We’re in the midst of a police chief search (candidate and August 26th forum information available online), but like the mid-point of many searches, there’s only a bit to say.
Open Over Closed. An open process is better, in-and-of-itself, than a closed one. Open is the right course.
Outcomes matter. No matter how fine the process, it’s an outcome that will affect residents of Whitewater, for years ahead.
Open processes yield superior outcomes over many iterations. Although an open process is the right one, like free market transactions, open processes yield superior outcomes to closed ones over many iterations. There’s no certainty that a single search, or a single market transaction, will be the right or efficient one; it’s a process extended over many searches that produces superior results. I’ve no idea how this search will turn out.
Commentary is a response, not a reflex. During his long tenure, then-Chief Coan never understood that bad policies produce bad news, and that the solution will always be a better policy. All those proud headlines, grandiose claims, etc., and for it all….the same disappointments and mistakes, time and again. Introspection would have changed that, but there’s no evidence he was a leader inclined to reflect that way, to adjust in a productive, practical way. More of the same got him only more of the same.
Where is this going? I don’t know. Those so inclined can watch the latest Police Commission meeting, hoping to see a few predictive tea leaves. I’ve seen the meeting, but without any interest in guessing at an outcome.
After this search is done, and there’s a selection, the next day will be … the next day.
One would hope, to borrow Pres. Harding’s term, that after so many years, we’ll see a return to normalcy. We’ll be better off if we do see as much, but that’s an outcome yet ahead.