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Time for chief to arm himself with humility

By JEFF WEBB
Published February 11, 2007

It's early in the year, but I can't resist making an early nomination for the most self-serving quote by a public servant for 2007.

The nod goes to Brooksville police Chief Ed Tincher as he feebly rationalized the recklessness of a 21-year-old patrol officer who put a loaded weapon in his mouth to make a joke about how frustrated he was about the turmoil surrounding his boss and a few other city employees.

Officer John Cavanna was given a one-day suspension by the sergeant who was running the department while Tincher was on a council-ordered administrative leave. But after reviewing the Jan. 8 incident, acting City Manager Steve Baumgartner decided the punishment was inadequate. Last week, Baumgartner tacked on an additional four days to the suspension and also ordered Cavanna to attend five sessions with a counselor.

In a remarkable display of just how skewed perspectives are in Brooksville these days, Tincher downplayed Cavanna's blunder, and at the same time stroked his own ego:

"I don't think there was any intention other than it was just his way of kind of making a political statement, just a statement of how fed up everybody is with what's been going on. The crime he's most guilty of is that he respects and supports me," Tincher said.

Such loyalty is positively inspirational - and a little scary. Imagine what Cavanna might do if Baumgartner and the outside investigator the city has hired turn up something that really reflects badly on his boss or the Police Department!

Tincher's modest explanation and my sarcasm notwithstanding, Cavanna's misconduct endangered himself and the colleague for whom he was showboating. Just as significant, it reveals a lack of maturity for a person who carries a gun and the paramount responsibility of protecting the public's safety.

Further proof of that bad judgment came to light Friday when the Times learned that Cavanna, after finding marijuana in an abandoned house where six teenagers were skipping school on Jan. 17, brought them back to the Hernando High School campus instead of searching them or taking them to the police station. School administrators say that the students were obviously high and that they eventually admitted it.

School officials have some explaining of their own to do about why they waited three weeks to notify the city of Cavanna's misstep on that incident. Nonetheless, when viewed in aggregate with the gunplay and still another incident in which he was faulted for crashing his cruiser, Cavanna's 19-month career at the Brooksville PD raises red flags that even silver-tongued Tincher cannot dismiss as the well-intentioned mistakes of a fiercely devoted follower.

Law enforcement is no place for firebrands, and that goes from the bottom to the top of the chain of command.

* * *

Speaking of some things Brooksville, when will one of the Brooksville council members initiate a discussion about televising their - make that the public's - meetings?

With all that is going on in the city - investigations into allegations of employees lying and abusing their authority, among sundry other finger-pointing - it should be more evident than ever that residents need to see how their elected officials are handling this simmering crisis of misbehavior and morale.

The Hernando County Government Broadcasting department stands ready to assist for a nominal fee.

In a city where the rumors and gossip sometimes can be worse than the truth about how government operates - or doesn't - the council should welcome the opportunity to invite more of the public to watch and judge for themselves.

Jeff Webb can be reached at webb@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6123.

[Last modified February 13, 2007, 12:05:43]