Is Warren's police chief losing his effectiveness?

As one bizarre situation after another keeps the public spotlight trained on the Warren Police Department, the question of Chief John Mandopoulos' effectiveness looms large. Have the two years and seven months as the city's top cop taken such a toll on Mandopoulos that he is now simply going through the motions?
Last week's decision by Mayor Hank Angelo and Safety-Service Director Fred Harris to conduct a review of the chief's behavior in May at 77 Soul, a nightspot popular with the black community, speaks volumes. Angelo and Harris also stepped on Mandopoulos over his handling of a complaint from a city resident who said he had been the subject of a body-cavity search after being arrested on traffic charges.
The chief found no wrongdoing on the part of the two officers who conducted the search, but Harris made it clear last Wednesday, after a closed-door meeting with Mandopoulos and the mayor, that the issue has not been resolved.
"I told him that I want the complaint returned to me no later than next Wednesday," the safety-service director said after the 90-minute session.
Internal affairs
The fact that Lt. Joseph Marhulik, internal affairs investigator, concluded that Patrolmen Tim Parana and Robert Trimble violated state law and departmental policy did not seem to faze the police chief. That's disturbing.
We believe the time has come for Angelo and Harris to not only examine the recent events that are reflecting negatively on the police department, but to review Mandopoulos' record as chief to determine if there is a pattern of behavior that might be at the heart of the problem.
As we said in an editorial July 20 regarding Mandopoulos' videotaped performance outside the nightclub, "... it appears to show the chief of police setting a horrid example of unprofessional conduct for his officers. And it is especially troubling because the chief has every reason to know that his department's relationship with the city's minority community is a matter of serious concern.
"Given that, there appears to be no good reason why the chief would behave in a manner that can only be described as demeaning, and could be viewed as provocative."
Disgrace
This is the question the mayor and safety-service director should seek to answer: Why would the highest-ranking police officer in Warren behave in a fashion that was bound to anger the black community and bring disgrace to the department? It may well be that the chief is so secure in his position that he believes he is accountable to no one.
The admission by Parana that he strip-searches every male he arrests is cause for concern. It demonstrates that the officer either has not had the proper training in all aspects of police work or that the department is being run so loosely that members of the force do as they please.
Either explanation bespeaks a systemic problem in the department that must be addessed immediately.