In his Rhino article on the police chief forums, John Hammer gives Mitchell Johnson credit for getting up and fielding questions from the public.
But then there’s this interesting passage:
Two statements that Johnson made which may indicate the source of the problems in the police department under Johnson’s administration were, “The police chief is no different than another department head,” and “The Police Department is absolutely no different from any other department.”
The Police Department is extremely different from other city departments because the guys in the water department aren’t carrying guns and don’t have the right to put you in handcuffs and haul you away. It is also different because it is a department based on a military system….
Some retired police officers have expressed surprise at the amount of oversight the Police Department was receiving from the manager’s office. They said under the city managers they worked for, the chief ran the Police Department and went to the manager at budget time when he needed money.
The Police Department just isn’t like the Budget and Evaluation Department. It’s a different beast entirely, and Johnson is never going to get that round department in a square hole.
