. They're just withholding a few bits of data, like how many voted in favor of Williams' regime, how many voted against Williams' regime, how many didn't vote at all, any breakdown in rank of who voted, and what the actual wording was on the ballot.

So, other than the fact that the FOP's press release was about as illuminating as a police flashlight with dead batteries, it was very nice, incorporating complete sentences, correct spelling and mostly correct punctuation.

In case you missed it, my original story, which included all of the numbers breakdowns and the rest of the data that the FOP still doesn't want released, can be found (clicky--->) here. (<---clicky)

Originally, the vote was intendeed to be a support structure for the beleagured and increasingly confused Chief Julie Williams, but fearful that putting her name on the ballot might cause Venice to get sucked through a black hole into an improbabilty vortex, they changed the wording so that over a third of the votes would be cast by people supporting themselves.

The ballot read, "Do you support the VPD administration?" To which anyone with the rank of Master Patrolman First Class and above would automatically say, "Yeah, I like me just fine."

Then came the vote and results, which were just a tad better than disastrous for Williams.

After I published the numbers along with a breakdown of the voters, one FOP supporter of Williams went spastic on the LEOAffairs message board:

"The latest vote conducted by the FOP has already been released to JP? really? can you respect the union and your fellow union members for one second. I know that you read blogs so I figured this is the best way to inform you. Stop given [sic] information, especially wrong information....
...I just can't see where your going with all this, complaining about all the shadiness that happens across the hall, then you sneak around your fellow officers?????? your just as guilty as the administration that you curse daily."

The writer went on to emphasize that he was not trying to bully or make threats (so that would be a welcome change in tactics, then), but that unhappy coppers at the VPD need to shut up.

Interestingly and tellingly, that post from a Williams supporter included an offhand admission that there is "shadiness that happens across the hall" (i.e., - in the admin wing of the VPD building), as though everyone in the department knows it and agrees about it, a remarkably different stance than that taken by Williams and City Manager Isaac Turner.

Then, finally, came this press release, which stated absolutely nothing:

Press release from Venice Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 57 regarding recent confidence vote. Disseminate as necessary and please keep original wording.
--Kristen Long, Lodge 57 Secretary
 
Press Release:
On June 10, 2010 through June 11, 2010, The Fraternal Order of Police Venice Lodge #57, which is the Fraternal Organization representing The Venice Police Department, conducted a " Vote of Confidence " of its administration. By a majority vote, the members of The Fraternal Order of Police Venice Lodge #57 voted confidence in its administration. This vote assures the residents and visitors of Venice that the Venice Police Department is a unified agency and as always, will serve and protect its community to the best of its ability.
-- Joseph R. McGee, President, Fraternal Order of Police Venice Lodge #57

If you are looking for anything substantive in the press release, forget it. It isn't there because the FOP didn't want it there and they assumed that everyone in the media are idiots who cannot see what info is missing.

What the leadership of the FOP doesn't understand about a vote of confidence -- you never, ever do one unless you know for sure the results will be unanimous. Just a simple majority, even a two-thirds, means there is a sizable minority that has no faith whatsoever in the subject of the vote. It tells the world that yes indeed, there is trouble.

Just the fact that there needed to be a vote of confidence in the eyes of the vote organizers spells trouble. It means the vote organizers know there is a serious perception of trouble, so the purpose of the vote is to show that there really is no trouble. If you can't prove that unanimously, you've just put an axe into the back of the person you were trying to save.

Even then, a vote of confidence is a tricky gamble. The last three times that city council called for a vote of confidence, the subjects of those votes received unanimous approval, then were gone within months, with the exception of ex-city manager George Hunt -- it took a little over a year to escort his carcass to the city line after council told the world how wonderful he was.

The Gondo will cite the press release and rave about Williams' fine management skills, but don't look for anyone else to be as dopey as Brooky Browne and six out of seven city council members

(I kinda hate to admit it, but I'm really beginning to like Emilio Carlesimo).