When tainted ABC Enforcement Director Boyce Hamlet was appointed he made incredible statements to his staff that he would make ABC Enforcement the most elite and respected law enforcement agency in the state.
Hamlet even boasted that ABC Enforcement was trying to be a better agency that the state police!
That is laughable considering that Hamlet's law enforcement career only exists because he hid his hiring and firing by the Arkansas State Police (for cheating on an exam and then lying multiple times to state police investigators) from employers and filed false documents with law enforcement certification agencies in Arkansas and Mississippi.
And that fact was confirmed and pointed out by a circuit court judge who ordered the state to release the entire State Police investigation file on Hamlet.
Despite all of Hamlet's rhetoric, the Arkansas Tobacco Control agency has bested ABC Enforcement and it is head by a former grocer, Steve Goode.
Goode's salary is $95,050.80 and is not too shabby for someone with no related experience or any law enforcement certifications. Hamlet's salary is $73,124.90 which is roughly $22k less that what Goode makes. Hamlet is only certified in Arkansas as a probation/parole officer and only obtained that by lying on his application with the Department of Community Corrections.
Both agencies use cooperating minors, but Tobacco Control is more polished and professional. Maybe it is due to experienced leadership. We do know that they do not condone or tolerate lying.
Both agencies use cooperating minors, but Tobacco Control is more polished and professional. Maybe it is due to experienced leadership. We do know that they do not condone or tolerate lying.
Readers might recall in our post on Friday, an officer assisting the ABC to illegally entrap licensed outlets made a statement that having cooperating minors lie about their age was a common practice in alcohol and tobacco enforcement.
We don't know where Officer Turner obtained that information, but Mr. Goode with Tobacco Control provided us with information that clearly dispels that false information.
Tobacco Control takes care of business in a professional manner and Goode does not seek approval from the governor's office as does Hamlet. Unlike Hamlet, Goode knows that even though Asa appointed him, he is working for the people of Arkansas is is responsive to them. He has nothing to hide or to prove.
And unlike Hamlet, Goode is accessible. A true public servant.
Hamlet is an embarrassment to the honest, law abiding law enforcement officers in the State of Arkansas and to the Hutchinson administration. His departure from the position for which he has no qualifications to hold is long past overdue.
Why not send Hamlet a text message tonight telling him it's time for him to go. 501-412-6324.