Police Chiefs’ Records

By Letters To The Editor

Published: July 24, 2008

You are correct, and when you state that there is a faction of people in St. Paul who do not support law enforcement, including members of the Town Council, Raymond Trent, Sharon Steele, Kenneth Holbook and Grant Marshall. You are in error though when you state that the former police chief, Allen Porter, was fired without public input. He was first given one year to start cooperating with state and regional law enforcement agencies and crack down on crime, and he did not do so. It was so bad that other agencies made a bust next door to the police station without notifying the chief or Mayor Kiser.

Before firing Porter, the Town Council received numerous comments, letters and petitions both for and against him. The meeting went on for a long time and the council continued the meeting to take the actual vote and take up other matters on the agenda. It was at the continued meeting that no additional public comment was held, that part had already been done.

Under Chief Porter, about one felony charge per year went to the courts. Under Scott Brooks, over 40 felony charges were made in one year because he fully cooperated with state and regional investigations and kept them confidential. Scott was not given a year by the new town council to show how much more he could get done, they obviously did not want that to happen at all, nor was the public allowed any input. Instead, the four council members ambushed and humiliated him, in public, without allowing him or anyone else to speak. That is a huge difference from the opportunities given Chief Porter to first improve, secondly, be heard.

Jean Kilgore
St. Paul, Va.