Mayor Parks’ home burglarized
Columnist James Ingram
Well it appears that East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks Jr.’ chickens may be finally coming home to roost when it comes to his hand-picked police chief.
Recall that back in 2007, ESL police protested Parks’ appointment of Police Chief Michael Baxton, with 80 percent of the department coming down with a severe case of the “blue flu.”
It’s only gone downhill from there. Baxton, since his appointment, was caught lying in an attempt to cover for one of his detectives (Ricky Perry) who was caught asleep (some allege drunk) behind the wheel of a city vehicle in Belleville, according to Belleville police reports.
Since that time, Baxton has gone on to distinguish himself by his uncanny, John McCain-like ability to select the worst possible candidates for the ESL police department
Back in June 2008, reports surfaced that, of 10 newly hired ESL cops, two had criminal histories, with one (of the two) having an outstanding arrest warrant for domestic battery. Two flunked out of the police academy. Then, in July, another female batterer was hired. All before background checks were completed.
Then the chief, not sufficiently embarrassed, went on to hire his son, Michael Baxton Jr., who had been released from the U.S. Army for multiple cases of misconduct and insubordination.
And, for the record, Baxton, Jr. was the “top recruit” of the bunch, until it was revealed that he had recently swiped a police car from the Brooklyn police department (in September 2007), only to be caught at the world-renowned Pink Slip (strip club).
Fast forward to June 2008, when Mayor Parks (in full propaganda mode) bragged in his “State of the City” address about how much safer ESL had become since his (and Baxton’s) arrival.
I’m sure that Parks’ is eating those words after discovering that his own home was recently burglarized. Parks referred to his misfortune as “a sign of the times,” but (in reality) the times have never changed, just the knuckleheads at City Hall.
One week ago, the ESL police union (during a press conference) announced that it had taken a vote of “no confidence” in Chief Baxton’s (and, by extension, Parks’) leadership.
Since Baxton’s tenure, as many as 150 grievances have been filed because of his failure to follow the union’s collective bargaining agreement (and the union only has 60 members, folks).
These grievances, coupled with Baxton’s questionable hiring practices, has destroyed police morale, with complaints of ineffective leadership, understaffing, lack of overtime pay and the use of probationary officers in patrols.
In short, this is yet another example of Parks’ selection of poor departmental leadership. Two months ago, I described the ineptitude of Parks’ brother-in-law Rocco “You’re doing a helluva job” Goins, in mismanaging the emergency disaster efforts in ESL.
Now, the very safety of ESL is jeopardized by infighting within the ranks of the police department. Thanks a lot, Mayor Parks.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com.