Originally Posted by
Stickman
An open letter to Police Chiefs, Sheriffs, and Commanders.
With all due respect your rank, I challenge you to read this and see what pertains to you and the brass you have surrounded yourself with. To start out, you are horrid, unreachable, lack integrity, ineffective, highly political, and the worst of your sins is that you are afraid of bad PR. Have you quit reading yet? Please don't.
How many of you have developed plans for the domestic terrorist events such as the recent police shootings? I understand that none of you do the tasking, but how many looked at this and assigned capable officers to examine what happened, and come up with a plan? Now, how many of you declined to come up with a plan? Stop right there, it has been more than long enough to put a plan together, but the best your troops can hope for is that a squared away Sgt put something together in a roll call/ turn out briefing.
Next we come to what makes all politicians (which is you) cry, and use as a blanket excuse. Money. We don't have the money for enough Officers, we don't have the money for equipment, we don't have the money to staff events, we don't have enough money to let our troops train with much ammo, and on and on. Stop. You swore an oath, and your departments all have some variation of a code of ethics, as well as a mission statement. You are NOT following it. Your money excuses are simply a way to buckle to the mayor or council. Safe streets start with safe cops. You know it, you ignore it.
Integrity, or lack there of. What is integrity? The short answer is doing the right thing when no one is looking. Why do you buckle to your police unions and guilds to keep POS Officers who have no business wearing a badge, but you will get rid of good cops because they are in the military, don't play PR games, get complaints (that are often third party and unreliable), hurt/ injured, accidents which aren't their fault, etc. etc.. Yes, I understand getting rid of someone because they are in the military is illegal, but it happens anyway and you allow these guys to be forced or pushed out.
How often do you do exit interviews? Probably only when you know there won't be a complaint you may have to act on. Heaven forbid you get the honest truth about your department. Have you ever sent out surveys to retired Officers, or those who have left the department? Do you even have a complaint box, or do you make your troops "send an email", so you can track it and the guys can get disciplined later... Do you have any idea what would happen if your Officers decided to go to the media instead?
How many of your Officers have rifles, AND the proper training to go along with it? How many of your firearm instructors receive outside training on an annual basis? How many of your Officers are issued smoke, or some form of screening method to provide concealment to wounded citizens or LEO in the event of mass shootings? I'll guess you provide exactly the minimum which the courts force you to do, and you will feel justified. First aid? You are probably still watching the same video you have used for the last ten years. News flash, no one actually watches it, and your training cadre doesn't care. How many of your trainers actually know their material, versus how many are just there to be eye candy or show you use minorities?
How often do you bypass safety warnings/ concerns and tell reporting Officers to "never speak of that to anyone"? Remember the body armor issues where vests were found to be unsafe? I'm one of the guys who came forward and was told to shutup or I would be sanctioned. Remember the Glock frame rail separation issues? Same problem there, you didn't want to hear anything, so your buried your heads in the sand and made threats to the guys who supplied you with the information.
How often do you ignore, overlook, or make official criminal complaints vanish? Especially when they are against someone who could damage you or the department in PR? You do it all the time, unless of course it is someone you don't like.
How many of you have unofficial policies against hiring military or former military members, or at least until they have been out for a certain period of time? Sure, none of you .... until you talk with the hiring section and find out what secrets they are sworn to keep.
The job of the Law Enforcement Officer is getting worse, not because of the recent shootings, though that is certainly part of it. It is becoming worse because of you, the brass. Benefits are worse, pay doesn't keep on track, and the pressure coming down on the working cop (street grunt) is to make sure they never get a use of force complaint, especially if it is against a minority. LEO know there is a strong probability they will get hung out to dry if a shooting or use of force becomes political, all because you at the top aren't willing to do the right thing.
While I could go on and on, the above is true and factual enough where it hurts, and most beat cops are going to read this and nod their heads. If everyone knows, why don't you change sir/ ma'am? You owe it to the public, you owe it to your troops, and you owe it to yourself to make your department a better place. This isn't what you wanted or planned when you got hired. It wasn't right back then, and it isn't right now.
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