Published: July 07, 2008 08:02 am      

Grand jury commends police officers

The outgoing Madison County grand jury noted significant improvements of the work of the officers of the Richmond Police Department Thursday in its final report.

During the January-June term, the grand jury met 19 times and heard more than 175 criminal cases investigated by Madison County law enforcement agencies.

“While previous grand juries have been critical of the (Richmond Police) department, we have no such criticism to make,” the report states. “The work of the detectives has been excellent. We thank Chief Larry Brock for his leadership of the department and commend him and all the officers and personnel of RPD for their efforts in correcting the problems encountered by previous grand juries.”

A grand jury report in July 2007 also commended the department for their improvements.

However, a December 2006 report by the grand jury listed multiple problems they observed in cases brought by Richmond police, including “incomplete investigations with insufficient follow-up work; bad judgment; procrastination; poor communication between officers and poor preparation.”

“The consequences of these problems is inconsistency that affects the ability to do justice,” the report stated. “Some officers did an excellent job with their cases; other officers, either from ignorance, laziness or attitude, presented poor cases that resulted in dismissals, amended charges, or required extensive efforts to make the case prosecutable. We believe proper supervision would eliminate most of these problems.”

Brock said he was pleased that the grand jury recognized the gains that the officers have made.

“The men and women of the Richmond Police Department have worked very hard over the past year to improve their performance and the delivery of their work product to the citizens, prosecutors and the courts,” he said.

“I would also like to personally commend the officers of the department for their hard work and dedication to making themselves better,” Brock said. “They are the ones who truly deserve the recognition for the gains we have made. I am very proud of them.”

In its report, the grand jury also thanked Madison Circuit judges Julia Hilton Adams and William T. Jennings, who both recently announced their retirement, for their service.

Adams said she would remain as a senior judge for five years, hearing cases as assigned.

“We thank you for your dedication to the rule of law and for ensuring that the citizens who appeared before you were treated fairly, equally and with the dignity and respect deserved by all,” the report states. “While your successors will no doubt continue the tradition of excellent judicial service we have enjoyed in Madison County, the standards you have set will be difficult for them to attain. Your wisdom, caring and work for the cause of justice has been greatly appreciated and will be missed by us all.”

Bryan Marshall can be reached at bmarshall@richmondregister.com or 624-6691.