The mayor should appoint a local board to search for a new police chief and save the money. How does an out of town consultant know what Chattanooga needs for a police chief instead of a panel of local citizens?
I feel the mayor does not care what the local citizens think about who is needed for an effective leader of our police department. Go ahead, Andy, and spend the money; it's plain as day that you don't care about what the local citizens think only to spend more money for an out-of-town opinion.
Rick Mincy (Retired Police Sergeant CPD)
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The powers-that-be have spoken. A Blue Ribbon Panel has been convened to waste $39,000 on a search for an outsider who doesn’t understand Chattanooga’s unique crime issues. We saw how well that worked out when they found our past School Superintendent Jim Scales through a similar process.
If I’ve learned anything in Chattanooga it’s this: it is a waste of time trying to talk sense to a fool. The problem is you have good, honest men and women in the Chattanooga Police Department. But if the government keeps cutting them off at the kneecaps, they are basically neutered.
So what should you do? Chattanooga essentially has a race problem. Minorities are disenfranchised. And local politicians are too arrogant to really listen to what leaders in the black community are telling them.
That violence, which is rooted in poverty, will eventually spread from the black community to the white community. In fact, James Mapp explained to the School Board exactly how it would happen last year. But nobody listened and people kept dying.
The Blue Ribbon panel will waste more taxpayer revenue finding someone, maybe even another minority like Police Chief Jimmie Dotson, who will not understand Chattanooga’s political landscape and be replaced as soon as he or she trips across the wrong clique. Wes Snyder understands that landscape. But, as I said before, our local government doesn’t see the solution staring right at them. I have watched politician after politician transplant someone else’s gang solution to Chattanooga and watched it fail, miserably. But the Gangster Disciples of Chicago are a totally different animal than the Gangster Disciples of Chattanooga. And what works in one city won’t work here because the roots of the problem are different.
The local government doesn’t understand this. And that leaves you, dear citizen, in the crosshairs as this problem boils over. So you need to protect yourself.
One of the reasons America is great is because we have the right to bear arms. And, with our government failing, this is a right you need now more than ever. The fastest patrol car can’t beat an armed citizen on-site and properly trained in a crisis.
But, like most things in life, there are rules. To protect yourself successfully, you need to know those rules. That means training.
In short, I would like to recommend my solution. And, if you know of other similar solutions, I hope you will share them too. When a government fails its people, it’s time for people to help each other.
I received weapons training from Ronnie Dodd. So did my wife. It was, without a doubt, one of the best investments I have ever made.
Ronnie was the police chief of Red Bank at one time. Now he has his own private company that trains people on the lawful use of lethal force. He has a very impressive career as a weapons trainer.
Charles Bikas