Law board is not an “oversight” board for police department
I am writing in response to Mr. Strawn’s April 12 letter regarding the Law Board’s role and relationship with the RCPD. His perspective is important and I’d like to share mine. I beleive there may be more merit to his argument if the RCPD were not accredited through CALEA, the first department in Kansas (1991) to earn this extremely difficult professional designation enjoyed by only 5-6 percent of law enforcement agencies in the country and even a lower percentage in Kansas.
I served about two-thirds of my 42-year career in accredited departments and know what it means to the communities they serve. In my opinion the suggestion that the Law Board is an “oversight board” is incorrect. Nowhere in the RCPD enabling legislation is the board characterized this way. My experience is that their role, just like a city manager or county administrator is to provided the resources necessary for the RCPD to fulfill it it public safety mission for the citizens of Riley County.
The board’s oversight is of the director, whom they select or deselect as the CEO to provide the professional leadership of the RCPD. To suggest that the director and department report to single city manager or county official seems to conflict with Mr. Shawn’s criticism that the current board members lack the necessary experience to direct the department’s operations. This is because I am a unaware of any city our county government official who has had a police department in their portfolio of their government operations, and that’s not intended to be a personal criticism. Again, this is why it is so important to maintain accreditation. Finally, while no organization is infallible, the law enforcement model in Riley County largely removes political interference from day-to-day operations of the RCPD.
Look at departments around the country and see what has happened to their communities during the past two years after sudden and irrational budget cuts in the name of, you fill in the blank, to see what can happen when untrained elected and appointed officials can cause when protecting their jobs or the office they hold. Many have reversed course, but the damage has already been done.
Dennis P. Butler
RCPD Director — retired
Things have changed, but personal responsibility is still crucial
I was born in 1939, a turning point in our history regarding tremendous changes in
both our standard of living and our attitudes, values and expectations.
When I was growing up in the 1940s and ’50s, many people in our country still did
not have central heat, running water, electricity, indoor plumbing or private
telephones.
In addition, our country had been through a long period of turmoil. From the turn of
the century until 1945, we experienced terrible labor conditions and disputes; the
threat of communism; prohibition, the great depression and the incredible evil of
World War II. At the end of the second world war, our population’s psyche,
attitudes and beliefs had been forged in fire and collectively, we were tough. We
knew that we were responsible for ourselves and if anyone was going to make it
happen, it was each one of us, individually working together for a common goal. We
were very diligent in believing that we would not allow the evil of World War II to
ever threaten us again.
Things changed. Jobs became plentiful; more and more of us became prosperous
and almost all of us enjoyed a much better standard of living, including electricity,
indoor plumbing, central heat, one party telephone lines, and miracle of miracles,
central air conditioning. As a result, we got complacent to the point of
overconfidence and much less diligent regarding the evil that was beginning to re-
emerge in our world. And, here we are today; surrounded by evil, corruption,
entitlement, permissiveness, and immorality, all of which threaten to destroy us. I
love the old saying, “We have met the enemy and it is us.”
There is another old saying, “the more we change, the more we stay the same”. In
some areas, I sincerely hope this is not true. I have seen the pendulum swing from
the really good times we had from 1945 through the early ’60s. We have been
going downhill ever since. And, while I believe that there is still hope that we will
not return to pre-World War II economic conditions as more and more people
understand the seriousness of our problems, I am concerned that too many people
are still hiding their heads in the sand, complacently ignoring disaster.
In my opinion, the most important thing we can do is to recover the attitudes and
toughness of our ancestors. BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOURSELF! Do not expect the
government to take care of you or to make you happy because I guarantee you that
that will NEVER happen.
Educate yourselves regarding our governmental structure, politics, economy,
system of taxation and other important aspects of our society. Do not believe
anything that the media or our politicians tell you; research it for yourself. Demand
honesty and political reform from our political officials. Vote. Take a personal
responsibility to fight evil where ever you find it.
Don McCullough
1604 Denholm
