Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Policing The Chicago Way

The credentials of the Bamster and his Chief of Staff rely heavily on the experience they gained in Chicago politics. Certainly becoming a functionary in one of the largest American cities would be a qualification for executive leadership, wouldn't it? Well, here's an example of managerial innovation that should make the citizens of my childhood home rise up and demand action:

Improve the Force By Removing Any Qualifications

That should fix your diversity problem in a heartbeat. Why would anyone want a cop to be able to read, write, understand the law or even be able to add up his pending court appearances? The important thing is get the force properly darkened, even if it means abandonment of any criteria for service.

Did you get that part about only one in four being African-American? Are African-Americans more than one-quarter of the total city population? I doubt it, but it might be close. But only one in twelve of lieutenants is of color (that's a delightfully modern euphemism, isn't it?) Do you suppose that is because of prejudice? Or qualification? Or that exam for service entry which is being abandoned? If that's what you get WITH an exam, imagine how it will work without.

Then how do you manage a police force that is 2000 members under strength? How soon will you correct that at a pace of hiring 46 officers this year? Why are they totally dependent upon federal funds to hire in the first place? What is Mayor Daley doing about this? What happened to Chicago tax dollars? They certainly impose enough taxes on the citizenry that they ought to be able to man the police force.

Hey, if it works for the City of Chicago PD, why not adopt the no testing for admission policy across the nation. Let's apply it to the military, doctors, engineers, airline pilots, universities, Congress...oops, we already do apply it to Congress. Well, you get the idea. It is absurd.

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