The Journal Gazette reports this morning on the daylong public meeting of the sheriff's merit board into whether officer Brent Whan should be fired for "anger management" issues -- a temper that the board's attorney says puts the public and his fellow officers at risk:
After bungling a radio conversation, Whan was too angry to leave the squad car and assist a state trooper, Baker said.
After less than a month of training, the two officers argued, prompting Baker to end that day's session. Baker then recommended that Whan not finish the training.
Whan's attorney says the officer has a diagnosed sleep disorder and suffered stress from a condensed training program that also contributed to his irritability. But his training officer said he was not merely grumpy -- he has a temper that is "out of the ordinary" that he can't seem to control. We can't judge from this distance which side is more correct, but if Whan does have an anger problem, he's in denial about it. That's a bad combination for a college basketball coach, let alone someone who carries a gun and has the power of arrest. I like the police officers I encount
