The BUF, the ACLU, the FOP, the DOJ and the CITY are gathering with U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott today to pick a new hall monitor.

Look for this alphabet soup of contention to be turned over to Andrew Douglas, the soon-to-be-retired justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.

The monitor will be like the kid from elementary school who stood in the corridor, arms crossed over his Sam Browne belt, ready to report you to the principal if you didn't follow the rules. In this case the principal is Judge Dlott and the rules are contained in the detail-thick collaborative agreement that is designed as a solution to the racial profiling suit against the city and the U.S. Justice Department's demands for police reforms.

The parties already have been through one false start in selecting a monitor and they can't afford to screw this up again. When they originally were unable to agree on a candidate, they each submitted a list of names to the judge and she picked one. Her choice was Dr. Alan Kalmanoff, whose billing practices and arrogance so inflamed Cincinnati City Council that he was forced to resign after running up a $55,000 tab before he even signed a contract.

The BUF (Black United Front), FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) and the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), have always been willing to accept Justice Douglas. The DOJ (Department of Justice) and the City of Cincinnati, had some initial reservations about his level of expertise, but are now willing to accept him just to get the collaborative moving.

High time too. The Kalmanoff fiasco managed to dominate local headlines for two weeks with irrelevant factoids about how much the doctor was charging to pack his suitcase and eat dinner with the judge. Lost amid the gouging and the insults was any discussion of progress in reforming the Cincinnati Police Department.

Dr. Kalmanoff thought his authority gave him carte blanche to show attitude. Although the collaborative agreement requires the city to pay for the monitor, during his one appearance before council, he blithely refused to estimate exactly how much his services would cost and how long he expected his work to take. He repeatedly told the council members that they should read the agreement if they wanted those kinds of answers.

Council didn't really want to read the agreement - at least not out loud and in public - because it clearly spells out that the monitor doesn't work for the city. That means he doesn't really need to answer questions from mere council members and their notions of how much he should charge and how long he should take certainly don't bind him. Those aren't the kinds of terms that politicians like to brag about to the taxpayers.

Despite the city's dissatisfaction with Dr. Kalmanoff, he might still be around if his performance hadn't also ticked off the other parties (and probably Judge Dlott as well). We may never know the behind-the-scenes details of his resignation, but suffice it to say that nobody tried to talk him out of it.

Justice Douglas' acceptability to Judge Dlott is obvious and will not be lost on the parties to the collaborative. He was one of the original candidates and she already had decreed that he would be attached to the Kalmanoff team. It should be an easy transition for him to take charge as soon as he leaves the bench at the end of the year. Whatever expertise about police department operations that he lacks, he can hire. Dr. Kalmanoff wanted 20 assistants (another excess that council objected to), but nobody will begrudge Justice Douglas a consultant or two, or three, or six.

Supreme Court justices have been known to have sizeable egos, but nobody on council who is in his or her right mind will complain to Judge Dlott if Justice Douglas exhibits a few imperial traits. What would they say - that he acts too much like a judge?

The monitor's job is to make sure that the parties do what they have said they will do. Primarily that means that the city and its police will change the way they do business in terms of dealing with minorities and handling complaints. It is going to involve fundamentally shifting an ingrained culture that has developed over the lifetime of the city. It won't be easy, quick or cheap.

Perhaps someone who is used to having the last word when he speaks is just the right person to see that the job gets done.

Contact David Wells at 768-8310; fax: 768-8610; e-mail: dwells@enquirer.com.