The mayor of America’s 11th largest city faced a critical crisis involving his self proclaimed Job One.
Greg Ballard, face flushed, angry, livid, humiliated told his city at a hastily called news conference a week ago that again there was a major blemish in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
The Officer David Bisard case, involving an IMPD officer crashing his squad car 21 months ago into three motorcyclists, killing one and wounding others, has been an albatross around the mayor, his public safety director and IMPD.
A visibly shaken mayor had to tell his city his police had compromised critical blood evidence in the Bisard case. The screw-up forced the firing (excuse me “sudden resignation”) of Police Chief Paul Ciesielski and yet another shake up of an already diminished top IMPD command staff.
This latest screw-up reinforces a community perception that our police department can’t do anything right.
Ballard campaigned on assuming direct control of IMPD. But, in the 45 months since he assumed control, Ballard’s IMPD has undergone a series of upheavals, shocks and embarrassments from Bisard, Brandon Johnson and cops busted for all manner of crimes and misdemeanors.
But what happened after the mayor’s bombshell announcement last week raises serious questions as to whether Mayor Ballard is really the competent, in charge manager his media mavens want us to believe.
The first mess was Ballard’s announcement that Deputy Public Safety Director Rick Hite would become “acting” IMPD chief.
Hite, who’s African-American, has 32 years experience as a street cop and administrator in the Baltimore Police Department. Other than being an “outsider,” Hite has the basic qualifications to be chief of a major metropolitan police department.
Just one problem. Hite doesn’t meet Indiana’s legalities.
State law requires Hite to be recertified by the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy by taking some refresher courses in law enforcement and Indiana statutes and legal procedures.
Another problem is that state law requires any police “chief” in Indiana must have been a member of that police force for at least five years. A mayor can waive that requirement, but Indianapolis’ police merger law also requires that the Marion County sheriff must be “consulted” on the selection of any new chief and the City-County Council must ratify the selection.
Because Hite is considered “acting” chief there’s a question about whether these last requirements apply. But the fact that Mayor Ballard didn’t disclose these wrinkles in his appointment of Hite raises questions.
Four hours after his bombshell news conference, Ballard gave his fifth State of the City speech; one memorable only in the obsessive use of the word “connectivity,” 30-plus minutes of hokum and pabulum containing no new policy initiatives or programs.
A speech that ignored Indianapolis’ major problems and issues.
n NO mention about crime, public safety or police.
n NO mention of neighborhoods, the scourge of abandoned housing, the lack of affordable housing, or revitalization in Indy’s older neighborhoods.
n While giving lip service to offender re-entry, NO mention of working with the business community to increase and improve job opportunities for ex-offenders.
n Absolutely NO words about Indianapolis’ stagnant high unemployment (especially in the African-American community) and putting residents back to work.
n Inexplicably, NO words about education; not even on his new deputy mayor for education.
But Mayor Ballard wanted everyone to know he was leaving the morning after the speech to go to Boston for a conference.
Yep, at a time when our mayor should’ve visited every IMPD roll call to encourage and support a demoralized police department; when the mayor should’ve visited the city’s media outlets reassuring residents that public safety was still Job One, our mayor bugged out for Boston to attend a meaningless meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors on “food policy.”
While it would’ve been nice for Mayor Ballard to participate, mayors understand there’s a time to play and a time to stay home.
If their police had a similar crisis to IMPD’s, Boston Mayor Tom Menino and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake, who chaired the mayors meeting, would’ve skipped the conference to stay home and attend to their wounded city. It’s why Menino and Blake are great mayors.
Sadly, our mayor hasn’t learned that styling and profiling at a conference while your city’s hurting is mayoral malfeasance.
What I’m hearing
in the streets
Kudos to the pastor and members of Pilgrim Baptist Church, Sixth Ward political leaders and residents of the UNWA area who fought the bureaucrats in the mayor’s and corporation counsel’s office. Their efforts got the polling places at Pilgrim Baptist Church and Barnes United Methodist Church restored late last week.
The victory was a small one in the face of the mayor’s minions vicious campaign to make the May Primary Election insufferable for over a quarter of the city/county’s voters.
Meanwhile, Mayor Ballard continues to suffer from a peculiar phobia – fear of speaking with Indianapolis’ mainstream Black media organizations.
The mayor has given the fewest interviews to Indianapolis’ Black radio stations than any Indianapolis mayor since fulltime Black radio began 44 years ago. And he loathes appearing on any news/public affairs programs on Indy Black radio.
The last time Ballard appeared on the prime time program heard by most African-Americans, WTLC-AM (1310’s) “Afternoons with Amos,” was the mayoral debate 195 days ago.
Instead, the mayor and his minions appear on a Saturday paid radio program with just a 10th the audience who listen in prime time.
Worse, the mayor and his handlers flatly refuse to allow him to answer questions from Indianapolis Recorder editors and reporters. Mayor Ballard has given the fewest interviews to this newspaper than any Indianapolis mayor in modern history. Perhaps the fewest of any Indy mayor in the Recorder’s 117 years.
Last week, I asked Ballard’s Communications Director Marc Lotter would the mayor sit down for an interview with the Editorial Board of the Indianapolis Recorder.
The supercilious Lotter was dismissive saying “We haven’t sat down with the Editorial Board of the Indianapolis Star.”
Lotter’s logic is the mayor won’t sit down with Black people until after he sits down with white folks. That’s a position that’s condesending at best and I think you know the worst.
Sad and distressing.
See ‘ya next week.
You can email Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
