Comments on Incompetence

31 July 09 The problem with "institutionalized incompetence," from a friend with a PD in the Midwest: "One of our patrol lieutenants falls into the same category as the incompetent NM female officer you described. The first time, he unholstered his pistol and laid it in the doorway of the hotel room where we went in to confront a delirious suspect. When another officer discovered it laying there, our lieutenant said he put it there ' because he didn't want the suspect to grab his gun!' Of course, by the time our lieutenant even got there, the suspect had already surrendered, been taken into custody, and removed from the scene. In the second incident, several months later, this same lieutenant went to assist a neighboring jurisdiction with an armed suspect in an apartment. When he finally arrived, another officer at scene noticed there was no pistol in our lieutenants's holster. Our lieutenant responded that he left it locked in his vehicle, '... so the suspect wouldn't get it.' Once again, the incident had been resolved long before he ever showed up. This lieutenant, even when a patrolman, was always last to arrive on any call where there is even a hint of violence. It was invariably long-since over when he finally got there. Sometimes, he didn't arrive at all. Our department issues good, level-two, security holsters. This guy is just a loafer, coward, and pathologically afraid of guns. He is altogether unsuited to police work and never should have been hired in the first place, much less promoted. Because of his position within the department, his inveterate incompetence puts all our lives in peril, every day! As in the NM incident, it is only a matter of time before the lines cross. Our chief readily concedes there is a 'problem' with this officer, but continues to do nothing." Comment: All to common in American public service. When the incompetent/unqualified are elected/promoted to important positions, for invariantly political reasons, public safety is fatally compromised. Unhappily, promoting bungling buffoons for political gain is a grand American tradition, and politicians, of course, couldn't care less about innocent people who are predictably hurt and injustice that is ever propagated, nor do their media stooges. But, we do! Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police need to be extremely adept at saying "no" to political promotions and hiring, and equally accomplished at firing, instead of promoting, the demonstrably incompetent/unqualified/inadequate. If not, when cashing their paycheck, they should be arrested for armed robbery! /John