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Most of the time, I write about my personal life news or issues on this blog. It’s a way for me to share with family and friends, especially those who are far away. I’m going to branch out today to write my opinion on a community issue.

If you live in Rockford, there is no need for me to recap the issue, but only to say a few words: “police chief controversy.” Since most of my, admittedly small, readership live elsewhere, I will give a brief overview, let’s call it “the Karyn version”. In 2006, the Rockford Board of Fire and Police Commissioners hired a new chief, Chet Epperson. He decided to follow the mayor’s lead in reforming city government by instituting new policies and/ or enforcing other policies. More accurately, some of these items are policies while others are procedures. For example, the Rockford police department’s drug policy was previously long range. This means, they follow the little guys to get the big guys; they use long- term operations in their approach to drug dealers. Chief Epperson decided that a police presence in the neighborhoods to nip even small time drug dealers would lead to less crime of all kinds in those neighborhoods. Then he started actually disciplining officers for certain kinds of infractions or drawing attention to them. For example, an officer was disciplined for surfing porn sites while working. Or one woman was disciplined for using too much sick time. The woman in question has been on sick leave for three out of her ten years as a Rockford police officer. Another powerful officer was criticized because when an underage drinking party was broken up, he came and removed his teenager while all of the other teenagers in attendance were arrested. Did I mention the chief cut back on the overtime budget? If you know anything about police departments, you can see where this is going. The officers are angry, the police union is called in, chaos ensues.

This is where we in Rockford have been stuck for several months: chaos, arguing, media frenzy, pressure tactics, etc. I’ve been “saying my piece” internally for a while, but now I’d better let off the steam before I explode. To begin with, I grew up in a police family. My dad was a sheriff’s deputy when I was born, but for most of my life, he was the training officer for a small city in Tennessee. When he left the police department, he was a captain and a graduate of the FBI National Academy. My uncle was a police officer, his brother was a police officer, and even my great- grandpa was the first paid police officer in his town. We lived a couple of blocks from the police department and town hall, so my sisters and I were in and out a lot. Later, my sister worked for our town and my step-mother was on the city council. I mention all of this just to let you know that I have a little familiarity with local government and also that I am highly supportive of our police officers and the work that they do.

Being supportive is one thing and being realistic is another thing. There are many good police officers. In this case, I’m using “good” to mean skilled. Okay, after mentally reviewing the officers I’ve known, I’ll rephrase. There are some good police officers. There are some honest police officers, and within that category of honest are multiple levels. Occasionally, the categories of good (skilled) and honest police officers overlap. Those men who are both skilled and honest survive if they do their job well and keep their mouths shut about other officers who may not be skilled or honest. If they don’t keep their mouths shut, they get crushed. Before I anger my entire audience, I will admit that there are exceptions to what I am saying. I’m just describing what I have seen most often. Politics and power plays abound. The status quo is not disturbed without consequences. Since I’m being very honest, I will say that, in my opinion, my father was a skilled, but not completely honest, police officer.

The heart of that last statement is what I’ve already stated about there being multiple levels within the category of honest. In police work, there is a sense of what I can only describe as entitlement. Police officers deal with so much so that we don’t have to. While I was asleep in my bed last night, police officers dealt with drug dealers, rapists, and burglars to keep me safe. They see things that you and I pray that we will never see. Daily, they view hopeless situation after hopeless situation. They watch battered women return to their abusers again and again. They see people do unspeakable things to children. They catch people in unbelievable circumstances motivated by overwhelming hatred or lust or greed.

The police officer is affected at some level by what he (or she, just keep mentally adding in the “or she) sees. Without a strong family or friend or church support system, the job can become overwhelming. Without something in life to give renewed perspective, the view can get a little skewed. Police officers aren’t appreciated like they should be nor are their pressures understood. The pay isn’t great. You are separated from your family often. You could come home beat up, spit on, or smelling like urine or puke. You get tired of watching even “decent” people lie or yell or bargain just to get out of something as basic as a traffic ticket. You face danger so often that it becomes routine. It is sad, but understandable, that divorce rates are so high among police officers.

Then, comparison begins. “I am nothing like…” Fill in what the officer sees every day. “I am under-appreciated, and so I deserve the perk of…” Whatever fills in that last statement defines the levels of honesty of which I spoke earlier, whether it is spoken aloud or simply acted out. Personally, I totally agree with the beginning statements. Police officers are doing a valuable and amazing job. They should be appreciated, and they deserve all the perks we can give them. But, I’ve seen a lot of things fill in the blank. “I am under- appreciated, and so I deserve the perk of… using city equipment at my home …not ever getting a ticket even if I deserve it… my family not ever getting a ticket even if they deserve it…having an affair on work time without anyone telling my wife…etc…” Hey, let’s get to Rockford. “I am under-appreciated, and so I deserve the perk of … being paid to stay home sick for years…surfing the internet for porn on the city’s computers… making sure my kid doesn’t get arrested when he deserves it.”

Some of these things aren’t harmful. In fact, I’ve benefited from them myself growing up and even now at times. I always knew that if I got into any kind of trouble in East Ridge and was pulled over, my dad would be called to get me. That was a thought much scarier than jail. I always knew my dad would run the background information of any guy I went out with. I’ve had him call me and say, “Why were you in the car with so and so yesterday?” Another cop had seen me, run the plates of the car I was in, and told my dad. As a high school sophomore, I was shocked when I wanted to fly to Houston for a day by myself to try out for something and my dad said yes. Turns out he had a “buddy” there that made sure I was watched by police all day long. In college, nearly a thousand miles away from my dad, I had the sheriff of that county check on me several times because he’d been a classmate of my dad’s at the Academy. There is a brotherhood formed by all that police officers go through that is strong and enduring. My father’s funeral was packed out with police. I was aware that those men knew the worst about my dad and that some of them couldn’t stand him, but they were there to support our family because that is how it is done.

With all of these thoughts in mind, the problems of the police force in Rockford are more understandable. When Chief Epperson began to cut away at things that no one had dealt with in a long time, it sounds to me like he was asking for a higher standard. Or maybe just an average standard. If I surfed for internet porn at work, I’d be fired. If I used that much sick time so that I was a detriment to my company, I’d be fired. If I broke the rules to give myself special privileges, I’d be fired.

By involving the police union, the officers have given themselves a wall of protection. Many honest cops will stand behind them, simply because going against the police union is unthinkable. They will allow themselves to fall for the rationalizations that we are hearing in the news. “It is Chief Epperson’s managerial style that is the problem.” “He isn’t handling the paperwork of these issues according to established policies.” (There seem to be no policies in place in Rockford for firing anyone.) “He should leave the day to day running of the department to the men under him.” (This is code for “let us do what we’ve always done.”)

The police union and its leaders have caused me to make this lengthy and opinionated statement simply because they have gone too far. They are putting pressure on the public in order to get rid of their chief. They are throwing around terms that scare people like “endangering officers’ lives” and “unable to protect the public properly”. They think that if we hear these things long enough we will start to say, as I’ve already seen in editorials, “I don’t care what the issues are, but if he can’t handle them without all of this fuss, then we should get rid of him anyway.” Will Chief Epperson back down? I doubt it. Will he win? Unfortunately, I really doubt that.

At night, I let my dog out into the back yard. As I stand on the porch, I can watch drug deals going down in the alley. I’d call the police again, but Joy is right when she says, “they know, but they don’t care.” They don’t want the policy of going after the little guy. Too bad for us. Maybe if they did stop that guy in the alley, there wouldn’t have been a shooting there a couple of months ago. I love my housemates, my dog, and my car, otherwise, I’d give into the temptation I always have just to march over there and let the stupid little creep have a piece of my mind. I can think of lots of creative ways to put a cramp in his business style. As it is, I’m afraid of the cost of that change, so I stick with the status quo. I hope that the people of Rockford and the police officers of Rockford don’t follow my example.