The Secret Service of San Bernardino

We recently had a senseless murder in the park up the street from me where I take my dogs every day to run. When it happened, fifteen city police cars showed up, all frantic to lock the barn door now that the horse had run away. Note I say "cars" showed up, not policemen. For "cars" is all we know of our police here, and I think many of you probably have a similar situation in your communities.

Well, Solomon got his dander up and began a letter to his Councilman with a lengthy run-down of the problem and a common-sense approach to making things better. Now, Solomon realizes that changing the direction and nature of a government entity is tantamount to changing the course of a glacier with a hair dryer, so he has little hope that anything other than a fire bombing of my home by the union will occur. However, I strongly believe that the police as currently constituted in most places in this country are really rotten and despicable.

So, friends, please feel free to use this tome in your own approach to your own police department. Friendly plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery for a blogger.

Dear Councilman—At our Fourth of July picnic, the subject came up of the San Bernardino Police Force, and the resulting conversation gave a very unflattering (and unanimous) view of this organization. When so many respectable people have such a negative perception of such an important civic branch, I think the powers that be must sit up and pay close attention. Not only should the police be informed of the low esteem in which they’re held; they should be required to demonstrably make changes in the way they do business.

The perception of the SBPD is that they are an arrogant, anonymous, invisible, and ineffective (possibly corrupt) cadre of men and women who only pay lip service to their commitment to the safety of San Bernardino. Their only real commitment seems to be ensuring that they can retire early with a full pension and receive an additional disability benefit. Their union’s constant whining about contract issues and the union’s infantile response to every demand put on them show that this group of men and women has no allegiance to this city. Every time the union gets its feelings hurt, policemen begin sending out flurries of applications for new jobs. One has only to recall that airplane banner being flaunted over the Route 66 festivities last fall to get the real picture of SBPD. It’s all about THEM.

Councilman, I want you to know that I fully share in this negative view of the SBPD, and I am not some drug-dealing malcontent who’s got a bone to pick over some perceived slight. The police have never “picked” on me, stopped me, ticketed me, or in any way personally offended me. However, I feel the police in this city are particularly ineffective in those areas that are most important (explained below) and are, by their present operating methods, actually encouraging a lawless, out-of-control city.

First, let’s address the issue of “anonymity.” The fact that I have never, in my twenty-two year residency here, known a single policeman galls me. At the party, I found out that I am not alone in not knowing the name of a single policeman. No one at our party knew one policeman. Further, if the police were questioned about me, not one of them could say who I was or would know anything about me. Why, the SBPD might as well be Secret Service operatives the way they keep from having anyone know them.

Now, when a person goes to a school, medical office, restaurant, auto dealer/repair, bar, veterinarian office, post office, barbershop, etc,--in other words, when we interact with any place that provides us services large and small—we want to be recognized. Recognition is a sign of respect on the part of the service provider. Nonrecognition is a sign of arrogant disrespect or, at best, lack of concern.

The police are removed from those they serve, and they do everything to keep it that way. They are NEVER out of their precious cars; when they drive by (always at high speeds), the windows are always up; when they have occasion to get out of their cars, they talk only to each other and only the necessary witnesses, but they never go beyond themselves or just the job. In short, they avoid the law-abiding citizens at all costs. And this is because their whole mind-set is to chase perpetrators, not to patrol streets to make a presence that prevents crime.

Areas that are patrolled regularly by police are almost entirely crime free, so failing to patrol regularly is a statement to the public that the police care more about actually having crime than in having a peaceful city. Crime is their adrenaline rush; peace is boring and routine. Well, we want to live in a peaceful city that operates in a routine and perhaps boring way. But that’s not what we have.

To solve this really bad situation, the police need to stop spouting “community policing” and actually start policing the community. They can do this by actually patrolling every area of the city regularly and religiously. The city should be divided into ten precincts with six officers assigned for three years to a particular precinct. No able-bodied officer will be sitting in the office. They’ll be on the streets, getting out of their cars, talking amiably to people in their areas, driving slowly with windows down, getting to know who’s who and what’s what.

It is no laughing matter that ice cream vendors know more about areas and people of San Bernardino than do the police! That there is never a presence in areas until a crime is committed (think about the recent murder in Blair Park, for example) actually encourages crimes to occur! Do you think that the Blair Park murder would have happened as it did if everybody involved knew that the police came by periodically?

But they don’t come by anywhere periodically. The only time they come by is when they’re headed to something that interests them more than the lives of ordinary San Bernardino residents.

Now, if the police don’t like being part of full-time patrol and want more excitement, by all means let them leave and let’s not plead with them to stay. There are too many qualified men and women who can do this kind of police work whom we can hire. We don’t need any policeman who fancies himself some elite member of a band-of-brothers, thinks of himself as a hot-shot, or sees himself as Dirty Harry-in-Berdoo.

Second, to end the anonymity of police, the officers assigned to an area should be well known to the citizenry by means of periodic fliers with their pictures, access numbers, and bios. These fliers should be delivered door-to-door, by the actual police, every six months to every residence and business within their purview.

Third, having police who are associated with and connected to particular areas will act as a crime deterrent by allowing and encouraging the police to use their competitive spirit to see that their particular areas is the most peaceful. People who go into law enforcement are, by their very natures, highly competitive individuals—but their most satisfying glory should not come from using guns and force and high-risk chases but rather in how few crimes are actually committed on their watch.

I’m afraid that the police will give every excuse they can conjure to avoid going this route [“We know more about crime that you citizens do.” “You don’t understand the nature of the jobs we do.” “We’re required to do paper work.” “We have to respond to emergencies.” “This isn’t the way it’s been done in this city. It won’t work in San Bernardino.” “You people don’t appreciate what we do for you.” “We lay our lives on the line every day for this city.” The excuses will be impassioned and legion, but they will be just that—excuses. Certainly, we do appreciate it that they catch criminals when they have to and we do appreciate the bravery they must exhibit in the face of dangerous situations, but these things don’t have anything to do with 95% of the citizens of San Bernardino.]

What they are doing isn’t working well in preventing crime, and what they’re doing certainly isn’t going down well with the majority of the respectable people in this community. No one knows or likes the police, and isn’t that a terrible situation?! Perhaps they are doing a respectable job after crimes have been committed (and there is some doubt here, as well), but the SBPD have a terrible PR problem.

Now, Councilman, I think it’s the city’s elected leaders that must force change upon the police department and make them start answering some hard questions. I believe a place to get started is to have a survey given to the people concerning attitudes toward their police. I believe that the results will startle everyone into a rude awakening.

Then, I believe a citizens’ commission should be formed and empowered to force changes upon the police to provide a more responsive and a more effective organization and to provide a safer city—but that does not mean having the police go on more crime pursuits. It means having them become a quotidian presence in everyone’s lives. One can go days, weeks, without ever seeing a policeman (actually, a police car); this should change to the point that everyone should see a policeman every day, perhaps several times a day, near his/her home/business.

The police and the people of the city must share the same vision of the mission of the police department, but as it is now, the police have one view (catching wrong-doers) and the public another (feeling secure in their daily lives). It seems as if the police believe that fear of policemen will stop crime, but I’m afraid it is a contemptuous fear, engendered and inflamed by such things as seeing police sitting at the Sons of the Golden West Parlor to play “gotcha” with people making right turns on red, not promoting safety but helping the city extort money from its citizens. When a policeman goes up to talk to a group of young people, you can bet they feel (probably correctly) that they’re about to be hassled and suspected of plotting wrong-doing.

The teachers with the best-controlled classes are not those who are the most intimidating, not the loudest, not the most threatening. They are ones who are calm, consistent, and constantly in contact with their students. Friendly, approachable, but ultimately in perfect control. That’s what police can and should be.

Common Sense: We treat strangers much worse than we treat acquaintances. Our police force are strangers to us all, as are we to them. This situation can and should be changed.

Sincerely,
Solomon Slade