Petition to Remove Shane Prickett from the office of Chief of Police, Florence CO
Petition to Remove Shane Prickett from the office of Chief of Police, Florence CO
Why this petition matters
Please only sign this petition if you are a resident of the City of Florence, Colorado.
Introduction of Shane Prickett from the City of Florence Website:
Welcome to the Florence Police Department Website! My name is Shane Prickett. I began my career with in Florence in June 2003 as a Reserve Officer. After becoming a full time officer in October 2003, I was promoted to Sergeant in 2007, then Lieutenant in 2012. I was appointed to the position of Chief of Police on November 15th, 2019.
The Florence Police Department currently consists of: Chief of Police, Deputy Chief, Lieutenant, 2 Sergeants, 2 Detectives, School Resource Officer, 6 Patrol Officers and 2 Reserve Officers.
Some of the goals of the Florence Police Department are as follows:
Vigilant proactive policing - instead of reactive
Community Policing – walking, talking, listening & understanding members of our community
Strong intergovernmental agreements with local, state and federal agencies
Maintain the long term stability of the School Resource Officer program
Engage our young adults and build a strong Police Cadet program
Provide the highest quality police services to the people who live in, work in and visit our community
I am honored to serve the citizens and visitors of Florence! I know that in my time as Chief of Police that the officers and I will meet and exceed all of the goals listed above.
Thank you!
Chief Shane Prickett
End of Website Introduction
During his time at the Florence Police Department there have been many incidents with Shane Prickett that have been in media and some that never made its way to the public. Some of those later incidents are enough for him to loose his POST certification.
This petition is to advise the City of Florence that the Citizens have no faith in the Chief of Police Shane Prickett and want him removed from this office. This petition is also to the State of Colorado POST Board to ask them to look into the current certification of Chief Prickett and ask them to revoke his POST Certificate so he can no longer be in a position to take advantage of people. This is also a Petition to the 11th Judicial District to invoke the Brady Ruling on Chief Prickett for his continued behavior and dishonesty.
In 2012 Prickett was the subject of a Pueblo County Investigation that stimmed from Prickett texting two Female employees sexually offensive material.
In 2013 Prickett was the subject of a federal law suit that ended up with his name in case law and the city paying out a large lump sum of $32,500.
https://www.chieftain.com/story/news/local/2013/11/28/woman-to-get-32-500/9183341007/
In 2015 a female employee resigned from her position due to inappropriate behavior towards her from Prickett. She filed an official complaint against Prickett and an investigation from Lt. Ingle was conducted which resulted in a letter which was found in his personal file, which stated that the female employee would have a strong case if she wanted to press the issue (speaking about a law suite), and that Shane Prickett's file is one of the worst files he has seen of an active police officer. So what else was in his file that we do not know about?!?
In November 2019 Prickett was appointed to Chief of Police by then City Manager Mike Patterson but was appointed to interim Police Chief earlier in the year. Since Prickett took over as Police Chief he has had almost 20 Police officers resign from the Police Department since his takeover. Almost half of those Officers had been working for the City of Florence for more than 4 years and some in upwards of almost 14 years.
Once the City of Florence became under scrutiny over allegations of sexual misconduct by the City Manager Mike Patterson we have seen multiple incidents which bring the character of Shane Prickett into question.
Chief Prickett, during an executive session of city council, revealed that he had evidence on cell phones relating to this incident but failed to advise anyone of that when he found that information out. City Council Members were actually alarmed by the fact that Prickett did not come forward about a crime with this information sooner and they felt that he was holding it in his back pocket to be used for his benefit. City council members had stated that they had lost faith in Chief Prickett.
Chief Prickett is questioned as to the hiring of his son, which was not budgeted for, instead of hiring Police Officers.
Misuse of COVID funds for the Florence Police Department.
As the Chief of Police you are held at a higher standard and the Chief of Police signed off on all of these payroll slips knowing good and well that the individuals that were taking off sick time were in fact not due to COVID.
Chief Prickett goes through a mass resignation where multiple officers resign and complaints against the Chief are brought to light
Employers Council full Review of Complaints against Chief Prickett
His reign of the Chief of Police needs to end. He has proven over the last two years that he won't do the hard things when he needs to. He won't stand up for what is right, as shown by not reporting the text messages he had on his boss about criminal activity.
THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!