When a public entity is caught in misconduct — especially when it results in public embarrassment — accountability is key to moving forward and restoring public trust.
In Starkville’s case, as it pertains to the city’s handling of a traffic stop on March 9 when officers allowed a Columbus police patrolman to get away with driving under the influence, the job only seems half-done and the lesson half-learned.
Twelve days after an early morning stop on Highway 12 where a patrolman detected Louis Alexander had been drinking, SPD Chief Frank Nichols stepped up to a podium and took responsibility for his department making a “bad judgment call” in not ticketing or arresting the intoxicated Columbus officer. He even went so far as acknowledging it was a decision of professional courtesy on behalf of at least four officers (a patrolman, a sergeant, a lieutenant and a captain) and he would take steps to prevent such a thing from happening again.
It was refreshing. It was accountable. It was strong leadership … until it wasn’t.
Immediately after the press conference, Nichols refused to identify the officers involved, forcing The Dispatch to submit a Freedom of Information Act request to figure it out. Further, instead of the officers facing board of aldermen-issued discipline for not holding another officer of the law accountable for an act that could have easily gotten someone killed, Nichols is handling the issue internally outside of public purview.
It seems as soon as SPD found the correct method for publicly dealing with a bad situation, its chief and other city leaders retreated to the same “Trust us. We’ll handle it.” mentality that created the culture for the botched traffic stop in the first place. At best, that seems disingenuous to us.
While we are supportive of our law enforcement officers and respect the difficult job they have, police officers are public figures, and when they make a decision they know endangers the public, they should be held to account.
Today, we printed their names in a news story. Whether the board should discipline them is beyond our scope to speculate. But in our view, the public deserves to know who they are and more about how the situation was handled.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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