Whitewater’s looking for a new police chief, and has two candidates from which to choose. During a hiring process, it’s conventional to solicit community opinion on residents’ preferences and views on policing. Whitewater, expectedly, has done so, too. (There are, however, significant limitations with surveys of Whitewater’s kind, as I’ve noted. Whitewater’s method will produce…
Police
City, Local Government, Police
A Job in a College Town
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Whitewater’s looking for a new police chief, and our small city has two candidates from which to choose. There’s a time to consider all this in greater detail; for today, two simple observations are enough. 1. Competency, Not Ideology, Has Always Been Key. Whitewater’s policing challenges have not been between left and right, or between…
City, Immigration, Local Government, Police
On Rumors
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Whitewater is a small town, with a population under fifteen thousand, approximately half of whom are college students. One of the advantages of being far smaller than Los Angeles or Atlanta should be the ease with which municipal leaders and law enforcement can meet and talk to residents. A person of average health and energy…
Police, Politics, Press, University
The Politics of Informants at UW-Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
In a well-ordered community, there should be an accord between good policy and good politics. That’s not yet Whitewater, and this post will address the political implications of using confidential informants. (For a review of policy, please see yesterday’s How Rural Wisconsin Campuses Coerce Students into Becoming Drug Informants.) 1. Police Leadership. There’s almost no…
Police, University
How Rural Wisconsin Campuses Coerce Students into Becoming Drug Informants
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
City, Local Government, Police
Lack of Diligence, Front and Center
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the fall, during the 11.6.13 Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission meeting, the PFC’s chairperson introduced a draft code of ethics and drafts of procedures for complaints and interviewing candidates for employment or promotion. I wrote about that meeting afterward, because the drafts were poorly written, and in the case of the procedures for…
Art, Police, Press Release, Wisconsin, Writing
27th Annual Wisconsin Troopers’ Association Art & Essay Contest
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
City, Local Government, Police
Policies for the Police and Fire Commission
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission meets tonight at 5:30 PM, to interview patrol officers and consider several policy documents. Those documents appear below, and at the bottom of this post readers will find the video recording of last week’s PFC meeting. There are five processes or documents to be considered tonight: (1) PFC Oath (2)…
City, Local Government, Police
Police and Fire Commission Meeting for 11.6.13
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s a Police and Fire Commission meeting tonight, at 6 PM. The PFC meets quarterly, but will meet twice this month, both tonight and (according to tonight’s agenda) again on Thursday, November 14th. There are three main parts of tonight’s meeting: (1) election for two PFC offices (a vice president and a secretary), (2) a…
Crime, Elkhorn, Health, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Police, Walworth County
The End of the Beginning
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
City, Local Government, Planning, Police
Zoning Debates Are Often Just a Distraction from Failed Criminal Enforcement Strategies
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Here’s the third post in a trilogy about residential housing in Whitewater. For the first two posts, see, Old Whitewater Dreams of a Student Rez and The University’s Role in Town-Gown Issues. Recap: (1) pointing to the northwest corner of the city for student rentals without actual, additional housing in that area is an empty solution, and (2) the university’s planned…
City, Local Government, Police
Common Council Session of 9.17.13: Police and Fire Commission Dismissal Proceedings
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Last night’s Common Council session had a large agenda, including toward the end consideration of whether to appoint outside counsel for a possible complaint against a Police and Fire Commissioner. After a closed session of about seventy minutes, Council returned to open session and unanimously voted to authorize outside counsel to be hired for a…
City, Police
Police and Fire Commission Interviewing
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Police & Fire Commission 08/29/2013 from Whitewater Community TV on Vimeo. Last week, Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission considered whether to have the Whitewater police chief or senior police leaders present at civilian PFC interviews of candidates (promotions, etc.). (See, about this topic, Interviews & Citizen Oversight.) Whitewater’s past practice has been to assure that…
City, Law, Police
Interviews & Citizen Oversight
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The responsibility to interview a candidate should – and reasonably does – require that one interviews with one’s independent judgment. If the interviewer, himself or herself, is under someone’s else’s watch, then the interviewers aren’t truly independent (and candidates see that, too). There’s a Police and Fire Commission meeting tonight, at 6 PM. The principal…