|
Back
The
Law: Cops 10, Administrators 0
Published Saturday,
January 11, 1997
Question: Whats
the difference between a police officer and an administrator like the
DA, the Sheriff, or a County Supervisor? Answer: the cop has training
and an ability to work with people.
Theres a law enforcement crisis in the county, and its due
primarily to the deficiencies of several elected administrators.
They dont do the right things and they dont talk to us.
Its not the cops. The cops operate with low salaries, inadequate
equipment, inadequate training, and not enough fellow officers to make
their job easy. This doesnt promote prevention of crime, apprehension
of criminals, or service to the people. The officers didnt
create this situation. They simply operate under policies and budgets
set by the Sheriff, District Attorney and County Supervisors. As
Sam Goldwyn so delicately put it, Fish stinks from the head.
Lets start 1997 by honoring those accountable for our countys
increasing skepticism of law enforcement.
Congratulations to District Attorney Mike Ferguson for showing so little
strength or candor. DAs are elected officials and when they
run for office, they usually go on about what efficient and aggressive
and prosecutors they will be.
The DAs prosecution of Sam Strange was not efficient, although it
would be unfair to leave out the investigators, the defense attorneys,
the jury, Judge John Darlington, and Sam Strange himself. Stranges
guilt or innocence matters less than whether he got a fair trial, and
the persistent controversy about the case suggests he didnt.
It doesnt help Ferguson that he prosecuted the Strange case himself
and while running for judge.
There DAs prosecution of Shawn Joyce for shooting Michael Minnick
was not aggressive. Instead of charging Joyce, as is commonly done,
Ferguson took the grand jury option. Well probably never know
whether the evidence was presented with any force.
Mike hasnt provided the public with any convincing communications.
On 12/11, The Unions headline read Ferguson responds to forum
complaints. Ferguson cited the publics anger,
a lot of emotion and a lot of incomplete facts or misinformation.
The public was apparently wrong, ignorant, misinformed, but Ferguson didn't
offer any facts or information..
Praise to Sheriff Troy Arbaugh for mishandling the non-arrest of Shawn
Joyce for shooting Michael Minnick. Troy forgot to train his men
to say those three magic words, Youre under arrest,
in dealing with Deputy Shawn Joyce. Funny, but the officers know
how to say them to the rest of us.
And who can forget the dramatic non-search and non-rescue of Kimberly
Saunders? The Sheriffs Department didnt even discover
the body.
And, like Mike, Troy is silent about the complaints aired at the recent
law enforcement forums.
Commendations to the County Supes for their abundant non-support of either
their departments or the public. Where are the comments in support
of Troy and Mike?. For that matter, where are the statements crafted
to soothe an insulted public? Where are the offers of investigations or
public hearings?
Amazing, but The Union ran a front-page story about Supervisor
Karen Knecht on 12/20, entitled No-nonsense leadership.
Tim Willis quote is, Though sometimes hard on county staff,
Knecht said her philosophy is to hold them accountable for their actions,
particularly when those actions reflect on the county as a whole. She
believes at least 95 percent of county workers are doing a good job.
Hee hee. Not much leadership or accountability lately. Well,
maybe the 5% of workers doing a bad job refers to Mike, Troy, and the
Supes themselves.
Heres some advice for the DA, the Sheriff, and the Supervisors to
help ensure a happy 1997:
- You folks, presumably competent and filled with good intentions, have
a serious problem. You cant communicate effectively.
You apparently try to avoid talking to the public, and when you do,
you dont communicate solutions or even an interest in the publics
concerns. Change that and youll have our support.
- If you want your staffs to be well-paid and well-equipped, you need
a public thats positive about law enforcement. Why dont
you build that? Express yourself in the newspaper. Conduct
honest focus groups with the citizens. Dont you want to
hear whats needed so you can improve the situation?
To a great degree, we welcome the presence of the police. At the
least, we accept them, and give the officers our highest respect
However, if we lose confidence in the system, our respect will evaporate,
and so will our acceptance. None of us wants a new barbarism promoted
by a failed law enforcement system.
Barry Schoenborn is a technical writer, and a ten-year resident of
Nevada County. You can write to him at barry@wvswrite.com. The opinions
of columnists are not necessarily those of The Union.
Back
|