a warm smile and an iron fist...are hard to reconcile

marjorie says...

The week is flying by and its already Tuesday. I would be remiss though if I didn't point out the talking-to that our favorite Abq Journal columnist gave the APD yesterday. The subject is one of our faves: the party patrol! We've weighed in before, as has the general public extensively in the past. So I'm pleased to see it come up again.

When you read the example Gene gives, especially those of you out of town, you may think--wait, No Way! But, um, yeah.

The big picture is the "refusal to obey" ordinance that the APD uses to arrest people who they say don't do what they're told. According to an analysis by the Journal, about 70% of these arrests are dismissed in court. But APD Chief of Police Ray Schultz says the ordinance is a good one, that the police apply it correctly in general, and that the court system can handle any instances in which they overstep, just fine.

Regarding this perspective, Gene says, "I'm truly shocked by that because the ordinance Chief Schultz is protecting is, among other things, in conflict with the community-policing directive he adopted a few years ago. You can't have a warm smile and an iron fist, both."

I couldn't agree more.