SHODDY COPS?

'Integrity Checks' A Positive Program

The public and officers alike should cheer the "integrity checks," however potentially embarrassing, being conducted within the ranks of the Jackson Police Department.

The department's Internal Affairs Division has found 22 officers who failed to measure up to standards.

More than half of the "offenses" were for being tardy for work; none of the infractions was considered serious.

But the benefits of the ongoing program suggested by the independent Maple/Linder consulting group last year are major:

No one — not the public, police brass or the officers themselves — wants shoddy police work.

For the public, it can be as aggravating as fruitlessly waiting for an officer at a fender-bender or as terrifying as an intruder smashing against an exterior door.

For officers, it can be a life-and-death difference if a colleague fails to respond to a backup call or doesn't take the job seriously enough to watch another's back.

The random checks were begun because there was a perception — by officers and the public alike — that police corruption was occurring.

Some 76 percent of officers surveyed by the consultants said they believed up to 25 percent of the force was taking money from drug dealers.

No department can operate at top efficiency if its integrity is so in question.

To its credit, the department expanded its Internal Affairs Division (which began the "integrity checks" program) and enlisted the aid of the FBI to determine if there were any validity to the claims.

The mayor and the police chief assert the department is vigorously investigating any and all complaints.

The "integrity checks" may be embarrassing, but they serve a useful purpose: assuring competent officers and the public that shoddiness won't be tolerated.

No matter how understaffed the force may be, it has no place for officers who don't measure up.