I am puzzled by the decision of the Saanich Police Board to allow the chief to retire and then to rehire him at increased salary along with a substantial payout.
This seems to say there is nobody in the senior ranks of the Saanich Police who could be promoted into an acting capacity while a new chief is recruited.
I am certain that there must be at least one member who could have been promoted. Isn’t that how the current chief achieved his position?
This whole fiasco shows an appalling lack of succession planning by the Police Board and the current chief of police. In his many justifications for this bizarre decision, the mayor never says it explicitly but the meaning hangs in the air like a bad smell.
How will this misguided action affect the morale and expectation of future advancement among Saanich’s very competent and expert senior police officers? Will they now look elsewhere?
Failure to plan for an obvious need is a failure of good management by the Police Board and the chief who knew his departure was on the horizon.
Valerie Sullivan
Saanich