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Home » Community Forums » Past News Articles » Potomac News

Haymarket Police Follies Must Stop

Submitted by Webmaster on Wed, 05/09/2007 - 8:53pm. Potomac News

Haymarket police follies must stop
(Click above link to read full article.)

Opinion by the Potomac Newspaper!!!

Potomac News
Wednesday, May 9, 2007

There's something rotten in the state of Denmark. Oh wait ... no, that smell is coming from the town of Haymarket ... once again.

During the past two years, the shenanigans at the Haymarket Police Department have been a source of embarrassment and concern.

Former Officer Robert A. Hoffman Jr. was accused in late 2005 of guarding an illegal poker game in Fairfax County.

Police Chief James E. Roop and Sgt. Greg Breeden were both suspended for 15 days without pay in June 2005 after Hoffman filed complaints with the town that the two made sexually explicit comments on the job, creating a hostile work environment.

In September 2005, Breeden's estranged wife tried to get a restraining order against him after he allegedly tried to break down a door in her home in August 2005.

These are the people charged with protecting the citizens of Haymarket?

It is almost absurd to think that people involved in such situations would still be on the job, but they are.

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt. That is all in the past. They have seen the error of their ways, right? Wrong.

A 17-year-old Haymarket girl and a 30-year-old town police officer, Benjamin L. Ishmael, have now filed complaints with the town against Roop and others on the force.

Ishmael and the girl allege that Roop and these other officers have accused them of having a sexual relationship. This has resulted in embarrassment and distress for them, they say.

The girl has also filed a complaint with the Commonweath's Attorney's office explaining how Roop and other officers questioned her to the point that she was in tears.

Is addition, Ishmael alleges that Roop and Breeden have used inappropriate sexual language daily at work. This is similar to complaints made by Hoffman, which led to Roop and Breeden being suspended in 2005.

Ishmael himself faces charges in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court: contributing to the delinquency of a minor and giving a cigarette to a minor. The charges stemmed from an incident earlier this year when a witness allegedly saw Ishmael give a cigarette to the 17-year-old girl and allow her to smoke it.

While the truth about these situations may not be clear, it is obvious that something is dreadfully wrong at the Haymarket Police Department. An investigation must be conducted into what is happening there.

While police officers are often held to an unrealistic moral standard -- one that calls on them to be almost saintly -- they should at least be able to avoid obvious ethical lapses.

The officers of the Haymarket Police Department seem unable to do that.

If they can't straighten themselves out, it is the ethical obligation of the town to get to the bottom of the situation and determine why the Haymarket Police Department, again and again, finds itself in the pages of this newspaper.

Enough already. This is ridiculous.

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Town meeting

Submitted by facts4you on Thu, 05/10/2007 - 6:15pm.

My opinion on all this crap that has been mentioned in the papers is just the start of what the future holds for us as citizens of Haymarket. I am not too happy right now with the town council or the mayor. The reason I am upset is that the police department has been an embarrassment to our town for the past few years. The police chief and sergeant have been the root cause of this negative publicity of the town. I don't care if the mayor wants to point fingers at former officers to be the reason, but we all know that it is the two that are still working for the town that has been the cause of all the trouble. Why is the mayor protecting these two and not listening to the people that put her in office. Does she not know or realize that she is not doing herself any justice by keeping the two around any longer than what they have been? By keeping the two officers she is making her own self morals and ethics questionable because she is covering up for them and not representing the town as she should. She needs to put her friendship with them aside and do the right thing. That would be to terminate the both the chief of police and his sergeant and finish what should have been done two years ago. If she even wants to be mayor again she will need to clean house first and that will require her to get rid of the dead weight! Open your eyes Mayor or we will make sure you lose your comfy seat between the board members!

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Tired

Submitted by TownResident on Thu, 05/10/2007 - 10:19am.

I say have the mayor removed from office since she is obviously turning a blind eye to the corruption of the police department. The chief and sergeant have given the town a black eye for over two years now and we deserve better. They wont discuss these issues with us at meetings so we wont discuss how we plan on voting the mayor out of office until we are ready. I think when we have a petition of 500 or more signatures from the town residents requesting the town council to remove the mayor and fire the chief and sergeant maybe someone will understand the frustration we have!

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sure

Submitted by enforcer on Thu, 05/10/2007 - 11:02am.

I agree with you that the mayor needs to be held accountable along with the entire town council. They had the options on several occasions to terminate the employment of the Chief and Sergeant based on several factors that they were both involved in. I can not believe that they are going after Officer Ishmael with so much force and what they have put him through based on a third party complaint. I hope when all this is all said and done that the mayor is removed along with every member of the police department. The paper was right, the Haymarket Police is the laughing stock of every department in Virginia. No other police agency has ever had this much trouble with the chief and the next in command and kept their jobs. This does smell rotten and the smell is of a corrupt department and mayor!

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What

Submitted by concerned citizen on Thu, 05/10/2007 - 6:26am.

What does it take for the council and mayor to see that their police department is not competent of performing their duties properly and staying out of trouble? The chief and sergeant should have been fired along time ago and I do not understand why she sticks up for them time and time again. This makes no sense! The whole agency looks bad right now and has been for the past two years. Things will not change for the better as long as the two are in charge of the police department. Mayor, you can be assured that this is the last time I vote for you and I will do everything in my power to get my neighborhood to vote you out of office when the time comes. If you don't fix this problem and quickly, we will all assume you are part of it. Stop being so friendly with them and do what is right or get out of your office position. Any normal person can see that this agency is the black sheep of Northern Virginia.

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