There are official opening days, opening days, days on which things are declared open, and days when something actually opens. Much semantic stuff prevails. The annual IACP meeting actually began on Saturday, October 13, but I was on airplanes then. I got into New Orleans late Saturday night, and will be in and around the New Orleans Convention Center until very early Wednesday morning. The conference had some sessions on Saturday, so you could say it was open then, but the exhibits didn’t open until Sunday, and the first general assembly was on Monday. You choose which is the real opening day.

The huge (as usual) exhibits area opened with speechifying, handshaking, and lots of grinning and posing before and after the traditional ribbon-cutting. IACP President Joseph Carter, Chief of the MBTA Transit Police in Boston, welcomed everyone and then introduced Superintendent Warren J. Riley of the New Orleans Police Department, the host agency this year. He, in turn invited representatives of Cisco Systems, Motorola, and Bank of America to join him and Carter in cutting the symbolic ribbon with an oversize pair of scissors, opening the exhibit floor to attendees. I call the ribbon “symbolic” because it was lying on the carpet until everyone had gathered at the entrance, and then a man off-camera picked up the loose end.

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I had another column planned for this week, inspired by having attended a friend’s retirement party, but the news headlines are just too tempting. I’ll hold this to two of those stories: the homicides in Crandon, WI, and the report from the DOJ concerning people dying while in police custody.

The headlines for the Wisconsin stories all made sure that you knew that the perpetrator was a cop, even before they told you what he did and how many people he did it to. This caters to the public’s rapacious appetite for any news that depicts authority figures or high-profile individuals getting into trouble. This often extends to incidents that are difficult to characterize as “news.” Britney, Paris, or Lindsay is intoxicated and doing something irresponsible? That’s not news, that’s typical and expected behavior. “Dog Poops On Lawn” is about as noteworthy. But, I digress. Folks just love to see important people screw up. When the screwup is a cop, they get to assert how we’re all unstable, prone to violence, and trigger-happy. Why are these people allowed to be in positions of authority, and to have guns?

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There is a Latin phrase often used when the oversight of law enforcement officers is discussed: Quis custodiet ipso custodes? (the first word is often cited without the “s”. Not being a Latin scholar, I can’t tell you which is correct.) It’s difficult to translate literally, but it comes out to something like “Who will watch the watchmen?” or “Who will watch the watchers themselves?” The idea is that there is always a question among the watched–in this case, the citizenry–about who will make sure that the police are doing their jobs, and doing them properly. It’s a valid concern.

Left to their own governance, just about anyone will start to goof off or only follow the rules that suit them, sooner or later. This applies to everyone from fast food workers to members of Congress–come to think of it, especially to members of Congress. So, although we hate to admit it, it’s actually good to have someone around who will kick us in the butt when necessary. This assumes, of course, that you are actually interested in getting the job done, or in doing it properly. That’s most of us. There will always be a few whose primary interest is in getting away with as much as they can. If the job is one that doesn’t lend itself to close supervision, or if the supervision is inadequate, then the worker can do exactly that. The worst of all worlds is when the supervisor is also one of the people subscribing to the minimalist work philosophy. If that happens, even well-planned controls are useless.

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Officer.com is here for the law enforcement community, and I usually write these editorials with that audience in mind. Lately, though, it seems like I have attracted more of a civilian audience, and this time I want to speak to that group more specifically.

The last couple of weeks have focused on police misconduct (or behavior perceived by some as misconduct) and police-citizen interactions. The comments have made reference to police officers being too quick to use the force option, disrespectful of constitutional limits on their powers, overly protective of one another, biased in their enforcement and discretionary decision-making, and just not the kind of police that you want or are comfortable with. So, let me explain a few things that might shed some light on why we have the police that we do.

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Anytime I want to expand our reader base a bit, all I need to do is write a commentary on an issue near and dear to the hearts of people outside the police community. I don’t have to promote it beyond that –the internet does it for me. Last week’s blog about the St. George, MO police sergeant who was videotaped cursing and threatening a driver who had set up the encounter for that purpose was one of these. At this writing, it’s up to 35 comments–not a record, but respectable.

This round was interesting in that it turned into a kind of dialogue between the commenters, who stopped criticizing what I had written in favor of criticizing each other. I pointed out that we have a discussion forum that works much better for that sort of thing, and the reply inferred that their perspective would not be tolerated on our forums. I submit that those of you who constantly find fault with the police are less tolerant of the police point of view than the police are of yours.

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As if we didn’t need more bad press, a police sergeant from St. George, MO was suspended this last week after his tirade directed at a motorist was captured on videotape. This is unfortunate on several levels, but it should also make for a warning flag for other cops, because the tactics used by the “victim” in this incident are becoming increasingly commonplace.

The incident has been a hot topic on the Officer.com discussion forum, where some people might expect the cops there to be defending the Missouri sergeant. For the most part, this hasn’t happened. The prevailing tone is that the sergeant was out of line and unprofessional, but also that he was baited into the incident by someone that was looking to push his buttons, and succeeded. Cops are supposed to be paragons of self-control, and they usually are. But every one of us has a hot button (maybe several), and if that gets pushed, bad things are likely to happen.

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