Seriously, the council hasn’t patted you on the back enough so you’re lashing out? Ya need more “atta-boys” to make it through the day? You say you’re not going to be PC. Well, I’m not either. You’re full of crap. We see through your political bullshit. The public/voters/taxpayers will too. You’re losing the confidence of the public. And focusing on how the council hurt your feelings by not congratulating you to your liking is not the leadership we need from someone in your position right now. Deflecting from talking about what this report will actually do, isn’t going to make it go away. Let’s have a real conversation about those policies!
Here’s his caustic blog. He’s so odd sometimes, he says he says one thing but he actually says another, talking out of both sides of his mouth, and somehow he thinks people won’t notice. He doesn’t think much of the public, apparently. I particularly loved his, I never said we need 40 cops, we aren’t asking for more cops, but we need 40 more cops, 7 more in 2017, 10 officers per year in the next 4 years blog post. Can you say straw man? Or dog whistle politics?
His latest blog getting attention is the same shit. I don’t care if you study our department “Bring it on! We have nothing to hide . . .” but I’m going to blow up and get angry and stomp my feet and cry to the public about how the council won’t support me . . .even though they gave me everything I wanted in the last budget, including the Midtown Station, that’s not enough, give me more attention, stroke my ego. Seriously, its a two year old throwing a temper tantrum. Ask yourself why? If its no big deal, why is it such a big deal?
He attempts to distract by talking about youth programming, instead of the police shooting (and killing) impaired youth in our community. He talks about policing being social work, instead of how police in this city tend to shoot (and kill) people with mental illnesses. He can huff and puff and blow as much as he wants – but this the-council-hurt-my-feelings by not issuing a proclamation commending police or showing up to our recognition ceremony argument is laughable. This is about a study to examine police policy, specifically, killing people who need help in our community – those who are impaired or suffering from a mental illness. Leave the social work to the social workers – and do your job without killing people. If we need more social workers, then increase the community services budget. The police aren’t the ones to be solving “societal problems”, let those trained to do it, do it. We don’t need cops and bobbers, read with a cop, lunch at Orchard Ridge, free movie nights (5 of them), cookouts , writing blog posts about Greek life on UW campus, fun runs and Zumba, chat and board games with cops, fireside five-oh , breakfast with cops, etc etc etc. That list was for less than 3 months – half of March, April, May and one week in June. (A complete aside, I think I figured out what is wrong with their budget, less time chatting and eating and more time doing your damn work.) These activities seem to be more PR to show the public gosh, golly, gee, those police are nice people . . . so don’t believe anything that those nasty people who hold us accountable say about us.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some awesome police officers out there, I might even call a few of them friends. I might even like and respect some of them. 😉 But this whiny crap from the chief is unprofessional gamesmanship designed to make the police the “victims” and to discredit those who are paying attention and participating in our local democracy by casting them as “perpetually offended” and “a small group of people who protest/blog/criticize the MPD at every turn.” It’s kinda like voter suppression – turn people off so they won’t pay attention.
Dude, put your big boy pants on and show us you really mean all your tough talk, we’re dropping the “PC world of Madison” and getting real, right?. Well, let’s “get shit done”, “NOW”! I’m calling you on your shit – no more mentally ill or impaired people shot and killed by police. Let’s make it happen. What will YOU change TODAY to make sure it doesn’t happen. You say “I disdain confrontation and would much prefer building consensus around issues.” Let’s see it. “Bring it on!” Show us you can work towards consensus and de-escalate this situation instead of fanning the flames. Just stop the bullshit. This isn’t how a community leader works to get things done. Madison deserves better (especially for $148,011 per year.) If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Just, you know, tellin’ ya like it is. Gettin’ real with the chief. “At my age” and “this stage” of my career, that’s what we do. I’m just doin’ my job. I just want to GSD.
(If this sounds crazy and you’re wondering what I am drinking this morning or if I’ve had a mental wellness challenge while writing this, read his blog.)
If the chief has successfully distracted you from the issue at hand and you’ve completely forgotten what this is all about, tonight the common council will be voting to increase funding for the police policy review from $50,000 to a more realistic $400,000. It’s item 69 on the agenda if you want to show up and sign a slip in support or stay and speak. There are 10 sponsors, but it is a 15 vote item because it amends the budget, so if the chief can sway 6 votes with his bluster, it won’t pass. If you can’t make it, you can always email your alders at allalders@cityofmadison.com OR if you want to just email your alder is districtx@cityofmadison.com. The x is your distict, i.e. 15, or 2 or 11. You can find you your alder here.
