I have a few things to say about Chief Kovals response to the Young, Gifted, and Black coalition... First let me say I am not a member of the coalition any more than the average white ally who joins in as many of their rallies and meetings as I can... I am not speaking for them or as a part of them just sharing my opinions as a concerned citizen who shares the same views... First off I want to commend both the coalition and the Chief for at least writing and responding to each other... In some cities this dialog wouldnt be possible and the police would simply ignore it... In response to the coalition I dont have much to add... As would be expected they are spot on and I couldnt say anything better myself... In response to Chief Koval, however I have a couple of things to say... First off, you stated that you are attempting to protect 1st amendment activity but complain that they dont get back to you on everything... Stop the complaining its not valid... If you are truly looking to protect their freedom of expression and if they truly have that freedom they shouldnt have to respond to you or cooperate with every demand or communication... Whether or not they communicate their conduct is either legal or not... You should be happy when they work with you and protect their rights without complaining when they dont... Thats your job thats your oath... You complain about protests that border on potential ordinance violations (not criminal) but lets be honest... Protesting in and blocking off streets while it may be grounds for a $140 obstructing the roadway ticket (before you were chief I got one and beat it so I know) it is very common in protest... Additionally you know as well as I you dont really have a choice in the matter... If you began ticketing say 50 people for a protest that blocks the road for 15 minutes you would look petty and ignorant... Your approval in the City would go down and there would be even more protests by even more people to protest your arrogance and the mayor would be forced to fire you or risk any chance at all of being elected and remember we are in the middle of election season and Paul Soglin is FAR from an assured victory... You mentioned you arent elected so dont need approval but look how well that worked for your predecessor Noble Wray... And look how that horrible handling led to your boss having to fight much harder for a chance to keep his spot... So cut that whole Im not elected so dont need your approval talk out... The truth is, and you know it, you do need a certain level of approval to keep your job... And my last point is this... In your response you mention what the legislature can do to fix some of these issues but mention very little (arguably nothing) about what you can do... Its easy to pass the buck on to someone else but even easier when you know as a fact they dont care and wont do anything... If you think the legislature or governor care at all youve clearly missed the last four years or are delusional beyond repair and should seek help... The question isnt what can be done its what can you do? And its an important... When it comes to incarceration it is statistical FACT not even opinion that Dane County IS the most racist county in the world... Theres no getting around it... Racial disparity here, in In a place with relatively low minority population compared to bigger cities and a place with very low crime compared to much of anywhere its size and even many smaller cities is the worst in the country for incarceration... And given as the US locks up FAR more people than any other country it makes you the worst in the world... That is fact it cannot be argued point blank period end of story... And while MPD isnt Dane Countys full problem you do run the largest police force in the county by far so your department whether intentionally or unintentionally is a MAJOR part of the problem, statistically the largest part of the problem... You cant push that off on anyone else you are now in control of that and responsible for it whether you like it or not... So you have two choices... Option one you can follow the DA and Sheriff and keep saying you agree its a problem and are trying to fix it while failing to make significant changes to do so... Or you could put your money where your mouth is, do whatever it takes to fix the problem without compromising safety even if that means letting minor offenses go and be known as the hero who took the most racist county in the world for incarceration and turned it around... The choice is yours...
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 21:55:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015