Where’s the common sense?

If a Tazewell County sheriff’s deputy’s sworn duty is to protect and serve the citizens of the county, and instead he uses on-duty time to carry out personal business, that is one offense that should justify firing that employee. That is common sense, right?

If a video shows corrections officers using what many felt was excessive force in controlling a female prisoner — a prisoner that was half the size of the male officers — they should be disciplined for their actions. That is common sense, right?
The Tazewell County Merit Commission found that the three Tazewell County Justice Center corrections officers did not violate policy in the Oct. 17 incident involving justice center prisoner Becky Behm.

In the Behm case, the merit commission pointed to the jail’s written policy, saying that the policy did not indicate censure or discipline of the employees was in order.

If the policy makes it OK for corrections officers to bounce a woman’s head off the wall and punch her in the face for being drunk and disorderly, it certainly needs to be changed. For those who side with the officers, put yourself or a loved one in Behm’s shoes.

In the matter of Jeff Bass, the officer who was found to be conducting personal business, while earning the county’s dollar, the commission elected to send him back to work as a deputy.

Where is the common sense in sending Bass back on patrol? No matter what policy is or is not established in writing, wrong is wrong and to ask the officer’s real bosses, the Tazewell County taxpayers, to accept Bass’ slap on the wrist, while sending him back to work, just flies in the face of common sense.

More than anything, residents and Tazewell County officials are seeking to understand these merit commission rulings of the past couple of years.

According to Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston, the merit commission was developed nearly 40 years ago to eliminate politics from personnel-related decisions.

This is the fix for a previously bad situation? After these recent rulings, it leaves Tazewell County residents wondering about the merit commission members. Who are they? How are they appointed to represent me, the Tazewell County citizen? And why do their rulings seem to fly in the face of common sense?

The story and sidebar in this week’s edition describe the appointment procedure and the reasoning behind the commission’s existence. But further illumination on these quizzical commission rulings does not exist.

Apparently the members of the merit commission feel they have taken too much heat on these issues and they have opted to invoke the silent treatment, refusing to return calls in the past few weeks or comment on the matters.

But Huston argues that the policy is clear-cut and far from arbitrary.

How the policy needs to be fixed has Huston perplexed.

What is clear in this entire situation is the lack of constructive communication between board members and county officials.

Countywide policies, not just jail policies, need to be evaluated — a process that has just begun, county board member Melvin Stanford said.

Stanford said the county will benefit from the hiring of a human resources director, which should assist the county in handling personnel matters, as well as ethics. That is a move in the right direction.