The Cost of Inept Leadership

What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect they must be ethical, decisive and steadfast in their decisions and free from emotional biases of political agendas.

When a subordinate is deciding if he or she respects you as a leader, they do not think about your attributes, rather, they observe your actions to decide whom you really are and what you’re about. They use these observations to assess if you are honorable, trustworthy, and a decisive leader or if you are a self-serving person who misuses or abuses authority to give a false façade in an attempt to gain promotion. Self-serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because they present this false façade to their superiors at the expense of their subordinates which hang in the balance.

Now this article is not meant to contrast and compare leadership principles and traits, but to bring attention to the actions of the current administration as it relates to the poor leadership examples, directions and the resulting dangerous consequences.

The Eye would like to take you back to the recent St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the Valley Area Command. That area command has the difficult task of protecting citizens, bar patrons, businesses and home owners from the celebrations that can be fun, raucous, and sometimes dangerous in the bar packed areas in and around Central Avenue.

Lieutenant Dodi Camacho was the acting area commander for the Valley Area Command. At her disposal was (2) valley grave squads, (1) relief squad, SWAT, and K-9 unit. Combined with (2) Lt.’s and (2) Sgt.’s along with a secured radio frequency. Those units were confined/ordered to the area around Central Avenue leaving only (4) officers in the entire area command to take calls for service while operating on the Valley Area Command dispatch channel. The Valley Area Command stretches North of Paseo Del Norte all the way to the South Valley; South of Gibson and bordered by I-25 to the East and the river to the West. Given the size of the Valley Command this is a difficult task for two squads to handle calls for service let alone just four officers.

At approximately 1:35 A.M. officers were advised by radio to use caution in the area of 1521 Broadway Blvd SE. 911 had received a call reporting a black male was seen walking with a rifle in front of the Elks Lounge (case #12-0024672). This type of call would normally gather the attention of any officers rather they are busy or not. But, as fate would have it, only two officers were available to be dispatched. Additional information was relayed; the male was seen near a black SUV with no license plate. The officers located a black Ford Explorer with a temporary license tag on the rear window parked along the street at the dispatched location. As the officers carefully approached the vehicle with weapons drawn they were met with the frightening staccato cracks of a .223 caliber rifle being rapidly fired in their direction ten to twelve times. The shots were being fired from what appeared to be a concealed position located from the Southeast side of the intersection of Broadway Blvd and Dan Ave. As officers dove for cover and relayed critical information to the dispatcher another ten to fifteen shots were fired at the officers. While the officers frantically asked dispatch for assistance they continued to give vital information over the air so responding officers would not accidently drive through or deploy in the potential “Kill Zone.” But, no back-up officers came, at least not for another 30 minutes!

Meanwhile downtown; Acting Commander Dodi Comacho was over encumbered with extreme political pressure from Mayor Berry. This pressure was driven home by the Mayor’s number “One” political puppet, Chief Ray Schultz. The pressure/message was that Downtown Central Ave better go smooth because your job (Comacho’s) depends on it. Comacho was-cracking like a brittle twig. Comancho enbarked on a distructive path of bad decision making. Comacho is advised by several officers including members of the APD’s elite Tactical Unit (whom by standard practice monitor different frequencies) shots were fired and officers were calling for assistance. Acting Commander Comacho advised the Tactical Units that were leaving, to assist officers being shot at; she issued them an “order” not to leave! Comacho stated Downtown was the priority!

Officers were not called from another Area Command; officers were ordered not leave; the lines of communication broke down as did the leadership and decision making ability of Acting Commander Dodi Comacho.

Disregarding Acting Commander Comacho’s order, Tactical Units responded and arrived at the scene 30 minutes after the initial call of shots fired. This left officers pinned down the entire time and according to the police report, officer could see muzzle flashes and could smelled what they termed as the heavy smell of live ammunition from where they were taking cover. Officers were unable to locate the offender who had used rifle fire to cover his escape. Officers did discovered two vehicles hit by gunfire in the parking lot of 1601 Broadway Blvd SE, the windows and the wall of the El Michoacano restaurant was also struck. A total of forty-eight .223 caliber shell casings were also located spread out over a large area, twenty-five to thirty-five casings were located in the middle of Dan St. Fifteen casings were located grouped directly in the path where the officers were seeking cover. All the casings were recovered and tagged into evidence.

The CADS (Computer Aided Dispatch System) timelines this horrifying event:

0133 hrs- call received and created

0135 hrs- voiced and dispatched

0140 hrs- Shots fired

0210 hrs- Tactical Units on scene

Thankfully, no citizens were injured while sitting or sleeping peacefully in their homes by an errant round. We are sure the officers that were pinned down by live gun-fire will be forever grateful to the Tactical Units who know their SOP and knew the orders given by the Acting Commander Comacho were illegal and they were not bound to obey such an illegal order. This time God’s good graces or whatever your beliefs are- were with the officers and they went home safely to their families. But it most certainly wasn’t because of the strong leadership of the Valley Area Command that night. If this is true; Acting Area Commander Comacho committed malfeasances of duty. We believe these actions are more indicative of the type of leadership fostered and coddled by the Shultz Administration. Can we say Fascism? Apologies; we already mentioned Shultz.

There are many different theories on leadership and what makes a good leader. One of the most common principles for a subordinate when assessing a leader, especially in jobs where lives are at stake, where life and death decisions are made in milli-seconds; those subordinates want to go home safely to their families’ each and every night. They want to know that their supervisors have their health and welfare in the forefront of their minds when faced with decisions day in and day out. They also want to know that if evil rears its ugly head their leaders will use every resource available to ensure the safety of the public and the safety of those they are sworn to protect.

This warrants a formal investigation which should lead to severe discipline against those in charge. Don’t worry Schultz, we already know you’re not going to do anything. Why? Your claim to fame; “I know nothing!” You keep proving it.

When there is another police shooting, the stains of blood are on your hands for being an inept failed leader. Of course Hitler never cared whose blood was on his hands either…