triticale - the wheat / rye guy

Proper Policing

Milwaukee County's Sheriff, David Clarke, has been a controversial figure at least since he decided to run for that office. The department's employee union actively opposed him, allegedly because he would eliminate much slack from the members' work load. Some of the usual voices suggested that opposition to him was racist, until he entered the mayoral primary on a relatively conservative platform. Then it was alleged that white voters preferred him to the other black candidate because he had a lighter complexion.

David Clarke did not do well in the Mayoral primary, and is still the Sheriff, and still controversial. One of his deputies publicly criticized him, and, in a tradition older than organized police departmwents, received a crappy assignment in return. Some local conservatives see this as reason to be thankful that Clarke was not elected mayor, perhaps influenced by press reports that the assignment was hazardous duty. Altho 27th and North is not the classiest intersection in Milwaukee, those of us who compare it to the bad parts of Chicago rather than to Brookfield or West Bend are perfectly comfortable there. In fact, my wee wifey caught a bus there just last Thursday. Interestingly, it appears that people in the area think that having law enforcement officers on foot patrol is a good thing.