As the calls for Mayor Jackson to fire Special Assistant Marty Flask and Safety Director Michael McGrath increases to a fever pitch, many view the mayor’s refusal to do so as simply stubbornness — a character trait of his that well could be playing a minor role in his decision-making process … but a very minor one at best. His extreme loyalty — some would say to a fault — to those who serve under him perhaps plays a larger role, but neither is that the reason he continues to stick with Flask and McGrath.
The primary reason Jackson ignores calls for the duo’s dismissal — at least in my opinion — is this: Replacing them would not have resulted in different outcomes in terms of police behavior, and on that point the mayor is absolutely right. In other words, rank and file officers would not have altered their outrageous (and oftentimes illegal) attacks on citizens no matter whom the mayor named to the top leadership roles of the Cleveland Divisions of Police.
The problems is not with the leadership of the department — or lack thereof — the problems is with the enabling union contract between the city and the Police Patrolman’s Association (PPA), the arbitrators who virtually in every instance rule in favor of cops (no matter how egregious their behavior) and the incestuous relationship between cops, prosecutors and the courts — a relationship not peculiar to Cleveland; this is a nationwide, disgraceful phenomenon of collusion.
The fact is — as more and more legal scholars nationwide are increasingly giving voice to — our criminal justice system is completely broken, and the highest profile manifestation of that rupture, the proof of it, lies in the huge number of young black men who die at the hands of white police officers across the land.
Over the last century, guns in the hands of cops have come to replace nooses in the hands of lynch mobs, with the results being just as deadly, and just as sanctioned by the legal system with a wink and a nod now as it was then. The fact that a New York grand jury found “no reasonable cause” to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner (an incident that was captured on video) erases any lingering questions in the minds of minorities regarding any notion of obtaining fair play or justice from such a flawed system. Shades of Rodney King.
Simply replacing Flask and McGrath would accomplish nothing in terms of reforming the Cleveland police department; they didn’t inculcate the rotten “us versus them” culture that permeates Cleveland’s police department (and departments nationwide) and they cannot — nor could anyone else the mayor replaced them with — change it. No single person, or small team of professionals, will be able to do so. This is going to require the might and power of the federal government … and even then it’s not going to be a fait accompli.
The pushback from the police union is going to be furious.
Nonetheless, the proposed consent decree between the city and the Department of Justice offers us the best opportunity we’ll have — at least in this generation — to once and for all solve the problem of police brutality. However, to enhance the chances of success in what is going to prove to be an arduous task at best, anything that could serve as a distraction or an impediment to success should be eliminated.
So, while both Flask and McGrath have served the city with honor, distinction and dignity … and have done everything humanly possible to right the situation … their continued presence at this juncture will inhibit, rather than enable, the systemic change we all hope for and need if the city is to move forward.
Come the first of the year, both of these public servants — if indeed they truly love and care about the City of Cleveland — should tender their resignations. It’s impossible to see how the reform process can move forward untainted otherwise. For better or worse — even if the problems are not their fault — they’ve become distracting lightening rods.
Frank Jackson is a fighter, and will defend his decision (and his men) no matter how vociferous the criticism, or from what quarter it’s emanating. Flask and McGrath should show their appreciation to the mayor for his years of support by getting him off the hook by stepping aside … for the good of the city.
Are they likely to do so? No, but hey, at least I can dream.
[Photo: rabesphoto/Saibo (Flickr)]
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.
3 Responses to “MANSFIELD: Frank Jackson’s Seeming Intransigence”
Angie Schmitt
I can’t believe this is even an issue! Fire them! Yeesh. Standing by these guys is absurd. It makes me think the problems go well beyond the police department.
johnny
A sad commentary. Remember this, the current police leadership, most in command positions for a decade or more: approved the union contracts while worrying more about keeping police pay raises low than police performance high, forced arbitrators rulings by disciplining officers to extremes without documenting cause (punishment would be just if it was properly documented), allowing illegal/immoral actions to continue without correction, did not learn from the previous DOJ visit, kept the good ole boy system alive and well with updated “boys”, has not repaired community relations that were obviously failing, and focused more on their personal benefit than Cleveland’s benefit.
The disconnect and distrust in Cleveland is far greater than the police. The disconnects and distrust include: council and the community, council and city hall, council and police, police and community, police and courts, the community and courts, police and prosecutors, prosecutors and the community, police command and rank and file, police unions and city hall, police unions and the community, the two police unions with each other, and many others. All this occurring and growing under everyone’s noses. Instead of working to solve the problem they are too busy blaming others for the problem to get political, monetary, or social gain.
I have to disagree with your belief that the police leadership would not have changed the outcomes. Leadership is like a captain setting the ships course and without it a ship just wonders to whatever port it accidentally hits. The crew of the ship just keep doing what they have been doing (creating shortcuts that benefit them) because no one corrects them or tells them any different. Leadership that does not guide the ship fails. The current state of Cleveland, in all manner of understanding, is the result of years of failed leadership and no accountability, particularly of the police command.
The “nooses” comment was a bit much (offensive on many levels) even for you.
Cicero
Mansfield, you wrote, “our criminal justice system is completely broken, and the highest profile manifestation of that rupture, the proof of it, lies in the huge number of young black men who die at the hands of white police officers across the land.”
What absolute baloney! Are you aware that your “huge number” is only 123 blacks shot by police in America last year? And that includes incidents where there is no controversy. What about the 10,665 blacks murdered by other blacks between the time Treyvon was killed and the time, 502 days later, when Zimmerman was acquitted. Now that’s a huge number.
Why don’t you do something to try to stop blacks from murdering thousands of blacks?