By: Diane Benjamin
This make TWO officers since May, the first one fired: https://blnnews.com/2021/07/07/remember-the-normal-officer-arrest-for-dui/
I received a tip from a reader about an officer being placed on administrative leave. The tipster thought the officer quit. It took two FOIA requests and a “look again” to find out he was fired.
My first FOIA was filed on June 19th. I asked for all complaints filed against any officer and all disciplinary reports for any officer in the last year and a half.
I did not received an answer in the required 5 business days, they extended it so legal could review the documents. I have some other information I haven’t written about.
The officer I was looking for was not included in the FOIA, I asked them to look again. A few days later I received the Amanda Street documents in the above story.
Since I still didn’t get any information on the officer I was looking for I FOIA’d him by name.
His name is Lt. James Ferguson. He was fired for falsifying the hours he worked but getting paid for them anyway.
Excerpts from the document below
The investigation is 13 pages long and very comprehensive:
Lt. Ferguson stole money from the Normal taxpayers. What I don’t see is any charges filed against him.
I wonder if the police are part of the “professional staff”.
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Diane, I do appreciate your hard and dirty work you do on behalf of the citizens and taxpayers.
All it takes is curiosity. Journalists lost theirs.
What about the other town staff who have caused monetary loss to the Town of Normal? There are plenty of examples that have cost taxpayers more, for example the f-up with loosing the at grade crossing at the Amtrak station, mistakenly paying property taxes for years, not collecting sewer tap on fees, etc. All these people got to keep their jobs with annual raises and Cadillac benefits.
They got re-elected, so few in Normal must care
A friend of mine just retired from NPD after 22 years. Seems early but I get it in today’s climate. I hope they are hiring replacements. We need to back the blue.
I wonder if he falsified his time when the stores were being looted and vandalized last year?
You mean just watching was working?
Nothing like pissing away a six-figure pension over trying to steal some extra vacation days. “Lt.” Ferguson is lucky he isn’t getting a felony charge for theft.
Now he can go to work in some little small-town department for $20 an hour. It’ll be quite a change in lifestyle.
Do you know if he is appealing?
No