Cincinnati is stuck in one of those good-cop, bad-cop routines.
The good cop is Police Chief Michael Snowden. He's kind and likeable, quick with a friendly smile. He could talk a hostage-taking bank robber into putting back every Abe Lincoln - with compounded interest and a written apology.
''I'm not a loud chief as previous ones have been,'' he says. ''But when I do speak, I get attention.''
The ''bad-cop'' was Chief Larry Whalen - not corrupt, just a species of largemouth brass who liked to thump heads with a verbal nightstick.
Cops who miss Chief Whalen's door-kicking, hard-guy act may joke about Chief ''Snowflake.'' But Chief Snowden doesn't melt when the heat is on. And since he took over in 1992, CPD has been assuming his cooler personality.
''I like to think we have a two-generation police department,'' he said during an interview in his office. ''The older guys have more hard-core problems with race relations ... There is a lot of deep-seated hostility there. Some have overcome it, some haven't. But the younger guys I see get along better.''
He credits training, recruiting of liberal-arts students along with criminal-justice majors, and more women and black officers who earn promotions without court-ordered affirmative action that holds back white officers.
Chief Snowden says he has ''tried to do the right thing'' to weed out corrupt cops and support officers who were wrongly accused of excessive force in the 1995 arrest of teen-ager Pharon Crosby, and the Feb. 23 shooting of mental patient Lorenzo Collins.
''I didn't let politics interfere,'' he says. ''Despite the fact that it was an unpopular call, it was a justified shooting. Had the facts gone the other way, we'd say that too.''
As for the Crosby arrest, the chief offered a simple truth to remember: ''Sometimes, police work is ugly.''
His job may get uglier if voters pass a Charter change on Nov. 4 to let the city manager appoint police and fire chiefs without civil-service protection.
When he publicly defended cops in the Crosby arrest, City Manager John Shirey ''was extremely upset,'' Chief Snowden said. If the Charter change had been in effect, ''I'd be gone.''
''Now I'm not allowed to have a press conference without John's permission,'' he said. ''But if a big issue came along, I'd follow my own convictions and break that rule.''
Only a few cities among the top 50 give their chiefs such protection.
''I don't have to think about every decision and wonder, 'Is my job hanging by it?' Over and over I've heard the safety director say, 'I've gotta handle this right - my job depends on it.'''
Cincinnati's chain of command has a weak link between the city manager and the chiefs: safety director. ''I look at that job as a scapegoat. He gets fired when they get mad at me,'' Chief Snowden said.
Thanks to that fire-wall, Cincinnati has had 13 chiefs since 1900. At the rate other cities replace them, there would have been 30 or more.
Last week, Mr. Shirey promoted Cincinnati's first black fire chief. Chief Snowden believes his job could be next. ''If this passed, I think he would want me to leave.''
NAACP President Milton Hinton, a leader of the Charter amendment campaign, disagrees. ''I doubt that,'' he said. ''I don't think the city manager would be so unthinking.''
Mr. Hinton says the issue is good government. Without the change, Cincinnati has to hire one of three assistant chiefs. No outsiders allowed.
''There's a culture within the police and fire divisions that is just not healthy - too much homogeneity for too long,'' said Mr. Hinton. ''I think (Chief Snowden) is a pretty fair guy, but that hasn't been the way of all chiefs and it won't always be the way of all chiefs.''
Tulsa Police Chief Ron Palmer has worked under both systems - fire-proof and fire at will - and was Tulsa's first outside chief. ''Let me offer this suggestion,'' he said. ''If there are no qualified candidates in the department, then go outside. ... If you got a guy in there who is doing what's morally and ethically right, no one group should have the power to take that guy out of office.''
Until I talked to Chief Snowden, I backed the Charter change. Now I'm not so sure. It seems silly that Cincinnati can't search nationally for chiefs. But changing the rules will let the city manager fire good cops like Chief Snowden whenever council members need a quick sacrifice to appease protests.
If this Charter amendment passes, the chief needs a multi-year contract. As Chief Snowden says, ''It's not a hiring issue - it's a firing issue.''
More than once, he began a sentence with, ''Saying this will probably get me in trouble ... '' - but he said it anyway.
The only thing worse than a loud chief who shouts would be a silent one who is afraid to get fired for speaking the truth.
Peter Bronson is editorial page editor of The Enquirer. If you have questions or comments, call 768-8301, or write to 312 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202.
BRONSON ARCHIVE
