Lincolnite: Lincoln's Online Community

I’m going to guess that Neal think it’s OPD’s fault that people are getting shot.  I’m proud of Neal, since that’s a step up from blaming it on the gun.

I believe he’s referring to the fact that OPD got rid of the Omaha Police Auditor position. The widely held belief is that this position would police the police. Whether or not it worked is up for debate, but the OPD took a pretty bad PR hit for getting rid of the position.

Last I heard they may reinstate the Auditor position.

Christopher’s already mentioned part of it — the city had an independent safety auditor, Tristan Bonn, whose job it was to monitor police complaints and then report on them. She did that and got fired for it.

Mayor Fahey claimed the “independent” auditor should have allowed his office to revise the report, even though it was only a compilation of reports that had previously been issued.

Fahey’s new budget included funding for the position, but it has not been filled. The city has made it clear it will not rehire Bonn, in spite of the NEOC’s conclusion that her termination was retaliatory and its recommendation that the city rehire her.

Bonn’s report summarized the department’s documented problems with lack of supervision, lack of training, escalation of force and unaddressed citizen complaints. The reaction to that report — dismissing its factual basis and punishing the messenger — was illustrative of the culture it sought to explain.

Whenever a police officer shoots someone in Omaha, watch for this pattern, because it never fails — the police chief (or interim chief) will say “We will conduct a full investigation into this matter ... but I’m sure our officer is completely innocent of any wrongdoing.” Think of the message of accountability that sends to the community — yeah, we’re sure (before any investigation begins) that the officer didn’t do anything wrong, but we’ll look into it for you.

Retired UNO professor and LAPD consultant Samuel Walker is a nationally-recognized policing expert. He sent the mayor’s office a report last summer outlining what has and hasn’t worked across the country in efforts to combat gun violence.

The most effective methods at fighting violent crime have been police and community partnerships; political leadership with policing has lately been stubbornly resistant on building trust with the community.

Less than a week after Walker gave his report to the city, Fahey asked for something different.

Thanks for that insight Neal. Interesting stuff.