shiawasseecounty.net

The WORST mistake Shiawassee County has ever made was electing Jon Wilson for Sheriff. He has no clue how to run or manage the Sheriffs Department. He has literally single handily brought turmoil and an unpleasant working environment into the Sheriffs Department.

Did you know that if anyone within the Sheriffs Department runs against Jon in the next election they will be fired, demoted, or made so miserable they end up leaving?

Just look what happened to George Braidwood ( Who in my opinion was the BEST MAN FOR THE JOB) he was fired after he lost the election. He fired a man who had close to 20 years of dedicated service and who was one of the finest most talented detectives Shiawassee County has had. All because he wanted to move up in his career.
Does anyone really know Jon's work ethics? Does anyone really know the problems and troubles he has caused to the FINE men and women who currently are still employed with the Sheriff's Department.

Ask yourselves or even better ask the men and women still employed about their Boss. I can guarantee you will be shocked at their responses.

Jon Wilson does not deserve the money he makes because he does not EARN it.
I hope that someone steps up to run against Jon in the next election, and if they do watch and listen to what happens to them because of it. THEN you will see the REAL Jon Wilson

Braidwood can run in the next election.

Wilson is better than the previous sheriff, who was living in Mississippi but still collecting a paycheck from Shiawassee County. (Hint: you have to be eligible to vote in Shiawassee County to hold elective office, and living in Mississippi is not close enough.)

And Wilson is better than the Sheriff prior to him, who became his own favorite vendor, and used the office of sheriff to line his own pockets.

Who said Braidwood was fired over the election?

Just because the election happened first, that does not mean it was the cause of the firing. I had lunch at Olivers the day AFTER the election, but that doesn't mean that the sheriff had anything to do with it. Do you have any evidence about the causes of Braidwoods firing, other than the Post Hoc argument?

I will definitely say this about Sheriff Wilson, he follows through. When I lived in Lennon, I lived on a road where people would blew through the stop sign and would frequently travel well over 70 mph.

I wrote a letter to Sheriff Wilson asking for some patrols out my way. Within a couple of nights, a deputy was stationed about 50 yards away from my intersection. At night, you would never know he was there. That is, until you had flashing lights in your rearview mirror. I couldn't imagine how many people got pulled over the next couple of weeks. Until we moved, people didn't drive like fools quite as much.

Sheriff Wilson gets an A in my gradebook.

Riverman is right, he is better than the two previous sheriffs.
Still leaves a lot of room for improvement. If he is so tough on those that work for him I can't imagine anyone would give an honest answer if anyone asked about him. There is no way to know his work ethics..gag, choke...can't handle that word connected with anyone in the business of law enforcement or the legal system. None of them have any kind of ethics. I hope people speak up, so the rest of us can know more.

Riverman
I do know for a FACT that Braidwood was fired due to running against Jon in the election. Braidwood who was under Sheriff at the time was not protected by the union. Wilson made it very clear that if he won George was gone.

Wilson is only good at two things.. being a politician and a bully

It's my understanding he turned down money from the Commissioners to hire additional road patrol and turned it down because he wanted a raise.
How is that for protecting our county?

How does someone go from being a substandard deputy to being Sheriff without moving up in ranks and getting the experience. Obviously both previous Sheriff's didn't see much potential in Wilson.
As for the previous Sheriff's well I have not much to say about them, however Jim LaJoye ran that department protected our county and took care of the employees under him. There was camaraderie, they enjoyed going to work and they enjoyed protecting our county.

Politicians do smile a lot for the press. So, I'll have to agree with you that he's a good politician.

As for being a bully? He's not happy with a total package of $101,846.00 per year, so he's going to request copies of all emails "unless the amendment is rescinded."

An educated guess would be, if he wasn't afraid to act like that at an open public meeting, nothing would stop him from acting worse behind closed doors.

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"THE ONLY THING NEEDED FOR EVIL TO TRIUMPH IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING" -EDMUND BURKE

I should think any chief of police or sheriff would have sent an officer our way upon such request.

It takes more to being a sheriff or chief of police than to send officers into our neighborhoods for traffic violations.

If they aren't providing great leadership capabilities, proving fiscal responsibility or promoting camaraderie within the department, what type of police department would we have?

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"THE ONLY THING NEEDED FOR EVIL TO TRIUMPH IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING" - EDMUND BURKE

Windy

Obviously someones had a bad experience with the police. You cannot put all law enforcement officers in the same category. There are plenty of good, honest, hard working police officers in this county as well as other counties.

Here are some facts:

While on road patrol, Jon Wilson spent more time selling window installations ( a business he had on the side) than actually protecting our county.

While being the Sergeant in charge of sending deputies to various schools for training, he started sending himself to the schools listed on his resume THE YEAR BEFORE THE ELECTION. Needed something to add to his window installation job. Approximately 75% of the schools and training listed are all within the year before the election.

Previously stated by others "Jon Wilson is a better Sheriff than the previous two." I beg to differ. Do you know Jon Wilson has more grievances filed against him than any other Sheriff?

We seriously need to think about who we have in charge of keeping our county safe.

After reading through the posts I found an error on my part.


I wanted to clarify myself on my second post as I was a little anxious about finally speaking my peace and upset with the actions of Jon Wilson.

George Braidwood was not acting Sheriff, he along with Jon APPLIED to be interim Sheriff but the Committee purposely appointed someone who was not running for office. Sorry for the typo.

George Braidwood was actually the undersheriff during this time.

my2cents wrote:
"George Braidwood was not acting Sheriff, he along with Jon APPLIED to be interim Sheriff but the Committee purposely appointed someone who was not running for office. Sorry for the typo.

George Braidwood was actually the undersheriff during this time."

If he was undersheriff, that explains his firing.

I think every sheriff chooses his own undersheriff.

Braidwood and Wilson were both temporary appointees, one sheriff and one undersheriff. They both gave up the security of full time, permanent employment with the department when they accepted a temporary, political appointment.

They both gambled, but Wilson won the election fair and square, and got to continue being sheriff . He has every right to choose his own undersheriff.

Maybe you think Wilson owes Braidwood a job, just because Braidwood wants one. I disagree. Braidwood could have stayed in the detective bureau if he'd wanted to be securely employed for a long time. If Braidwood prefers to be sheriff, on the other hand, he can always run again.

Of course there are good ones. Same as everything else. There are good and then there are bad. The sorry part is the amount of damage a bad police officer can do and you can't tell me you don't know someone that has been screwed by the police. Just a couple days ago it was on the radio about a lady that had pulled into a service station. Police officer pulled in behind her and gave her a ticket for no seat belt. She told him she had the seat belt on until she got out of the car to get gas. He said he didn't see it. She went to court. Judge automatically did not believe her and told her if the police officer didn't see it, then she didn't have a seat belt on. She even showed the judge photos of how you really couldn't see the seat belt when it was on. Judge said that didn't matter. Several other people called in with similar stories. I just don't happen to feel that is in the best interest of the general public. But on that line I don't think seat belt enforcement is a very good use of public funds either.

Wilson was never acting Sheriff during the election. Keith Kewish was appointed to the position due to the fact that Wilson and Braidwood were both running for the position.

As far as Wilson owing Braidwood a job, He didn't OWE him anything. However because one tries to advance in his career it should not justify being fired. So Wilson won, so what , Braidwood was still a good, honest employee, more than I can say for Wilson. It was a personal grudge not an executive decision. Braidwood still would have continued to be an excellent detective or in whatever position he would have held.
Braidwood could have remained with the department as Detective Seargant but because he had the audacity to run against Wilson, Wilson fired him out right.
My issues are not with the election itself or who won or didn't win it's over, however I believe everyone should know the man they elected into this office.

It's ok Riverman to be pro-Wilson you just don't know all the facts yet because if you did you wouldn't be. My dog could do a better job.
I will be posting facts on just what kind of man we have running our Sheriff's Department. One that thinks he is above the law himself.

I will be posting facts on just what kind of man we have running our Sheriff's Department. One that thinks he is above the law himself.

As long as it is factual, including names and dates--also cite your sources. Otherwise, it is just heresay and gossip.

my2cents, Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn't it a fact that Jon also hired the magistrate (who had no police experience) as the under-sheriff? He then sent the magistrate through the police academy and had the taxpayers pick up the tab after the fact?

I can’t remember all the particulars but it seems Jon could have picked an already certified and seasoned officer from within the department. Unless, of course, he did not want an under-sheriff that out-shined him or would possibly run against him at a later date!

I am of the opinion that it is so wrong not to promote from within your own department and/or hometown/county. A manager, boss, or elected official that is not practicing teamwork and continually training his/her employees to take over different positions as they become vacant, needs to be removed.

Even prior to the LaJoye days we always heard that if an officer chose to run against the sheriff he/she would be fired if they lost! That's sad when we have had and; currently do have, some mighty fine officers that would do an outstanding job for the residents of this county. But for some reason the dirty politics always seems to win out in this county!

It’s a dirty shame that these politicians think no one else has the right to run against them. Candidacy is open to anyone and I admire those that toss their hat in the ring. No one should be fired or expect to lose their job because they chose to run against their ELECTED boss.

I’m more inclined to retain an elected official that was able to remove the dirty politics, prove their professionalism and welcome the challenge to prove them selves to be the best candidate for the position.

There are certain people you just don’t elect into the position of authority because it goes to their head. Many politicians abuse the system! Once elected to the position they could care less how business operates within their office because they were only after a second retirement in the first place.

Though, part of the problem is that over the years our commissioners have set these elected officials wage and benefit packages so high the officials fight tooth and nail to retain their position. Some of which I am sure, are not worthy of their position in the first place!

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"THE ONLY THING NEEDED FOR EVIL TO TRIUMPH IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING" -EDMUND BURKE

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