By Mansfield Frazier
With the grand jury finally winding up its proceedings in regards to blame placement for the 137 shot debacle in which two unarmed individuals were killed by Cleveland police officers well over a year ago, the department is about to again be thrust into the spotlight. The reactions of everyone involved to the anticipated indictments — from police brass, to union officials, to the citizenry — will go a long way in determining what kind of police force we’ll have in Cleveland going forward.
Obviously, Michael Brelo, the officer that fired 50 of the 137 shots is a prime target of the investigation, as well he should be. If nothing else, he should be given some kind of award or plaque for being able to reload his weapon so damn fast and fire so many times in 30 seconds … a little something he can hang on his cell wall as he steps off the sentence he will so richly deserve — if and when he’s found guilty.
The former armed services member who supposedly was in the thick of combat in either Iraq or Afghanistan claims that he was in fear for his life when he climbed on the hood of the vehicle containing the two victims and opened fire along with other officers.
And of course the police union will defend his seemingly overreaction that fateful night by saying he had a flashback to a combat situation; which if true, begs the question: Why wasn’t this apparent walking time bomb weeded out during the psychological evaluation phase of the hiring process? Should the folks who put him on the streets of Cleveland with a loaded gun and a badge (which really amounts to a license to kill) also be held accountable for his — and their — actions?
The police union, of course, will defend whatever actions any officers engage in by using any excuse … no matter how egregious, how brutal, or how far beyond the Pale their behavior … that’s why Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Union President Jeff Follmer has zero credibility. His job, similar to that of an attorney, is to defend cops whether they are right or wrong; I get that, but what puzzles me is the fact he’s often treated as an honest broker by the media … something he clearly is not.
It’s understandable that Follmer would stick up for all of the officers involved in the fatal incident — since that’s what he gets paid to do — but the fact that he also stood up for Officer Martin Lentz (who, back in 2011, used a mentally ill man’s head for a football while the man, Edward Henderson, was lying face down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back) bespeaks an “us versus them” police union politics that’s the antithesis of the kind of department we deserve to have in Cleveland.
But police politics aren’t strictly the provenance of uniformed patrol officers, not by a long shot. It goes right up the food chain to the top, and some would say it gets uglier and uglier the higher up it goes.
For instance, Second District Commander Keith Sulzer recently announced he was going to step down and go back to work as a captain. While he described the move as “what’s best for the city and what’s best for me,” many in the District are not buying it; they suspect he was forced out and residents organized a rally to keep him as their commander.
Scuttlebutt (current and retired police officers simply love to chew the fat, as long as it’s off the record) has it that Sulzer was forced out at the behest Safety Director Michael McGrath, with whom he didn’t see eye-to-eye. Sulzer supporters are saying he was targeted because he stood up for his officers a bit too strongly, while detractors maintain that police officers under his command tended to run amok and not follow the rule book more than other officers because they knew their commander had their back … no matter if they were right or wrong.
In other words, Sulzer was thought to be more of a cheerleader for the officers under him, and not enough of a disciplinarian who kept them in check.
Striking the right chord in terms credibility is critical to leadership within any paramilitary organization; the troops have to respect and trust their leaders … which raises questions in regards to two recent promotions within the Cleveland Division of Police.
While the dearth of top police brass of color and of the female persuasion is a widely acknowledged fact and one that should be corrected, many insiders are still questioning why a black male officer with so many chinks in his armor was recently promoted over allegedly “cleaner” candidates … those without so many questions regarding their past conduct.
And likewise the white female, who more than one source said, “slept her way to the top.” Another officer was more forthcoming and less charitable when he said: “If all of the police peckers that been stuck into this broad were sticking out of her, she’d look like a goddamn porcupine … fake tits and all.” Yeah, cops can be brutal, what else is new?
For morale to remain high in the department there has to be a strong sense of integrity at the top … and just as strong a sense of fair play for those officers at the bottom, those just starting out in their careers. While it’s impossible to totally remove politics from the decisions made by any organization, promotions and other daily business of the Cleveland Division of Police must be like Caesar’s wife … “above reproach.”
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: With the Hammer About to Fall”
Rick Warren
Is this what passes as a correspondent’s piece now? We’re supposed to wonder about an unnamed black officer who was promoted, because unnamed “insiders” have questions about unidentified “chinks in his armor?” And, an unidentified white female officer (who we must infer has recently been promoted) suffers from the stereotypical attacks of “she slept her way to the top” from anonymous “sources?” More information, less unsubstantiated rumor.