Fredrick William “Bill” Reed III has been named director of the APS Police Department.
I have been taken to task by a reader, for not giving him a chance;
"How about we give the guy a chance before we start holding him accountable for other's mistakes."I have been misunderstood.
I have not suggested that the new APS top cop be held accountable for anything; in particular I have not suggested that he be held accountable for the previous public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS (police department).
I have asked that he declare his intentions with regard to fixing the problems.
Does he intend to fix things on the QT; protecting all of those who's incompetence and/or corruption led to the debacle? Will he continue the exception to accountability that is enjoyed by the leadership of the APS?
Or, does he intend to fix things openly and above the board; letting the chips fall where they may?
This is an appropriate question for his first day.
It was an appropriate question to ask before he was hired.
I suspect that the question was asked before he was hired. I suspect that he answered the question correctly, and that is why he was hired. I suspect that the answer to the question was that he was in fact, prepared to continue to hide the truth from stakeholders; and protect senior APS administrators from exposure.
The fact that he is stonewalling the question,
tends to indicate that the truth would not sit well with stakeholders.
The stonewalling tends to indicate that he will attempt to fix the problems in the leadership of the APS Police Department, without exposing any of the corruption and incompetence that caused them. It tends to indicate that he is prepared to protect Tom Savage, Gil Lovato, and any others in the leadership who have culpability in the scandal.
He could dissipate the cloud of questions over his head by simply answering them. And if he won't; then we have real reason to suspect his intentions.
... even from the very first day.
2 comments:
I am the one who said, "Lets give him a chance."
I'm sure he walked in completely blind to what is really going on in this department. The media only gives the public a taste of the real issues.
This man has not been on the inside for an entire day and you already want to know what he's going to do to fix the problem. There are probably issues he was never even aware of, until his second day on the job.
I, on the other hand, will give him at least a month to scope out the entire department, get a feel for the internal politics and take some notes before he starts putting the pieces back together.
I have faith that this might just be the hero this parent has been looking for in APS. Who knows, I might be wrong ... but I'm not expecting Earth shattering moments and full disclosure of a department he just stepped into this week. I'd be suspicious of any knee jerk reaction of a new police chief. That would definitely raise a flag, in my opinion.
I really don't want to know "what" he is going to do. "What" to do is the easy part.
I want to know "how". By how, I mean openly and above board; or in secret?
There is no good reason to keep secrets about the public interests in the public schools.
There are those public servants who are willing to be held accountable to a higher standard of conduct than the law.
There are those who will be held accountable only to the law.
They are fundamentally different public servants. Character makes a difference; it counts.
It is fair to ask him which is he?
He would like us to believe that he will be held honestly accountable to a meaningful standard of conduct; but he will not prove it by promising to be honest about the fate of public trust and treasure, the public corruption, and the criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS police department.
If he is not willing to be honest according to a higher standard of conduct; if he is willing only to follow the law; perhaps he is not the public servant we want.
Always grateful for kind attention
ched
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