Open letter to the Laguna Beach City management and City Council.
The City needs to tell the citizens of Laguna Beach what is going on with our police department.
It was recently announced that Laguna Beach Police Chief Robert Thompson, recruited only five months earlier, was resigning.
Laguna’s City Council members often say the City’s top priority is the safety of the community.
On May 21, the Orange County Register reported Laguna Beach Employees Executive Board released a statement expressing the board’s disappointment in Thompson’s resignation. The article said Thompson was “precisely what our department and members needed.” And “Under Chief Thompson’s leadership, employee morale has vastly improved, productivity and efficiency have increased dramatically, and we are on route to becoming the world-class police department that our citizens deserve.” And “Morale was the highest it’s been in years, and there was no end in sight.”
This week Stu News and the Laguna Beach Independent reported former Laguna Beach police Chief Robert Thompson will be reinstated as the top cop in Dixon, Calif. effective May 31.
So, the question is “what is going on here?”
It sounds like Laguna’s rank and file felt he was “precisely what our department and members needed.” And his former employer welcomed him back.
Laguna prides itself in having its own police force, and most residents have high respect for and confidence in our police.
But, with no information being provided by the City, rumors are running rampant and if the City will not be open and provide accurate information to its citizens, rumors will be all we have. And trust and confidence in the police and city management could suffer.
Don’t let that happen. It is in everyone’s best interest for the City to be truthful with its citizens.
John Thomas, Laguna Beach
Thank you for speaking up John. The city’s suspicious handling of this employee situation certainly has raised the public’s concern level. And their silence when probed by stakeholders for an explanation is even more concerning. Since when do city managers get to ignore public requests for information that has financial implications as well as possible legal ramifications? And since when do constituents accept “no comment” from their public officials on such serious issues like top-level employee resignations and lawsuits being filed against us? What has happened to government transparency in our city? The loss of it allows for mis-conduct and possibly corruption to run rampant. Laguna residents – demand answers and accountability from city officials.
Do gag rules supersede the public disclosure residents deserve? Or is it time to submit another FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) to the City Clerk?
Our city manager is a micro manager times ten. Transparency and honesty from the city is laughable