Huntsville Still Takes Orders From Police, Allows Typical Stall Tactics

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The folks in Huntsville Alabama are finally getting around to trying to decide if maybe they might have a possible problem with some questions on whether the police there could potentially use some help in case they aren’t sure if the job is being done in an OK fashion.

Does that sentence drive you nuts? How about indecision? Does total lack of action when action is needed make you want to scream?

Evidently, it is a pastime of the City Council of Huntsville. The people have made enough noise to get a forum with the City Councilman Richard Showers on the subject of forming a Citizen Review Board, but then caved when it was time to make some progress. The city must like their cops as they are. If so, be they good or bad, they deserve them.

The first sign of foot-dragging came when councilman Showers asked the ad hoc committee to decide if a CRB is needed. Big mistake. Police are police are police, and for that reason, every city and town needs a review board, just like electricity and phone service. There must be a constant and consistent input from the citizens to the police department as to what their needs are, and if the PD is meeting those needs. Without daily direction, cops are guaranteed to slowly warp out of alignment and become progressively more destructive to the citizens they serve, as today’s news shows us. By asking if a CRB is needed, councilman Showers proves he doesn’t know what a CRB is for.

Showers said he was only seeking “information”. Councilman, you don’t need information, you need a CRB; they will get all the information required. He said the town meeting was for introduction. Councilman, it isn’t an introduction you need, it is a Citizen Review Board. Police antics as we all know them has introduced America to what needs to be done, and it is police department control.

Councilman Bill Kling suggested a meeting between citizens and law enforcement officials to “satisfy the needs of both sides”. Really? No. The formation of a CRB with teeth is started by citizens that don’t ask the child if he would like to eat his vegetables, the meal is simply served and expected to be eaten. There is no bargaining. The satisfaction comes if the townspeople like the cops and if the cops want the job.

A serious-minded CRB is fueled by a citizenry that understands a PD is the result of an original community request, and is funded by the community itself. We are not here to be judged by our employees. An effective CRB calls the shots to bring the citizen’s vision of the community to reality, and it does so by sculpting the PD. How? Hire and Fire.

Huntsville, go with Hire and Fire or go home. No police department in America will listen to a word you say without it. Cops are a problem because they think they can do whatever they want. If you give them an inch of negotiating room, they will take every mile the rest of us will ever travel. It is the nature of the personality types the police academy attracts and nurtures. The academy problem can be addressed in due time, but the police problem must be solved now, and with a Citizen Review Board. Call City Councilman Richard Showers and exert your power as a voter and a citizen by telling him to stop the foot dragging and stall tactics. None of us has forever. Put the CRB with Hire & Fire in motion today.