Problem #5 - Institutional Inflexibility

Fifth in a series of writings about some problems we see facing the Department.

Cops hate change.

A truer phrase has never been spoken. This Department has resisted just about every change, every technological advance, every single thing that might make the job easier with the attitude of "that's not the way we used to do it." If the mayor's cousins could figure out how to make transporting hay and oats into a profitable venture, we don't doubt that we'd go back to horse drawn carriages and carts in place of squadrols and automobiles.

Of course, part of this resistance to change is the City's tendency to always go with the low bid contractor on things, which always means some politically connected family gets a piece of the pie, usually based on inside information. Then the contractor ends up supplying substandard equipment that never had a chance in hell of meeting the specs of the job, meaning that the contract has to be re-bid or the bottom line has to be adjusted so the connected person gets more money. Legit contractors go out of business constantly because the city doesn't pay the bills on time. It's a corrupt process and does nothing for the copper on the streets who has to try to utilize the equipment that doesn't work to meet some bizarre expectation of making the job simpler.

And don't even get started on the people who think the height requirements ought to be reinstated, women shouldn't be on the job, minorities ought to be banned, if you don't carry a revolver you're a punk and lord knows how many other changes that have actually benefited the Department as a whole.

Old attitudes die hard - some harder than others.