PAX Centurion - May / June 2013

Page 10 • PAX CENTURION • May/June 2013 617-989-BPPA (2772) Q.: What rolls downhill? A.: Read Commissioner’s Special Order 13-025 L ASTYEAR, I was performing a paid detail in Charles- town with a young man who had just graduated with a degree in environmental engineering from the University of Vermont. This 22-year old, polite young man was working for the Boston water and Sewer Commission as a sub-contractor for a company conducting studies of the Boston sewer system. As his co-workers stood at the top of Sackville St. in Charlestown and poured fluorescent dyes into the sewer pipe, his job was to stand by and detect when the dye reached the nexus of Medford and Sackville Streets. I directed traffic safely around him in that busy intersection during rush hour as he waited for the green or red dyes to appear. While waiting, the young man turned to me and said, “You know, officer, I must have spent $200,000 on my de- gree, thinking I was going to save the world from environmental destruction and other corporate evils. But I took whatever job I could get just to pay the bills.You know what I learned with my big degree? Shit rolls downhill”. And I thought to myself, “Has not this young man just learned the first and most important les- son of life, and indeed, the guid- ing principle of the Boston Police Department? “Shit rolls down- hill”: I’m sorry to employ the vernacular for those of you with tender sensibilities, but it seems to perfectly describe a conun- drum which I have observed for my past 31 years with the BPD: whatever happens, in a negative sense, always finds its way to the bottom of the feeding chain (the street-level patrol officer), while whatever happens in a positive way will always percolate to the top, with the requisite credit be- ing afforded to those wearing stars, bars, feathers, medals, ribbons or some other ill-gotten gain from battles they never participated or fought in. I was reminded of this encounter as I was recently afforded a copy of Police Commissioner Ed Davis’ special order # 13-025, issued June 4 th , 2013, the new so-called “Transgender Policy”. I was ignorantly unaware that there was any specific problem with transgendered persons and any encounters with the BPD. Then again, my cynical nature tells me that the issuance of this policy on June 4 th , during “Gay PrideWeek”, might have a hell of a lot to do with it. The policy is three pages long, and is a hodge-podge of definitions which none of us can decipher, unless and until we are By James Carnell, Pax Editor brought up on charges by IAD for violating the very policy which none of us can understand. Far be it from me to tell you what “Gender Identity” is and how somebody defines themselves at a booking desk. I have been a police officer for 31 years: I have seen many things, and noth- ing shocks me anymore. Whatever floats your boat. I no longer care. Understand? I DON’T CARE. And I don’t think 99.9% of Boston Police do either. In 1982, I might have been judgmental, naively believing that civility and morality still existed. In 2013, I know better. My only problem is this: the policy, once again, throws the arresting officer and the booking officer under the bus for any perceived transgressions of what constitutes “transgen- dered”, or for how any particu- lar person views themselves on any given day. If, for example, I’m feeling my feminine side today, does that give me the right to declare that I demand to be searched at the booking desk by a female officer, in all of my glory? And conversely, for women (anatomically) to demand to be searched by a male officer, because… well… that’s how they wish to iden- tify? And what happens to the absolutely, fully expected lawsuits for sexual assault of one kind or another which will inevitably ensue as a result of this politically-correct foolish- ness? You guessed it –dump it on the officer who searched or arrested the person. Let’s face it – this policy is nothing more than kowtowing and pandering to a particular political ideology. A few cel- ebrated members of the department will be able to showcase their achievement to their friends in the movement, while the cops who work the street deal with the fallout, the IAD tabs, the lawsuits and all the other crap that comes with the policy’s implementation. Whatever aggrieved group comes forward to claim victim status, we can be assured that the BPD will be there with their coterie of hand-wringing, faux-sympathetic, head-nodding, Cheshire-cat, condescending manipulators. We can be equally sure that it is the patrol officers who will deal with the results of their contrived “policy”. The college kid learned his first lesson well: Shit, my friend, always rolls downhill. Special Order 13-025 proves my case….. Let’s face it – this policy is nothing more than kowtowing and pandering to a particular political ideology. A few celebrated members of the department will be able to showcase their achievement to their friends in the movement, while the cops who work the street deal with the fallout, the IAD tabs, the lawsuits and all the other crap that comes with the policy’s implementation. Whatever aggrieved group comes forward to claim victim status, we can be assured that the BPD will be there with their coterie of hand-wringing, faux-sympathetic, head- nodding, Cheshire-cat, condescending manipulators. We can be equally sure that it is the patrol officers who will deal with the results of their contrived “policy”.