Editorial: Big picture

A blue-ribbon commission is one way city officials could spur the needed discussion on local police services and facilities.

Lawrence city commissioners shouldn’t be too quick to reject the idea of establishing a blue-ribbon commission to take a look at police operations and facilities.

Two new commissioners — Leslie Soden and Stuart Boley — proposed such a group at Tuesday’s meeting but got a lukewarm response from their fellow commissioners, who, with all due respect, seemed to be missing the point.

They said that the police department and city-hired consultants already had gathered a lot of information about the need for a police headquarters. “I’m a little confused about what level of expertise the general community is going to have on what the needs of law enforcement will be in 30 years,” said Commissioner Matthew Herbert.

Local police may be the “experts” on what they want in terms of a new headquarters building but they aren’t the only ones affected by that and other decisions related to local law enforcement. What Soden and Boley are looking for is a group that will take a broader look at how the police department operates, how it interacts with the community and other law enforcement entities and how plans for a new headquarters will help it provide better services.

Although the “general community” should be heard from on these topics, a blue ribbon commission wouldn’t be made up of people plucked from a street corner. It should be people who have some knowledge of the legal system and experience with the community. That could include former prosecutors or law enforcement officials, public administration experts, mental health professionals or local attorneys. They could be charged with looking at what other communities are doing to improve services and prepare for the future.

As Soden pointed out, the information that has been gathered and presented on a new police headquarters has been focused almost entirely on facilities, and the job of a blue-ribbon committee would be to take a more “global view.” She’s right that the planning “process” for a new police headquarters has been mostly a matter of the police department working with a consultant to decide what it needs and wants and then asking city taxpayers to pay for it.

A blue-ribbon commission may not be the only way to broaden the discussion of local police operations and needs, but if city commissioners don’t like that idea, they need to come up with another way to address that goal. Simply keeping the same headquarters proposal and trying to find some other way to finance it isn’t the best strategy.