Council member McDonald stopped by our Kingfield neighborhood board meeting
on Wednesday and announced she would vote against Chief Olson's upcoming
reappointment. She cited the ISAG conference spending as one factor, and
also went into some detail about the police department's failure to produce
a policy to deal with "critical events" such confronting those with mental
health problems.
I suspect - and I'm only guessing - that McDonald will be in the minority
when the council votes. Does anyone have a reading on the tea leaves - which
council members are and are not supporting Olson?
If the chief is reappointed, he should become an election issue because
McDonald is running for mayor. I wonder if the pro-ISAG-protester votes
McDonald will pick up will be offset by the conservative law-and-order votes
she might lose by making the Top Cop an issue. (Yes, it's 2001 and time for
political analysis!) Then again, McDonald mentioned that the rank-and-file
cops were upset the administration had not produced the critical events
policy.
Perhaps she, and others with inside connections to the police department,
could give us more details about the evolution - or lack thereof - of the
critical events policy.
David Brauer
Kingfield - Ward 10
