Hocus Focus on the Vision!

Back in August, we wrote about complaints involving the Park Ridge Police Department . Since that time, a team from the Park Ridge police department, "facilitated by the City Manager", Tim Schuenke, put together a plan they have titled: "Focus on the Vision". Here we will only discuss what they began with because everything else follows from there.

The all-police team identified "four key issues"-

• "Trust and Respect. The department needs to fully regain the trust and respect of the Citizens, the Elected Officials, and within the department and its management team."


• "There needs to be better understanding and clarity as to what the community's, the elected officials, and the department's goals and objectives are."


• "Departmental morale."


• "A need to improve the management and leadership within all levels of the department."

Here are the key issues we believe the city manager's "team" missed:

1. Park Ridge police officers need better training in policing practices. The entire issue of police conduct came to light in large part due to a poorly-conducted investigation that a courageous citizen reported and made public.


2. The police administration needs to identify policy weaknesses in police practices. If the department's policies are not up-to-date, then new policies must be adopted immediately; but if the department's policies are not being properly employed by its officers, that should be remedied immediately through more and/or better training.


3. Police officers need better pay, especially at the entry level. Park Ridge citizens should be willing to pay for, and get, the pick of the police academy litter. A first rate town deserves first rate police officers who merit first rate pay to make and keep this community safe and secure.


4. The police department and city management should stop believing the problems within and without the department are just a public relations matter. Please... keep your pens, key chains and other tchotchkeys: just honestly tell the community the number and nature of the complaints that have been received, what the outcomes of the investigations into them have been, and how any complaints will be dealt with in the future. None of that requires an invasion of anybody's privacy nor violation of legal rights.


5. Bonus! (and we do not suggest this lightly): The police administration needs to grab hold of its fortitude and cut loose a big chunk of its "morale problem." They know who he is.

We did see, and laugh at, the statement in the Spokesman that: "The Council is always happy to hear from residents, however, initially giving such complaints to the City Manager will expedite the process considerably. Because the City Manager is the top day-to-day administrator, the Council will refer matters to him. Going to him first will reduce the time and number of steps involved. The City is most anxious to remedy any problems."

From what we've seen so far, City Manager Schuenke will "expedite the process" if the remedy you're looking for is...sweeping things under the rug until forced to deal with the issues, and then deal with the issues by using a bunch of buzzwords he's picked up from those municipal workshops and seminars he attends.