One reads that Whitewater’s police force has received accreditation from an association for meeting a checklist of items related to policing. Former chiefs Coan and Otterbacher were big on accreditation, especially Coan.
And yet, and yet, even if there were no accreditation agency, what would anyone have done differently? Has anyone – past or present – needed a photo opportunity, a press release, and a laminated plaque from an association merely to complete a checklist of items?
Past chiefs touted accreditation, and still Whitewater has a town-gown divide, a divide along ethnic lines, economic stagnation, and too few newcomers (because it’s unrealistic to expect new prospects to step into a community of unresolved issues).
What’s been done for these many years has been ineffectual; what’s most needed has not been done.