Director Tom Clements -
I'm sure you have seen it in the news or heard about it somewhere. The director of my department was shot and killed in his home last night. Our facilities were on lockdown and my parole office, which is HQ, was on a sort of modify ops as I'm sure every parole office was. This is a tragic and very sudden loss not only for our department but for the family as well. I have no specifics and I will give no specifics if I ever do get them.
This is an event that makes you change your perspective on your life in business and your life at home. Without speculating specifically, there are a number of reasons that this event occurred...including involved inmates pulling strings from inside prison walls or random robberies and freak crazy madmen. With this event and recent events surrounding individuals being assaulted while opening their doors I strongly encourage everyone to take extra pre-caution when opening your door to anyone. If necessary, yell out "Who is it"....or make sure that you can clearly see and identify who it is. Talk through the door if you don't know them. In general, don't think that just because you're in your own home that your completely safe.
CDOC will have a lot of employees, if not all, taking extra pre-cautions and looking over their shoulders twice after this incident. Although you may feel that their outlook is weird or overly cautious or even ridiculous....it makes sense to us. Unfortunately, we work with the people that we deliberately separate from our society and we know their stories. Be considerate of what will help make them feel safe and secure while we find the answers to this event.