Headlineth the press release:

City of Asheville seeks public input in selection of new police chief.

OK. I would like him to be tall and fit, with blond hair, deep blue eyes and a British accent. He needs to be able to sing and play guitar well, too.

As for administrative characteristics:

  • I would want him to be clear from the start that crime is the enemy. He is not going to cave to the madness of crowds. He would not care about what PC agitators think of him; he could discern their motives and communicate them to those they would dupe. He would publicly call the lie to demands that he take symbolic stances on national frenzies.
  • He would have an open-door policy for taking and investigating complaints and getting people to a safer “place” if they feel threatened.
  • His allies would be truth and justice.
  • He would demand integrity from his officers, who would be forgiving of errors and petty violations that might actually make sense; and fearsome with dangers to society.
  • His officers would remember we are citizens and innocent until proven guilty, protected from unwarranted search and seizure without probable cause, and he would do what he could to oppose any rules from above that would freak us paranoid civil libertarians out.
  • He would reduce his force if necessary to focus on crime. Officers would be charged with protecting the innocents and removing threats from the streets. He’d dump random, feel-good prevention programs, like cutting paper dolls and going shopping with the little girls from public housing, on the laps of volunteer and social service groups. Yes, cops are your friends, but you don’t call them for baseball games. You call them when you’re in danger. His officers would be the force with which people must deal when they choose to break the law. End of story.
  • He would tell the DHS to keep their Trojan horses. We’ve got things under control here.