In case you missed the story of threats made against DeKalb Representative Fran Millar and Senator Dan Weber by Albert Chambers, the husband of Representative Jill Chambers, please watch the news clips below to see what was on the 6 o’clock news Wednesday evening. If you want to hear the creepy voice mail left for Senator Weber click here; courtesy of Peach Pundit.
I don’t know what set Mr. Chambers off to call Senator Weber’s office and to leave such a sinister message but I’ll leave that to others to discuss. It is the deliberate actions of the DeKalb Police Department in this case that I believe are truly wrong. By not allowing Representative Millar and Senator Weber to file their complaint against Albert Chambers the DeKalb Police Department in my opinion has violated their rights to due protection of the law guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. DeKalb could find that the complaint is unfounded and then do nothing, but to say that Millar & Weber are not allowed to file a police report just because they serve the community as politicians is flat out wrong. They should have been allowed to file a complaint, just as anyone else would been allowed to do so. What if these threats were made against a non-politician; would a police report have been allowed to be filed? Without accepting such information, DeKalb County has not allowed Millar & Weber to properly document the situation in case something were to someday come of Mr. Chambers’ threats. Luckily in this case the “evidence” of such threats are now found in archived TV news stories and the audio stored on computer hard drives.
Just because some “high power” politician may be able appropriate funds in order to have a posse of protection with him at all times, that’s not so for most politicians and definitely not so for volunteer community leaders. With the recent history of the assassination of Derwin Brown who was running for DeKalb County Sheriff, you would have thought the DeKalb Police Department would have followed standard protocol and allowed Millar & Weber to file their report. Instead I’m lead to believe that this decision was made from the highest levels of the DeKalb Police Department, who is managed by a man with a posse for his own protection. That point doesn’t seem right to me.
Why do people decide to be politicians, to be public servants, to work for the greater good of the people they serve; just to get abused like this by both the public as well as the system which is supposedly there to protect them? Looking at the circumstances surrounding this matter, you would have to be crazy to get involved with this mess. None the less, it will be a sense of duty which will bring good people to the table to assist in running the City of Dunwoody when it is finally created. The Dunwoody community has a long history of civic minded volunteers and my guess is that duty to serve will outweigh the risks involved.
Then again that is what Derwin Brown thought and he now has a street named after him.
"If a citizen wishes to make a police report, it shall be the duty of all sworn officers to take a report, regardless of personal or political opinion."
ReplyDeleteMinimally the police should have taken the report, and let the Solicitor's office interpret whether a crime was committed. What's next? "911...What's your position on the City of Dunwoody?"
I agree the report should have been routinely taken by DKPD but come on! The voice mail threatens legal action and damaging media coverage ... hardly worth the paper to file a report and even less so the hoopla being made. After ranting about how much DKPD is under serving Dunwoody, these representatives should have thought twice before tying up our precinct with this nonsense.
ReplyDeleteAgreed Kegger. But in this case at least Weber and Milar went to the precinct to file a complaint. Explain Chambers justification in soliciting a DeKalb squad car to go recover some of her stolen signs (when she was running against Roche). You can find it in the October archives of http://www.jasonpye.com/blog/2006/10/ (scroll down about 80% of the page.)
ReplyDeleteWith the police standing at her side she was able to recover many of the campaign signs stolen over the weekend after a sharp-eyed neighbor spotted a stack of them at a house in the Drew Valley subdivision.
"Accompanied by DeKalb County Police, we approached the home to ask for the return of the campaign signs."
She (or the officer) explain to the occupant of the home that removing the signs is "theft by taking"
Yesterday, the police informed Weber and Milar that they "don't get in the middle of politics."
Some consistency on police policy for these types of matters would be nice.
Well, I certainly wouldn't try to explain anything on behalf of Chambers, Millar, or any other public representative - they are big, grown-up folks and can do their own talking. And I'm not expert on the law but (the famous 'but') I can't for the life of me figure out what crime would be the subject of a complaint in this case. Threatening a law suit is not a crime. Telling someone you're angry, even really, really, really angry isn't a crime. Telling someone you might say bad things about them and their friends isn't a crime. Telling someone you wish they'd suffer horrible things isn't a crime. The more we, the public, debate these folks the more I realize the subject and the players sound like school children arguing. "Yes" or "No" on July 15, I will be celebrating the end of this fiasco. It has been a case study in mis-information, egoism, and hyperbole by both sides. And on top of that, it's turned me into a filibuster-er :)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of fights...Chamblee vs. DeKalb
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbs46.com/video/16788766/index.html
http://www.cbs46.com/video/16828139/index.html
Pretty ugly, for sure. The burning question in my mind isn't who's suppose to cut the brush but who's suppose to enforce the laws? How is it that there is so much loitering on public land?
ReplyDeleteIf I understand the situation, it is Chamblee Police Department's turf from a public safety perspective. So the Chief won't patrol the land because it's ungroomed and littered?! I guess Chamblee PD feels safe as long as there's a camera crew tagging along :-).
I'm starting to believe I'm loosing my mind. Is this video supposed to be a case against Dunwoody cityhood? Isn't this another example of the problems that lie ahead? Seems likely to be the case. Best wishes to all my neighbors, no one really cares about getting the right things done; just blaming the right people for what isn't right.