Former police Chief Jerry Nystrom tendered his resignation on May 2, 2011 and at that time Mayor Dim appointed Assistant Chief Gabe Matosich to act as interim chief. Gabe has over 23 years experience in law enforcement. He moved to Havre in 1997 and quickly attained the rank of Sergeant and was promoted to Assistant Police Chief in 2008.
Contrary to the popular belief amongst the Havre police force that Gabe would be permanently promoted to Police Chief we have just learned our beloved Mayor has taken it upon himself to offer the job to an out-of-state individual thus kicking Gabe back down to Assistant Police Chief. From what we can learn this came as a shock not only to the local police force but also to the city council members who have apparently been kept in the dark thru this whole sham.
What are you thinking Mr. Mayor? Hasn’t there been enough discontentment in our local force already? Leave it to a former sheriff to think he is the wisest of the wise when it comes to law enforcement issues but he should know above all others that this little behind the scenes maneuver will cause problems within our force.
We will bring you further details as we hear them.
I don’t think many officers are happy that the Chief’s job was just given to a retired officer from the Maricopa Police Department in Arizona. The reason cited by the mayor for passing over appointing Gabe Matosich to the Havre Chief of Police position was that he didn’t have enough experience.
ReplyDeleteGabe has been in Havre 14 years, he has been Assistant Chief since 2008 and he has built a new home here so he has shown he is here to stay. How much experience does it take to manage a police force of less than 20 officers? The Havre department’s biggest problem has been high turnover and then the Mayor adds to the problem by importing someone new when we have a qualified candidate right here that is established in our town.
Go figure
This interesting point of view was just e-mailed to us by a person unconnected to the police force that wishes to remain anonymous.
ReplyDeleteThe turn of events may be because of a past lawsuit won by Bill W. against Tim. If Gabe moves up then Bill W moves up. Not something that Tim wants to do. When it was taking so long to appoint many knew it was because Tim was trying to find someone. Just thinking
Do we have a reason why Chief Nystrom suddenly quit? Did he move out of the area? Did that assault thing by PJ's have anything to do whith it?
ReplyDeleteIf any of this is connected, a decent Havre paper would have investigated. Since really nothing has come out, does anyone in the blogosphere have any info?
I never heard why he quit.
ReplyDeleteHe moved out of state
The PJ’s incident took place after he gave his resignation
Bringing in someone from Az doesn't seem like the proper thing to do but maybe Tim had some valid reasons
ReplyDeleteDeconstructor
Was the brawl at PJ’s anything special? I rarely see any action taken when drunks brawl on the weekends. Do you expect any special attention to this one just because a former cop’s wife was involved?
There are just a lot of unanswered questions.
ReplyDeleteIs there a connection also with the folding and insolvency of the Vets Club that he was heavily involved with (wasnt he managing it for a while?)
All of these things are the business of Havre tax payers. He was in charge of a police force that many people see lacking in ethics. The lack of decent journalism in Havre has allowed these types of situations to flourish.
People at this point in time become reliant on rumors, or information coming from an anonymous blogworld.
A little digging, and a journalist may have uncovered information the people of Havre may have been very interested in.
People should also be very wary of the idea of bringing in someone from the Maricopa (Yes that is Sheriff Joes county) where anyone concerned with civil rights should be appalled at the treatment of inmates. I have heard some inmates state they would rather be in Guantanamo.
It is easy for a society to want harsh conditions for criminals. It is not a good thing with a local law enforcement that is not only corrupt but also punative in its disgression.
This story really needs investigation.
Bringing in someone from "Sheriff Joe's" crew should make our local "teaparty" reps happy Maybe he can show Wendy how to get her militia bill passed and show Kim how to discriminate against fellow Montanans. They couldn't get it done by themselves but this should give them hope if we are stupid enough to send them back to Helena.
ReplyDeleteDidnt the one you call dim used to be sherrif? Maybe its just a old buddy he's helping get a job. I bet he shops in Great Falls too.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Superman on the Pj’s incident. We have bar altercations every weekend yet you never see anything done in the court reports. The Nystroms moved away
ReplyDeletelet it go
I noticed in tonight’s Havre Daily that the Mayor is trying to keep information hidden from us. If he offered the job to the Arizona man like everyone about town is saying why won’t he talk about it? What is he hiding?
Wendy and Kris (not Kim) will be getting my vote again because they didn’t try to hide anything they were doing like the locals here do. Also they both actively supported my hunting and gun rights
From everything I have seen about Maricopa County I like. Prisoners have to work, they live in tents without cable TV and air conditioning. They eat very basic plain food.
ReplyDeleteObviously our climate wouldn't work for tent living up here, then again prisoners huddling in sleeping bags probably wouldn't cause very many problems in the jail.