Do we really need to have a meeting to find out what kind of traits and characteristics a Police Chief needs? Well, that’s what the city of Paso Robles did (the city I live in) just this past weekend. There was an open meeting in which anyone could attend and help describe the qualities that the future Paso Police Chief should have.
My assumption is that the people responsible for actually making the final decision on who will become our next Police Chief know what they are looking for…if they don’t we have bigger problems than what I thought. The only other possibility was that this was simply a public relations move on behalf of our city government because of all the bad press they have received lately as well as how many citizens are pissed off and voicing it now.
The bottom line issue is that we do have problems in Paso Robles…and yes, I know most places have problems but I don’t live in most places, I live here. The problem is either being caused by the people currently in charge in our city or the problem is that they are unwilling to do any community outreach in the form of a public relations campaign to bridge the gap and start explaining what in the hell is going on.
If Jim App, Duane Picanco, and the rest of the crew truly have done all that they can and kept their noses clean of such things like the Lisa Solomon stuff than they need to stand up and start communicating with the community. Be honest, be as transparent as humanly possible, and engage us. You can’t have this depth of negative chatter going on in a small town and hide away in your office…it’s time to reengage Paso Robles and fix the disconnect and the massive amounts of apathy out there.
Whether we have a people problem or a P.R. problem, it is fixable and I am open to either possibility. My mind is not made up on what the actual problem is, but my mind is made up that we have got to do something to wake this city up!
Below is the link to the SLO Tribune article about the recent meeting to discuss qualities wanted in the new Police Chief.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/06/03/2090392/paso-robles-residents-discuss.html
Ha! I have some qualities that I’d like to see in our next Police Chief…how about honest, straight-shooting, morally “aware”, eager to communicate with the public (after all, they’re your actual employer), capable of keeping the best interest of Paso Robles at heart, not motivated by ego or personal gain, ballsy enough to take accountability for one’s actions….how’s that? Oh wait…those are qualities that everybody should have! Especially those that are running the city that we all choose to live, work, play, raise our children, pay taxes, and vote in, right?
I agree, if we need to have a public forum meeting to whiteboard out the qualities we need in a Police Chief, then we’ve got more serious problems than we all thought. Let’s pull our collective head out of our collective ass and stop the BS!
Wow, I think I created a monster. I will keep it more in the middle of the road and just say that I think the current leaders are probably fine people…but I do think better decisions need to be made. There needs to be more leadership and motivation coming from City Hall, there also needs to be more engagement efforts made with the community, the citizens. We live in a time of apathy and it is up to the leaders to fix that.
Sorry if I came off like a monster…that wasn’t my intent. I’m just tired of things seemingly remaining stagnant and/or getting worse. As a community, it’s our responsibility to stand up and speak our minds, but we (myself included) often don’t. That’s the only way that the leaders will be forced to change the way that they currently do business. I’m not saying they’re bad, I’m just saying that they have no reason to do anything different if they don’t have to…except, of course, if they chose to on their own!
YOu’re my monster so it’s okay!! 🙂 I agree, as you know, with what you’re saying. It is our responsibility to voice our opinions in a respectful way so those in power know how we feel.