Atlanta's Mayor Kasim Reed conducted a community forum Thursday night, and introduced the three finalists for the job of chief of the Atlanta Police Department. Along with Louisville's LMPD Chief Robert C. White, Dr. Cedric L. Alexander and George N. Turner addressed the gathering of about 200 interested persons. For 90 minutes, each of the three panelists answered questions from moderators and citizens about their plans for the APD, addressing issues such as officer retention, drug dealing, review panels and 911 responses. In the end, Mayor Reed observed that there "didn't appear to be a clear-cut leader."
Mayor Reed told Ernie Suggs of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "They all look strong on paper but that is different from standing in front of 200 people." Reed said he would make his decision on all of his cabinet positions within 10-12 days. He said Thursday's town hall meeting would help him pick a chief.
Suggs reports that White told the crowd that he was raised by a single mother in Washington, D.C., around gangs, adding: "I don't accept illegal activity by anybody because of their circumstances." White said his Louisville department is considered a desirable place to work. "What attracts officers and keeps them there is the pride they have in their department," he said. "We are a flagship agency and members are proud to be there. Officers feel relatively respected. They have equipment and they have input in what we do."
While we hesitate to report anything that might dissuade Mayor Reed from taking Chief White off our hands here in Louisville, we stand by our previous article-Atlanta: Take Louisville's Police Chief. Please.-and remind readers that White's statement, "Officers feel relatively respected," is a matter of extreme conjecture among the rank and file LMPD cops.
Louisville cops have their own web site, LMPD, where they periodically and anonymously vent their true feelings about the Louisville Police command staff. Our recent article-Is Louisville's Police Chief Robert White Really That Stupid?-was reprinted on LMPD, and among the scores of comments were the following:
"My friends, I too have a dream just as a famous man once did. Let's have racial equality and justice within the LMPD, lets get rid of the racist leadership and have equal justice for all. And PLEASE, oh PLEASE, Atlanta PD, PLEASE, hire White and ask him to take his crooked cronies with him, only then will I too see the promised land of equality and justice and a Police dept that actually fights crime!!!"
"I agree, there is a racial issue here. When you look at the discipline handed to Jackie for a felony vs. the firing of several Caucasian officers for poor judgment and the promotion of several under-qualified black officers to the command staff vs. the demotion of a well-liked and well-respected white major, one cannot help to see a race factor. I'm sure some may view this as politically incorrect, but it is a fact."
"I am moving my family to another county where it is safe and the Police can do their jobs without fear of racist and or politically correct persecution. Louisville, you have no idea of the crime that is actually occurring here and what little is being done about it."
"Have you noticed how many of Abramson's appointees have been found to be corrupt, incompetent, unqualified (all the above)? Why would anyone have thought that White would have been any different?"
"I agree that incompetence needs to be dealt with and that both need to be fired. The story here is not about Hollingsworth or Marlowe, but about White's failure to take aggressive steps to rout this type of behavior from the department. It is about White's malfeasance not about the obvious bad and/or criminal conduct of the officers."
"If White gets the Atlanta job, he would probably have the same level of success as when Bobby Petrino went from U of L to the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta has dozens of violent street gangs and the kinds of problems that make Louisville look like Disneyworld. He wouldn't have the first idea how to run that department."
"To answer the original question......yes he is that stupid"
We are sure Robert White and Atlanta will be a good fit. For example, on Friday, Atlanta celebrated National Doughnut Day, with many local shops giving away free doughnuts. What more could a cop want?