Heather Carroll

In response to some feedback I received on the writing I shared last week I was hoping to better explain a few things: 

First I would like to thank all law enforcement for risking their lives to protect our community. My article was not meant to bash police but more to tell my experience so we can learn from it together. Please remember that it was very difficult for me to express this experience and I did it ONLY in hopes of improving our community. Also, I want to note that before I said anything publicly I tried to speak with the police chief in an effort to work together.
If one is able to learn from others and be self-critical they can better do any job and they can become a better person. I blame myself most for not finding Heather faster and have been most critical of myself; I apologize if I did not express that properly.
Let’s look at a business – if a manager gets a complaint from a customer it is good for the manager to listen to what the customer has to say. It is in this way that they can determine whether it is just a pissed-off customer or if the company fell short. I do this all the time in my job. I ask questions and try to improve. I know that we have all had a boss that can do no wrong and never takes input from others. This person, while they may be smart and competent, has a hard time improving the company as a whole and working with people. So I ask that when it comes to protecting our woman and children we all be self-critical and open-minded. This topic should be all-inclusive because we all have sisters, daughters, mothers and wives. What I did not mean to do was to target individual officers and criticize the job they do. The failure so evident to those involved was at the policy level – I know personally many great members of law enforcement. I am sure that many of these issues have to do with being understaffed and having to outsource. If the police would have talked to me we could have worked together.
It was clear to all the friends that Dave was weak and not smart. We came to a clear consensus that if questioned by law enforcement (not searched, just questioned) he would fold in a matter of minutes. It was for this reason we waited so long. We were confident that because he was the last person who spoke with her, he had recently been a jail, and because he was on probation, the detectives or a probation officer would speak with him right away and we know he would fold.
It has been joked that we have been watching CSI and think that we are junior investigators. Let me make something clear; this is not a laughing matter. We solved the case – if we had not we may still be searching for her body and I may still be the primary person of interest. There are 48 hours to find somebody. If only “behind the scenes work” is done in this time and no one is searched or questioned the detectives have failed. We had with us an assistant district attorney helping us who police would not listen too. An assistant D.A. is not a junior investigator.
I believe that the problem is in the way we approach things. If we are open-minded, diligent and work with a sense of urgency we do better. If continue to be arrogant, refuse to listen to others, and lack the ability to be self-critical, then we should not share the responsibility of protecting the community.
The detectives have still not questioned those who knew Heather and those who new Dave. Instead, they refuse to give me back my customer’s computers so I can move on with my life. I wonder why time is still being spent searching through the computers of community members instead of speaking with those involved. What does this say about the way they are handling Dave’s investigation. Will he be let loose because of incompetence?
I will be filing a formal complaint against the police department for gross negligence in the way they dealt with finding Heather Carroll. I am not doing this out of anger but out of compassion and objectivity with sincere hopes that this will be a catalyst for change. This is not a complaint against an individual – it is against a department. I ask that we work together, not separately, to make sure our families are safe. I know we have four people running for mayor. I wonder if any of them has the courage we need in a leader. I wonder if anyone who is able will have the courage to demand a thorough investigation.
With love and Sincerity:
Grady Carroll, Hollister
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A staff member wrote, edited or posted this article, which may include information provided by one or more third parties.

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