To The Editor: Be Leaders!

A local resident is clearly frustrated by the recent drama between law enforcement agency leaders over the intergovernmental Narcotics Task Force:

“First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the patrolmen and support staff of the various law enforcement agencies in our local area. Not only do you risk your lives to ensure the safety of our community, but you do so with the added pressure of grueling work schedules, skeleton crews and asinine administrators.

I refer, of course, to the ongoing public spectacle between said administrators, which has only escalated in the past weeks. If one wants to see the show, one need venture to the venue of a public forum or online. (Tickets are free). Here one can find the stage complete with the cries of self-righteous, entitled actors-defined as individuals portraying the role of leaders. The administration-actors are ill equipped with real tools of progress such as accountability, the and the ability to community, cooperate and compromise.

Instead, the administration-actors embrace their roles, and with drama, stage and a misplaced sense of victimization, each intend to prove that they are the protagonist of their play. With a trained eye, one can learn to recognize the props of this recurring drama: equipment and programs used solely for pageantry, and vehicles/command units which see no roadside detail but serve as phallic extensions of each department’s power. And like true narcissist, these actors rarely make appearances at events or initiatives that don’t directly correlate to their productions, no matter how pressing the issue.

And where are the wranglers for the actors? The directors who have let the play get this bad? The people, who can say, “Shut up. Shut your mouths. Stop reading from your scripts. Stop the dramatization. We don’t care if you were hired, elected or appointed. You have a job to do, and in this position you owe this community a level of professionalism and productivity. So each of you, put your big-boy pants on, and stop acting like leaders; be leaders.”

Does the resident have a point? Are law enforcement administrators dramatizing the issues in a self-righteous way? Or are they just doing their jobs? Let us know in the comments section.