Police Leadership

“Step to Confidence in Cops,” editorial, Nov. 15: The district attorney’s new protocols are a positive step toward bolstering the confidence of citizens in the police who protect them. The professional police officer should have no fear of the district attorney’s new program, providing Steve Cooley keeps political expediency out of the decision-making process. And so far, there is every reason to believe that he will.

What police officers do need, however, are leaders who are oriented toward management by encouragement, enlightenment and engagement rather than being suffocated, as they are today, by a chief and top brass who are oriented only toward containment, control and petty harassment. To accomplish this, the city needs to reform the crippled promotion system that has allowed cronyism to replace effective leadership.

Stephen Downing

Deputy Chief, LAPD (ret.)

Manhattan Beach