Detective Tom Murphy spoke during the council’s public comment period, a week after Sheline and Councilor Linda Scott announced the formation of the committee on the heels of two public forums on the topic.
Murphy said “certain politicians” are trying to “pit the community against the Police Department,” and are “spinning a tragic situation into a political game for their reelections.”
“We are not your enemy,” he said. “We only care about the well-being of this city and its safety.”
It’s so childish and transparent. If there’s nothing untoward happening, then this should not be an issue.
The trouble is police seem to like to think about it as some kind of weird privacy issue, and somehow getting in the way if functioning. It is not. Police are public servants who oftentimes have forgotten their role as such. If they can’t function as a public service with public oversight, they should find a different line of work more suited to them.