From the Roundtable: New police chief a good choice as crime debate divides city

One of the things Denver-area native Ken Burton says he’s looking forward to is returning to a locale that has a real winter. Preparing for the April 1 starting date as Columbia’s new chief of police, Burton is moving northeastward from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex into a situation that in the long run could make up for some of the Texas heat he’s fleeing from.
City Manager Bill Watkins had a tough choice to make. He found himself sandwiched between a group of activist constituents and more conservative residents who wanted something done about what is perceived to be an increase in criminal activity. Advised by an outside search firm with input from an ad hoc group of residents, Watkins made a good choice in selecting Burton.
There is some disappointment here and elsewhere in the city that Tom Dresner didn’t end up shedding the “interim” from his multi-month stint heading the department as chief. We may never know what really went on behind the scenes, and at this point it’s all moot anyway. Dresner has the satisfaction of stepping away from the interim chief’s hot seat with the community’s sincere thanks for a job well done while simultaneously preparing the way for the incoming chief.
Apart from the current economic malaise, most businesspeople will tell you their principal concern about Columbia is crime and public safety. Apart from the perpetrators themselves, Columbia is a fairly typical community that harbors two points of view as it pertains to malicious criminal activity.
The first group appears to want to downplay criminal activity at the same time it hones its rhetoric opposing area law enforcement agencies. With over-arching visibility and importance in the eyes of the press, this constituency is panting for the creation of a civilian police review board. These critics oppose the use of Tasers and they have become rather adept at polishing their skills to find something at fault in every situation they review.
Then there’s the other side, punctuated by a growing percentage of folks who are more than ready to visit with you about such arcana as the conceal-and-carry class they signed up for or the relative and salient merits of a particular firearm. Frustrated at what they perceive to be the relative impotence of law-enforcement agencies, there’s a subgroup within that seems to be on the cusp of vigilantism not too many steps removed from taking the law into their own hands.
What Dresner boldly improved was communication. But this must proceeed on many levels. Perhaps because communication has been improved, the citizens of Columbia know much more about what the police department deals with daily. Although there is much to be pessimistic about, here’s hoping Burton gets off to a good start by taking a balanced but tough approach to crime and the criminal element.