Credit card abuses in other counties, how do they compare

An interesting turn of events is going on down in Jefferson County at the Pine Bluff Police Dept. In September of this year an internal investigation revealed a misuse of gas credit cards within the PBPD.

Pine Bluff police spokesman Lt. Bob Rawlinson said that now former Police Chief Daniel Moses noticed an apparent excessive use of gas credit cards and initiated the investigation. The probe "noticed some ambiguities and identified that there was an excessive amount of gas usage," he said.

One officer, Kelvin Hadley, was placed on administrative leave without pay and demoted from sergeant to patrol officer during the investigation. Rawlinson said he did not know how long the investigation would last. The investigation has since been turned over to Prosecutor Steven B. Dalrymple, the State Police, and the Legislative Audit Committee.

The Pine Bluff Commercial reported on Friday the officer Hadley’s employment has now been terminated for this offense as the investigation continues. The report also gives more details into the firing of former Police Chief Daniel Moses.

Whitmore [of the Office of Professional Standards] suspended Hadley two days after Moses was suspended by the Civil Service Commission when allegations surfaced involving the improper use or calculation of sick leave, personal charges on a city issued gasoline credit card and personal use of a city vehicle for non-department business.

Moses was fired Oct. 11 after the commission said they felt the department "needed new leadership."

The similarities to our credit card misuses are astounding the only difference is that in Jefferson County they do not let credit card abuses slide without any penalties. We will not know how big the problem really is at the PBPD until the investigation is concluded but one thing is clear, the law mean business in Jefferson County.

The question still remains why are our Prosecutors, Judges, and Lawmakers not more like the ones in Jefferson County? Why isn’t more being done to our credit card abusers than simply recovery on the misspent funds? This really is sickening to see the level protection that is afforded in this county, is there no accountability for misuses of our money?

The only one fired at the Faulkner County Sheriff’s office was a deputy who talked about the misspending with another employee, the ones that actually abused the cards are still employed. Now they will argue that there wasn’t a spending policy set by the Sheriff, the County Judge’s office, or the Quorum Court that they violated. But there are state laws that define spending and cannot be argued away. Is the Good Ol’ Boy network really that powerful or will the voters have the last word?

We will be watching the outcome of the PBPD investigation to see where is goes and if more similarities arise. We also want to extend our thanks to a fellow watchdog that emailed us this story.