The McCandless police spent $30,000 finding their new police chief. The end result of the nationwide search was the hiring of David DiSanti, a former FBI agent. After all of that time and money put into finding the perfect first in command for the McCandless police force, DiSanti now has been accused of unfair treatment of a female office and “sexually inappropriate behavior,” according to the Tribune Review.

McCandless Officer Jeffrey Basl is also the focus of allegations regarding inappropriate behavior on the force.  The accusations have led to possible lasting reputation damages within the community.

Currently, there are two prevailing groups within McCandless that are voicing their opinions. These groups are the community and DiSanti’s own force.

Some citizens seem willing to reserve judgment until after an investigation had been carried out. Over half a dozen comments were made at a city council meeting in early December. A Jewish citizen talked about how well the McCandless police handled an anti-Semitic situation. Another lady talked about how she tried to give DiSanti an Eat N’ Park gift card for helping her and that he graciously refused it. Another man gave a 14-point speech on how much he liked DiSanti.

But it surprises me just how much support DiSanti still has from the public in light of the fact that his own force has less confidence in him.

In a vote, 24 out of 29 officers expressed no confidence in DiSanti. This is perfectly understandable, and I agree with their decision. Having a person in charge of protecting the community who has a serious criminal charge against him does damage to the force’s reputation.

I do think it is important that the investigation is completed before anyone writes off DiSanti. I do think that it was right for the police force to put him on leave in order for the investigation o run its course as fairly as possible. While the investigation is still ongoing, I don’t think any final decisions should be made.

I understand that when a charge as serious as this is leveled against someone, it can be hard to not pass judgment. If the charges are dropped, Disanti may still be unfairly tainted by these claims – and the community may suffer as a result. If he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. then his name should rightly be tarnished.

If he DiSanti is ultimately dismissed, the processof finding a new chief, if anything like last time, will be a long and costly endeavor. The McCandless department’s reputation will be wounded and the trust the community has in it will be diminished.

I hope and pray that Disanti’s charges are false. Either way, the person who has committed the crime needs to be brought to justice. The ramifications from the actions taken by whoever is guilty will continue to ripple through the community for months or possibly years to come.