While there has certainly a lot of talk about looking at hiring practices for SFPD I am NOT sure that is the bigger issue. I think our police force needs, no deserves, better ongoing training. Not only in diversity and criminal justice, but also integrity and ethics. I personally think that consistent and frequent training of our officers would produce better officers in the long run.
Citizen advocate Emmett Reistroffer said this recently on his FB page;
The City of Sioux Falls, Mayor Paul Ten Haken, and Police Chief Thum must immediately begin the process to seek accreditation for the Sioux Falls Police Department. It’s not enough for city leaders to simply say they’re “angry” about the recent arrests of officers – we expect a plan of action, and in my opinion, that begins with ensuring our department implements best practices, including independent oversight and auditing. Accreditation alone won’t solve every issue or prevent every case of misconduct, but it should drastically improve the culture within the department and establish standards for excellence. Everyone stands to gain from accreditation, including the Chief, officers, and community members.
Accreditation helps police departments operate more professionally, justify their operations, and promote trust in their community. Most accrediting programs require agencies to assess high-liability areas of their operations, provide officers with more training, and hold officers accountable for policy and training compliance. Accreditation also promotes transparency and self-reflection within an agency, which fosters a culture of accountability. When an agency enrolls in an accreditation process, they are committing to excellence in leadership, resource management, and delivery of services.
Recently at Amir Locke’s funeral in Minneapolis, his Aunt spoke out about police and the job they have. While most of her eulogy embraced how police treat young black men, she did touch on something (FF 40:50) that got me thinking when it comes to ALL police officers ‘We don’t want to hear about being a police officer is a difficult job . . . You were NOT drafted into the police department. You chose that profession.’
Her statement is poignant, because she is absolutely correct. Deciding to take a career in policing is your choice. And if you make that choice, you have to live up to a certain code of conduct, on and off the job.
In fact, if you choose to be a police officer, you are NOT even in the top 10 of dangerous jobs. Police officers rate 18th nationally.
Trust me, I am not putting this all on a person who chooses the profession. Anybody that works for the tax payers should feel safe, but that safety only comes from being well-trained and professional.
So far 3 Sioux Falls officers have been arrested over the past 6 weeks or so, there may be more, no one knows for sure, even Lincoln County State’s Attorney Wollman was uncertain if more arrests would be made due to officer Jock allegedly distributing child porn videos.
But there is a bigger gorilla in this mess, LACK OF LEADERSHIP!
I have been warning for quite awhile that our city leaders have been on cruise control and only focused on handouts to big donors (mostly massive tax breaks for developers and insider land deals) instead of the day to day operations of the city.
The city charter clearly states the role of the Mayor (City Manager);
§ 31.002 POWERS OF THE MAYOR. The mayor shall have the power to prescribe executive orders for an interim successor and for the creation of departments of the administration, as provided in city charter §§ 2.03 and 4.01. The mayor shall also have the power to prescribe rules and regulations that the mayor deems necessary or expedient for the conduct of employees in departments and administrative agencies subject to his or her authority. The mayor shall have the power to revoke, suspend or amend any executive order, provided the executive orders do not conflict with city charter or ordinance. All executive orders shall be filed with the city clerk.
That middle sentence is important, because that is ultimately his ONLY duty as mayor, and Poops has failed miserably. In fact you could argue it is a dereliction of duty. While he is off in the weeds worrying about policy making (the job of the council) he has done very little to lift up the SFPD or even regular city employees who have to go begging for an inflation bonus.
Just look at the list of directors or managers that have either quit on their own, were terminated or retired in 3 short years;
• TWO Fire Chiefs
• Police Chief
• Planning Director
• Deputy Chief of Staff
• Housing Director
• Building Services Manager
• Innovation Manager
• The FIRST and ONLY Chief Cultural Officer (this was the supposed important one he needed to get the city employees inline with his imaginary initiatives)
• Health Director and one Assistant Health Director
I may have missed a few.
I don’t think the city has a hiring problem when it comes to selecting new officers, they have an ongoing training problem, and I am not sure this Mayor and Police Chief are cut out for it. As I said in public input during Tuesday’s meeting, ‘Politicians get angry when they get caught.’ TenHaken got caught not running the city and the police department properly and all the crocodile tears in the world won’t fix it.
