Sunday, November 22, 2009
News, Opinion, Politics, Atlanta
Why the police endorsed Kasim Reed for mayor
Norwood has proven she doesn’t have integrity.
By Stephanie Ramage
The endorsement last week of mayoral candidate Kasim Reed by the International Brotherhood of Police Officers—the largest union of Atlanta Police officers—makes perfect sense.
Reed was not the IBPO’s original choice. That was City Council President Lisa Borders, whom the union’s leadership had gotten to know during her five years on council. They were not as familiar with state Sen. Reed, but when Borders failed to make the Dec. 1 runoff against Mary Norwood, and Reed succeeded, the union’s choice was clear.
Reed’s public safety plan addresses the cops’ objectives—the restoration of their annual step-pay increases, conscientious management of disability benefits, establishment of a career ladder, and reinstatement of the Tuition Reimbursement Program—but it also addresses the concerns of the neighborhoods: Inadequate police protection, idle teenagers who are easily recruited into Atlanta’s gang culture, and out-of-touch parents who don’t take responsibility for their errant kids. Reed will also use his office to address a court system that needs a swift, sharp kick in the robes.
For too long, Atlanta’s police and residents have had an uneasy relationship, one that has made the city’s neighborhoods vulnerable to crime and its police force vulnerable to the twin evils of abuse by City Hall and abuse, in some cases, of its own power. A healthy relationship is one that recognizes the common ground between police and citizens.
That common ground is substantial. The police officers see up close the social ills that worry most Atlantans: The mentally ill who are dumped on our streets, the homeless who are preyed upon by thugs, the drug addicts who account for so much of the cost of our court and corrections systems, and the elderly who are forsaken by their families.
It’s the cops who identify the mentally ill and take them to Grady Hospital for treatment. It’s the cops who get the frozen homeless to shelters on cold nights. It’s the cops who direct the addicts toward help at the Gateway Center. It’s the cops who pursue justice for seniors who are taken advantage of by hucksters, or even by their own children. I know, because I review the police reports.
Many Atlantans are well aware of the crucial role police play in the city’s life, not only as protectors but often as caretakers.
Last winter, during rallies sponsored by Atlantans Together Against Crime, a newfound goodwill between Atlanta’s police and residents was on display. The citizens demanded an end to the police furloughs, and when the cops could get away with it, they were there beside them, telling the press about their own concerns over the exposure of neighborhoods to crime.
Also in attendance at those rallies was Councilwoman Mary Norwood, who spoke out against the police furloughs which she herself helped bring about by voting against a modest half-mill tax increase that would have made the furloughs unnecessary. Yes, she spoke out against the furloughs, but when the vote that ended the furloughs came around on June 29, Norwood was not part of it. She voted against the budget that ended the police furloughs. She said she wanted the furloughs to end, but her vote would have prolonged them indefinitely. In her cowardice, she allowed other council members to take the heat of passing a tax increase to bring the cops back on the streets full-time.
It’s true that it takes a lot of courage to vote for a tax increase in an election year, and Norwood just didn’t have the courage to do it. But it takes outright gall to stand up at rallies and tell the citizens you care about them and then vote against their safety.
Norwood has private security, so why should she care?
By the time the IBPO endorsed Reed last week, the police officers had gotten a bellyful of Norwood.
Earlier this year, Sgt. Scott Kreher, president of the local chapter of the IBPO, complained to the City Council that the city’s workers' comp office had denied payment for medical care to police officers catastrophically injured in the line of duty. Those disabled officers are Detective J.J. Biello, Detective Bob Buffington, Detective Richard Williams, Officer Patricia Cocciolone, and Officer Ryan Phinney. Four of them suffered their crippling wounds when they were shot by criminals. Phinney became paralyzed when a motorist T-boned his police cruiser while he was en route to a call.
One of those disabled police officers, Williams, the only one who still lives in the city and is employed by the APD, was present for the press conference marking the IBPO’s endorsement of Reed. Williams was way ahead of the IBPO in endorsing Reed—he endorsed him weeks ago. Last week, he hugged Kreher, who helped him put on a “Police Officers for Kasim Reed” t-shirt, before parking his wheelchair next to the podium where Kreher and then Reed spoke.
Kreher reminded those present that when he pleaded with the City Council to help the disabled officers, Norwood sat on her hands.
“She did nothing,” he said.
It’s not enough to go to rallies and say she cares, or to do television commercials about how she cares. Clearly, Norwood does not care. She wasn’t there for the citizens or the cops when they needed the police furloughs to end. She wasn’t there for cops who are in wheelchairs today because they risked their lives to protect Atlanta’s citizens.
When someone has integrity, their actions match their words. Norwood has proven she doesn’t have integrity. SP