#police leadership turnover

[townpostin]

Saraikela-Kharsawan SP Manish Toppo Transferred, Mukesh Lunayat New SP

Mukesh Lunayat appointed as new Seraikela-Kharsawan police chief after just 3 months Frequent changes in leadership raise questions about district administration SARAIKELA – In a surprising move, Saraikela-Kharsawan Superintendent of Police (SP) Manish Toppo has been removed from his post after serving for just three months. Mukesh Lunayat, currently serving as City SP of Jamshedpur, has been…

[yarochan]

MAFIA AU lmk

Everything is based on general information about the mafia in the world and in China.

There may be inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the AU. This is not accidental. All actions take place within the criminal world. There will be cruelty, blood, and violence.

Briefly about the important things..

Difficult times have come in China, many people had to commit crimes in order to survive by any means. Pigsy, Tan, and Sandy made a deal with Wukong by joining his Triad and being under his protection, but in exchange they worked for him. A little later, Sandy escaped, at the moment his whereabouts and status are unknown.

MK was also planted and raised by Pigsy and Tang, he was literally raised by the street and the mafia. Until he reached adulthood - to the surprise of everyone, Wukong did not touch the boy - but on the day of his 18th birthday, he put forward conditions for joining a family.

At the moment, MK is a boy doing dirty work that Wukong doesn't want to do. Surprisingly, they are very close, and Wukong initiates the boy into all current affairs.

In China, as in other countries of the world, there are their own criminal groups. The most famous of them, called the "Triad," have been clandestinely engaged in criminal activities in the PRC for several centuries. 

Current Triads in China

The Triad of Dragons

The largest and most influential mafia family in China, in addition, they do not have one common boss and they are known in all corners of China (Dragon of the West, East, etc.). Their activities are connected with casinos and some large companies in the country that they finance. They are little known for their murders, but who says that their life path could not have turned out that way?

The first head of the family was May's great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, he actually raised the authority of the triad in the criminal world, which persists to this day.

The Bull Triad

Information about the leadership of the princess iron fan

A female boss is a rarity in mafia circles, but when it's a wife or a trusted person who can curb several thousand thugs, it's a completely different matter. With the loss of her husband, she also lost all influence in the criminal world, since everyone remembers her police past and simply does not trust her.  

Out of desperation, she took up the mafia's dirtiest niche - drug distribution in China. She got rid of all the traitors and weaklings and restored her family's influence in China. approx. Previously, the Triad was engaged in the supply of weapons together with Wukong.

The Wukong Triad  

Second in influence, but last in numbers. Large families differ in the number of members and high staff turnover; the Wukong family is only those whom he really trusts and those who are fixated on negotiations with the most armed countries in Europe.

No one thought that Wukong would be able to achieve anything in criminal circles, but after an unsuccessful attempt on the head of the police station, he surprisingly quickly blew up into the air.   At the moment, the family has contracts with the head of state and people who are not averse to buying several thousand cars. The family is not bloodthirsty, but enters into armed conflicts to protect and collect debts.

The Lady Bone Demon Triad

A little-known family, all spies and informants were executed by the boss of this triad.   It is known that the family removes quite influential people from their places, destroys groups and conducts a very aggressive policy.

If we talk about the relationship of the triads, it is worth noting that at the moment all the Active groups are angry at Wukong, for one reason or another. There is periodic bloodshed on all sides because of these disagreements.

No one is focused on the LBD, but it is the main danger (as in the series).

All the heavenly ones are the police or representatives of any other organization for the protection of citizens in the country (the special services of the People's Republic of China). Of course, their task is to stop the activities of the triads, but who says they can't be under the mafia?  

A little bit about the characters and their designs

MK

is a performer, that is, the youngest member of the family. He was accepted into the group through a traditional rite of passage - he drank wine with his blood and swore an oath of loyalty to the Boss.

It seems that Wukong treats the boy with some love, but at the same time, MK is most often involved in armed conflicts, as well as in other similar work, such as debt collection / fights / etc.

His mother is an employee of the police station, until a certain moment the baby did not even know about it, a little later there was a conflict between parents and the child.

Red Son

He belongs to the Wukong triad, but is not a member of it, such are commonly called mercenaries, but Red san came to Wukong of his own free will and swore allegiance to him on his blood until it became known what had become of his father.

Red escaped from the Bull Triad because before the return of the KDB, the PVJ allowed his family to trade drugs in order to maintain authority among other groups. But besides the fact that this is the most disgusting kind of activity, even by mafia standards, Red also grew up surrounded by police officers, former colleagues of his mother. Some kind of moral framework was laid down for him and he simply feels disgusting.

Red has tattoos all over his back and arms, which is the main distinguishing sign of the mafia, although it is not mandatory in modern triads. Red's mother did this as soon as the child's body was formed, because after losing her husband, she wanted to see a new wealthy boss of the family, since it was very difficult for her alone.

Mei

She belongs to the Wukong triad but is not a member of it, such are commonly called mercenaries, but he is under the protection of the group because of MK at his request. Thus, the MK will be responsible for Mei's tests, but the girl will never allow this.

A daughter in a mafia family is certainly a joy, but apart from traditionally finding a faithful husband from the same criminal world to continue the family, and be a beautiful background for men, May could not offer anything more. She ran away from her triad, hoping to realize herself in the world.

The girl is an excellent gambler and cheater, knows a lot of card games and will be able to beat you even if she is naked.

All her legs are filled with tattoos, especially this image of a Chinese dragon with a lotus. She did it against the will of her parents, and her tattoos do not belong to the criminal world in any way.

Wukong

The head of the family and a respected citizen of his country. The main goal of his triad is to supply weapons throughout the country.

He used to be an ordinary thug who didn't value his own life or anyone else's. During this period, the police even took him away, but he escaped safely, tore up the entire station along the way, climbed into the office of the chief of police, wrote nasty things, stole important documents and photographed this outrage and sent the newspaper to the editorial office. It was a wonderful morning for the representatives of the law.

At the beginning of the journey, I worked with an organization, they called themselves the Brotherhood. But Wukong himself prefers not to talk about them.

He appreciates MK, sees him as a replacement for Macaque, and is afraid of losing him, as well as his best friend.

Macaque

He is an assassin in the LBD triad, a subordinate of the mayor and the second favorite of the Lady.

According to the newspapers, he has been dead for several years, buried without a body, and, according to Wukong, in principle, he is not in this world.

In one of the skirmishes, he was severely wounded and subsequently abandoned by Ukun, as he thought he had lost him. The LBD found him in a deplorable state and took him under its wing.

She was cold, and he had burns incompatible with life, so they came together.

The Macaque harbored a grudge against Wukong and never wanted to meet him after this incident, he believes that he did it on purpose, knowing that the Macaque was alive, in his opinion, Sun Wukong deserved only revenge. He learned about MK from informants in the LBD. The boy became his target.

For him, the preferred method of killing is to act in the shadows, quietly and without noise, that is, covertly.

Pigsy

Kapa, or one of the leaders, monitors the actions of MK, Mei, Red San, Teng.

The noodle shop is in place (acts as a typical mafia bar) and still works, delighting visitors with noodles. However, there is now an automatic revolver and several combat knives behind the counter. But it's true...just in case.

Tang

An informant of the Triad, surprisingly he knows everything that ordinary people could not know and does not know what everyone knows. In principle, otherwise it's still the same Tang, only now in a leather jacket and tattoos on his arms.

Ne zha

Inspector of the 3rd class of the China police in the status of a detective working on the case of Sun Wukong under the leadership of Erlan.

Not to say that he is the most successful detective, because somehow Wukuna always turns out to be one step ahead.

After several years of work, he has become so used to Wukong that he can meet him in a bar and tell him how things are at the police station, simultaneously throwing mats towards the Boss of the group. Maybe during this time they just became good friends? Who knows.

Recently, the mafia has begun to shed more blood, so the investigation and investigation have resumed with renewed vigor.

Sorry if there are mistakes in the text, I hope you like it!!!

[beardedmrbean]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced Tuesday that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created, bowing to international pressure to make way for new leadership in the country overwhelmed by violent gangs.

Henry made the announcement hours after Caribbean leaders and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Jamaica to discuss a solution to halt Haiti’s spiraling crisis and agreed to a joint proposal to establish a transitional council.

“The government that I’m running cannot remain insensitive in front of this situation. There is no sacrifice that is too big for our country,” Henry said in a recorded statement. “The government I’m running will remove itself immediately after the installation of the council.”

Henry has been unable to enter Haiti because the violence forced the closure of its main international airport. He arrived in Puerto Rico a week ago, after being barred from landing in the Dominican Republic, where officials said that he lacked a required flight plan. Dominican officials also closed the airspace to flights to and from Haiti.

It was not immediately clear who would be chosen to lead Haiti out of the crisis in which heavily armed gangs have burned police stations, attacked the main airport and raided two of the country’s biggest prisons. The raids resulted in the release of more than 4,000 inmates.

Scores of people have been killed, and more than 15,000 are homeless after fleeing neighborhoods raided by gangs. Food and water are dwindling as vendors who sell to impoverished Haitians run out of goods. The main port in the capital of Port-au-Prince remains closed, stranding dozens of containers with critical supplies.

The meeting in Jamaica was organized by Caricom, a regional trade bloc that has pressed for months for a transitional government in Haiti while violent protests in the country demanded Henry’s resignation.

Guyana President Irfaan Ali said the transitional council would have seven voting members and two nonvoting ones.

Those with votes include the Pitit Desalin party, run by former senator and presidential candidate Moïse Jean-Charles, who is now an ally of Guy Philippe, a former rebel leader who led a successful 2004 coup and was recently released from a United States prison after pleading guilty to money laundering.

Also with a vote is the EDE party of former Prime Minister Charles Joseph; the Fanmi Lavalas party; the coalition led by Henry; the Montana Accord group; and members of the private sector.

Henry served the longest single term as prime minister since Haiti’s 1987 constitution was approved, a surprising feat for a politically unstable country with a constant turnover of premiers. He was sworn in as prime minister nearly two weeks after the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Critics of Henry note he was never elected by the people or Parliament, which remains nonexistent after the terms of the last remaining senators expired in January 2023. That left Haiti without a single elected official.

As Haiti prepares for new leadership, some experts question the role that heavily armed gangs who control 80% of Port-au-Prince will play.

“Even if you have a different kind of government, the reality is that you need to talk to the gangs,” said Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia. “You can’t suppress them.”

He said officials will still have to deal with them and try to convince them to give up their weapons, “but what would be their concessions?”

Fatton noted that gangs have supremacy in terms of controlling the capital. “If they have that supremacy, and there is no countervailing force, it’s no longer a question if you want them at the table. They may just take the table.”

On Monday, Blinken announced an additional $100 million to finance the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti, plus another $33 million in humanitarian aid. He also announced the creation of a joint proposal agreed on by Caribbean leaders and “all of the Haitian stakeholders to expedite a political transition” and create a “presidential college.”

He said the college would take “concrete steps” he did not identify to meet the needs of Haitian people and enable the pending deployment of the multinational force to be led by Kenya. Blinken also noted that the U.S. Defense Department doubled its support for the mission, having previously set aside $100 million.

While leaders met behind closed doors, Jimmy Chérizier, who is considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader, told reporters that if the international community continues down the current road, “it will plunge Haiti into further chaos.”

“We Haitians have to decide who is going to be the head of the country and what model of government we want,” said Chérizier, a former elite police officer known as Barbecue, who leads the gang federation G9 Family and Allies. “We are also going to figure out how to get Haiti out of the misery it’s in now.”

Powerful gangs have been attacking key government targets across Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince since Feb. 29. When the attacks began, Henry was in Kenya pushing for the United Nations-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country after it was delayed by a court ruling.

Late Monday, the Haitian government announced it was extending a nighttime curfew until March 14 in an attempt to prevent further attacks.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Te-Ping Chen and  Lauren Weber

Published: Jul 21, 2023

Two years ago chief diversity officers were some of the hottest hires into executive ranks. Now, they increasingly feel left out in the cold.

Companies including Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have recently said that high-profile diversity, equity and inclusion executives will be leaving their jobs. Thousands of diversity-focused workers have been laid off since last year, and some companies are scaling back racial justice commitments.

Diversity, equity and inclusion—or DEI—jobs were put in the crosshairs after many companies started re-examining their executive ranks during the tech sector’s shake out last fall. Some chief diversity officers say their work is facing additional scrutiny since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions and companies brace for potential legal challenges. DEI work has also become a political target.

“There’s a combination of grief, being very tired, and being, in some cases, overwhelmed,” says Miriam Warren, chief diversity officer for Yelp, of the challenges facing executives in the field.

In interviews, current and former chief diversity officers said company executives at times didn’t want to change hiring or promotion processes, despite initially telling CDOs they were hired to improve the talent pipeline. The quick about-face shows company enthusiasm for diversity initiatives hasn’t always proved durable, leaving some diversity officers now questioning their career path. 

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in police custody in May 2020, companies scrambled to hire chief diversity officers, changing the face of the C-suite. In 2018, less than half the companies in the S&P 500 employed someone in the role, and by 2022 three out four companies had created a position, according to a study from Russell Reynolds, an executive search firm. 

Once mostly tasked with HR matters, today’s diversity leaders are expected to weigh in on new product development, marketing efforts and current events that have an impact on how workers and consumers are feeling. Warren and other CDOs said the expanded remit is playing out in a politically divided environment where corporate diversity efforts are the subject of frequent social-media firestorms. 

Falling demand

New analysis from employment data provider Live Data Technologies shows that chief diversity officers have been more vulnerable to layoffs than their human resources counterparts, experiencing 40% higher turnover. Their job searches are also taking longer. 

“I got to 300 applications and then I stopped tracking,” says Stephanie Lubin, who was laid off from her role as diversity head at Drizly, an online alcohol marketplace, in May following the company’s acquisition by Uber. In one case, Lubin says she went through 16 rounds of interviews for a role she didn’t get, and says she is now planning to pivot out of DEI work.

The number of CDO searches is down 75% in the past year, says Jason Hanold, chief executive of Hanold Associates Executive Search, which works with Fortune 100 companies to recruit HR and DEI executives, among other roles. Demand is the lowest he has seen in his 30 years of recruiting.

At the same time, he says, more executives are feeling skittish about taking on diversity roles.

“They’re telling us, the only way I want to go into another role with DEI is if it includes something else,” he says of the requests for broader titles that offer more responsibilities and resources. He estimates that 60% of diversity roles he is currently filling combine the title with another position, such as chief human resources officer, up from about 10% five years ago.

During the pandemic, some companies moved people into diversity leadership if they were an ethnic minority, says Dani Monroe, even when they weren’t qualified. Monroe served as CDO for Mass General Brigham, a Boston-based hospital system and one of the largest employers in the state, until 2021 and convenes a yearly gathering of more than 100 CDOs.

“These were knee-jerk reactions,” she says of the hurried CDO hires, adding that some of those elevations didn’t create much impact, leaving both sides feeling disillusioned.

On-the-job obstruction 

American workers are split on the importance of a diverse workforce, surveys find. 

Diversity chiefs also encounter obstruction from top executives, says Melinda Starbird, a human resources and diversity executive who has worked at AT&T, Starbucks and OfferUp, an online marketplace. Leaders sometimes associate diversity efforts with mandates, such as the equal-employment rules that apply to federal contractors. Those requirements for compliance can create executive resistance that bleeds over into other cultural or policy shifts, such as adding Juneteenth as a company holiday, she says. 

“Even if you report to the CEO, it’s still a battle and it’s a smaller budget,” says Starbird, who was laid off from OfferUp in November during a broader restructuring. 

Many diversity executives feel a lack of buy-in from their colleagues. In a survey of 138 diversity executives conducted this spring by World 50 Group, a networking organization for corporate leaders, 82% said they had sufficient influence to do their job, down 6 percentage points from 2022. Asked if they felt supported by middle managers, 41% said yes, an 8-percentage-point drop.

Since the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action in June, companies are anticipating spillover legal action could have an impact on them. Those that are still hiring CDOs want people who can help the board navigate the political and legal landscape of diversity work and figure out how to take defensive moves to shield them from litigation, says Tina Shah Paikeday, global leader of Russell Reynolds’s diversity, equity and inclusion practice. 

“They recognize it would be smart to get ahead of that.”

People are more resistant to company-backed efforts to advance diversity when they are worried about their own jobs, whether because of impending layoffs or disruptions from AI, says David Kenny, chief executive of Nielsen, the media-ratings company. 

Kenny was both CEO and CDO for a time, taking on the diversity role to emphasize how important it was to the future of the business. Even as CEO, it could be a tough sell. Efforts to restructure compensation to make it more equitable created a backlash.

“A lot of it is, ‘I’m losing my slice of the pie,’ ” he says.

[ Via: https://archive.vn/jHRFo ]

==

The grift is over.

There seems to be a built-in implication that much of the movements around DIE in the last few years have been performative: organizations making the approved signals to keep the puritans at bay. Perhaps they've now figured out that these measures are, at best, unable to demonstrate their efficacy, or at worst, anti-productive. The number of DIE programs that can or even will quantify or demonstrate their effectiveness with metrics and data can be counted on one hand; the truly fanatical ones will scold you for even suggesting that you should. Or more likely, perhaps they've figured out that as an insurance policy, the impact to the bottom line is no longer worth the investment; throwing buckets of money to purchase indulgences during a moral-religious panic might have made sense in 2020, but not so much in 2023.

Study after study reveals that none of this social snakeoil - from the phrenology of "implicit bias training" to the Maoist struggle sessions of "white fragility training" - actually help, and reliably make things worse by making everyone fixate on identity politics rather than doing anything productive. Meaning DIE is nothing but expensive and destructive virtue signaling. If you want to destroy an organization from the inside, there's no better way than embracing DIE.

You're far better off sticking to your core telos, supported by liberal ethics like equal opportunity, colorblindness and the ideal of meritocracy. Or more formally, Merit, Fairness and Equality (MFE). Whatever results you get from a fair process are inherently fair.

"Diversity" in particular is always about superficiality and thinly-veiled racism, while "equity" requires someone in authority to artificially create preferred outcomes (establishing the perfect conditions for an authoritarian), rather than a system of fairly and consistently applied rules (equality).

I can name five people, men and women, where I work who have different ethic ancestry, who grew up within 40 miles of each other and have the same local accent.

And I can name five white men who grew up on four different continents with three different first languages, who have worked for over a dozen different organizations, from multi-national companies to military to non-profits to education institutions before immigrating.

"Diversity" apparatchiks don't acknowledge the diversity in the latter. Only, like any good racist, the bogus "diversity" in the former.

[valuewisers]

How to Improve Company Culture in Your Organization

Best Consultancy in Gurgaon | top 10 job consultancy in Gurgaon

In these days’s competitive enterprise surroundings, company subculture performs a pivotal function in attracting and retaining pinnacle talent, riding employee engagement, and ensuring organizational success. Improving organization subculture isn't always just about creating a pleasant paintings surroundings; it's about fostering a feel of belonging, motive, and mutual recognize amongst employees.

Understanding Company Culture A sturdy, advantageous company tradition can result in better employee pleasure, higher performance, and decrease turnover quotes. Top Placement Agencies Top placement corporations like TeamLease Services, Kelly Services India, and ManpowerGroup India recognition on placing applicants in roles that fit their competencies and profession aspirations at the same time as also considering cultural compatibility. Their expertise in specific domains ensures that they are able to provide candidates who now not handiest perform properly however additionally integrate seamlessly into the employer way of life.

Strategies to Improve Company Culture

Define and Communicate Your Company Values The first step in enhancing organization tradition is to truly define your enterprise's values and ensure they are communicated effectively to all employees.

mission on Statement: Create a undertaking declaration that encapsulates your employer’s reason and core values. This need to be prominently displayed within the workplace and included in onboarding materials. Leadership Communication: Leaders should consistently speak and encompass these values. Regularly discussing the values at some stage in conferences and integrating them into business practices reinforces their significance.

Foster Open Communication

Open and obvious communication is critical for constructing consider and a superb work surroundings. Employees ought to feel cushty sharing their ideas, remarks, and concerns with out fear of retribution.

Regular Meetings: Hold everyday team meetings and one-on-one periods to facilitate open speak. Encourage employees to voice their critiques and concentrate actively to their remarks. Feedback Mechanisms: Implement anonymous comments mechanisms consisting of surveys or thought boxes to collect sincere evaluations and deal with problems directly.

3 Recognize and Reward Employees Regularly acknowledging and appreciating personnel' difficult paintings and achievements fosters a subculture of gratitude and motivates others to excel.

Recognition Programs: Establish formal popularity packages that remember personnel' accomplishments. This should consist of Employee of the Month awards, peer recognition programs, and public acknowledgment in the course of meetings. Incentives: Offer incentives inclusive of bonuses, extra excursion days, or expert development opportunities to reward splendid overall performance.

Invest in Employee Development Providing possibilities for professional growth and development indicates employees that the enterprise values their career progression and is inclined to invest in their future.

Training Programs: Offer training programs and workshops to assist personnel broaden new capabilities and strengthen their careers.

Career Pathing: Work with employees to create clear career paths and provide the assets and support had to attain their goals.

Encourage Team Building and Collaboration

A tradition of collaboration and teamwork complements creativity, hassle-solving, and ordinary productiveness.

Embrace Diversity and Inclusion A diverse and inclusive place of job fosters innovation, creativity, and a broader range of views. Embracing range manner valuing personnel' precise backgrounds and experiences.

Diversity Programs: Develop applications and policies that sell range and inclusion, including bias education, range hiring projects, and employee useful resource companies. Inclusive Culture: Create an inclusive way of life in which all personnel experience valued and respected. Encourage open talk about variety and offer platforms for underrepresented voices.

Lead by means of Example Leadership plays a crucial position in shaping and retaining business enterprise lifestyle. Leaders ought to encompass the values and behaviors they want to look in their personnel.

Role Models: Leaders ought to act as function fashions by means of demonstrating integrity, empathy, and respect in their interactions. Transparent Leadership: Practice obvious management by way of openly speaking organisation desires, demanding situations, and successes. This builds consider and fosters a experience of shared motive.

Regularly Assess and Improve Culture Improving corporation culture is an ongoing technique that calls for regular evaluation and adjustment. Continuously gathering comments and making enhancements ensures that the lifestyle evolves with the employer.

Culture Surveys: Conduct regular subculture surveys to evaluate worker delight and discover areas for development. Action Plans: Develop movement plans based on survey consequences and remarks. Involve personnel within the process to ensure their voices are heard and valued.

Top recruitment corporations in India and pinnacle placement organizations play a pivotal function in enhancing business enterprise culture by way of ensuring that new hires are not only skilled but additionally culturally aligned with the company.

Finding the Right Fit Recruitment organizations behavior thorough assessments to suit candidates with companies where they will thrive. This includes evaluating cultural suit, which guarantees that new hires percentage the organisation’s values and could combine smoothly into the group.

Reducing Turnover By setting applicants who align properly with the company subculture, recruitment and placement businesses assist reduce turnover charges. Employees who sense related to their place of business are more likely to live, contributing to a stable and engaged personnel.

[dankusner]

Exiting Dallas city manager finalist in Austin

Weeks after it was made public that Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax planned to leave his executive-level city job in June, he was named a finalist for the same position in Austin.

Broadnax, who served as Dallas’ city manager for seven years, has made a career in city management, working previously as the city manager of Tacoma, Wash., and the assistant city manager of San Antonio and Pompano Beach, Fl.

His resignation came after a recommendation from a majority of the Dallas City Council.

A joint news release from several City Council members cited ongoing issues between Broadnax and Mayor Eric Johnson, stating,

'It has become apparent that the relationship between the mayor and the city manager has not been conducive to effective governance and the advancement of Dallas’ interests,' The Dallas Morning News reported.

Broadnax formally applied for the position in Austin days after announcing his resignation.

'As a convener and connector, I understand the level of leadership that the City Manager’s Office must exhibit and embrace all the challenges and responsibilities that it entails,' Broadnax wrote in his application letter that was obtained by the American-Statesman through the Texas Public Information Act. 'I am committed to local government and eager to work in partnership with the Mayor and City Council to advance the City of Austin and take the city to the next level.'

Broadnax declined to do an interview with the Statesman on his candidacy for the Austin city manager position.

Running a major metropolitan city

Broadnax, after seven years on the job in Dallas, made headway in bringing equity to the city, two Dallas City Council members that spoke with the Statesman about Broadnax said of him, one citing the city’s first-ever racial equity plan that was implemented under Broadnax.

In addition to his focus on equity, a transportation department and office to address homelessness were established during his tenure, The Dallas Morning News reported.

He received backlash over the years for the city’s building permit process, the city’s response to the deletion of millions of Dallas Police Department files, as well as the number of homeless encampments in the city, the News reported.

In his cover letter, Broadnax shared his efforts to address homelessness and transportation.

He said he strengthened the city’s approach to economic development and provided leadership in the city’s public safety efforts, writing about the establishment of the city’s Office of Community Police Oversight that occurred during his tenure.

Dallas’ Office of Community Police Oversight, which was established in 2019, is facing several issues, The Dallas Morning News recently reported, including a lower budget than in most other major U.S. cities, a high turnover rate, and communication and transparency issues.

Among other issues with policing and public safety in Austin, the city is also facing issues with its own Office of Police Oversight.

Austin voters in 2023 overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative, known as Prop A, to increase police oversight.

Some community members say the city isn’t moving fast enough to implement it.

In December, the group Equity Action that helped get the item on the ballot filed a lawsuit against the city for not implementing aspects of the Austin Police Oversight Act.

Interim City Manager Jesús Garza came under fire last year when he appointed a permanent director to the office, reneging on his promise to conduct a national search for the post.

The next city manager would be in charge of overseeing the implementation of Prop A and could potentially begin work amid the city’s negotiations with the Austin Police Association, if a contract is not finalized under Garza’s watch. The first day of negotiations is March 13.

The potential move to Austin and managing a billion-dollar budget If selected as Austin’s next city manager, Broadnax would be making a jump to a city with a smaller population, but a larger budget and more employees.

Dallas, a city of around 1.3 million people, has about 15,300 city employees and a budget over $4 billion, according to a 2023 city document.

Austin has a population of just under 1 million and continues to be one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country.

The city has more than 16,000 employees, and this past year the Austin City Council approved a record budget of $5.5 billion, according to the city manager’s website.

One of the key responsibilities of city managers is overseeing the drafting of the annual budget, which is later approved and amended by the City Council.

Austin could be in a precarious financial situation in the coming years, with the looming end of federal funding granted during the pandemic.

However, it is unclear if the next city manager will oversee the fiscal 2024-25 budget.

While Watson has said the City Council hopes to have selected a candidate in early April, that is not necessarily when they would start.

Watson said in a December post to the City Council message board that whomever they select might not be able to start immediately and that they might pick a start date later in the year so that they have completed the budget.

For Broadnax, as his last day in Dallas is early June, it’s unlikely he would begin during the budget process which is well underway in the summer months. If that were the case, Garza, the interim city manager, would oversee the drafting of the coming fiscal year’s budget.

Broadnax’s annual salary in Dallas is $423,246, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Working with elected officials

The Statesman contacted all 14 Dallas City Council offices and the Dallas mayor’s office seeking comment on Broadnax being a finalist for the position in Austin.

Council Members Carolyn King Arnold and Omar Narvaez were the only two that accepted interview requests.

Narvaez, a Dallas City Council member elected in 2017, praised Broadnax’s work as a city manager in an interview with the Statesman, saying he had an excellent relationship with him, that he was easy to work with and was 'phenomenal for bringing equity to our city.'

Narvaez touted Broadnax’s achievements in equity as it relates to the city government and policy implementation, speaking to the city’s racial equity plan, the first climate action reduction plan that was approved by the City Council and several city infrastructure projects.

'He doesn’t just think equity, he breathes it, he lives it, he is it,' Narvaez said. 'We created a lot of amazing policy under him, with him being our city manager.'

Arnold, who said she was in office when Broadnax was first hired, also echoed sentiments about his work on equity in Dallas. She said she was impressed with his skill set and professionalism during his interview for the position.

Both said they felt he would be a good fit in Austin.

'I think Austin stands the chance of getting a great city manager who’s very versed in his craft,' Arnold said. 'He is not afraid to speak his mind, he’s not afraid to get out of the community, and I believe he just really loves what he’s doing.'

Broadnax’s exit from Dallas Broadnax’s exit comes after years of conflict with the Dallas mayor, who was

[iamalivepleaseconsiderme]

The decision of police officers to resign from their jobs is a multifaceted and impactful phenomenon that can be influenced by a variety of factors. While law enforcement is a crucial and often challenging profession, officers may choose to leave their positions for reasons ranging from personal considerations to systemic issues within the policing environment.

Individual Factors: Personal reasons often play a significant role in officers deciding to quit their jobs. Factors such as burnout, stress, family considerations, or seeking career changes are common reasons for individual officers to make the difficult decision to step away from law enforcement. The demanding nature of the job, exposure to trauma, and the strain it can place on mental health are contributing factors.

Organizational and Systemic Issues: Issues within the police department itself, such as a lack of support, inadequate resources, or concerns about departmental culture, can lead officers to reevaluate their commitment to the job. Instances of systemic issues, including allegations of misconduct, corruption, or inadequate responses to internal concerns, can contribute to a sense of disillusionment and frustration among officers.

Public Perception and Scrutiny: Intense public scrutiny and criticism of law enforcement, particularly in the context of high-profile incidents or calls for police reform, can affect morale within police departments. Officers may feel disheartened by negative public perception, and this external pressure can contribute to the decision to leave the force.

Calls for Police Reform: Ongoing discussions and calls for police reform may influence officers' decisions to quit, especially if they feel that changes in policies and procedures could compromise their ability to perform their duties effectively or if they are concerned about potential legal ramifications.

Career Advancement Opportunities: Some officers may leave their positions to pursue career advancement opportunities in related fields or private industries. The skills acquired in law enforcement, such as communication, problem-solving, and leadership, are transferable to various professions.

Impact on Policing: The departure of experienced officers can have implications for the effectiveness and continuity of police departments. High turnover rates may lead to a loss of institutional knowledge and expertise, potentially impacting public safety and the ability to address community needs.

In conclusion, the decision of police officers to quit their jobs is a complex and nuanced matter shaped by a combination of personal, organizational, and systemic factors. Recognizing and addressing these factors is essential for promoting a healthy and effective law enforcement environment and maintaining public safety.

[college-girl199328]

Some have speculated it's already "the power behind the throne" of the UCP, but a controversial right-wing group appears to be grabbing even more influence ahead of Alberta's May election. Conservative Lisa Sygutek says a mid-March Livingstone-Macleod meeting was "packed" with people who identified as Take Back Alberta (TBA) members.

It was an event she won't soon forget. "There was a sense of hostility in the building," she told CTV News. "I've never seen anything like it." The meetings, according to Sygutek, typically involve some light debate, conversation about issues in the riding, and then a vote for new board members. She says every other similar association event she's attended has had a handful of new candidates and some slight turnover.

March's meeting was different. "A couple people were saying, 'I'm a member of Take Back Alberta,'" she said, "and that's when it started to tweak on me that things were getting a little bit too aggressive and extremist for my liking."

Livingstone-Macleod's vote ended with a massive overhaul, and Sygutek estimates 80 percent of the new leadership has TBA connections. "It actually felt like a coup," she said. "It was a charged meeting."

Registered third-party advertiser Take Back Alberta has allegedly inserted members into at least two other conservative constituency associations in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre. Nine of the UCP board member candidates the group endorsed now hold leadership positions in the party, and many believe two other ridings have TBA-backed candidates. 

Recently-removed Lethbridge West candidate Torry Tanner is also alleged to have been involved with TBA, according to political scientist Lori Williams. Tanner left her post this week after a blowback from her claims that "kids, even those attending kindergarten, are being exposed to pornographic materials or, worse yet, having teachers help them change their gender identity with absolutely no parental consent or knowledge whatsoever."

Williams believes there are similar "extreme" views in the group. "These are the people that Jason Kenney said were the inmates taking over the asylum." Williams believes TBA is pushing the conservatives towards private health care and education, and eventually towards Alberta police, pensions, and separation.

"It's not one-person, one-vote equal representation in a democracy," she said. "Here are a few people who are very well organized and motivated to try to move the party and the government in the direction that they want it to move."

CTV News reached out to TBA for comment on this story and another on Friday. We haven't received a response. Sygutek believes the lack of information isn't attractive to a voter.

"You can't get anything off their website," she said. "You can't really tell what their policies and procedures are, and that should be apparent." We do know Take Back Alberta is a registered third-party advertiser created last year. 

Right-wing activist David Parker is the executive director, and Marco Van Huigenbos is the CFO. The latter is the Fort Macleod town councilor who was charged for participating in the Coutts border blockade.

Parker began the group as a way to push back against COVID-19 measures, but it now has a wider scope. TBA takes credit for removing Jason Kenney from his post as premier and electing Danielle Smith.

Parker wouldn't tell CTV News last week how many members TBA has, but when asked about the group Friday, Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Devin Dreeshen said "there's a lot of them across the province." Dreeshen didn't deny that some of those members now hold the majority of positions within his constituency association.

[drawingconclusions]

TYRE NICHOLS & LAW ENFORCEMENT REFORM

Last Friday I saw the released video of Tyre Nichols being stopped and beaten by law enforcement in Memphis, TN, and the disregard for that young man's life was unbelievable. Those involved will get their day in court, but you don't need me to tell you how unjust and how revolting the incident was. Now, I don't watch news 24/7, but from what I have seen so far, most of the protests around the country seem to have been peaceful, and I applaud that. And I also applaud those (including a local vocal protester) who recognized that the involved police officers were also African American, and in this case, it really doesn't appear to be a case of racial profiling, at least on the part of those specific 5 officers from that Scorpion unit.

You know I've written before about policing reform in my Parameters of Government series, and it would be incredibly easy for me to do a pile-on, so to speak, on law enforcement & authorities in general in this post, but I'd rather restrict most of my commentary to this and similar cases. If you're interested in my previous posts, you can find two of them here: https://drawingconclusions.tumblr.com/post/619554215340146688/law-enforcement-reform-part-i-ive-always https://drawingconclusions.tumblr.com/post/630526205265952768/breonna-taylor-i-realize-last-weeks-news

And most of what I write today will be along the same lines of those previous proposals:

1)  Not all police officers or those involved in law enforcement are thugs or criminals. (I realize this isn't exactly what most people want to hear right now, but it's true. And I state this, despite my own personal experiences with law enforcement.) As such, those who exemplify everything that's noble among police should be accordingly rewarded, both in terms of financial compensation, as well as being provided with everything needed to do their jobs safely (…such as providing ballistic shields to those making domestic disputes calls, as we've seen how those can become incredibly dangerous for officers in just seconds; or figuring out a way to incorporate technology to prevent any fatalities in a traffic stop.) Individuals such as that heroic off-duty officer in Uvalde should be completely set for life - their mortgage should be paid off completely and their children's complete tuition expenses should be covered in full.

2)  Again, there should be a higher standard for those who commit to working in law enforcement. I'm not a fan of how some departments have done the exact opposite during periods of low recruitment in recent years. As I've stated before, people are attracted to excellence. If you're a top notch department with no tolerance for corruption or questionable practices, then you'll attract like-minded candidates. But if you don't manage your recruits or officers well, or if you're asking them to engage in all sorts of unscrupulous tactics, then that's likely another cause for high turnover rates.

3)  Some departments need a complete change in their culture, and could do a much better job at providing their officers with clear clarification regarding what's acceptable. And obviously the primary responsibility for establishing the appropriate culture falls on those in leadership positions. (Granted, city councils often select a police chief and they can also be heavily involved in a police department's actions, for better or for worse. But we shouldn't dismiss the influence that leadership within police departments themselves can have.) I once saw the following report on a show that isn't my go-to choice for news: there were claims that some police officers in some departments were exchanging Valentine's Day cards expressing romantic notions with a play on George Floyd's words "I can't breathe." (You can imagine the twisted possibilities of the type of prose involved, but I won't elaborate on that.) If that's true and I have no way of confirming that, then it's just another indicator of the sick culture in some of our police departments, and anyone involved in writing those cards should have been immediately fired. Whether it's police jumping on the chest of a suspect they just shot or waiting far too long to call for an ambulance for a wounded suspect, or whether it's an EMT/firefighter or a cop mocking the death of a victim on social media, I repeat, the responsibility for ensuring the proper culture in a precinct falls on leadership. Sure, there will likely always be rogue officers who flout all their training, as well as societal norms. But leaders can minimize these deviations by setting the standard themselves and making sure any who violate the norms know they will face consequences. So when it comes to selecting police chiefs and police leadership, hopefully political clout & leverage won't unduly influence those decisions. They're far too important to be left to such practices.

4)  There should be severe penalties for those in positions of authority who breach the public's trust or commit crimes. Again, in some cases, those penalties should be more severe than those for laypeople. Yes, there are good people in law enforcement, but there also seems to be a culture of unbelievable arrogance in certain instances where officers brazenly flaunt the law without any fear of repercussions. Is this because some district attorneys have made a pact, internal or external, to never prosecute such cases? On the one hand, we have some D.A.s who are outstandingly inept (intentionally or otherwise) at charging criminals, yet want to defund police, and on the other hand there are prosecutors who shield officers even when they've done wrong. Somehow we must find the right balance again in this country.

5)  There needs to be a greater system of checks and balances on law enforcement. (The current condition of the FBI is a prime example of what can happen when there isn't.) A good portion of this pertains to tech innovations being employed by police. Law enforcement has been known to engage in geo-fencing or sweeping up the digital information/sign-ins of all the people in a certain areea with the excuse that there was a suspect in the proximity at a certain time. (Isn't that a violation of the privacy & other rights of all those innocent individuals? And this isn't law enforcement's only practice that engages in the sweeping collection of information, digital or otherwise…) Some departments have set up license plate readers, even in semi-rural counties, to capture the plates of every single car that transverses through a city! I'm sure those involved in that are well-intentioned, but programs like these can potentially devolve into abuse and misuse, especially considering how some present-day politicians have socialist-leaning tendencies that border on authoritarianism. The legality and necessity of those programs should first of all be examined, and if they prove themselves true, then logs should be kept of all the officers who use the technology. And those logs should be publicly accessible for all to see without cost. And if any politician ever demands access to such technology, for nefarious purposes or otherwise, the law should require that a public press conference be held within the week for the politicians to explain exactly why the tech was accessed. Of course, all these are just meaningless ramblings if they don't have the force of law behind them. So both Congress and state legislatures really have their work cut out for them in this regard. That is, if they're actually interested in making any changes.

I'm acutely aware of the fact that many conservatives, for one reason or another, seem loathe to impose more restrictions on law enforcement. But consider that many of the placards held by protesters in recent days are emblazoned with the words "The Party for Socialism and Liberation". Socialism, as well as communism, is a backwards philosophy whose merits have been proven wrong over and over again throughout history. Whether that socialist group is sponsoring some protests or whether they simply printed up the signs, I don't know. But do conservatives really want to let socialists dictate the discussion? Do they really want young people especially to view Socialism or Communism as the savior to what ails America? If not, then offer up and articulate a clearer alternative.

The proposals I've offered up today are nothing really new. I've touched on them before in some form in my previous posts, and I'm sure others have also made similar proposals, too. I don't fancy that the national discussion will be resolved with my post today, which is why I'm looking forward to hearing solutions by Republican Senator Tim Scott, for example. (Hopefully this time his resolution will be allowed to reach the floor for discussion by Senator Chuck Schumer!) We need law enforcement as a society, but it's becoming more and more apparent that certain aspects of it are glaringly lacking in excellence in its present form. But we can get to a better place in America and we can reach a consensus on ideal law enforcement behavior and actions. And we need valuable input from everyone to get there.

And to the family and friends of Tyre Nichols, I can't begin to fathom the depth of your brokenness and pain from your unspeakable loss. Heaven echoes with the sound of your cries and heartache. And God preserves every tear you've cried. He knows every anguished question you've asked and He completely understands your feelings of abandonment & despair. I can't offer you clear cut answers as to why the innocent are taken away. Sometimes, it's the best of us who end up suffering the most and suffering the most injustices. But even in the midst of all this tragedy, you nobly admonished those who chose to protest, to do so peacefully. And in a world full of hatred and ignorance, that gives me hope. Hope in realizing there are still good, decent people in America. People who cling to what's right, despite what they've suffered. People who refuse to give in to darkness, even if doing so would be the easiest route. So thank you for standing up for what's good. I pray that you would stay faithful to the straight and narrow path, even when it's difficult, especially when it is. And one day, at the final judgment when God rights every wrong that has ever existed, God will vindicate you and bring a complete healing for all your pain.

[obld-erau]

What is great leadership?

Dr. Boyatzis’ video on “what is great leadership” and the impact leaders have on your life, as well as your leadership style got me to think of who truly shaped my thoughts on leadership, “the big picture”, and things I have done in the past that wasn’t the best decision from a leadership perspective. I have looked at the positive leaders in my life, and the ones that showed me what not to do.

A leader that brought out the best in me is one of my most recent managers, Joelle Crapella. She interviewed me for my current position at Spirit Airlines and taught me the “art of the deal”. After leaving Law Enforcement, I was a ball of emotions. I was mentally drained and while I was performing above standard in flight training, I still felt a loss of purpose in my life. When you do a job, such as policing for a long time, you tend to develop this sense of loyalty that is hard to shake. I went from being a professional door kicker and tactics subject matter expert, to a professional e-mail checker and desk jockey. It was a tough transition initially, but Joelle, who was also a journeyman in her own right, smoothed it out for me exponentially.

She went from a career in Law Enforcement, to being a flight attendant, then working as an IT administrator, and finally in corporate security. She understood my plight and developed me into the respected and professional leader I am today. From giving leadership and life advice, to continuous suggestions on professional development, there is no one I would be more ready to work for again. Her advice and the timing of starting my master’s program at ERAU, has given me a “big picture” worldview I did not have previously.

A leader who I worked for that I wanted to quit/avoid/call out sick for would be one of my police chiefs in Antonio Brooklen. He was the epitome of “toxic leader”. Filled with ego, the insatiable need to “get back who wronged him”, and making strategic decisions, personnel changes with minimal feedback from his executive staff. He checked every box as the kind of leader I despised and swore to never be. For the first time in my life, I reported him and several of his executive staff to EEOC for discrimination, and other violations.

It is ok if you feel like you did not get a fair shake in the workplace, but as someone who has gotten to recover from egregious offenses that most would be terminated for, I believe there was no reason to feel slighted the way he did. In the end, his toxic behavior did him in. He was a household name on the 6pm news for several ethical violations, and with all the bridges he burned, there was no one to save him. He left a department in shambles, and they have never recovered. The workplace culture within the department continues to be driven down and heavy turnover has made it to be a place many do not wish to work for.

It is important to write reflection boards like this, because sometimes we must take our personal emotion out of how we think about leaders that are either positive or negative, look at it from a logical point-of-view and see if they were positive or negative and why.

[st-just]

Over the last half decade of its emergence, the new socialist electoral politics has faced a genuinely existential challenge about its social basis: it has been a politics of mainly white and mainly middle-class activists, a reality that is ultimately incompatible with socialist analysis and vision. Insurgent candidates on the Left have succeeded where this group is numerous enough as an electorate, as a volunteer base, or both.

It is important not to obfuscate the issue with semantics about how members of the middle class, unable to live off their property and forced to sell their labor, are really workers. Such an axiom may obtain in theory, and certainly it embodies an important political aspiration — but we cannot abstract away the concrete problem that college-educated professionals are separated socially and politically from the working-class mass base that socialist advance requires. Nor is it sufficient simply to note the impressive work of the many socialist activists who are more squarely working class, people of color, or both. At the same time, the limited but real strides toward a multiracial, working-class socialist base imply that these social origins are historically contingent rather than structurally fixed — and that effective political work can broaden the socialist movement.

The possibility of socialist realignment begins in the cities. There we find concentrations of downwardly mobile or indebted professionals, who have made up the most significant ideological cadre for socialist politics but have struggled to establish a sufficiently broad base. Brooklyn’s Emily Gallagher, the socialist New York state assembly member for Williamsburg and Greenpoint, provides a useful example: formerly an educator in museums (an industry that has seen significant labor activity in the past few years), Gallagher now represents neighborhoods that symbolize gentrification more distinctly than any others in the country. So ripe was her district for political turnover that she was able to oust an incumbent without institutional support from either DSA or the Working Families Party.

The radicalization of the lower layers of the professional middle class, however, also allows us to imagine a political continuum into the upper fractions of the working class. These groups are still different from each other, but less than ever before, particularly as first-generation college students burdened with debt and faced with limited career prospects grow in number and fill the ranks of the socialist movement. Figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Tiffany Cabán, and Jabari Brisport embody this area of overlap.

Often more stably employed but residually a notch lower in the class system are the organized professional workers, particularly concentrated in the social service industries — teachers and nurses especially — who constitute much of the durable political leadership of the militant sections of the working class. Figures like Cori Bush (nurse), Jamaal Bowman (teacher/principal), Phara Souffrant Forrest (nurse), Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (teacher), and India Walton (nurse) exemplify this phenomenon in electoral politics; the Chicago Teachers Union’s Stacy Davis-Gates (and before her Karen Lewis) and United Teachers Los Angeles’s Cecily Myart-Cruz and Arlene Inouye do so in the labor movement.

Beneath this layer is another, both more militant and more diffuse: the low-wage, less regularly employed, more heavily policed and punished fraction of the proletariat that formed the riotous core of the 2020 street uprising. While it is less present in formal politics or trade unions and lacks visible spokespeople, figures like St. Louis’s Cori Bush, Buffalo’s India Walton, and Chicago’s Jeannette Taylor maintain real links to this social layer through the Movement for Black Lives.

It is also clear that friction occurs along the fuzzy boundaries between these layers. While they are all increasingly burdened with housing costs, the neighborhoods where they rent are typically not the same, and if they do overlap, one group encounters the other as the face of gentrification (even if newcomers’ presence is the result of much larger forces). Older members of the more secure working class may own homes (whose value may or may not be rising depending on urban geography), while younger professionals are frequently locked out of homeownership (though in some cases poised to inherit housing wealth from aging parents).

The jobs where they work are unalike: a precarious graphic designer does not struggle with the same economic problems as a teacher, a nursing assistant, or a custodial worker, much less an unemployed person. The kinds of debt they incur are quite different: student and credit-card debt as opposed to medical, court, auto, payday, and for the more secure stratum, mortgage debt. As we have been reminded repeatedly, the more stably employed and home-owning sections of the working class are presently much warier about defunding the police than either the socialist activists or the rebels in the street.

We can compare experiences across these boundaries and identify commonalities, then, but we cannot collapse them. Organizing is the form of activity in which this comparison makes up the content. As Gallagher puts it on her website,

I’ve been a renter, a roommate, a cyclist, a commuter. I’ve been unemployed, underemployed, and have known too many months where I scrambled to make rent. I’ve worked in retail, the gig economy, public education and the nonprofit sector. I’m a survivor of sexual violence and harassment. I have friends who have experienced police brutality and friends who have faced their rapists in court and watched them walk free. I’ve lost loved ones to traffic violence and the opioid crisis. These experiences don’t make me unique.

While these differences originate in the working class’s economic stratification, they’re often mapped onto and understood through racial divisions: the professional group (largely although not only white) does not mingle enough with the broader metropolitan working class (which is much less white) to foster the propagation of socialist ideas through ideological common sense and cultural atmosphere — the way it has mainly happened for the professionals. If Gallagher’s district were less white, she would have been far less likely to win initially; the same is probably true for figures such as Brisport, Cabán, and Ocasio-Cortez.

What this means, quite uncomfortably, is that African Americans — who most polling indicates are more favorably disposed to socialism in general and specific left-wing policies in particular than any other racial group — still remain largely separated from the official socialist movement. This is the political paradox that socialists must resolve: neither accepting the substitution of professionals as a political base, nor abandoning socialism because it has not yet won the working-class support it requires, nor becoming resigned to the inevitability of a largely white socialist movement, but rather analyzing and attacking the barriers separating the groups from each other. This is a challenge of the utmost political importance.

Very good article, imo. Possibly somewhat more optimistic in tone than is strictly justified. But eh, preferable to needless cynicism.

[transalfiesolomons]

I’ve had to deal w a lot of transphobia the last few days, you have any trans headcanons to spare? 🌸💀

You’ve come to the right place friend. I hope you’re cool with an unanticipatedly large dump of ‘em (specifically on Alfie and Michael) below the cut 

(oh I should mention up front these are all modern au) 

(a quick caveat with this. I talk a little bit about the intersection of being trans and being Jewish and while I try to be as culturally sensitive as possible, I am not myself Jewish, so if anyone reading this has something to add or to correct please please do not hesitate to do so)  

(there’s also probably some sentence fragments and thoughts that trail off because i’m a fool who can’t proofread) 

me: hey just do a few happy ones

also me, 3,000 words later, basically having written two fics: ah,

Alfie –

I.

Alfie Solomons spends a lot of his childhood chasing on the heels of older male cousins, refusing to be cooped up inside with the women of the family. He knows there are things that his cousins will never let their single little girl cousin know or see, condescendingly protecting her from a world that is her birthright just as much as it is theirs. 

He grows up hearing about the “family business” without ever seeing it or knowing anything about it, other than sometimes the police came to rough up family members and make arrests and hurl slurs while they did so. But whether this had anything to do with illegality on his family’s part or just people hating Jews, Alfie never really figured out, only that after such raids his cousins are quieter and afraid and those are the times a place for Alfie opens up among them, a desire to hold family close.

When he was younger, growing up around his father’s extended family in Camden Town, Alfie had pretty constantly railed against not being able to do what his male cousins did and also pretty constantly did that stuff anyway, which garnered him both amusement and consternation from his family who only occasionally attempted to stop him.

The men in the family paid him absolutely no attention, which he felt was wrong for some reason but could never find the words to explain why until much alter in his life, until after he stumbles over the word “transsexual” in a medical diary while waiting for a physical exam and until after he first applies the word to himself. Both of which come when he is already an adult. But even before he knows, it complicates a lot of his life, especially when he came to gender roles in worship. Even after he turned 13, he was not allowed to be part of a minyan which felt wrong until someone explained that it was because he’s a girl and only men can be part of a minyan which felt even more wrong but he didn’t push it because there’s a look on his mother’s face when he asked why that told him this was just one of those things (and there were many, admittedly) that just wasn’t up for debate.

II.

Alfie makes the realization that he’s trans when he is 27. Five years into his enlistment in the British Army, sitting on Basra air base in 2004 during the British-to-American turnover, twiddling his thumbs and sweating his ass off watching supplies be loaded and unloaded on the airstrip. Two months from home for good and suddenly skin-crawlingly aware he doesn’t recognize what he sees in the mirror anymore as himself. He remembers that word then, thinks back to not understanding it at the time, thinking it was strange and wrong, and he spends the rest of the day rolling it (and rolling he, him, his) over on his tongue until its stone-heavy and nearly wrung of meaning.

It’s a sudden and stomach-swooping realization, a long-time-coming clarity that still bowls him over with the sheer force of it.

His last month there, he buzzes his hair just to see how it would be, what it would feel like under his hands. When asked why - and he goes from a regulation cut, but just barely regulation to as short as the clippers will allow him without just shaving his head, so he is asked quite a lot - he claims that the heat just finally got to him and he couldn’t take it anymore. His face is too soft then, a roundness in the cheeks he’d never shed from childhood, to allow him to pass with just a buzz but it gives him a modicum of personal comfort to run his hands over his scalp and feel that soft prickle under his fingers.

He comes home and out-processes from the military and almost immediately jumps into figuring out where the fuck to go from here, pouring over what few online resources he can find and feeling more and more adrift from himself every day. He doesn’t fit into the common narrative of “knew all along” and he doesn’t exactly feel “wrong” in his body (frankly, he’s proud of it) so it’s a long time before he’s able to truly accept that he is transgender and not actively losing his mind and that there isn’t something wrong with him. 

His place as a trans man and his decision to transition put him not necessarily at odds with but in a weird position with his Jewishness. So much of Judaism is split along gender lines: where you sit in temple, what you wear, how you’re addressed, what prayers you lead, what prayers you say, if you can lead prayers at all. It causes a radical reevaluation of where he stands in relation to his faith and to g-d but in the end it wholly reaffirms both his faith and how he feels about himself.There are actually two (incredibly progressive) rabbis that help him - one who reaffirms his identity as a trans man and as a Jewish man and another who tells him in Halachic terms that he can get gender-affirming surgery if it is something he wishes to pursue.

The cool thing about realizing when he did is that Alfie doesn’t have anyone he has (or wants) to come out to - his mother had died some years before, he was estranged from his only (half) sister, he was only ever rarely in contact with any member of his maternal family (spread out between Russia and Israel), and he’d lost contact with his paternal family after his father died when he was eight and his mother moved them away from Camden Town out of fear. He had no close friends or relationships due to his “inability to relate to others” and “aloofness” (the army’s words) and his being “an utter sociopath” (his XO’s words). The not so cool thing is the not inconsiderable amount of loneliness he feels when transitioning alone, celebrating milestones like his first year on T alone, especially when recuperating alone from surgery with only his dog to keep him company (and the complications he didn’t consider - like having to take the dog on walks when he could barely get off the sofa.) But that’s, uh, that’s what alcohol is there for right? 

(Already fit from military training, he dedicates a lot of time during his early transition to weight training and a continuation of the hand-to-hand he learned in basic.) 

III.

His father’s family (the little that’s left of it after a brutal turf war between the Jews and the Italians over a decade ago) reaches out to him when he’s 31, after the murder of his uncle by a small Italian gang of upstarts who took old age for infirmity and, in his cousin’s words, “paid dearly” for it. The invitation is for his uncle’s funeral, but he ends up staying in Camden Town afterwards, working for his cousin who has assumed control of the gang after his father’s murder. Alfie very quickly garners a reputation for just vicious brutality against people that cross the gang. 

Alfie considers it strange that his cousin invites him back, considering, well – but no one (including his cousin) actually seems to remember him well enough to remember that he was a girl child once. People remember that he is his father’s child but apparently not what gender he was assigned at birth. People remember him roughhousing with the boys, not that he was reprimanded for doing so because he was not “one of the boys.” It begs the question of how his cousin tracked him down but Alfie supposes there may only be so many Solomons in England. And it’s weird but it’s also incredibly welcome. Gifts and horses and mouths.

Alfie’s assumption of control of the Solomons Gang right out from under his cousin (who was never fit for the job anyway) is an incredibly nebulous affair that followed very closely on the heels of his uncle’s death. Like, before shiva is even over close on the heels of (which is an exaggeration, but it makes him out to be all the more ruthless, really). Legitimately no one but Alfie knows how exactly any of it went down other than it has a body count somewhere between 2 and 15 people. He describes it to this way as a coup de grace. What that means, no one is even kind of willing to ask.

IV.

He’s outed twice: once by a man in his own gang (a few years after he gains control) and once not long after by a competitor who thinks it will cost Alfie everything. It doesn’t go the way either of them wanted.

His boy does it internally, digs up his service record and his discharge papers and starts to spread the “truth” in an effort to undermine Alfie and possibly gain control of the gang himself. He doesn’t live long past the first wave of rumors and it’s fairly quickly forgotten, just a power-hungry man trying to start something he couldn’t finish.

The competitor spreads it among his supplies and allies, many many of whom have negative reactions and cut ties with the Solomons gang. This costs him the most, at least in the short term - suppliers, support, respect, a modicum of safety - but he doesn’t let it intimidate him. And because it never destabilizes him or truly threatens his leadership of the gang (who actually stand by him, not because they’re supportive but because he’s already proven to be incredibly volatile and unpredictable but also fair to and protective of those loyal to him), he gains a lot in the long term.

(By the time Tommy comes into the picture when he’s 39, there’s been so much turnover in the ranks of nearly every gang and blackmarket business that barely anyone knows and the ones that do either don’t care or just don’t feel like its worth acting on.)

The second time someone internally tries to use his being trans against him, his boys doesn’t even flinch because, cis or trans, Alfie terrifies them. He’s 5′9, built like a brick shithouse, like an American Bulldog, probably 16 stone of mostly muscle, deadlifts twice that, and he punches like a freight train hauling cinder blocks and he terrifies them.

There’s not a person in this world that can make Alfie Solomons ashamed of who he is.

Michael –

I.

Polly spends so much of her life scouring the country looking for her stolen daughters, devastated beyond the ability of words to convey - after searching for twelve hard, long, lonely, terrified years - to find one daughter dead (buried in a country she has never been to and will never see, she can’t even visit her baby’s grave) and the other seemingly wiped from the system after her (private) adoption, no record or her past six years old.

She hits roadblock after roadblock, denied access to privileged and private information she has no legal right to access anymore. It’s helpless, desperate work and it almost breaks her because how could her eldest daughter just disappear?

It’s Tommy who eventually gets access to the records, who digs and digs (and bribes and threatens, but Polly probably doesn’t need to know about that part but probably does anyway, she knows her nephews too well to expect anything different, especially Thomas) until he hits pay dirt. The gender recognition certificate, the legal name change barely half a year ago, the parental consent forms for treatment of gender dysphoria.

It’s a week after he finds it all that he shows her, having mulled over how to tell her and finally settles on just laying it all out. He slides her the folder over breakfast and drinks his coffee – black, two sugars, a Shelby staple – while she reads what she initially thinks are some financial documents or some other Family Business™ family business.

He watches her face morph from shock to confusion to hope to awe and around to the same kind of fond exasperation she looks at him and his siblings with, the closest to love-comfort-softness that Polly gets.

And somewhere in that mix of emotions he knows there is a tug of grief (and it stings, it will never stop stinging, that grief, but for once it isn’t aimed at him), grief because she has lost both of her daughters, grief that is outweighed by the joy of having gained a son, just like the joy of gaining a nephew that outweighed the grief of losing a niece all those years ago. 

“Michael,” she says, awe unmistakable. Traces a hand along the papers with as much tenderness as if they were the face of her lost son, soon soon so soon to be found again and brought home to them.

(Michael, she thinks later, of course he’d somehow pick a family name. It’s only right and it’s perfectly right, she wouldn’t have chosen any different.) 

II.

They wait to reach out until after Michael turns 18, until he has been legally emancipated from his adopted parents. And the wait kills Polly but she understands it, given the circumstances. It’s Tommy that reaches out, somewhat awkwardly, a voicemail left on a cellphone. Perfunctory, because how do you explain the weight of a history like their family’s over voicemail, with a rushed callback number just before the cutoff tone.

And Michael, for his part, two years on HRT and attending uni in London and happy as hell and finally free from parents who were tepidly accepting (at least enough to help him medically transition) but suffocating in their palpable discomfort, jumps at the chance to meet Tommy.

It’s validating that his birth family has reached out to him and even more validating that, to have found him at all, they would have had to found out that he was trans. And to have reached out, they would have had to accept that fact or at least grapple with it. To have reached out, they would have had to want to see him and that’s reason enough to want to meet Tommy. That’s even reason enough to forget that his parents haven’t spoken to him since the day he moved out of their home, to forget that they looked relieved when he left.

III.

And two weeks later they’re sitting across from each other at a coffee shop in north London, a hipster hole in the wall place with good pastries - Michael’s suggestion. They both order coffee – black, two sugars. Michael doesn’t understand why that’s funny to Tommy.

Tommy sits across from him, eyes a shade of blue so startling it’s both hard to maintain eye contact and to look away at all, and offers Michael a a chance to rejoin the family he barely remembers he lost and it almost breaks Michael in half, because he didn’t expect any of this to be so easy. Except it’s not easy, of course it’s not, there’s a weight between then the heft of many people, fathers and brothers and sisters and daughters, but Tommy carries that weight somehow better, with a straight-backed pride Michael finds he would like to learn. To carry the weight of his past like a talisman and not an albatross.

“What does my mum think,” Michael asks just before they say goodbye, standing there on the sunniest day London has seen in months, on the corner outside Warren Street station. He’s put off actually asking this question, unwilling to hear the answer. Unwilling to have another parent see him as a disappointment. “Of me? Of… me.”

Tommy doesn’t speak for a long time, pulling drags and exhaling slowly. When he does speak, he doesn’t look at Michael and Michael can’t help the way his stomach drops to his feet in bitter, sickening anticipation of some kind of rebuff, some kind of confirmation that this will be hard. Instead, Tommy smiles, just slightly, the corner of his mouth blink-and-you’ll-miss-it twitching, and says “You’re her son. She loves you.”

Like it’s just that easy. And for the Shelbys, it kind of is. Family is family, all baggage included. (Ride or die, bitch.)

And Michael isn’t really given to strong emotions (another Shelby staple) but he carries that answer with him for days after, holds it in his body like a physical thing, right next to his heart tucked protectively behind his ribcage. Her son, her son, her son.

(He finds out later that Tommy himself is trans but that is not for some time - it’s definitely one of the last pieces of the puzzle for him, that last missing piece of sky that completes a nearly two decades long year search for who he is and where he belongs. But it’s not for a while yet.)

IV.

He meets his birth mother on a stormy day two weeks after he first meets Tommy. He stands on a curb in Small Heath with an address on a scrap of paper, hastily scribbled while on a confirmation call with Tommy (who does not and will not text, the neanderthal) when he arrived in Birmingham.

She’s not at all what he expected (smaller, thinner, stress-worn. but he has her nose he thinks, and her chin, the curls in her hair) but he supposes he isn’t what she suspected either so they’re at least on equal footing.

Her home smells of incense and perfume, the tea she brews is stout-dark but bright-sweet, her hands are soft and warm on his back when she hugs him and with tears threatening to choke him, his forehead on her shoulder, he thinks oh, I remember this.too

[umbureraakademi]

Introductory Note About the AU

-a/n start-

[Potential spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen or finished TUA Netflix series but seriously how could you stop yourself from watching such a captivating show.]

Word Count: 1501

Police Case Inspiration: S1E1 of Brooklyn Nine Nine

-a/n end-

The Hargreeves Case

Chapter 1

He’s been staring at his case file since he got into the precinct. Well, that’s what most people may have thought he was doing, but with sunglasses on and a slightly nodding head it wouldn’t take a genius to know what he was actually doing.

“Diego.”

A slight snore escaped from this nodding zombie. Obviously it was going to take something more than a simple name call to wake this guy up, Chuck realized.

With a sigh Chuck carefully slipped Diego’s case file from his hands, the latter barely noticed it. He would’ve just continued on with his slumber if it weren’t for Chuck whacking his head with the file, knocking his sunglasses off.

“Beeman! What the fuck, man.” a groggy Diego cussed as he picked up his sunglasses.

“Seriously, Diego? You couldn’t pick a better time to take a nap. The Captain wants to see you. Maybe drown in some mouthwash before you go to his office though I can smell what you were drinking last night.”

“Shut up, Chuck. Not like you haven’t had a hangover before. Gimme that.” Diego retorted, snatching back his case file and putting it on his desk.

“Yeah but at least I--” Chuck stopped himself mid sentence as he was about to say that he didn’t come to work hungover almost every single day. But as he watched his friend stare at a picture at his desk he felt a sudden wave of sympathy.

Everyone knows why Detective Hargreeves, who used to be one of the most talented detectives in the precinct has been going off drunk every night and turning up the next morning hungover and just flying through the day. Chuck, of all people, would know exactly what he was going through.

It’s been a year since the incident and they say time heals, but how long is it going to take Diego to heal until he gets kicked out of the precinct? It’s actually a miracle he hasn’t been fired yet.

“Look, umm… I’ll get you some water and some aspirin and then you can go see the Captain.” Chuck offered.

“Thanks, man.” was the soft reply.

- - - - - 

“Captain, you wanted to see me?” Diego greeted as he sauntered into Captain Lee’s office and closed the door behind him.

“Detective Hargreeves.” Captain Lee started as he turned away from a file he was looking through to bring his attention Diego. “I wanted an update on that murder case at the Morgenthau apartment.”

Diego shrugged his shoulders. “Perp broke in, stole a few stuff, guy was shot, he’s dead. What else is there to update?”

The Captain gave him a long stare before saying, “Any leads on the shooter?”

“I dunno could be anyone who was hungry -- I mean a watch and a laptop I get, but ham? What the fuck?”

“Detective Hargreeves, a man was shot. Why aren’t you taking this seriously?”

“I am taking this seriously.”

“I gave this case to you last week. You have zero leads and why are you coming into my office smelling like alcohol if you’re taking this ‘seriously’?”

“Look, Captain.” Diego started, his head starting to heat up as his tone took a sharp turn. “I’m working on it, okay? Murders don’t get solved overnight, I’m not exactly an all-seeing all father or whatnot. I’ll look into the stupid ham that was stolen because there’s obviously something strange with that.” he continued, rolling his eyes.

Captain Lee sighed and looked down at his desk. “Hargreeves, I know it’s been a hard year for you, but you can’t keep dragging on cases like this.” he said softly, then he looked up at Diego who looked away. “You know my offer still stands for you to go on administrative leave indefinitely.”

“And I’ll tell you the same thing I told you when you gave me that offer: Fuck. No. Telling me to sit behind a desk doing next to nothing could be the worst thing you can do to me after…” he stopped himself, not being able to continue.

There was a short pause before the Captain started, “I get it, but as Commanding Officer of this precinct I can’t have my cases slack behind.” Captain Lee said sternly. “If you want to keep doing cases, fine. But you won’t be doing any more murders. It was a mistake to give you this case in the first place.”

Stunned by what he was hearing Diego’s mouth dropped as he stared at the man behind his desk. “W-what?” he stammered.

“I’m re-assigning the Morgenthau case to Detective Beeman. Until you get it together you’ll only be doing petty theft cases and public disturbances.” Diego was at a loss for words, not believing anything Captain Lee was saying. As the Captain waved his hand he added, “You’re dismissed.”

Diego took a sharp breath and slowly approached the Captain’s table, almost menacingly. “You can’t do this to me.” he muttered.

“I’m your Commanding Officer, I get to decide where cases go and I’m supposed to give them to someone who can solve them efficiently.” Captain Lee responded firmly, looking Diego dead in the eyes. “Turnover your case files to Beeman. That is an order. You. Are. Dismissed.” he said with finality.

Diego could have just thrown a knife at him and purposely make it only slightly cut him on the side of his ear to scare him off and reconsider reassigning his case. But he worked under Captain Lee’s leadership long enough to know it still wouldn’t make than man budge, and he was just tired and wanted to hit the bar again for another drink.

Wordlessly Diego turned away from Captain Lee and as he left his office slammed his door, leaving the older man as he took a deep sigh.

“Hargreeves, pull it together.” he said to himself.

- - - - - 

The door slamming shocked everyone at the precinct, but no one else was more shocked than a sleeping figure sitting at a desk right outside the Captain’s office. Being jolted awake from slumber the figure gave a loud yelp before falling off the chair, attracting Diego’s attention.

As far as he knew that desk was empty for a few days ever since Captain Lee’s assistant resigned to get married, determined to being a housewife. He didn't even notice someone was sitting on it again before he went into the Captain's office. Curious, he approached the desk and bent over to find out who he had just shocked enough for them to fall off their chair.

A sudden impact on his chin made him back off, mixed with his and a female’s voice both giving out a loud “FUCK!”

“What’s the deal, man?! Can’t a girl take her power nap without some psycho slamming doors and shit.” retorted the woman behind the assistant’s desk, rubbing her head where she had just hit Diego’s chin.

“You’re not even supposed to be taking a nap while at work.” Diego replied, rubbing his sore chin before bringing his eyes down to look at the chick who just headbutted his chin. Then he had to lower his gaze a little bit more - she was petite, with both of them now standing at full height she barely even reached his shoulders. She was also dressed like one of those teenagers they’d catch spray painting walls as opposed to a Commanding Officer’s assistant.

“Well, Officer.” the girl said mockingly. “If you’re going to berate me on taking a nap at my desk then you shouldn’t be doing the same thing a few minutes ago before T’Challa hit you in the head.”

“Okay, first off, I’m a detective.” Diego corrected. “Second, T’Challa? Really?”

“What? He’s African-American, I don’t know his name, and I like Marvel.” she started. “And whatever, officer, detective, police guy, you guys are all the same shitty cops to me.” rolling her eyes she sat back at her chair and proceeded to scroll through Instagram on her cellphone.

Unbelieveabe. Diego thought, further wondering how she even got through with the job interview knowing how stiff Captain Lee is. “I assume you’re the Captain’s new assistant.” he said.

“Wow! Great solving, Detective.” she said sarcastically, not looking up from her cellphone and now swinging side to side on her chair. “A woman sitting at a desk right outside the Captain’s office designated for his assistant - I mean who could’ve thought that woman would be his… uhh… new assistant?” she added, only making Diego more pissed off than he was when he left the Captain’s office.

“I don’t need this.” he said, giving up as he started to walk away.

“Goodbye, Detective. Hope you go solve some shit.” she said nonchalantly before giggling at a dachshund doing cute faces on her Instagram feed. “Dachs are the best.” she said to herself.

After being somewhat “demoted” from serious cases from the Captain, Diego thought he couldn’t be given anymore bullshit than this. Turns out the bullshit was just going to keep coming after meeting the Captain’s new assistant.

[thecoachingdirectory]

Hey I’m Carla Egan and thanks for taking the time to view my profile.

👉 THE GREAT RESIGNATION! 

This is a hot topic on social media and in the press of how the younger generation are leaving their jobs in droves. While there’s no denying this is happening, this is NOT a new trend, covid has only escalated it, and if you employ staff under the age of 35, you probably already realise that.

The reality is people leave their jobs all the time and it’s actually healthy to have natural attrition. What’s not natural is when you experience high staff turnover – that’s anything above 20% or more – and you don’t know why.

📈 The Generation Behind the Great Resignation is our youngest generation and they are contributing to higher levels of attrition than we’ve ever known, which leads to low morale, impacts service delivery and produces mediocre results.

Of course there are a number of reasons why younger people leave their jobs but the key driver behind their behaviour relates to a different set of priorities when it comes to work than previous generations.

For the first time in history we are seeing five generations in the workplace at the same time. People leaders now need to acknowledge these generational differences and look for personalised approaches to attract, engage and retain each group of employees.

📚 My professional focus is working with leaders that employ Generation Z – that’s employees born between 1996-2015 and who are currently aged under 25 – and how you can improve the way you lead and manage a multi-generational team in today’s workplace.

I understand first-hand the challenges in employing, engaging and retaining front line service delivery and call centre teams 👉 especially with entry level positions that have limited career prospects!

If you want to avoid the traps of high staff turnover and move into the top 15% quadrant of teams that are engaged, motivated and want to work with you for longer – then we should connect.

🧐 Other Info About Me…

Registered Indigenous Business with Supply Nation

Member of Kinaway Chamber of Commerce

Member of BNI

Mentor with Indigenous Business Australia

Proud Aboriginal Wotjobaluk Woman

Founder of The Coaching Directory

Head Matchmaker at The Coaching Directory

  https://thecoachingdirectory.com.au/coach/carla-egan/

Qualifications

⇒ +25 year's experience working with high turnover teams ⇒ Masters in Business Administration (Executive) ⇒ Masters in Coaching from The Coaching Institute ⇒ Member of The International Coaching Guild ⇒ Accredited Extended Disc® Consultant ⇒ Certified Facilitator ⇒ Various leadership, team and management courses ⇒ Current National Police Check ⇒ Current Working with Children Check

[96thdayofrage]

Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson was fired by city officials for not effectively managing the department and working to build morale amid more than two years of turmoil that included the death of Elijah McClain after an arrest and a subsequent state-ordered agreement to reform the agency.

Wilson was known for being engaged and active in the community, and Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly said as much in a statement released Wednesday morning that she “prioritized” outside relations over working inside the agency with 744 sworn officers and a little more than 240 staffers.

“The police chief also needs to effectively engage with staff, build morale, and validate employee feedback,” Twombly said. “To provide the level of public safety that our community deserves, a change in leadership must occur.”

In a statement issued by her lawyer, Wilson said she was grateful for the opportunity.

“I look forward to continue working in law enforcement to ensure transparency, reform, and accountability,” she said.

As chief, Wilson dealt with the aftermath of the death of Elijah McClain

Wilson had been with the department for more than two decades, rising up from patrol through being a division chief. She was the first woman to be named chief in the agency’s history in 2019.

In a statement at the time, Wilson said she would work to restore trust in the community following the August 2019 death of McClain, who was walking home from a convenience store when he was violently arrested and administered ketamine by paramedics.

A few days later, he died. His story was among the nationally high-profile police deaths that summoned thousands of people to the streets — both in Colorado and across the country — in the summer of 2020 calling for national police reform.

The three officers and two paramedics involved in McClain’s arrest face felony charges and the city settled with the McClain family for $15 million.

Wilson's firing was criticized Elijah McClain's mother, as well as some city and state lawmakers

Sheneen McClain, Elijah’s mother, called Wilson’s termination disappointing. Wilson had reached out to McClain a number of times to express sympathy. She also invited her to speak to a class of police academy cadets about her family’s experience.

“She was pushing them to do better and they fired her because they don’t want to do better,” she said. “She’s not a cheerleader. I don’t know why they would expect her to be a cheerleader.”

Several Aurora elected leaders agreed with McClain on Wednesday, saying Wilson’s departure is an insult to the police reform work taking place in Aurora.

A statement released by Iman Jodeh, Naquetta Ricks, Mandy Lindsay, Mike Weissman, Dafna Michaelson Jenet and state Sens. Rhonda Fields and Janet Bucknor condemned the decision saying Wilson was making in-roads in the city’s communities of color to trust police again.

“She held officers who engaged in misconduct accountable, and refused to tolerate the status quo that the attorney general’s investigation found consistently endangered the lives of Black and Brown people in Aurora,” the statement said. “We will not go back. Aurora needs a police chief who will continue these critical reforms to eradicate the department’s clearly documented pattern of racist policing and targeting of people of color.”

Qusair Mohamedbhai, a civil rights lawyer who represents McClain and Kyle Vinson, who was beat up last year by two Aurora officers who were then swiftly reported to prosecutors by Wilson, called her termination a regression because the “ink has barely dried” on the consent decree.

“Aurora has unfortunately not learned from the recent $15 million Elijah McClain settlement,” he said.

Reforms, high turnover, rising crime

In 2020, state Attorney General Phil Weiser launched a patterns and practices investigation into the Aurora Police Department in wake of McClain’s death.

That investigation found that the police department had repeatedly violated state and federal law with racist policing practices. The agency entered into a consent decree with agreements to reform use of force and training late last year.

In a statement on Wednesday, Weiser thanked her for her service.

“The consent decree requiring improvement of policing and building trust in law enforcement in Aurora is with the city of Aurora, not any one person or agency,” he said.

During her tenure, Wilson repeatedly tried to call out officers who broke laws or didn’t conduct themselves professionally. She held a large press conference when two officers violently arrested another unarmed person suspected of trespass and referred their cases to the district attorney for prosecution. She also put out press releases every time an officer was fired.

Amid all that, almost 100 officers left the agency in the last year, according to city records.

And, simultaneously, the city has weathered a rapid increase in violent crime — including last November when 16 teenagers were shot in 20 days. There were 45 homicides in Aurora last year, according to the police department and in the first four months of this year, they’ve had 12.

[starpilipinas26]

ILOCOS REGION WECOMES NEW PNP REGIONAL DIRECTOR

PNP Regional Director Brig. Gen. Westrimundo D. Obinque By Glen S. Ramos SAN Fernando City, La Union — Ilocos region has welcomed newly-installed Philippine National Police Regional Director Brig. Gen. Westrimundo D. Obinque as he assumed the post last Wednesday, March 2, 2022, during the turnover of leadership ceremony held at the Police Regional Office […]ILOCOS REGION WECOMES NEW PNP REGIONAL…