Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Mental Status Evaluations

I think Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr., needs to be examined by a professional.  His behavior is getting more strange and he has exhibited an ongoing inability to work with others. 

The latest news reports wherein Sheriff Clarke wants to privatize jail health care is a symbol of someone dealing with a very limited perception of the problems that exist in the Milwaukee County Jail.

Sheriff Clarke's ego seems to stand in the way of all progress.  There was a time when the Milwaukee County Jail functioned very well, it had a Director of Health Services, it had a Chief Physician, it had a Chief Psychiatrist.  Unfortunately, the threat of having three competent people housed under Sheriff Clarke's roof was too much for him.  He fired the Director and the other two medical men retired at the first available opportunity.

Sheriff Clarke can run things.......but he runs them into the ground.  It is time that Milwaukee County recognize the symptoms of mental illness and demand an evaluation of Sheriff Clarke.  Come to think of it, my own experience working at Milwaukee County was constantly maneuvering around the crazies in the system.  The place is a hotbed of nut jobs.  I think it will be Milwaukee County's unraveling if they don't take some action against the kind of behaviors that create the disharmonious atmosphere that exists in most departments at Milwaukee County.

In my career at Milwaukee County, I had one boss who drank himself into a stupor everyday at lunch.  He returned to work surly and obnoxious.  When I reported it, my job was written out of the budget.  I had an underling who accused fellow workers of poisoning her (she was the only poison in the department) and I dealt with people who got self-righteously angry if their personal phone call gossip session was interrupted by my asking them to do some part of their job.  Local government here in Milwaukee, at least at the County level, is entrenched in ridiculous behaviors and emotional ineptitude.

But I digress. 

Sheriff Clarke is costing Milwaukee County (i.e., taxpayers) money.  Its time someone woke up and passed the lithium.

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