Warren’s new police chief sworn in amid controversy

Try as he may, Chief Tim Bowers of the Warren Police Department won’t be able to start with a clean slate as he tries to make people forget about his predecessor. John Mandopoulos. That’s because work-related misbehavior involving four ranking members of the department has not been satisfactorily resolved. Bowers’ inexplicable reversal of his original order demoting the individual at the heart of the incident raises questions about his commitment to changing the image of a police department gone wild created by Mandopoulos’ irresponsible leadership.

Bowers, who was sworn in Wednesday, is a veteran cop in Warren, which gives rise to the notion that he won’t be as tough on the men and women in blue as he needs to be.

The way he has dealt with Sgt. Emanuel Nites certain gives credence to the notion. Nites is on leave without pay for three months for missing 22 hours of work — 14 dates — and collecting $831 in pay. The sergeant showed up late for work or left work early to coach his son’s basketball team or watch his daughter’s high school basketball team.

In early August, Bowers, who was acting chief at the time, announced that Nites was being demoted to patrolman, resulting in a $3.35 an hour drop in wages, and would be suspended without pay for 10 days.

But in early September, Bowers permitted Nites to sign an agreement that gave him back his rank and pay as sergeant. In exchange, Nites received the three-month suspension without pay and benefits.

In the agreement, the rogue cop — how else do you describe an individual sworn to uphold the law who had no qualms about walking off the job 14 times? — admitted to being absent without leave, failing to report to roll call and conducting private business while on duty.

“That’s huge,” said Bowers. “It’s the first time he admits he wasn’t following the rules.”

Now compare those salutary comments with ones made by Warren’s safety-service director, Doug Franklin, in reference to the punishment given to three supervisors who enabled Nites to game the system.

Lieutenant’s position

Sgt. Mike Albanese, a 38-year department veteran, was working as a lieutenant’s position the day Nites was gone for 3 hours and 20 minutes, according to Franklin.

“He is clearly not qualified to be a lieutenant and should be banned,” from working in that position in the future, he said.

As for Lt. Eric Merkel, Franklin wrote in a letter: “He was instrumental in the three-month perpetuation of fraud on the city that included three subordinates.

“Lt. Merkel was personally involved in discarding an official document, falsifying payroll records and willful dereliction of duty.”

Indeed, Franklin said that he did not believe a 10-day suspension was sufficient “without his [Merkel’s] acknowledgement of wrongdoing.” However, he deferred to Chief Bowers’ decision.

Albanese was suspended for five days, or 50 hours; Sgt. Dan Mason, who was commended by Franklin for being forthright during the investigation — he acknowledged that he was derelict in his duty as a supervisor — received a 20-day suspension, or 200 hours.

That’s because 11 of Sgt. Nites’ 14 absences occurred while Mason was his supervisor.

Through his unvarnished evaluation of the behavior of the three supervisors, the safety-service director is serving notice to members of the police department that misbehavior will not be tolerated,

We previously called on Franklin to publicly render an opinion about the punishment Chief Bowers handed to Nites. We repeat that call.

We do not believe that Bowers acted in the best interest of the police department or of the taxpayers of the city of Warren when he reversed himself on the demotion of the sergeant.

Such flip-flopping gives rise to all kinds of speculation — none of it positive.