Here’s the latest issue of Register Watch™, where I cover stories in our local, weekly newspaper.
This week has a story that reveals how officials can mask prior lapses by contending that their action has been justified only by recent events.
Whitewater is a small town of about fourteen thousand people, with a campus of the University of Wisconsin system. It’s a small Midwestern town. We’re exactly the sort of place where people assume true community policing is the norm.
That’s why the story in our local paper, the Whitewater Register, about an officer starting to walk the beat because of recent high gas prices, entitled, ” Walking the Beat,” is so odd.
If not here, then where? If not always, then why not?
A few points, in no particular order:
First, I’ll readily assume the good intentions and conduct of the patrol officer highlighted in the story. I don’t know him, but I have no reason to doubt him. My remarks are not about the conduct of those in the field — but about the leadership of our department.
Second, does anyone believe that it takes high gas prices to have an officer walk the beat? Whoever wrote this story must not understand that it reads like a parody. Let’s be clear: community policing should be a technique on its own merits.
Our community could, and should, have done as much when prices were low. Consider other absurd outcomes:
DECIDE TO FLY SOBER
TEACHER DECIDES TO TEACH ALGEBRA
Someone, somewhere might have thought one could make lemons into lemonade by showing that our police department could respond to higher gas prices. Unfortunately, it’s a response that should have been the norm here even when prices were low.
Third, Who wrote this story? The Register does not include a byline, and it’s published a submitted photo.
So be it. Maybe it’s a timesaving measure to turn half the front page over to someone unidentified. Yet, for a paper whose editor recently fretted about the risks of anonymity, it’s hardly consistent to run unattributed stories now.
Fourth, the nearby Janesville Gazette captures far more of the story than the Whitewater Register. The Gazette story is available here, and gives detail on how much time officers spend, and the uncertainty over whether the program will even continue.
Fifth, in a town of our size, every leader in the department should be walking though a part of the city each day, visiting with residents. Our chief doesn’t need a pricey uniform allowance, or wasteful trips to big cities as part of his work.
This should not be work for patrol officers alone — every leader should commit time each week to accompany patrol officers on a foot patrol.