Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell, who once infamously said that he was “God’s choice” for Police Chief isn’t working out.
“You need to take a step back,” that’s what Chief Revell told elected City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow on Wednesday night when confronted with questions from Matlow and his colleague Commissioner Jack Porter.
If there was any doubt that Chief Revell has become a distraction from the mission of the department, it was dispelled during that meeting.
Revell was clearly annoyed by questions about TPD engaging in training with controversy-plagued, war criminal Eddie Gallagher, a former Navy SEAL: “We’ve answered this, and I hope this can be the last time.”
The problem is, when TPD appeared recently before the Police Review Board, knowing they would face these questions, TPD sent a representative who had no connection to the controversial “Warrior Mentality” training that was advertised. The Chief was a no-show.
Revell attempted to cloud the issue with “Uvalde.”
Sir, the panoply of Texas cops that refused to “go through that door” all had plenty of post-Columbine training. It wasn’t lack of training, they were scared to death.
Revell’s dogged attempt to defend the training because SEALs “are some of the best trained warriors on the planet” might warrant some revision in light of the recent New York Times report “Death in Navy SEAL Training Exposes a Culture of Brutality, Cheating, and Drugs.”
“Let him finish,” Mayor John Dailey, — himself prone to anger spells– had to say to his hand-picked police chief, after Revell repeatedly interrupted Matlow. Even the Mayor could be seen as visibly annoyed with Revell’s act Wednesday night.
And this is no one-off of “warrior mentality” training for a vital tactical unit. As reported by Our Tallahassee, TPD spent $100,000 on a recruitment video, narrated by Chief Revell, that charitably could be described as militaristic.
As for Revell’s — Aw shucks! — dismissal of TPD’s being used in marketing and career rehabilitation of a war criminal?
Our Tallahassee broke the Gallagher story late on a Sunday night and by Monday morning Gallagher’s Manhattan attorneys had contacted us regarding the story. None of this stuff happens by accident, and we were not intimidated.
We believe that the department cannot move forward under his leadership. Revell’s tenure leading the department has rocked from one scandal to the next. Unfortunately for the members of the police department, the vast majority of Revell’s public embarrassments have involved Revell’s own conduct, decision-making, and unapologetic bluster, and have had little to do with public safety or the management of the department and the safety of our community.
There are cities where most residents would support the militaristic approach to policing Revell favors and his Pray the Gay Away mentality. He should seek employment in one of them.
However, Tallahassee is not a battleground. We are a proud, diverse city, and Chief Revell has become a distraction from addressing the serious public safety challenges Tallahassee faces
5 Responses
He’s not deserving of the position any way !!!! He’s prejudiced period!
Yet one more example of why we need a nationwide search for a new city manager.
The deck is stacked against those who ask legitimate questions. I believe we should go further up the chain to get to the root of a lot of these problems. Jeremy Matlow is the proponent of a new city manager. Perhaps Tallahassee can move forward on this issue with new leadership in the mayor’s office.
Crazy how if your not part of the Good ole Boys and Girls club your shunned. I wouldn’t want the job if I were him. The way crime is in this Town it’s only getting worse. This didn’t just start getting this way it’s been getting dangerous for years and years now. They will look for a scapegoat to push the blame on. Let the animals run free. Officer training should be talking to a person in a calm matter as a gun is being pointed at their head or politely knocking on a drug dealers or Armed robbery , Rape , kidnapping , assault suspects door and asking them to please come out and let them search the house. Certainly not kicking in doors to lock up these parasites up. Lets see how people feel when it’s on their doorsteps in the better neighborhoods like Killearn, Betton, killearn Estates and so on. I have a idea maybe they can replace him with Scott Maddox? Or Andrew Gillum ? That’s something to think on. Well enough of my suggestions until the Next batch of politicians get swept up in the next Investigation. (Coming soon! )
I guess this News paper is into sencoring / silencing peoples comments.
This is all part of the long running replacement objective. They didn’t want him and still don’t want him. I’m no huge Revell fan, but the fact remains: Cops are not trained to deal with criminals who are trained.
Meaning, cops do okay against common knuckle head criminals but they will not be able to deal with a criminal or terrorist event based on what they learn in a Police Academy. Most Police tactics are never vetted against somebody who knows what they are doing. If we, as a community, want an element inside the first responder options that has actually been taught things that have been shown to work against a trained and motivated opponent, the US military is the best source. Does nobody on the commission understand that “training camps” for extremists exist here in the US? Nobody at that training center even knows Police Policy or Police Use of Force. They don’t teach who or when to use these techniques, they teach how.