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YouTubeAppoint a Sheriff? ProLogic Take 2
Attention has turned to how Jacksonville selects its top Law Enforcement Officer. Past leaders, academicians and the media have all chimed in as the Charter Review Commission looks at a potentially thorny issue. Citizens too have raised concerns on how that post is filled and they seem to fear loss of control over an office that has been front- and-center in an increasingly violent town.
As the debate rages, many voters feel that opening this position to political appointment is an open invitation to cronyism. With issues such as the Mayor’s not so distant selection of ProLogic as an IT vendor, multiple City Council ethics complaints and the Trail Ridge Landfill debate fresh in their memories, those concerns may be valid. City Hall has not gained the trust of the people of late and political appointments signal a further loss of control for the constituency.
In some cities political appointments may be a reasonable course of selection for a city police chief, but Jacksonville is different. The City of Jacksonville, in all reality, is a county; and county sheriffs are elected officials. Dr. Michael Hallett of UNF has led the debate and pointed to metropolitan areas with similar populations as examples of the appointment process, but Jacksonville does not fit that mold. The cities he has cited already have some form of layered law enforcement, consisting of both city and county agencies, built into their infrastructure and budgets.
Jacksonville’s constabulary is unique, it does not have the luxury of other jurisdictions to rely upon and is the sole countywide law enforcement agency. As a result of consolidation there is no Jacksonville Metro Police Department, only the JSO. The Sheriff’s Office is the lone front on Jacksonville’s crime fighting efforts and this makes the Office of the Sheriff too important of a post to allow politicians to choose its occupant. To leave the choice for that position up to elected leaders is a dangerous proposition. By appointing the Sheriff, police unions and citizens are disadvantaged and lose their voice in a lopsided balance of power when contending with an appointed Sheriff.
Local leadership has not proven that they can always be trusted in making sound political judgments. Too often, rules have been overlooked to ensure that political supporters and allies are taken care of after an election, while qualification requirements take a back seat to favoritism and political pandering. This sort of behavior may be easily overlooked when it impacts a back-office support staff, such as an IT department; when those ethical boundaries are blurred by influence, legitimate selection of the chief law enforcement officer is impeded. That process poses a danger for both the officers in uniform and local residents alike.
Imagine a day in Jacksonville when the Sheriff is in the pocket of the Mayor and City Council. Crime fighting initiatives and collective bargaining power would become homogenized and too susceptible to political influence. The citizens of Duval County and the men and women of law enforcement (who are voters too) are essentially stripped of representative democracy and the right to choose who enforces the rule of law.
Historically, when representative democracies have crumbled, it has always begun with dismantling citizen oversight of a legitimate police force. When the power of local law enforcement is left to appointment and not election, the freedom of choice is eroded. In order for the citizenry to ensure that doesn’t happen in Duval County, the Office of Sheriff must remain an independently elected office.
