Professional Police Departments Have No Place For Clout, Cronyism, Fictitious Meritorious Promotions

                          Big city police departments, or any police department, should not be a refuge for the politically connected where cronyism and clout prevails. A professional police department should have none of these things.
                          Police departments should not have meritorious promotions that are masquerades to promote the politically connected and clout heavy.
                           Promotions should be based on civil service examinations. If a police department chooses to make some allowances, recognizing that not all qualified people do well on a civil service test and that exceptional officers still deserve a chance to get promoted, then meritorious promotions must mean exactly what it stands for.
                           It  must be clearly defined. There must be an impartial, objective procedure and standard for determining who is qualified and what meritorious means. The people doing the review and choosing of an applicant cannot personally know that person. If they do, they should not evaluate that particular candidate.
                            In one city, meritorious promotions have long been the avenue for rewarding those that have clout and not necessarily ability.  This has often resulted in the promotion of incompetent and poorly qualified people, and a far less than desirable command structure.
                             The mayor of that city left a destructive legacy of cronyism, waste and incompetence. It is disgraceful that any U.S. city, let alone a major one, be operated like a corrupt third world nation.
                             Professional police departments have professional hiring and promotion standards and procedures. Clout, cronyism, and political favoritism have no place in professional police departments. Unfortunately, at least one major U.S. city continues to fall far short.