Mayor Michael Coleman fiddles with gun control while Columbus burns

by Gerard Valentino

NBC4i.com is reporting that the Columbus Police Department will lose 98 officers to early retirement programs in 2011. The programs were put in place eight years ago, which gave the City of Columbus more than enough time to prepare for the loss of so many experienced officers.

According to the president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Jim Gilbert, and others, the city failed to lift a finger to make sure the retirements do not affect public safety.

Even more startling was Public Safety Director Mitchell Brown's argument that understaffing is a good way to find out where the department can be more efficient.

From the article:

"This is the best time to determine their efficiencies, not while their[sic] fully staffed. You look at, 'Alright, wait a minute. Could you do the job with five as opposed to six and we can put that sixth person someplace else, based on the work volume?'" Brown said.

When public safety is at risk, citizens expect the police administration to make decisions that allow individual police officers the opportunity to succeed. Instead Mitchell Brown's own words make it seem like the city is willing to play Russian roulette with public safety by randomly understaffing police department organizations.

We can only hope such an experiment doesn't end with a dead citizen, or a dead police officer.

An eight- year lead time left the Columbus Police Department with more than enough time to ramp up hiring and training to compensate for the loss of so many experienced officers. Instead, the administration spent time on ineffective gun "buy-back" schemes, anti-gun initiatives and hassling gun show promoters. Indeed, on Wednesday Coleman focused his annual state of the city address on blaming gun shows, gun control preemption laws and the lack of mandatory background checks when a gun is purchased from a private individual.

In Columbus, the buck stops with Mayor Michael Coleman because he is ultimately responsible for the Chief of Police and making sure government officials are attentive to public safety. Based on the report that the department administration didn't account for the predicted loss of experienced officers, Coleman failed yet again in a fundamental requirement of a good public servant.

Not only did the Coleman administration fail to account for replacing existing officers, but it also failed to promote officers in a timely fashion, according to Gilbert, and left untrained officers in jobs above their experience level.

More from the article:

"For five months now, we've had sergeants acting as lieutenants, not being promoted right away, sitting in a holding pattern and what for? I have no idea. They've known for eight years about these openings," Gilbert said.

Some people might consider Coleman's decision to put fewer officers than required on the street a clear dereliction of duty. Combining that bad decision with putting untrained officers in leadership positions at the same time is devoid of logic, basic problem-solving skills or the ability to understand the simplest cost- benefit calculation.

Not surprising considering Mayor Coleman is overwhelmed by the simple task of clearing the streets after a snowstorm.

Instead of spending time scheming to keep law- abiding citizens from owning guns, Mayor Coleman could have spent that time working to keep adequately trained police officers on the street. His lack of attention to replacing retiring officers not only puts the citizens of Columbus at risk, but it puts the remaining police officers at risk as well.

Police officers have a tough enough job without being understaffed and poorly led.

The impending public safety disaster is not the fault of the officers who are asked to take on an unfamiliar job assignment without training or proper mentoring, or the officers working in understaffed organizations.

It also will not be the fault of the law- abiding gun owners in Columbus.

With an eight-year head start, Coleman and his administration failed to come up with any plan, even a bad one. We can only hope the citizens of Columbus are disgusted by Mayor Coleman's ineffectual leadership and failure to handle a simple administrative challenge.

Unfortunately, such a failure is likely to lead to more innocent victims of crime in Columbus, and maybe even dead police officers.

Gerard Valentino is a member of the Buckeye Firearms Foundation Board of Directors and the author of "The Valentino Chronicles – Observations of a Middle Class Conservative," available through the Buckeye Firearms Association store.