Straub's message to cops is on target 11.21.10

Matthew Tully
It was another long week in what has been a long year for Frank Straub, the city's embattled public safety director -- or, as I call him, the most popular New Yorker around here since Spike Lee.
More police officers were in the news for more wrongdoing. More questions were raised about the culture within the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. And there was more evidence of the strained relationship between Straub and the department's rank-and-file and their union.
The biggest news came when someone in the department leaked to WXIN (Channel 59) a recording of a recent meeting in which Straub shared with a group of officers his frustration and anger about the state of the department.
With all that as the lead-in, you might be surprised by my next statement: It was a good week for Frank Straub and Mayor Greg Ballard's administration.
Why? Because frustrated and angry define exactly how most Marion County residents feel after repeated revelations of police misconduct. Expressing those sentiments doesn't hurt.
More importantly, anyone who listens to the tape or reads a transcript, as I did, will quickly realize that Straub's message is much more thoughtful and nuanced than frustrated and angry.
It's filled with demands for higher expectations. It's filled with concern for the city and the department. It's filled with a message that most police officers go out every day and perform admirably, but those who don't hurt their colleagues and the community.
The message is on target.
The question is whether it sank in at a department filled with officers who are irritated with the changes Straub has implemented since his arrival less than a year ago. Those changes include shifting investigators into neighborhoods rather than congregating them Downtown.
"We can keep fighting with ourselves and keep embarrassing ourselves," Straub said. "We can keep arresting each other, or we can walk out of here today and say, 'We are the IMPD. We are proud of the uniform. We are proud of the badge. We are proud of the profession.'
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