Opinions are many, solutions few.

To all who have an opinion?

I’d like to begin by saying that it is easier to criticize after the fact. Those of you who come to our post with unfounded finger pointing; I say go to your own posts and let your opinions be heard. I see many opinions that are of people who don’t belong to HPD and are unaware of really goes on in the Dept. To those of you who are from HPD and entertain these people are doing a disservice to you and your own. Opinions are like belly buttons everyone has one; just some are uglier than others.

I find that working in an environment that is undermanned, under equipped and underappreciated, that anywhere else. It builds a stronger cohesion among the members of HPD that anywhere else. We end up backing up other officers that come into our city limits, because their own don’t show up, they dump their undesirables in our City limits, and we clean it up. Many a time I find a lost person that was looking for help or needed to be transported to a mental facility, and their first statement is “I was dropped off by and officer from so and so”. That really bothers me, I then try to make amends by taking care of business in true HPD fashion, rather than call that dept and snitch, I handle, because that is what we do in HPD we handle, regardless of how nasty the situation.

You may come to our post and try to ridicule our administration, our cars, our methods, but at the end of the day we are the ones that handle. We have skeletons in the closet, like any other department, we just don’t let them haunt us. We continue to carry through the muck, and at the end of the day come clean at the other end.

For my disgruntled brothers and sisters, griping in a public forum as this will not resolve anything; just give validity to the opinioned visitors. Let’s unite, let’s get together and clean our dirty laundry at home. For those of you that do have a positive opinion keep posting and maybe it might just sink in. This is one of many who are in the thick of things day in and day out.

Some mention has been made of instructors at the academy level that are negatively opinioned; well this is in fact a good training tool, for where it really matters, out on the street. As an officer out in the street, you will be forced to sift through the B/S and come to your own conclusions. You cannot afford to take anything at face value, you must continue to seek the truth, and that is what truly counts. Our profession is about seeking the truth.

Be safe and watch each others backs.

Letter to a New Chief
...and every other chief law enforcement officer out there
Posted: January 21st, 2007 01:48 PM PDT

MICHAEL QUINN
Ethics Contributor
Officer.com

Tim Dolan is the new chief of police in Minneapolis, and I'm glad. Tim is a former partner of mine. He was a good partner, and when he was promoted and became my boss, he was a good boss. I know that Tim loves cops, and that no matter how high up he goes in the chain of command, he will always be a cop, and a good man. I know that he is also a devoted dad and husband with a gentle, forgiving side that not many people have seen. I am happy for him, but I don't envy him. He has taken on what may be the toughest job in the state. Violent crime in Minneapolis is higher than it should be, given what's happening in the rest of the U.S. With the murders and gang shootings occurring in our poorest and most crime-ridden areas, many of the citizens have lost faith in our cops. This is not because we have bad cops, but because our citizens are having a hard time seeing cops as part of their community.

Minneapolis cops are crime fighters and they work hard, but it's no secret that the police can only do so much and they can't be held responsible for the root causes of crime. Lack of education, underemployment, and dysfunctional families have more of an impact on crime than the total number of cops responding to calls for service.

We are, and probably always will be, primarily a reactive service, and the higher the crime rate, the more calls for service. With more calls for service there is less time for proactive, community policing efforts. Whether it's POP, COP, SARA, or Broken Windows, you can't connect with the community in any meaningful way if your whole shift is spent running from call to call. In fact, it's more likely that when the cops are pushed like this, they will feel like an occupation force trying to keep the lid on opposing forces over which they have little or no control. And that's not too far from the truth.

In our relatively crime-free neighborhood of Southwest Minneapolis, my neighbors talk about the north side of the city as a "war zone" that should be fenced off from the rest of the city; as if that will protect our little corner of the world from the violence. These perceptions, like the lie that is partially true, have enough truth in each of them to make them powerful forces in an argument for excusing or justifying police behavior that we would not tolerate in other times or other parts of the city.

There are lots of good cops, working very hard, in very tough conditions, in cities all across North America. And it's incredibly frustrating to cops, and the citizens under siege in those bad neighborhoods, when their best efforts don't seem to even make a dent in the problems we face. It would be easy in times like these for Chief Dolan and his commanders to turn a blind eye to infractions committed "in the heat of battle," but it would also be a grave mistake. Excessive force, creative report writing, racial profiling, and hiding behind the code of silence are wrong when times are good and they are just as wrong when times are tough.

We must expect our cops be at their best when the events and circumstances surrounding them are at their worst. The community should be able to depend on them to show the restraint, courage, compassion, and control that are missing in the lives of so many folks. And they should be held accountable when they don't. The community needs examples of what can be possible, not what is excusable, and Chief Dolan can and should lead the way. He should be reminding his cops that their conduct or misconduct is very often the reason behind a community's willingness, or lack thereof, to share what it knows about the crimes going on all around them. Spokespersons for the Minneapolis Police Department have repeatedly had to publicly ask for help in solving crimes that should have had citizens volunteering information within minutes of the crime being made public. Instead, we hear our public relations people lament the fact that: "There are people who know what happened but they aren't coming forward with the information."

It's a matter of trust, Chief. When citizens trust their cops, the phones in homicide will be ringing off the hook with tips concerning major crimes, and you will gain that trust when you hold them accountable for misconduct. It would also help in your communications with those neighborhoods under siege if you make your record of accountability public, like so many other agencies have done. If you did that, you could have more impact on solving the gang and murder problem than any police strategy you could devise. The citizens have placed their trust in you. As your former partner and a citizen in your city, I trust you will do what's right by the community and the cops. Demand courage, compassion, control, and restraint from your cops. You have to trust first that your community will understand mistakes by cops, but they will also expect accountability. Take that first step. The community wants to trust you as much as I do.


Web Links:

Quinn and Associates


Michael Quinn has been in law enforcement for over 26 years, 23 1/2 of those with the Minneapolis Police Department, 18 months with the Minnesota Police Corps where he oversaw the design and development of the federally sponsored Police Corps Academy and 18 months as a Court Security Officer at the Minneapolis Federal Courthouse. He is currently a part-time contract guard for the U.S. Marshals Service in Minneapolis. During his tenure with MPD, Mike worked in some of the toughest and highest-profile units, serving over 300 high- risk warrants without a critical incident.

What????
I think this guy posted on the wrong link. This has nothing to do with what I posted. :roll:

Yes true that some here are definitely not Hialeah Police Officers nor do they would like to be come one, to say the least. Yet there are some who seem to be concerned citizens who want better police services for their city and your smartass cops return their thread posting with even more ignorance than the original. To say that it is not recruitments fault is like saying the Republicans are not responsible for the War in Iraq. If they are just putting bodies to fill the need then surely they are responsible. Granted some postings here have neither purpose nor validity; they sure give you an outlook on what’s really happening behind close doors.

These forums serve a very important purpose in our freedom of speech. Perhaps for those first line supervisors and upper brass that have no clue on the morale status of their troops, should read this forums for a wakeup call. But of course more than likely it will go on deaf ears since very few actually face problems head on.

ITS HIALEAH, AND IT WILL ALWYAS BE HIALEAH

ITS HIALEAH, AND IT WILL ALWYAS BE HIALEAH

You know it doesn’t have to be this way, even Opa-Locka has made a change. Being the second largest city in Miami-Dade County I’m sure that the revenue is there. I find it hard to believe that Hialeah Police Officers can’t unite and make a change.