Silence speaks volumes
An open letter to Vacaville Police Chief Carli:
No doubt you are tired of hearing from me. This is my fourth letter to you — with zero response from you (only a stock response from your spokesperson). You may not even read this letter, especially since you have one foot out the door.
I don’t know you. But I would guess you were a good police chief. However, I take issue with your lack of defense of your canine officer (dog) who was beaten by his human partner. You have asked the community to reserve judgment and wait until the investigations (three according to Kris Concepcion) have been completed. Sometimes it’s not necessary for four or five-month multiple “investigations” to determine that it is wrong for an officer to beat his canine partner. No matter what angle you look at this, It. Was. Wrong. The offending officer should never be permitted to work with dogs again.
I have been reading the articles in the Vacaville Reporter regarding your retirement and the accolades given by school children in honor of your service. In the March 11 article “A Sweet Show of Appreciation,” you brought donuts to the Vacaville Neighborhood Boys & Girls Club. In the article you said your favorite assignment was as a K-9 officer. The article reads “because, well, dogs.” If this is true, Chief Carli, you would be just as outraged and disturbed as myself and thousands of true animal advocates over the treatment of a dog under your leadership. I don’t know the inside workings of a police department. But from my vantage point I can only surmise two things:
• Your statement to the children that in your decades of service your “favorite assignment was as a K-9 Officer” does not seem to me to be an accurate statement.
• Your hands are tied to do anything about this case of animal abuse — perhaps because of the police union that protects (human) officers, often at the expense of the safety of the public.
If you really do care about dogs, you’ll stand up and do the right thing. Your silence is speaking volumes — and none of it is good.
— Renee Crevelli / Vacaville