A former award-winning officer with the Key West Police Department may have the answer to some of the bizarre public antics of embattled Chief Buz Dillon.
"The guy is as dumb as a rock," said James Daniels, a former lieutenant with the department.
Dillon had recently captured national headlines after authorizing the arrest of this newspaper's editor and publisher, catapulting Dennis Reeves Cooper into the spotlight of major television news.
Daniels concluded his tenure with the department last Fantasy Fest weekend. He spoke to KWTN last week from his Daytona Beach home, pointing out that the chief's recent actions were not the first time he has been involved in trampling First Amendment rights.
While with the KWPD, Daniels had received five Officer of the Year awards, including one from the attorney-general's office for his leadership in a major drug raid.
He had worked under Dillon, the chief from a small Georgia police department, who came to Key West and instantly was labeled "Caspar the Ghost" by his subordinates.
The main reason for the moniker was that Dillon was seldom seen by anyone. He eschewed wearing a uniform for the longest time, saying he wanted to wait until he became certified as a Florida law officer. And whenever asked what plans he had for the department, his pat answer was always— "I'm still observing and evaluating the personnel."
But Dillon continued to enjoy a "honeymoon" with the local media, most of whom no doubt were still remembering the heady days when City Manager Julio Avael had engineered the removal of one chief, while the city commission had approved the hiring of another chief and then generously transformed him into one of the highest paid police chiefs in the country.
"Most people just assumed Buz Dillon's reticence and lack of overt involvement meant he was harboring profound and weighty thoughts," said Daniels. "But now we know that he just wasn't sure how to handle the job."
When the chief finally did get into the job, he went on a tear, working closely with his Internal Affairs "warrant officer," or as he prefers to be called, Inspector, Bob Christensen.
Christensen, by the way, the subject of an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, has now been replaced in Internal Affairs by Sgt. Adam Bittinger.
It was Daniels' wife, Sgt. Kathy Daniels, however, who was the first to feel the lash of the new uniform-wearing Dillon. Coincidentally, she also just happened to sit opposite Buz in some highly charged union negotiations.
In a protracted case of administrative hearings and Christensen-written memos attacking the sergeant, the officer was threatened with dismissal or demotion. City Managr Julio Avael finally stepped in and Dillon backed down.
But that didn't stop written reprimands, especially if they involved an officer speaking to the press. Lt. Gary Armstrong was given a written reprimand after responding to a press inquiry about the legality of a person sleeping in a car.
Then, Lt. Daniels himself received a reprimand, sullying his law enforcement career and an otherwise spotless 15-year record just as he was about to leave the department.
"I averaged writing 100 tickets a month and helped conduct 67 search warrants and hundreds of felony cases with special operations and I never received one single complaint," Daniels said. "I believe the reason was because I treated people with respect and didn't talk down to them."
But he did make one mistake. He spoke to the media on Feb. 17, 2000. This was apparently done with Dillon's blessing. But despite being "officially OK'd" by the department's public information officer, Cynthia Edwards, he evidently crossed the line. He responded briefly to this writer to a question about his wife Kathy, in which Daniels, while not mentioning Dillon by name, praised Avael for over-ruling him.
In response to the newspaper story, Daniels received a letter of reprimand "for statements derogatory in nature concerning the Key West Police Department." The memo was prepared by Capt. Bill Fortune and "approved" by Dillon.
Michael Braverman, the police union's Fort Lauderdale attorney at the time, was incensed. "I cannot for the life of me, after reading that article, understand why the department doesn't embrace this man (Daniels). Instead, it sounds like Daniels' reprimand was clearly retaliatory."
The attorney said at the time that the interview had been approved by the department and that Chief Dillon "is either naive that no questions about Kathy (Daniels) would come up or James was basically set up."
Braverman said he believed that someone wanted an excuse to put a black mark on Daniels' sterling record. And in words reminiscent of Dillon's more recent arrest of a newsman, Braverman said at the time that the reprimands from Dillon were designed to have a chilling effect on any communication with the media.
"What is the most upsetting is that he (Daniels) was being disciplined after he was authorized to speak to a newspaper, putting aside questions of constitutionality and free speech. It's outrageous for the chief to unilaterally tear down all the good that that man has done for the public and the department."
The Daniels departure from the department began what has become a veritable exodus of seasoned officers to other areas of the state.
Sgt. Kathy Daniels left the department a year before her husband and is now training officers for the Volusia County Police Department. While former Lt. Daniels, saying he was disillusioned after what happened to him in Key West, has left law enforcement altogether.
A longtime biker, Daniels hopes to become a sanctioned Harley-Davidson motorcycle mechanic and one day open his own shop.
"I'm in the first few weeks of a 57-week course," he said.
As for his take on the local police department's constant turnover of officers, Daniels is adamant that it has nothing to do with money. "It's a bunch of bull that the officers continue to leave the Key West department because of a lack of pay," he said.
"Kathy made $60,000 with overtime and I made $65,000. The majority of the officers leave because of Buz' poor management and the lack of professionalism."
Meanwhile, the chief continued his rampage against the media even before his notorious arrest of Cooper, making several public pronouncements that this writer made up quotes from the owner of a local restaurant critical of his department.
"Kip never talked to the man," he said. After two calls to his office inviting him to talk to the owner, who would corroborate both the quotes and the fact that he was indeed interviewed, Dillon sent word back that he would cease and desist; that he apparently had been given incorrect information.
"One of the things that makes you disgruntled about the department is not that you have a loose cannon like Dillon in charge. That happens in a lot of places," Daniels said.
"But what I don't understand is the city manager failing to do anything about it. The high turnover is going to continue as long as Dillon's there."