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4/17/2007
Just what is with the Neenah Police Department?

Or, just what is with the City of Neenah? Gosh, this police stuff has been going on way too long. And ok, the city is dealing with it – they say – by responding quickly and methodically to the recent recommendations of the “RMA Study” of Police Operations.

But when emotions have been so high for so long and misinformation (or lack of good information) is rampant, it makes me think about one thing. Leadership. At the top. Does a community need a study to get the right information out and decide who’s at fault for the whole affair? The Public Service and Safety Committee has unanimously endorsed such a study, to be done by experienced, credible, independent cop-types. And I’m assuming Neenah’s Common Council will follow up the green light recommendation with a positive vote tonight.

But here’s the deal. Somebody at the top needs to communicate and lead. Lead with a consistent message and lead with the whole truth.

I don't necessarily mean the Police Commission. The Police Commission is the Police Commission almost purposely to avoid the limelight, to avoid public pressure, to avoid politics. So they need to be left to lead in a quiet way. But lead nevertheless, they must.

(Almost former) alderperson Steve Erbach put it this way – I think effectively:
The key point is: what has to happen for GOOD management/leadership/accountability strategies to be put in place?” Then he put forth four possible ways to get there:
a) Firing the existing managers and starting fresh?
b) Improving the ones you’ve got and using the guidance of the RMA study’s recommendations to help the process?
c) Initiating an entirely new study of management’s actions during the Dringoli affair [the action under consideration by the Council at tonight’s meeting]
d) Some combination of a), b), and c)?

Good points – the most important point being it’s not an easy fix. Ok, I get that message. And I’m not trying to second-guess the council.

I am, however, second guessing the political leadership – specifically Mayor Scherck and Chief Appel. The buck stops at the top, guys. Yes, day-to-day policing is getting done. Good. It’s your job to manage and communicate appropriate and needed information to the citizens of your great city. What’s key now is to restore public trust. Whatever it takes. Fine. Do another darn study for $25k or whatever the ticket is. But then get a grip. Lead with information your citizens need. Lead with a consistent message. Lead with the truth and restore that critical public trust.

------------------------------------

Concerning the horrific events at Virginia Tech yesterday, one reader wrote in sadness and anger.
I am numb.
Another school shooting----this time a massacre. I talked with a policeman I know recently and he told me that the Green Bay arrests were within a week of being another incident.

Yet Jo,

Scheels and Cabala's sell 50 round clips for the Ruger 10-22 rifles. No hunter needs or would use such a clip. Yes, we do have the right to bear arms. But what arms? How far does it go?

Jo, are our children safe? Are our grandchildren safe?

What can we do?

COMMENTS

About Neenah. I have been involved with a few morale-busting incidents in my work career. Studies can be helpful if the guys in charge and truly clueless about the root issue. I gotta say that most of the time the leadership knows what the problem is, but won't act. If there are problems with the Neenah PD - and it surely seems that there are - the leadership knows what they are and how to fix them. About Virginia Tech and gun control ... that's a touchy subject. It is not a complicated one. The guy was breaking the law - murder of course but also carrying weapons on campus - it's a gun-free zone. Laws won't stop people from acquiring weapons and murdering many many people if that s what they wish to do. The police can't prevent it from happening. An armed citizenry can't prevent it either, but they can keep the body count down. This should have ended when a TA or student (they are adults) brought out his or her pistol and gunned him down.
Won't act. Yes. Not an uncommon situation in government - and business. Thanks Brian. JE

Brian (Tue Apr 17 07:02:24 2007)

Dear Jo, I think your piece comes more from a perspective of "what the heck?" than one of encouraging or demanding leadership. I am not an expert on the Police Department or the Dringoli affair by any means. I don't know how I'd go about becoming one unless I were to conduct a study like RMA did or as the two worthies put forward by the Mayor will likely do if the Council accepts the idea. I cannot in any way shape or form go along with the notion that high emotions and "rampant" misinformation or lack of information should guide the City's or the Police Commission's actions. It's easy for Mr. Dringoli to say that there needs to be a change at the top in the Police Dept. It's easy for the Post-Crescent to report every time Mr. Dringoli says something like that. There HAS been leadership; others may not agree with the leaders' decisions, but there has been leadership. The Police Chief has fired people. He's sued people. He's named internal investigators to address the Dringoli matter. He's sanctioned the gathering of evidence against Mr. Dringoli. He has taken the RMA Study to his bosom and has run with it, at least to the extent that he SAYS that things are changing...and they are, indeed, changing, and changing for the better despite the same names being at the top of the Table of Organization. Now, would they change MORE for the better if those at the top of the TO were terminated and fresh blood injected from outside? Very difficult to say. A police department is NOT like a private business. There is (by far) more of a culture of loyalty and duty in a police department than there is in, say, Kimberly-Clark. It may bring a sense of vindication, comfort, or closure to those who think heads should roll if, indeed, those heads were actually removed...but they're not the ones that have to re-build once the guillotine is packed away. Is it really, truly the case that heads ought to roll? What evidence do people have that has convinced them that several heads in a basket is the best outcome for the Police Dept.? Yes, there have been mistakes and irregularities. But to focus on the failure of a high profile criminal case to come to trial isn't realistic. Charges are dismissed in any number of cases brought before the court system and supported by police evidence. We're supposed to shake out the department because people are upset at the outcome of this one case? I'd say, live with it and get on with life. As far as communication with the citizens, what would you suggest? Trucks with loudspeakers traversing the streets daily? Town criers? Mailings? Sky writing? There are already oodles of public meetings, published notices in the newspapers, a city newsletter, citizen meetings with the Mayor, and the city's web site. There were things that the Mayor and the Police Department were enjoined from saying during the progress of the case. No one in city government was going to risk renouncing those restrictions for any reason. If anyone did, they would rightly be pilloried. The hands of people that are distraught cannot be held all at the same time. There isn't such a thing as a trauma center for the whole city to help it get over its police department weltschmerz. What is needed is patience and time, just like for any other very emotional issue. Yes, there are things in the NPD that need addressing. Don't think that the Chief isn't under a microscope. He will remain so for a long time. Perhaps after this second study some fatal flaws will be revealed, but perhaps not. If flaws are NOT revealed, I rather doubt that the minds of people complaining the loudest will be at rest. There will ALWAYS be people that love to second-guess and point fingers. Knock yourselves out, I say. Whatever comes out of this will require time. I have no idea why people think the police department is crippled when it is not. Drug busts are being made. Speeders are being caught. Accidents are being cleaned up. The work of the department continues even though the leadership is under scrutiny. That is what counts. Steve Erbach Neenah, WI

Steve Erbach (Tue Apr 17 22:08:10 2007)

...and I completely agree with Brian regarding the renewed outcry for gun control. Robert Heinlein said that an armed society is a polite society. We are disarmed. We are at the mercy of nuts with guns and a grievance. Remember that story from 2002 at the Appalachian School of Law? A Nigerian student killed the dean, a professor and another student. Two other students retrieved guns from their cars and disarmed the shooter. Would that that had happened at Virginia Tech. (By the way, if you never heard that bit about the students stopping the shooter after retrieving their own guns, don't worry: of 280 stories reporting the shootings, only four reported that the heroic students actually had guns). Steve Erbach Neenah, WI

Steve Erbach (Tue Apr 17 22:21:15 2007)

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