Who Do They serve?

I was driving along Coe Avenue last Friday afternoon when I passed by one of our policemen talking to the driver of the car parked alongside, which brought to mind the question of if the driver of the car was pulled over because of some vehicle infraction.

But what caught my attention was the unusual haircut of that policeman as it appeared to be a “Mohawk” hairstyle, which brought to mind an incident last year where several policemen (8 of them as I recall) were observed by my neighbors to have been watching the entire July 4th fireworks display on the beach that evening; which incident (not doing their job) I brought to the attention of the Police Chief, the mayor, and town council president, hoping the revelation would precipitate an investigation. It appears it did not.

That those officials chose to ignore the subject matter, in itself, I thought, were equally guilty of malfeasance, which Google defines as “Intentional conduct that is wrongful or unlawful, especially by officials or public employees.”

So what happens to governance, when trusted public employees arbitrarily choose when to obey the law and when not to? And most disturbing of all; whose interest were they serving then? The community’s welfare or their own?

In any event, let me add that I am not current on uniform requirements for our police department.

But having served in the military taught me an understanding of what the concept of uniform is supposed to indoctrinate and

cultivate, and that is the matter of discipline within the ranks.

Moreover, the idea of individuality is not a beneficial element to its rationale and purpose but is, in fact, deleterious, is another reason it is discouraged.

It could even be said that in an organization requiring uniforms, the idea of individuality, which would distinguish one member from the rest of the group is not a practice that is tolerated.

So why is that individual, allowed such a hairstyle?

Accountability or more fundamentally the lack of it indubitably corrupts the organization particularly a government, which makes the (dubious) claim of leadership hollow and meaningless.

Uniforms and titles confer respectability and authority to the wearer or elected public office holder but as I have observed countless times in our town at least, honorifics are given even to those clearly undeserved.

Speaking of which, the Police Commission; who do they serve?