City of Ithaca
Chief of Police Search Process
The Ithaca Chief
I am writing in response to the article recently printed in the Journal dealing with the search for a new police chief.
Who, exactly, is the "community" that is concerned with the ongoing selection process? Further down the article it makes mention of "some members of the public." Were these members any less involved in the selection process than police officers? No.
The 12-member committee, composed of 11 civilian members and one serving police officer, created a checklist of 74 criteria. This checklist asked you to prioritize a list of attributes you would like to see in the next police chief.
They created this checklist through a process of public forums and meetings (read: community), and publicly distributed it.
When the results came in, "the community" (read: a dissatisfied, vocal minority) cried foul about the very process they helped to create in the first place. You see, the results obviously did not fit their preconceived opinion of whom they want as a police chief.
Now they want to thumb their noses at the majority's ideas and replace them with their own, thereby circumventing the democratic process altogether.
These checklists were available to the entire public (community). The public was asked to respond, they responded, and now "the community" (whomever that is) questions the process altogether.
The writing is on the wall. There is a majority out there and that majority's wishes will continue to be ignored in lieu of a dissatisfied, vocal minority.
If the list of applicants created by this process doesn't fit this vocal minority's preconceived opinions of who they want as a chief, the 12-member committee will return to the drawing board, time and time again.
Finally, if you look up "prejudiced" in Webster's dictionary, "preconceived opinion" figures prominently within the definition.
Andrew Navarro
City of Ithaca, Feb 14
The Ithaca Journal
February 19, 1997
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