Only In Lumberton
I just left Municipal Court and while siting in the audience waiting for the judge to appear, I noticed Timothy Ryan Byrd dotting back and forth between the police department and the clerk's office. I started asking questions and I was told that Byrd is now working as the Secretary for the Lumberton Police Department. He was not wearing his gun belt or handcuffs, but he was still wearing a police uniform. I was told that Dennis Hobson had notified Alderman Bobby Gibson that Bryd's certification was not re-instated and that Gibson allegedly told Hobson to "find a position for Byrd and we [Crider, Hale and Johnson] will vote him into that position at the next board meeting." Only in Lumberton. According to the letter that was sent by Lumberton's insurance carrier, the board of aldermen were instructed to remove Byrd from their payroll immediately if his certification appeal was rejected. Instead of going through proper protocol, Gibson allegedly informed the head of his police department to just find Byrd another job. For those of you that don't know the rules of this game (and apparently our aldermen fall into this category,) department heads do not have the ability to hire, fire, promote or demote an employee. The board of aldermen make those decisions, at the recommendation of the department head. Since the news broke of Byrd's loss of his certification, there has not been another board meeting; which means he should have been suspended or terminated until the next board meeting. In the meantime, Byrd is still getting paid as a certified officer but he's now working in the position that was vacated by Sharese Pearson. Although the new appointment is not legal and have not been "officially" voted on by the board members, Byrd is receiving getting certified officer pay and he's no longer certified. If he's being re-assigned, and given the position of Police Department Secretary, then he should receive the same pay that the previous clerk received and that's $8.00/hour @ 32 hours per week. I guess this is something they will discuss at the next board meeting, during executive session. In the meantime, court was cancelled due to the weather and everyone will be called back in January, 2012 to have their hearing.
It amazes me that Hobson was more than willing to get rid of certified officers, but he's fighting tooth and nail to keep a non-certified officer on the city's payroll. I don't care why Byrd lost his certification. If he lost it then he needs to be gone. There's all this talk about doing background checks, but if this board would have checked the background of Hobson, he wouldn't be the cheif and they would have checked the background of Byrd he wouldn't be the new secretary. Question. Do you know how to use a dictaphone Byrd?
ReplyDeleteI was at court last night and my case is based on things that was done by Byrd. Now that my case has been put off until January, I am getting my lawyer to deamnd he show that he's certified, I'm not leaving it up to the public pretender to do the job. I hope everyone else with a ticket or arrest by Byrd do the same. I know Byrd is still anwering the phones at city hall as Officer Byrd but he's now Secretary Byrd. Thanks for the info Jon and I will be forwarding this info to my attorney.
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