My brother Andrew graduated from the Philadelphia Police
Academy yesterday. Ruth and I drove down from Boston to see
the ceremony. We're both very proud of him and hope that he's
found his calling in life, stays safe, and protects and
serves the community to the best of his ability.
Mostly, the presenters/officials talked about
how the
graduates faced almost-certain death and how 2/3 of them
were being
sent to Philadelphia's worst neighborhood. About how some
officers recently got mangled underneath a car. And how
they'd be understaffed and probably wouldn't have
backup when they needed it most. Or if they did, it would be
at the expense of protecting another neighborhood. It really
reminded me of RoboCop.
There was a
local college representative present, urging the graduates to
continue their education so that they could "ride a desk"
instead of being killed in the line of duty.
Perhaps it's a realistic assessment of what
faces these
young men and women. And maybe it's what the graduates
needed to hear. I know that I couldn't do the job. But I
didn't find the speeches particularly upbeat (eg.
"Congratulations. You're starting a new fulfilling career in
serving the public."). They were more somber - perhaps even
morose. If I were in my brother's shoes, I probably would've
crapped myself, gotten up, and left. But then there's a good
reason that I didn't apply to be on the force and I'm glad
that people like my brother have the courage to do those
jobs that I can't do. We owe them a debt of gratitude and
the highest respect for putting their lives on the line each
and every day they don a uniform.
What follows is a post-game recap of the day's
irony,
double-speak, hypocrisy, and pandering. At the end of the
ceremony, I
wanted to laugh, cry, and vomit. It is in no way is a
condemnation of the
police, the very important jobs that they do, or the day's
graduates. Instead, it should be read as a criticism of the
city's leadership and perhaps their speech writers'
collective ignorance and ineptitude.
---------------
Mayor
John Street:
"I've been all around the country and around the
world, and
the only place our police department doesn't get the respect
it deserves is in Philadelphia itself." <thunderous
applause>
(30 seconds pass)
"There's no place in the world that respects and
appreciates
its police force as much as we do in Philadelphia."
<thunderous applause>
---------------
Mayor
John Street:
"No one here today is here because of nepotism,
favors, or because they have family on the force. They've
all made it here on their own merits." <deafening
applause>
This comes from the man who is the
self-proclaimed
king of
nepotism. Amongst
other things, he put his brother in charge of Philadelphia's
international airport, and has tried to anoint his brother
as Philadelphia's next mayor. Neither worked out too well.
(30 seconds pass)
"Will everyone graduating who has a family
member in the
force, please raise your hand?" [75% raise their hand]
...
(30 seconds pass)
"We have in our audience the previous chief of
police. His
grandson is graduating today." <applause>
...
(5 minutes pass)
Police commissioner:
"Everyone on this stage today (i.e. the heads of the police
department) has
been promoted or appointed by John
Street. Let's give him a hand." <applause> Err, what's
that about political nepotism? Bueller? Bueller?
---------------
Mayor
John Street:
"Everyone who has lived in this city all
their life,
raise
your hands." (90% of the grads raise their hands) "That's
how it ought to be. People who run this city should have
lived and devoted their whole lives to this city."
Perhaps
true. And certainly the mayor is a self-made man who worked
tirelessly to get to where he's at today. He's served the
city as a lawyer, teacher, city counselor, and mayor for
most of his life. But I had
to chuckle thinking that those words came from a black man
who was born and raised in one of Philly's
relatively
well-off, predominantly white, Montgomery County suburbs.
---------------
District
Attorney Lynn Abraham:
"You must uphold the Constitution. And
remember that
there
are cameras everywhere watching your every move. You must
serve the public and hold yourself to the highest standards."
This, coming from the district attorney who
is prosecuting
a man for photographing police during a drug-related
arrest while on his own property. What's that about
cameras, standards, and the
Constitution again?
---------------
Police commissioner:
"You must remember that as police officers,
you will
be held
and must hold yourselves to higher standards."
(1 minute later)
"Neighborhoods are outraged that [the police
department]
shot and killed 20 people last year,
some of
which had
pulled weapons on officers. But where was the outrage when
drug dealers killed a little girl walking down the street
with school books in her hands?"
Ignoring for the moment that the community was
outraged and
heartbroken at
the latter crime, who are the community's citizens to hold
the police to higher standards?