Sheriff’s Department seems to tolerate ‘good ol’ boys’ environment

At the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department, if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does the tree make a sound?
Not unless someone complains about the noise.
Well, that’s what I get from reading Mike Wiser’s story in Tuesday’s paper, about the 2007 mass emailing of pictures of naked women. The e-mails were widely distributed to people inside and outside the sheriff’s department. Deputy Chief Brad Fitz, the boss at the county’s 911 center, forwarded at least 5 of the 6 e-mails to Tami Goral, Sheriff Dick Meyers’ assistant, Wiser’s story said.
The sheriff says he can’t remember if he opened the e-mails because the department was very busy getting ready to move from the Public Safety Building to county’s Justice Center at the time. The sheriff had Chief Deputy Kurt Ditzler look into the e-mail situation. Ditzler decided the e-mails did not violate the department’s sexual harassment policy, which includes “sexually oriented kidding or abuse.” The sheriff agreed with Ditzler that the photos weren’t bad enough to violate the policy. So, no harm, no foul.
But where most people work, emailing lurid pictures of naked women to fellow employees and bosses would be a firing offense, or at least cause for suspension with an order to get counseling.
Yet at the sheriff’s shop, it didn’t seem to be a problem. Ditzler sent out an e-mail warning employees that forwarding e-mails unrelated to work might make the department look bad if word leaked out, so don’t do it.
Well, word leaked out. We don’t know saved these 2007 e-mails and waited three years to blast them around the universe, but on Monday it seemed as if half the newsroom staff had the e-mails in their computer in-boxes. The fact that this happened near the end of a nasty election campaign between the Democratic sheriff and his Republican challenger Aaron Booker, a supervisor at the 911 center would be suspicious, if the e-mails were bogus. But Meyers confirmed to reporter Wiser that they are real.
The sheriff’s department through its merit commission is investigating Booker because women at the 911 Center complained formally about his supervisory practices and threatened to sue the department if the sheriff didn’t act.
But nobody complained about the porno e-mails back in 2007, so no investigation was launched.
The pictures, including one with an ethnic slur about Mexicans, were horrid. I did not open them, but I’m going by what fellow employees who have opened them told me. They get more repulsive as you go through the list, I ‘ve been told. I do not wish to see them.

My opinion? More should have been done about this than just to have Ditzler talk to employees and send out an e-mail warning employees not to forward e-mails that could embarrass the department.

The implication is that the department’s sexual harassment policy only applies when formal complaints are filed. This is a policy with a loophole big enough to drive a Mobile Command Center through it.
In fact, it’s not a sexual harassment policy. It’s a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Related posts:

• Let’s get creative when making city department cuts
• Merit Commission should deal promptly with complaint against Booker
• Machesney Park is getting a good deal with sheriff’s policing contract
• Barmore report offers worthwhile analysis to improve police department
• Manzullo overwhelming Gaulrapp in fundraising department.