So some of you thing the police are scared of the DA coming after them next because they have something to hide huh? That is hilarious. If there is any fear from them regarding the DA it's because his abuse of power has no limits.

I little insight into your beloved DA, when he was still in his private practice at the office on Mockingbird there were many complaints from the other tenants about him continually parking in a handicapped spot. He was ticketed time and time again and still blatantly refused to move his vehicle. When I say blatantly I mean he verbally expressed his refusal to do so.
If you want to know alot more truth read what I've posted under the "Police Chief Indicted" story. I think alot of you will be enlightened.
The officers aren't scared, they are MAD. This town will be lucky if they have any officers left to protect them after the slap in the face they have received. I wonder what everyone will do then??? Maybe then a little respect and appreciation will appear, you know hindsight is 20/20.

Kevin Lawrence says he is afraid of the almost unchecked power of the DA's in Texas. Law enforcement never complains about that power unless it is focused on them. As law enforcements says when it interviews folks...if you have nothing to hide you don't have a problem.

 
Well southtexas,
You an I are not likely to agree till all the facts come out but I think that in this case, the D.A. is the one who has shown "blatant disrespect for the law" by abusing his authority to indict people. I'm very sure that Mr. Tyler has finally, really stepped on it and this will come back to bite him in his nether region.
You're right, there's going to be some red faces and perhaps loud silences when it finally hits the fan.... I'm really looking foreward to it!!!

This town has been in need of a house cleaning for a long time.
As I recall,since the days of Monty Marshall.

Where is the "if you got nothing to hide" crowd ,when it comes to people they know and respect....Shoe is the other foot now.

Shurlee....What does blantant disrespect for the law mean to you. Tyler is not going crazy; he is rounding up the crooks. It's about time somebody had the guts to do it.

LATET INDICTMENT....

Now the mayor and a police Lt have been indicted! Where will it all end?

Has Tyler finally gone off the deep end? Do the terms power-mad ring a bell? Abuse of power? Official Oppression?

"Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive."

Perhaps the City Manager and the Deputy City Manager are next - maybe even the City Counsel members who voted for the City manager' raise.

I'll give Tyler one thing, he sure has made life in little ol' Victoia interesting!

If laws were broken, especially perjury, then integrity has been compromised and the system is broken and must be fixed. I won't be surprised however, if we don't see an exodus of officers from the police department in the wake of all this. A man can't be asked to work with and rely on an individual (such as the DA) and have to wonder if he is going to treat you fairly, or possibly hurt you as part of a personal grudge. What a mess this town is. I hope the truth comes out and I am talking down to the last man. Personally I bet there will be a lot of black eyes sustained before it is all said and done.

I think the Victoria cops on the beat both in the Sheriff's Department and the police Department are doing a damn good job. That statement cannot apply to every single employee I'm sure as there are always a few slightly rotten apples in the barrel. But let me make it absolutely clear that I have nothing but the greatest respect for anyone that would take on the job of being on the street in law enforcement.

I remember one morning when I was going to work about 5am and there was a policeman....patrol car pulled over to the side, with an obviously drunk half naked man hanging on to the open back door of the patrol car while he puked.....traffic was slowly passing....and just as I waited to ease around the patrol car, the drunk spit a mouth full of vomit in the face of the policeman. The cop, a young man, probably in his twenties....grabbed the guy firmly but not with undue force and turned his face away....no brutality...just firmness. I thought to myself...I don't know if I could do it. And, having friends that are in law enforcement I know that is just a small example of what these men must endure to protect the public.

Having said that....I think the problem with law enforcement in Victoria is not with the cop on the beat, or the detective but with leadership. Our Police Chief and our Sheriff set the example.

Do Victoria cops ever operate in a gray area? I can't imagine the ranting about how this statement is a horrible insult to all policeman. The person who wrote that is very naive, or very young, or has never thought much about what being a policeman means.

The situations that policemen deal with every day do not always have a black and white answer. Rules cannot be made that cover ever single weird and perverted situation they have to deal with. Of course they must sometime make decisions that might be in the "grey" zone. However, overall they do a great job, and try their best!

However when LE leadership choses to fight and stomp their feet, and tote their bedrolls, and take the law in their own hands by blatantly providing information to the press inappropriately and then lying about it under oath...what are the people who work for these idiots supposed to do? It reflects on them, when it shouldn't. But then again, when those who give them orders refuse to take constructive criticism from the D.A. to increase the chance of convictions....the low guys on the totem pole must follow whether they agree with the boss or not.

And what a disservice to the taxpayers and the policemen to hire a man as the Chief of Police who has commited both unethical and self serving infractions in a previous position and who has been fired. Why, why in the world was this man hired? Since this has come up, I have heard the same rumor from several different people as to why Mr. Ure was given the Police Chief position. I hope it is a false rumor and I am not going to repeat it, however there has to be something....some reason that Victoria would choose to hire a fired Fire Chief as their Police Chief.....does that make any sense at all?

The policemen have no need to worry....hopefully the good that will come from this is that we will get some responsible leadership in law enforcement.

Those attacking Tyler seem to be ignoring the accusations made in the indictment.
Perjury, for a la enforcement officer, is very serious. The community places a lot of trust in these men and women. Imagine for a moment that an officer takes the stand to testify in a simple speeding case.
"Your report states you clocked my client going 10 mph over the speed limit," the defense attorney might say.
"Well, not really clocked," the officer might say. " didn't clock him. He looked like he was speeding and 10 mph seemed like a nice round number."
That would be perjury.
An officer who is willing to not tell the truth in a sworn report will cast a bad light upon the rest of the department.
Yes, there are many hardworking people in the police department. Most all, I am sure, are honest and only want to do what is right. It is the few others that cast the shadow doubt upon the whole department.
If Ure is innocent, then I will be grateful because I would hate for that shadow to be cast upon every officer in blue. Only time will tell. He is innocent until proven guilty.
If it is true that any officer lied under oath, it will cast a shadow of doubt upon any investigation that he or she was a part of.

oh, come on. It's not like the chief commited murder or robbed a bank or pointed a gun at someone for sexual favors or anything that serious in his past! It's not like he's involved in some type of cover up, like other people. Him and the other people who are supposed to or have been indicted were probably just doing their job investigating and a certain somebody didn't like that. This is just what Tyler wants. I'm not defending anybody till the truth is all out, but I can see the bigger picture. Tyler seems to be wanting to take attention away from the Ratcliff case and on to someone else. Hello, the man used to work in his office. Do you think he really wants that type of attention on the DA's office? He doesn't want anybody digging around there! He's turning the tables. He doesn't want to look bad because somebody who worked w/ him did something wrong. BUT I COULD BE WRONG. JUST HOW I SEE IT. yeah, so I'm gonna log off now for the day. This is just a bunch on nonsense. Just had to put in my 2 cents. Have a nice day everyone!!!!

I'm curious about the poster who stated that VPD operates in a red area...what's THAT about? Please explain. And providing us with some evidence of credibility would also be nice.

My goodness! Some people are jumping off a deep end here. Athena, dont let this ruin your day my friend :) No one has posted such information on this forum about the VPD. Further, please realise that Victoria Advocate is just trying to bait us all with this story. They are drumming up drama and fear because it will sell their crappy paper :)

If anything, Ure's managers should be held accountable and if more indictments are handed out they should be to Charles W. and Charmelle G. Today.

Nice biblical quote, JWayne. Just hang in there, VPD.
No one will arrest you if you are innocent. Pretty soon the voting populace of this town will have their say. I promise you, we won't be re-electing "Opie", "Howdy Doody" or anyone else with red hair and glasses.

Blessed are those that are persecuted for rightousness' sake, for their reward will be great in heaven.

Blessed be the peace keepers, they shall be called the children of God. :) Be strong, you are not alone, the cause is not yours.

BH, How dare you  IMPLY  that the VPD has been operating in a grey area?????!!!  OMG, you are so wrong!  WRONG! WRONG! I am appalled at this idiocy insinuation of yours. You have insulted EVERY officer with the Victoria Police Department with you insinuations! You, sir or mamn are so very, very wrong!
I HIGHLY respect the VPD. I HIGHLY respect Chief Ure. What you have stated is once again a message-from-Tyler proving his hatred for our LE.  Tyler has a vendetta and you are so way off base.

Several years ago, I found myself in a similiar situation, but in private business. The v-p who headed my division had a series of self serving operations enriching him personally through his position. When he finally tripped, he fell along with a couple of his sidekicks. I questioned whether some of those "co-conspirators" were really guilty, and who might be drug into the mess that had zero ability or knowledge to control the situation. After a few months, it became clear that only the guilty were disciplined and our business climate improved gradually over the next years.

My advise to officers at VPD is to keep doing their job. If you have been operating in a "grey area", stop immedately. Clean up your act. Don't cover up oyur actions or knowledge. Stay away from rumors and rumor mongers. This too will pass and likely improve after an extended time.

Only the guilty should be in fear.

For all those who are so quick to support and defend Bruce Ure, here is an article from the Houston Chronicle:

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/arc...

The article states he used the the city-owned copier for his personal business...not just a copy here and there like many employees do. The article also says he used other equipment for his personal business. Isn't that theft?
Would you, as a taxpayer of that city, want your tax dollars used that way?

He made flight reservations after being told not do do so (apparently by a supervisor). I would call that willful, purposeful disobedience.

The article also states the city manager upheld the firing of Ure. And, apparently, Ure was not successful in his lawsuit agains the city. So that tells me the city had legitimate, legal reasons to fire him.

He used a city cell phone for personal use. Yes, the article states he paid the city back, but it is not clear if it was after he was caught doing it or not. Besides, a policy is a policy...if the city said no personal phone calls...then there should be no personal phone calls on a city owned phone. How much productivity time was lost by the city?

I am a businessman. If an employee of mine did these things, I would fire them. I work in the private sector, and I would expect public sector employees to abide by the rules as well.

Would you continue the employment of an individual who engaged in these activities?

Why was all of this not made public when Ure was hired by the City Council?

THIS IS THE MAN WHO IS AT THE HEAD OF THE VICTORIA POLICE DEPARTMENT. I understand that this does not mean he is guilty of what he has been charged with here in Victoria...but it does kinda make you wonder what kind of person he is, right?