Problems with WDFW Administration

[sakoshooter]

Sounds like Cenci is working for the wrong team.

[Knocker of rocks]

Is it possible that Cenci had some connection with one of the poachers in Yakima?

I don't get the part about putting officers in danger or sending the media out, and asking the media to return after being turned away by the people in the line of fire.  If he did that because he is stupid, he should be fired.  If he did that because he wanted to use the media to notify his pals, or pal's supplier not yet served, he should be fired.

This is interesting enough to me that it would be worth suspending Cenci to investigate an obstruction of justice situation.  I'll send a note to the legislature, governor, and commission.

Black helicopter stuff right there

[Bean Counter]

I don't get the part about putting officers in danger or sending the media out,

If you were serving a search warrant--going to arrest people on their own terrain and in an environment that you don't know--would you want them knowing that you're coming?

[Little Dave]

I don't get the part about putting officers in danger or sending the media out,

If you were serving a search warrant--going to arrest people on their own terrain and in an environment that you don't know--would you want them knowing that you're coming?

I'll spell that out a little more clearly for you.  I am wondering what it was that motivated Cenci in his important leadership role to effectively sabotage the operation.  There must have been some reason and whatever it was, probably interesting.  I could see an inexperienced or politically-motivated person pulling a stunt like that to bring media attention to self, but wouldn't expect an experienced, competent person to need to do that.  That is what I don't get.

[ucwarden]

I don't get the part about putting officers in danger or sending the media out,

If you were serving a search warrant--going to arrest people on their own terrain and in an environment that you don't know--would you want them knowing that you're coming?

I'll spell that out a little more clearly for you.  I am wondering what it was that motivated Cenci in his important leadership role to effectively sabotage the operation.  There must have been some reason and whatever it was, probably interesting.  I could see an inexperienced or politically-motivated person pulling a stunt like that to bring media attention to self, but wouldn't expect an experienced, competent person to need to do that.  That is what I don't get.

I don't get it either.  I worked undercover for my last 8 years, and during those 8 years I constantly battled with Cenci over his news releases.  I wrote letters to the chief pleading for him to stop Cenci from releasing details of our undercover cases, as it endangered us (myself and my partner), reduced our effectiveness and put cases in jeopardy.  The news releases continued.

Cenci always said WDFW needed the good press from our cases, and "we have to get out in front of the stories".  My answer was "That's fine, but don't volunteer the details of how we worked undercover or which cases were a result of undercover work".  I explained that WDFW could do a news release stating Joe Blow had his house searched and he was arrested by WDFW as the result of a x number of month investigation, without giving so much detail.

Cenci blamed some of the news stories on the media just showing up, but to that I recommended what the rest of the world of law enforcement says "No comment!!!".

Why he told the world we were coming on the take-down day for Operation Cody is anyone's guess.  I know he hasn't met a camera he doesn't love, but that was flat insane.  I have often wondered if he did so to try to kill our cases on-purpose, since he hates me with a passion, and has said (numerous times) that nobody gives a s@#$ about deer and elk.

Beyond that, I can't explain his actions.   

[Sitka_Blacktail]

The lawsuit against Cenci by the family in Cathlamet shows he doesn't know proper procedure and investigative techniques. He was desperately trying to "get them" and get it on the news. Sounds like he's more of a publicity hound than anything. He must have visions of higher office. Meanwhile he screws over the guys actually doing the meat and potatoes work.

[Little Dave]

Is it possible that Cenci had some connection with one of the poachers in Yakima?

I don't get the part about putting officers in danger or sending the media out, and asking the media to return after being turned away by the people in the line of fire.  If he did that because he is stupid, he should be fired.  If he did that because he wanted to use the media to notify his pals, or pal's supplier not yet served, he should be fired.

This is interesting enough to me that it would be worth suspending Cenci to investigate an obstruction of justice situation.  I'll send a note to the legislature, governor, and commission.

Black helicopter stuff right there

Yes it is black helicopter stuff.  It's just a guess because the actions don't make sense.  To contrast, it is another guess that he is pursuing media attention in this instance and more lately the "Rugged Justice" show for benevolent purposes like getting the people to put pressure on the legislature to fund his projects.  Or perhaps the attention is just to get personal attention to produce a promotion.  These are character calls, and I don't know the guy.  So the guess about the head of operations being party to the criminal activity can be set aside for a paperback somebody can write, but I wouldn't put it in a letter.

Whatever Cenci's motivation, media attention should not be prioritized higher than safety and that needs to be called out.

[bigtex]

I mentioned in the Operation Cody thread how Cenci is the WDFW Enforcement point-of-contact when it comes to legislation and how that may be why legislators won't do anything regarding him. Now I want to show you the budget and it's odd connection to Cenci. When agencies submit their budgets they submit a point-of-contact for each proposal. For the 2015-17 budget there are several WDFW Enforcement proposals. Now just remember, Crown is the Chief, Cenci is Deputy Chief for Marine enforcement, Hobbs is DC for land enforcement.

Proposals:
1-Eliminate 10 WDFW Officers that are funded out of the general fund. Point of contact: Cenci
2-Impose a shellfish tax to fund more WDFW Officers for shellfish enforcement. Point of contact: Cenci
3-Allocate funding to WDFW for marijuana eradication and rehabilitation. Point of contact: Cenci
4-Allocate funding for radio uprades. Point of contact: Johnson

As far as #1 goes both land and marine positions would be cut. So it's a toss-up, but you could easily put two point of contacts in for that proposal, it's done in non-enforcement proposals.

Now I can see why Cenci would be a contact for #2.

But why is the Deputy Chief who supposedly oversees marine issues the contact for marijuana eradication (#3)? Shouldn't Hobbs (the land guy) be responsible for that? Heck, Hobbs was one of the first officers on the WDFW marijuana eradication team.

#4 is also interesting. Johnson was the WDFW radio guy for several years and led WDFW's dispatch program. But he promoted to Lieutenant and is responsible for training and recruiting. Capt. Brinson is now the one responsible for radios, dispatch, and another program. Shouldn't the individual who oversees the radio program be the point of contact for the budget allocation? But then again Brinson was re-assigned out of his Region 6 Captains position to a HQ bi**h job because he wasn't really following in-line with HQ.

Just goes to show you how much the thrown of Cenci really spans. Cenci is the contact for all enforcement legislation, nearly all budget related proposals, and the list goes on. As far as I know, Hobbs has never even testified on a legislative bill, or been the point of contact for legislation or budget. Maybe that's because Crown/Cenci won't let him....


FYI, in the Governor's budget he seeks to eliminate two WDFW Officer positions.

[Knocker of rocks]

Is it possible that Cenci had some connection with one of the poachers in Yakima?

I don't get the part about putting officers in danger or sending the media out, and asking the media to return after being turned away by the people in the line of fire.  If he did that because he is stupid, he should be fired.  If he did that because he wanted to use the media to notify his pals, or pal's supplier not yet served, he should be fired.

This is interesting enough to me that it would be worth suspending Cenci to investigate an obstruction of justice situation.  I'll send a note to the legislature, governor, and commission.

Black helicopter stuff right there

Yes it is black helicopter stuff.  It's just a guess because the actions don't make sense.  To contrast, it is another guess that he is pursuing media attention in this instance and more lately the "Rugged Justice" show for benevolent purposes like getting the people to put pressure on the legislature to fund his projects.  Or perhaps the attention is just to get personal attention to produce a promotion.  These are character calls, and I don't know the guy.  So the guess about the head of operations being party to the criminal activity can be set aside for a paperback somebody can write, but I wouldn't put it in a letter.

Whatever Cenci's motivation, media attention should not be prioritized higher than safety and that needs to be called out.

Cenci might be a little dumb, or made a mistake.  But to accuse him of using the media to tip off the perps, ala Whitey Bulger and the FBI, is preposterous

[Skillet]

I don't think it is preposterous at all to think that a guy like Cenci would try and limit the effectiveness of an operation he clearly didn't support by reducing the element of surprise.

[pd]

Hmmmm.

This is the first time I have ever paid attention to this issue.  (In that sense, UCWarden, you have done well to spread the news.)  BigTex's details really trouble me--let me see if I get this straight:
*Cenci crashes a few rigs, demotes himself, Crown get's kicked upstairs far past his level of competence.
*Crown then appoints Cenci as his deputy chief (but only for marine affairs).
*Cenci somehow becomes the legislative point-of-contact (i.e. "gate keeper") for almost everything.

Cenci seems to have the support of less than half of enforcement officers within the agency, and returns the favor by reducing their numbers.  For those of us with experience with the agency in Olympia, let me be the first to testify there are many areas of waste that could be eliminated to funds those officers.

It seems to me (very uniformed opinion, mind you) that Cenci is the wizard behind the curtain.  There is something very fishy in this House of Denmark. 

My question to you (BigTex): Why is the legislature not poking around?  Your opinion would suffice.

I have seen the oversight committees in both the House and the Senate, and they really treat DFW with kid gloves.  I have never understood this.

[bigtex]

This is the first time I have ever paid attention to this issue.  (In that sense, UCWarden, you have done well to spread the news.)  BigTex's details really trouble me--let me see if I get this straight:
*Cenci crashes a few rigs, demotes himself, Crown get's kicked upstairs far past his level of competence.
*Crown then appoints Cenci as his deputy chief (but only for marine affairs).
*Cenci somehow becomes the legislative point-of-contact (i.e. "gate keeper") for almost everything.

Cenci seems to have the support of less than half of enforcement officers within the agency, and returns the favor by reducing their numbers.  For those of us with experience with the agency in Olympia, let me be the first to testify there are many areas of waste that could be eliminated to funds those officers.

It seems to me (very uniformed opinion, mind you) that Cenci is the wizard behind the curtain.  There is something very fishy in this House of Denmark. 

My question to you (BigTex): Why is the legislature not poking around?  Your opinion would suffice.

I have seen the oversight committees in both the House and the Senate, and they really treat DFW with kid gloves.  I have never understood this.

Well I want to clarify one thing. Within enforcement you have 4 types of enforcement detachments. A detachment is a essentially the workgoup of officers who are supervised by a sergeant.
1- Land detachments who primarily focus on land issues
2- Marine detachments who primarly focus on marine issues
3- Land detachments who focus on both land and marine issues
4- Marine detachments who focus on both marine and land issues

Historically, #1 and #3 were overseen by the Regional Captains (4 and 6) while #2 and #4 were overseen by the Marine Captain. There was a period of a couple years where the Marine Captain position was vacant (after Cenci first promoted to Deputy Chief) and the Regional Captains oversaw all the detachments within their region.

When Crown made Cenci Deputy Chief of Marine Operations not only did he give him detachments that fall under category #2 and #4, but they also turned some detachments that fell under #3 into #4. So you had detachments that had always operated as land detachments who also covered the water suddenly going from reporting to the local Regional Captain to now reporting to the Deputy Chief of Marine Operations (Cenci.) So what does this mean? Well one change is that now the Officers in Klickitat County no longer report to the Captain in Yakima but rather to Cenci. Prior to this big change the Marine Division really stopped on the Columbia at the Clark/Wahkiakum County line, but when this change happened suddenly the Marine Division spanned all the way to the Benton/Klickitat County line. So realistically, Cenci doesn't just oversee marine operations, but rather officers assigned to marine detachments, many of which also have land enforcement responsibilities.

As far as reducing number of officers. That came down from the state budget people. WDFW was told to cut 15% of their budget for 2015-17. Enforcement said let's cut 10 officers from the general fund, but they hope to fund officers off of the shellfish tax. If I remember correctly, under this idea there would be a net loss of just two officers. But like I said, Inslee is only looking at eliminating two positions. If you know anything about Cenci, he tries to gobble up as much money as possible, whether it be from the legislature, outside funding contracts, etc. So I don't think he's trying to hurt officer numbers.

Like I said in my post in the other thread, I think the reason legislators won't look into Cenci is because they know him. He has been the face of WDFW Enforcement in the capitol building for several years now, it wouldn't surprise me if he's even gotten to be friends with several legislators. Who do you think a legislator would go after, someone they've never heard of, or someone who every year is sitting in front of them testifying on bills, and working with them to ensure they pass?

[pd]

......Like I said in my post in the other thread, I think the reason legislators won't look into Cenci is because they know him. He has been the face of WDFW Enforcement in the capitol building for several years now, it wouldn't surprise me if he's even gotten to be friends with several legislators. Who do you think a legislator would go after, someone they've never heard of, or someone who every year is sitting in front of them testifying on bills, and working with them to ensure they pass?

Thank you for the clarification and perspective. 

I know where I would put my money on the new director.

[ucwarden]

Here is a letter to the editor, which appeared in the Chinook Observer:
chinookobserver.com/co/letters/20141223/letters-to-the-editor

Writer says change is needed in WDFW
WDFW Director Phil Anderson is retiring this month, December 2014. Why is that important? Think of those jockeying for coveted moves up the promotion ladder.
My best guess is the current WDFW Deputy Chief Mike Cenci and his inner sanctum of cohorts are already planning their move. Who are these people in Deputy Chief Mike Cenci’s circle? The litmus test is which ones are embracing the Mike Cenci way of doing business.
Do you want business as usual at WDFW headquarters? I don’t. I am weary of the bullying, intimidation and harassment tactics employed by this bunch. I am alarmed at the spin Cenci puts on events.
An example is the book “Operation Cody” by Todd Vandivert. Read that book, then read Cenci’s take on that two-year period of investigation of wildlife traffickers in Washington state. The book tells how Cenci went on live TV the morning warrants were being served and announced to all listeners that warrants were in motion. This information put all law enforcement officers at risk that day and warned the traffickers of pending warrants and arrests giving them time to lawyer up and destroy evidence. The fact that Cenci kept his job speaks volumes about the impotence of his superiors.
I have reported wrongdoing committed by WDFW officers through the years not knowing of this inner circle bond within WDFW administration. I was naïve believing reporting to WDFW headquarters was the way to go. Since then I have realized it is best to bypass them so a reported infraction will see the light of day and not a trashcan. Also it would hopefully reduce the risk of retaliation. There is that risk. Believe me, I know. However, if enough people report wrongdoing, that collective statement could make a difference instead of being picked off one by one.
Now is the time to bring those infractions to the light. Contact Sen. Kirk Pearson, kirkpearson@leg.wa.gov. 115-D Newhouse Bldg., P.O. Box 40439, Olympia, WA 98501-0439. 360-786-7676 or 800-562-6000; the WDFW Commission, 600 Capitol Way, N., Olympia, WA 98501-1091, commission@dfw.wa.gov. 360-902-2267. Fax 360-902-2448; and Gov. Jay Inslee, P.O. Box 40002, Olympia, WA 98504-0802. 360-902-4111, Fax 360-753-4110.
We need honest, professional WDFW officers running headquarters. We need this to repair the damage done by current and previous impotent administrators whose ego, power plays and self-preservation led to such dysfunction in WDFW.
Bring back those good officers run out by this pack. Rehire, promote those officers that would end the slaughter of our fish and wildlife resources. We need those men and women officers who would be good stewards of WDFW. We deserve this.
Carolyn A. Crawford
Naselle

[Bean Counter]

An example is the book “Operation Cody” by Todd Vandivert. Read that book, then read Cenci’s take on that two-year period of investigation of wildlife traffickers in Washington state. The book tells how Cenci went on live TV the morning warrants were being served and announced to all listeners that warrants were in motion. This information put all law enforcement officers at risk that day and warned the traffickers of pending warrants and arrests giving them time to lawyer up and destroy evidence. The fact that Cenci kept his job speaks volumes about the impotence of his superiors. ..

  I wonder if Chief Cenci and Mr. DeBlasio are old buddies...