 Erlenbush
arrived on the scene in the later part of
2006 as a consultant hired by the city to
audit the police department after a series
of complaints voiced by the state's
attorney's office.
In May of 2007, after the resignation of Chief Robert Rawlins,
Erlenbush was offered the job of police
chief by then-Mayor Beth Davis-Kavelman. He
promptly turned down the offer.
Later he would agree to serve as an
interim chief for one year.
Now, nearly three years later, Erlenbush
is ready to re-enter retirement.
Monday night, as his last official act as
chief, he delivered a departing speech to
the council, recognized all of the officers
of the Lincoln Police Department and offered
some special awards to a select few.
Below are excerpts from a copy of the
chief's final words to the public.
Mayor, city
council, department heads, distinguished
guests, and the public, I get by with a
little help from my friends.
I want to take the opportunity tonight to
say some things about the Lincoln Police
Department.
This is a great end for me folks, I get to
retire for the second time, still in one
piece.
Before I do that I want to introduce my wife
Lynette. Behind every good man, they say
there is a strong woman. I've got news for
you; behind this strong woman is a meek and
cowering man that knows how to take
direction.
I guess I want to start out first by
thanking the former mayor Beth Davis-Kavelman.
She appointed me the first time, then the
second time and that lasted a lot longer
than I thought it would, but it's been fun.
I've enjoyed it.
She's not here tonight, I did have a
telephone call from her today, so I
appreciate her confidence. I would like to
thank all the council members, both present
and past. I certainly appreciate your
support.
I have learned a lot about city government
I've learned a lot from each of you
individuals here. You came to me often with
concerns or complaints from the public and I
think we've addressed those properly. You've
got a tough job to do and you don't get a
lot of thanks for it. So by gosh, I'm
thanking you all tonight. I appreciate what
you do.
I'd like to thank City Attorney Bates. We've
had numerous and long conversations. You've
given me some a lot of advice and some of it
I ignored. The bottom line is Bill it was a
privilege to work with you.
Mr. Plotner I want to thank you for all your
kind words and encouragement. It was a
pleasure working with you also.
I probably forgot somebody and if I did I
apologize.
I want to thank the press who challenges us
all to walk a straight line. If we don't we
get our name in the paper or the agency in
the paper. Press, you've been good to me,
you've been good to the agency and I
appreciate what you do.
So much for a year as interim chief huh? I'm
finishing up just about three years now, and
I tell you it has been my privilege to share
a uniform with these officers.
I wore a couple of other uniforms. I wore a
sheriff's uniform I was proud of that. I
wore a state police uniform I was extremely
proud of that and I am equally proud of the
Lincoln City Police Uniform.
So I thank you folks for sharing this
uniform with me.
On my first day on the job, I started with a
department meeting a little while ago I
ended it with a department meeting.
I told the officers when I came in that
Lincoln Police Department was their agency
and I would be the caretaker for a while.
Little did I know it would be three years
worth.
But I've enjoyed every minute of it. It is
time for me to move on. I have a lot of
other things I want to do with my life.
Being a police officer has been truly a
labor of love and working with you folks has
made that even more enjoyable.
When I started as a result of the audit, I
had a number of things I had in mind for the
agency. But my primary goal was quite simply
to leave the agency in better shapoe than I
found the agency, and that is not a
negative. I will tell you that I think that
has been accomplished.
And, that has only been accomplished because
of all these people you see in this room.
The job of a police chief is dependant on
the officers getting on board, and these
officers got on board.
I'm proud of them. Without there support and
dedication, nothing would have been
accomplished and that is the bottom line.
I simply set a course of action for the
agency this was done by way of instituting
minimum performance standards. The officers
grumbled about them every now and then, but
they still went out and did their jobs.
I received monthly reports on all their
activity and I have to tell you across the
board every officer did their job.
I had some primary areas of focus, the first
training. Training is the backbone of a
professional force. That is the bottom line.
The Agency has got to continue doing that.
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top of second column] |
Erlenbush went on to say
that he's seen notable drops in citizen
complaints about the department.
He noted investigations the
department has handled, including murder and
aggravated kidnapping, again praising the
officers for their hard work.
(Click on graph
for larger image.)
He handed out a graph showing notable
improvements in police activities over the
last three years. He said traffic stops had
risen 78.6 percent; tickets and warnings
increased 81.4 percent.
"I don't know if you're impressed or
not," Erlenbush commented, "but I am."
Accidents are down 22.8 percent over the
three-year period. Erlenbush credited that
to officers on the streets making those
stops and getting drivers off the road
before an accident occurred.
He also noted the calls for
service, saying that "if anybody wants to
say that the Lincoln City Police Department
sits around and doesn't do anything, they
need to look at this."
In 2009 the police
department received a total of 21,820 calls
for service, an increase of 56.1 percent
over 2007.
As his last act Erlenbush
awarded five medals and awards to members of
law enforcement:
-
Cpl. Robert Sherren was given the
Officer of the Year Medal for 2009.
-
Detective Sgt. Paul Adams received a
Medal of Merit for exemplary
performance, as did Deputy Chief Michael
Geriets. Geriets was praised for his
invaluable role as the chief's deputy.
-
Cpl. Jim Rehmann received a Medal of
Honor as acknowledgement of his service
to his county in Afghanistan.
-
Patrolman Mike Fruge was given a Medal
of Valor for his role in the arrest of
Michael Knuth.
-
Logan County Sheriff Steve Nichols was
recognized for honorable service for his
role in the Gee Family Homicide Task
Force investigations and the subsequent
arrest of multiple suspects.
Erlenbush addressed all the
officers:
"It has been my privilege
and pleasure to serve you as your chief. It
has been a personal honor to share the
uniform. The Lincoln Police Department is a
very good agency with dedicated officers.
"I've had the good fortune
to travel around the country and meet a lot
of police officers in many different
jurisdictions," he continued. "The last
thing I do when I leave a jurisdiction and
those police officers is to simply thank
them for their service."
He ended by saying, "Tonight
I thank each of you for your service: for
what you do today and what you will do in
the future." He then asked that everyone
give the officers a round of applause.
When Erlenbush was finished,
Mayor Keith Snyder spoke briefly, saying, "I
know you didn't want any fanfare for
yourself tonight, but on behalf of the city,
I want to give you this plaque."
The mayor read the plaque
aloud, which said: "To Stuart Erlenbush in
recognition and appreciation of dedicated
service to the citizens of the city of
Lincoln as Police Chief May 2007 to March
2010."
The mayor ended by saying,
"Since you didn't want any fanfare, we'll
call it non-fanfare cake and non-fanfare
coffee out in the hallway."
When Erlenbush offered his
resignation in November 2009, he stated that
he came out of retirement to take the
chief's position and that he has enjoyed it,
but he's been in law enforcement 31 years
and is ready to give it up.
He said he hopes to rebuild
his private consultant business and spend
time as most retired people do: doing things
he just really wants to do and enjoying
life.
[By NILA SMITH]
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