Doing the "right thing"

A fascinating and somewhat rare public debate over a personnel issue took place at last night's Council meeting. Residents were treated to a glance behind the scenes of a process that is mostly opaque to them, that of the promotion of police officers. What they saw should be very encouraging. In the course of the deliberations, Council member Jacqueline Kates stood out by enduring external pressure and casting what turned out to the deciding vote to settle this question correctly.

The details of the case were never laid out completely, but it appears that a decision previously taken to limit the number of Teaneck Police Department sergeants promoted to lieutenant this year upset a number of community members because it caused an up-and-coming African-American sergeant to miss the cut narrowly. The grounds for not funding an additional lieutenant, according to the Manager, were purely professional. At the current time, the Teaneck Police Department does not have enough work for another lieutenant to take on. Nonetheless, certain community members felt it important enough that the Township spend more on an additional lieutenant position, despite the fact that the extra lieutenant would continue to bear the responsibilities of a sergeant, in order that there be an African-American promoted to this rank.

Deputy Mayor Lizette Parker moved to reopen the issue for a public vote in the Council chambers, which meant that Council members would be forced to publicly take a position on a thorny issue. When that motion carried, a number of Council members were called on to comment on the merits of the case after a number of residents vigorously argued that the Council had to "do the right thing" in this instance and uphold the cause of racial diversity in the police command structure above that of fiscal responsibility, the sanctity of the process, and fairness to all.

Despite the urgings of the public and of Deputy Mayor Parker, Council member Kates stood by her earlier recommendation that the process remain sacred. While voicing her own support for diversity in the police force, Kates insisted that the Council refrain from going against the recommendation of the professionals, asserting that making an exception to established procedure on account of the identity of the individual who would benefit from it would be unfair. Other speakers correctly noted that taking such a step also risked inviting harmful litigation against Teaneck, but Kates focused more on the principle involved, demonstrating that changing the rules for one special case, even if it might have a certain desirable consequence, would be unfair.

While the just and principled stand Council member Kates took last night may not silence her detractors (who seem to have intensified their attacks upon her on the Internet and in print), it should reassure the more rational among us that she remains a worthy representative of the people of Teaneck who considers issues on their own merits and follows the guidance of her own moral compass. Other Council members would do well to follow that example.