I subscribe to many local new sources directly through my Facebook feed. You can imagine my shock and surprise when I sat down last night and read the blaring headline, “Police Chief Reprimanded.” There is no way to sugarcoat the rest of this story unless you start eating powdered donuts, while you wonder aloud about if the city participates in screening candidates before hiring them.
Our police chief lost his gun in a public grocery store bathroom. He stated that he “may have accidentally left it in a towel container.”
As a former Human Resources Manager, you can imagine the blaring red sirens that are screeching through my head, all puns intended. Does the city not screen job candidates? I am now convinced Chief Wiggum does exist in the flesh, and he lives in this small town.
There is this gray area for our inept Police Chief Wiggum. He was off duty and carrying his personal weapon. However, even with his concealed carry permit, he is still responsible for acting with the utmost care and duty to protect the public while carrying a weapon of deadly force. This begs the question, “If any citizen with an issued concealed carry permit acts to this degree of irresponsibility, should they be able to keep their concealed permit?” The legal answer is likely no since they would have acted with reckless endangerment. Without a concealed carry permit, Chief Wiggum cannot carry out his necessary civic job duties.
However, our police chief answers to our mayor. Instead of having a good ol’ boys system in effect, it would be wise to have a human resources software monitoring system that processes all potential applicants, which helps to prevent lawsuits. Yes, our city has seen plenty of previous lawsuits, which simply serve to tax our insurance carriers and our pockets.
My recommendation is this: hold police officers to higher standards than cartoon characters and everyday civilians. To help enact this, stop having a system where police chiefs receive appointments based on their popularity and ensure that decisions are made based on quantifiable results.
Popularity does not save lives, proven statistics, training and education helps to maintain public safety. And for added measure, let us make sure we have employees with enough common sense to not leave their weapons in bathrooms.
As an added follow up, Chief Wiggum’s gun has been missing for nearly one month and has not been located. There are no viable leads or crumbs at this time.
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