Grand Old Flag

It doesn’t matter when or where, it matters not the danger,
We race as though to help a friend when called on by a stranger.
And maybe just remind the few, if ill of us they speak,
that we are all that stands between the monsters and the weak.

Michael Marks

Last week, in response to a citizen complaint, the Los Angeles Police Department removed all "Thin Blue Line" flags, plaques and other memorabilia from public display in their buildings. Their chief, in what might be best described as the worst of all word salads, inferred that the images represented many of the awful -isms that are easy to fling haphazardly but much more difficult to actually establish in the present.

The shame isn't that LAPD removed a symbol of pride and devotion from their buildings. It isn't even that the complaints were taken seriously - it is in the nature of fools and bureaucrats to overreact dramatically every time someone voices a criticism. The problem is the cavalier dismissal of one of the foundational concepts of police leadership.

Police officers are accountable for their own errors and omissions, but are never condemned for the errors of others, or the shortcomings of other ages.

It seems simple, doesn't it? Hundreds of thousands of men and women put on a police, deputy sheriff's or state trooper's uniform and go to work every day in America. Countless more federal officers guard our borders, police our federal installations. Each arrives to an uncertain future, wondering if today is the day their community cashes their blank check - "Up to and including my life."

Of those thousands, a handful are unworthy. They are incompetent, self-serving or criminals themselves. They follow a different set of rules. What is notable is the degree to which their transgressions make them newsworthy, how they stand out from the near unanimity of officers who see duty as a calling.

Yesterday, the agency from which I retired chased a suspect who'd attempted, or accomplished, several violent crimes. That suspect, in the process of attempting to escape, rammed several police cars. What was the result? An arrest where there were no reported injuries among any of the participants. A violent person off the streets, the community safe.

That isn't unusual, for that department or departments around the country. Men and women proudly and capably delivering law enforcement services. So, why not fly their flag, celebrate their courage and commitment? Because a citizen complained?

The notion may eventually seep into the minds of office holders like the LAPD chief that the reason it's so hard to recruit good people into law enforcement positions, and to keep consistently high performers, is that when push comes to shove command staff will not support them. Politics, perceptions and the lexicon of the era overcome the solid, steady work of thousands who serve selflessly. It makes me wonder...

Isn't that the LAPD chief's flag, too? When did the chief stop being a cop, and start being a politician?