Let's reinstate John Calkins

On Monday, Pacific City Councilman Josh Putnam voiced the concern that due to hiring freezes and attrition, the Pacific Police Department may soon be short two patrol officers. Meanwhile, he observes, 

"the terminated Public Safety Director's civil service appeal is proceeding, with a real possibility that the City could be ordered to reinstate him in his position, so Council deferred discussion of municipal code changes to the Public Safety Director and Police Chief positions."

Couple of observations here:

1. The council should have eliminated the public safety director position a few years back, since it had become meaningless once the Regional Fire Authority took over management of Pacific's fire department functions. It appears that the council is considering eliminating the director's position and re-creating the police chief position.
2. With a smaller department, what will Mr. Calkins do to earn his keep? His predecessor, Stan Aston, not only obtained accreditation for Pacific's police department, but he also pulled patrol duty along with his officers. So here's a possible approach to take with Mr. Calkins:

Why not just give in, kinda, sorta? Let him stay on the payroll  and negotiate a new position for him (at an appropriate salary): He can be police chief if he can immediately comply with certain very modest standards and continues to maintain them. And he can be terminated immediately for any failure to meet these standards.

Here's the understanding:

1. No racial profiling.
2. No suppression of civil rights or intimidation of the public.
3. No more shouting at city council members.
4. No more bullying of fellow employees.
5. No porn in the office.
6. No aiming handguns at his wife's ex-husband.
7. No arrest for drunk driving.
8. No wearing of garments that celebrate police brutality.
9. No comp time, since he would be a salaried employee.
10. No witness tampering.
11. No use of ticketing as a revenue measure.
12. No botching of investigations into misuse of the city's credit card.
13. No news releases that increase the vulnerability of crime victims.
14. No failed polygraph examinations.
15. No allowing the department to intimidate political candidates.
16. No release of police files to embarrass individuals critical of police conduct.
17. Perform patrol duty along with subordinates.
18. When a member of the city council asks a question, that individual receives a courteous, complete and accurate reply.
19. One year to get the department accredited, as it was before Mr. Calkins was hired.

Mr. Calkins should breathe a sigh of relief, if this is all the city expects of him, because these are the standards a sane city government would expect anyway. And we're not saying he did any of these things. We just want to be sure they don't happen.


The only task on this list that is above and beyond what you might expect a police chief to perform is the accreditation. I can see the possibility that the city of Pacific might extend the deadline on item 19, if Mr. Calkins meets these other very normal, minimum standards.

If he keeps his nose clean, he could become a real asset to the community.