Police chief explains why so many tickets were written for town’s code enforcement and he did not wait for specific complaints; And he does not like this blog

By John Estridge

At the Brookville Town Council meeting Tuesday night, May 11, a couple of Brookville Town Council members and the Brookville Police Chief addressed an editorial that was published on this blog concerning the town’s recent clampdown on enforcing property codes in the town. Also, they addressed questions from the audience.

This ranged from trailers and other things being kept on residents’ property, unkept yards and vehicles parked on the wrong side of the street.

One male got it going from the audience saying the police officer who came to his house gave him the wrong information concerning boats being stored on one’s property. However, Brookville Police Chief Terry Mitchum said the man in the audience and others who had complained about officers giving them the wrong information have not supplied him with any names of the officers in question.

“I had an officer come to my house a few weeks ago,” the male said. “I had a boat parked halfway on my driveway and halfway on the road. He told me it had to be moved. I had someone come and drop me 10 ton of driveway stone so I could extend my driveway and park it off the road. So, this past Friday he came to my house and said it had to be moved. That’s when I went to the police office and talked to the head man in the police department (Mitchum) and showed him photos of what I had. He said that was fine.”

The male said the police officer in question told him and another person he knows on the same day the police were enforcing the code and writing tickets because BTC President Curtis Ward wants money.

“Told me and told another person that this was going down because Curtis Ward needed money,” the male said.

Mitchum said not only does he not have the officer’s name, but he knows that did not happen.

“I told you that did not happen,” Mitchum said. “I’ve never told any officer that the board has given me direction on how to do my job.”

Ward said this is a good opportunity for Mitchum to get with his officers and explain to them exactly what the codes say.

Also, Ward was critical of the male for complaining on social media before contacting Ward and BTC member Brooke Leffingwell and getting the facts straight.

“Do you think it would be appropriate to ask … before challenging an officer?” Ward asked.

Later in the meeting, Observer reporter Bridget Hayes pointed out the council members do not have contact information like phone numbers or email addresses on the town’s website in order for people to know how to get in touch with them. Leffingwell said everyone contacts her on Facebook. Mitchum cautioned against giving out phone numbers because that could lead to harassment.

Up until late last year, the code violations were handled on a complaint by complaint basis. Once a complaint was made, an investigation ensued and then corrective action, if needed, was done. For the last several years Brookville Town Administrator Tim Ripperger handled the code complaints. Last year, some 12^th Street residents said their complaints about a property with junk and garbage in the yard as well as an unkept yard was not adequately addressed by Ripperger. After that, the town council, at that time, moved the code violation enforcement from Ripperger to the police department.

Mitchum explained why he no longer waits until he receives specific complaints to act. He said after his department took over the enforcement, he started receiving complaints on different issues involving the ordinances in the town.

“I started getting complaints from the town citizens on wanting me to enforce the ordinances,” Mitchum said. “They talked to me specifically on what ordinances they wanted me to enforce.”

He said there were more than five people who complained. And they told him they were scared to file a complaint because their neighbors would know they filed the complaint, and there would be repercussions from their neighbors.

“Basically, I listened to certain people tell me what they did, and I thought about it,” Mitchum said.

He then said an 80-year-old man came in to talk to him. That man told Mitchum, the man had always been a law-abiding citizen, and he raised his family to be that way also. However, he told Mitchum he was disappointed in Mitchum because the man’s neighbors parked their cars the wrong way and had junk out in their yard and that made him live in fear.

“They run wild in this town while we have to abide by the laws of this town,” Mitchum said the man told him. “And you allow it to go on.”

Mitchum wanted everyone to think about that and what that meant and how it made Mitchum feel to have that man say that to him.

“I’ll be damned if I’m going to enforce the law on one end of town and let it go on the other end,” Mitchum said. “I don’t care who it is even if it’s the board. As long as I’m the chief, I’m going to enforce it to everybody.”

According to Mitchum, at previous BTC meetings, he has been begging people to abide by the codes.

“I don’t want to write tickets,” Mitchum said. “Please, clean up your yards. Please park your cars the right way.”

Mitchum said parking cars on the wrong side of the road is dangerous to the town’s children.

“Why should somebody live in this town and be in fear of their kid getting ran over because people driving down the wrong side of the road and parking?” Mitchum asked. “I can’t live with that if that happens, not on my watch.”

That was when Mitchum talked about the blog.

“But you have people in this community that take things like this blog you’ve all read,” Mitchum said. “Some of you have liked it and some of you said he was spot on. And you just fueled it, well think about what you fueled: My officers got yelled at for doing a job I told them to do. Nobody’s perfect, and I’m going to find out the two officers I have a problem with, and I’m going to fix it.

“But none of those people (council members) came to me and ordered me to do anything,” he continued. “None of those citations were written to pay for the cost of annexation. None of them were written for the pool. None of them were written for anything other than what I got from the complaints from law abiding citizens. Is it fair for me not to uphold that law when it’s on the books? Should I look at that person and tell him to go home to his wife and say I’m sorry? Or should I fix that problem? So, I fixed that problem.”

He said everyone had two months to get ready for this, and everyone knew about it. If they had any questions, they should have contacted him.

“I’m the easiest person in the world to get a hold of,” Mitchum said. “I will deal with anybody’s problem day or night.”

He said he really cares about this community.

“So when I enforce something, it’s because there is a reason,” Mitchum said. “It’s not because of the town.”

He said the council members were picked on unfairly as none of the council members had anything to do with the ordinance enforcement.

Also, in the editorial on the blog it claimed a person called Ward and Ward told that person it was Mitchum who was behind the tickets, and that same person then called Mitchum and Mitchum told that person the town council members forced him to do it.

Mitchum said that did not happen. No one called him that he told anything like that to.

“I want to know who called me,” Mitchum said to those in the audience and asked them to hold up their hands if they had called him. No one held up a hand. “It didn’t exist.”

Mitchum said the headline on the blog: “WARNING WARNING WARNING” was to get people to read it. Mitchum then said the blog stated the tickets were for the annexation, the pool, the town hall.

EDITORS NOTES: The blog did not say the tickets were written for the pool. It did say the money might be used to pay for the annexation costs, the golf course and the new town hall the council members have promised the town’s residents. And the headline is from the television show “Lost in Space” when the robot often said: “Warning Warning. Danger Danger Will Robinson.” I may be too old for most people who are still alive to know that.

BACK TO THE ARTICLE

He said an article earlier on the blog was titled “Chief Mitchum strongly enforcing ordinances.” Parking the wrong way was one of the ordinances supposed to be enforced, he said. Mitchum also said if he has to pick and choose which laws to enforce, he will turn his badge in.

Another person in the audience asked if the town police are going to write citations at Whitewater Canoe Livery on the west side of Brookville. Mitchum said the canoe livery is not in town limits but is in the county. However, he said if people want to complain to sheriff Peter Cates, then Mitchum said Cates would look into that matter for them.