In a move that surprised many people, including this reporter, Police Chief Thorne has resigned. In a press release by the mayor's office it said he would receive "full honors and all that comes with the station". He's getting his pension. After less than a year as Chief. Political graft hasn't been this blatant in local politics since the 70's union buster days.
I’m not sure if the mayor himself signed off on this, and I wouldn’t put it past him, but whoever did just blew a large chunk of funds annually for the length of now Mr. Thorne’s life.
This paper was unable to find out precisely how much the “pension” is going to be, but it will most likely be some portion of his yearly salary, which he wasn’t around long enough to make a year of! That comes out of the city budget, which is funded by taxes, which means it’s funded by you and me, the taxpayer.
The money aside, let's look at the bright side, we get to go from an apparently incompetent Chief of Police… to an unknown and untested Chief being assigned from another district. Which leaves us back in the position we were in before Chief Thorne, a rudderless police department composed of men and women who set the law as they see fit with little to no oversight.
So for your service former Chief Thorne may I wish you a fond good riddance and may your replacement be at least twice as competent as you. That way we can hope he’s just stupid rather than corrupt as you appeared to be.
My Life In Myserie (an opinion editorial column)
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