Media generates controversy over Albemarle County police chief being out on medical leave

I’m all for giving hell to government over decisions and policies, but the way the Charlottesville media is playing up Albemarle County Police Chief Sean Reeves being on medical leave for clicks has me at a loss for words.

Reeves has been on medical leave since May 8, but we only learned that on Wednesday, from a story by Hawes Spencer at The Daily Progress, which made the situation out to be akin to public malfeasance.

The Progress story ended up getting played throughout the rest of the media in the Charlottesville media market like there was some kind of gotcha to the finding.

OK, so, the gotcha here is: the chief is out on medical leave, and it could be a while – per a county spokesperson, could be up to 12 weeks.

Now, if the Albemarle County Police Department was a chief, a couple of officers and a person answering the phones, maybe there’s a story here.

The ACPD has 144 officers on staff, and 30 civilian employees.

One person being out on medical leave, even the chief, can be absorbed.

The stories circulating in the media seem to hint at those reporting having some awareness of this fact – noting that there’s an acting chief in place, Maj. Camille Stewart, the deputy chief of police for professional standards and investigations.

As Abbey Stumpf, the county government’s director of communications, related in an email to Mike Barber at WINA-1070AM:

“There’s still a chief of police. She (Stewart) is the acting chief of police. Crimes are still being investigated the way that they always are. There’s no change in the day to day.”

What has been missing in the generated controversy: any sense of humanity.

Reeves is out on medical leave for up to 12 weeks, and the story is, why didn’t they tell us, not, maybe thoughts and prayers for Sean Reeves?

I’ve given Reeves more than a fair share of hell the past couple of years – over the issues with a delayed accreditation, a police training exercise at three county schools in the spring and a separate situation in the fall in which an officer showed up at two county schools unannounced, sparking fears that the local PD was running interference for ICE.

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ICYMI

• Homeland Security used Albemarle County school grounds for training
• Albemarle County: A police officer spooked students, staff, parents at two county schools

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My response to the news about the chief being on medical leave: I texted Sean last night to tell him my wife and I are thinking of him, and to let him know if he needs anything, just give me a shout.

Didn’t ask him about what was going on, like Hawes Spencer did – Hawes noted in his story that Reeves told him “there was nothing nefarious’ about his leave of absence,” and that the chief “declined to provide any details about his medical situation.”

What the actual f–k, right?

I’m as hardass about what I do every day as you can be, but at some point, we can show some damn humanity.

I’ll reserve getting mad at Sean Reeves for the next time somebody in his department does something dumb, like, authorizing a training exercise near a school on a school day.

In the meantime, he deserves to have time to focus on his health like any of the rest of us would, without having to see his name in clickbaity headlines.