OPINION — I have listened to all of the noise about needing change in the police department. Frankly, I didn’t know that San Angelo has a problem with the police as I believed the current Chief Frank Carter has done an outstanding job in reforming the department during his tenure. But I understand that people want change, because some believe change means something better. But guess what? Change is not always better.
Electing a police chief makes no sense. This is a position that needs someone who is experienced and has the ability to run a complex organization. This hiring is better accokplished through a nationwide search and interview process, the same way almost any other city of this size does it. On the other hand, our chief election process has become a popularity contest that has little to do with the candidates’ abilities or experience. So, we worry about the possibility that the least qualified and least experienced candidate is elected — for popularity’s sake. We are awarded a new chief who has raised the most money, purchased and deployed the most signs, and has developed enthusiasm from people that think he is a nice guy. But is the candidate portraying himself as a nice guy the right candidate for the job?
I looked at the two candidates’ experience and training and only one candidate could have a chance of making the cut for an interview if this position were appointed instead of elected.
If Sergeant Travis Griffith sent his resume to any city the size of San Angelo that has an opening for a chief, his experience could not show him qualified and he would not even receive a call from the selection committee. But because of our elected police chief system, San Angelo will allow Sergeant Griffith to learn on the job at taxpayers’ expense.
A better choice is someone who will be able to do the job well on day one, Mike Hernandez.
Griffith’s arguments I have heard are we want “change and transparency.” Yet, I didn’t realize we have a problem with transparency.
As far as character, I have known Mike Hernandez for many years and he was not afraid to run against Tim Vasquez and support Chief Carter when a change was needed back in 2016. He and his wife are very active in Church and they both are faithful servants.
If you want the most qualified candidate, please vote for Mike Hernandez.
Sincerely,
Dave Wells
Wells is the executive director of the West Texas Lighthouse for the Blind
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Comments
When you have to write an article about your own endorsement for "Spike" you must be a narcissist. By the way we've never heard of you.
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PermalinkTRANPARENCEY!!!! Apparently "DAVES NOT HERE MAN!!
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PermalinkHere's a link for people not familiar with the ancient comedies of the 20th century...
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PermalinkI agree with the implication presented here by the author that the most "qualified" candidate isn't always the best for the job.
While the hyper-educated pandits of India went around for centuries parroting the insightful aphorisms harvested from geniuses of bygone ages, it was the physical philosophers of barbarian Europe who lurched human progress forward into the scientific age. By subverting their church through their bold and inventive investigations into the nature of physical reality, going boldly before the truth with no intercessor, they turned gunpowder into empires, and their descendants strode the stars.
In modern times, far too much human insight and vitality is shorn away from otherwise capable individuals in the pursuit of social validation and the push to conform to received wisdom. A fresh and honest perspective, unobscured by the social accreditation of reality that so often warps simple truth into labyrinthine misconceptions bent on serving various parasitic agendas, may be just what a small city needs to move into a brighter future...
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