Dear Editor,
As a Gilroy resident for more than 56 years, I find it disconcerting and extremely appalling to learn of secrecy and arrogance on behalf of our leadership at the very top of our local city government and police department. Once the news broke of secret employment status and arrangements for our police department leadership, it became further troublesome in that our city leaders did not see the seriousness and potential damage now evident in the trust and support of our rank-and-file police officers and Gilroy’s residents.
At the onset, when the Dispatch first reported this secret, under-the-table activity, I wondered what the specific dialogue might have been between our administrative leadership, Jay Baksa, and the two top police department administrators, Greg Giusiana and Lanny Brown. My reasoning told me that keeping all the arrangements secret must have been discussed, including the potential fallout should someone discover it. Furthermore, it occurred to me that others in our city’s leadership probably knew of the arrangements and decision to keep it secret. I could not fathom how others would not have known, and to my knowledge, this has not been addressed, at least not publicly.
I have known Greg and Lanny for many years and have always admired and respected them. I believe, overall, they have provided our community with great service through their leadership within the Gilroy Police Department. However, we are now in a precarious situation where the very foundation, our rank and file police officers, and our community, are losing their faith and confidence in how that very leadership conducts itself. Where the example of transparency, leadership, respect and honor should have been provided, we now have a disaster potentially leading to further chaos.
It is not acceptable to have police officers believing they have been lied to or mislead by their own leadership at the GPD or City Hall. This can adversely affect the very public safety and security, we as residents, reasonably expect from our public safety officers. We cannot afford to have police officers going around with a bad attitude or lack of respect for their leadership that might spill over onto the very community they are sworn to serve. When that trust and confidence is lost, the direction and progress of the team is almost always diminished.
These developments are difficult to swallow but I believe good will come out of this troublesome situation. Certainly, our City Council would have asserted its role and responsibility to our administrators of being included in any such arrangements in the future. It is reasonable to expect that a team leader would advise his/her team of any changes in their status. And I certainly hope that our city leadership would easily see that when any city business/decision has been kept secret from the City Council, public, or its affected department, especially in a time when “transparency” is an overused word, that it would be reasonable to expect at least a little “hoopla.”
Greg and Lanny, I know you are in a tough situation, but it has been brought about by your decisions and I hope you do the right thing, not for you, but for the police department and our community.
Ernesto Olivares, Gilroy
