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By ELIJAH GOSIER
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 14, 2000
What is wrong with that Goliath Davis? He has gone and gotten a bunch of white folks all upset with him again.
Every time you turn around it's something. One day he's promoting a black sergeant who hasn't been charged or found guilty of anything. The next, he's exchanging heated words with a white city councilman who tried to sneak a snide insult his way.
He even had the nerve to say federal money for fighting drugs in the predominantly black area of south St. Petersburg would be more effectively spent trying to treat the people who buy drugs.
Why can't he understand that you fight drugs by juicing up the sentences and arresting a lot more of the teenage boys who don't yet have the sense or guidance to know that the few bucks they make selling drugs aren't worth the toll on their lives? After all, isn't that what they did back in the '60s and '70s, when the drug was marijuana and the people with it were white kids?
Oh, they did the opposite? My mistake.
To top it all off, in his most recent breach of what apparently are this community's standards of etiquette, he had the gall to stand up to a white officer who was -- by all accounts I've read or heard -- being insubordinate.
Goliath, Goliath, Goliath. What is wrong with you, boy?
Don't you understand that you would be heralded as this city's greatest chief if you would just buy yourself a rubber stamp and use it on every memo and suggestion you get from the Police Benevolent Association (the white police officers' union) and CONA, the organization of white neighborhood associations?
Your position is indefensible. So what if crime is down, as you keep saying? So what if your officers are getting fewer complaints because they apparently are now treating citizens with more respect and courtesy? What does any of that have to do with policing anyway?
We all know the only numbers that really matter are those released by the PBA last week that say your leadership stinks. Almost half of its members bothered to fill out the survey, and about 78 percent of those said your leadership style is not good. That means roughly 175 of your 538 sworn officers said they don't like the way you lead them.
What clearer mandate for your immediate resignation do you need?
Frankly, chief, I feel your pain. I share your angst. I know what it's like to offend the conservative majority. All it takes is being right and fair when you're dealing with people who think "right and fair" means having things tilted their way. So they try to get you fired. They send you nasty letters. They question your intelligence. They accuse you of being a racist.
Take this latest episode that has the PBA's already tight pants in a wad. How upset would it be at a general for standing his ground against a confrontational private? That scenario closely parallels the face-off between Davis and patrol officer Dan Feeley, who was upset over another officer's firing. A police department is the closest thing to a military organization outside the Defense Department. It has similar rank structures and similar respects and courtesies due those ranks.
"A private doesn't run up on a general," says Davis, who adds that many officers have criticized Feeley's two-day suspension as too lenient.
Would it be easier for the PBA and other critics of the chief to see the seriousness of Feeley's infraction if they could imagine the chief being white and the officer black?
Here, probably yes. Here, that would make the officer's recalcitrance and disrespect clearer, and the chief's taking umbrage at it infinitely more understandable.
And that is sad.
It is sad that the clouded vision and noisy prattle of those who can see Davis as nothing but that black chief is preventing many others from seeing the good work the department is doing under his leadership.
As a resident and citizen, I find it comforting to know that the officer who pulls me over is going to be held accountable for his actions, that if he uses profanity or is abusive in other ways, he will face the wrath of the chief.
The chief's insistence on officer civility has resulted in fewer complaints of police misconduct.
As a resident and citizen, I find it reassuring to know that violent crime is down around the city, reduced even more in traditionally high-crime areas.
As a resident and citizen, I find it both encouraging and disheartening to know that drug-related arrests are up citywide; encouraging that one day the arrests will change the tide, disheartening that it hasn't happened yet.
As a resident and citizen, I attribute much of this to Goliath Davis' leadership. No matter what 175 members of the PBA had to say.
As a resident and citizen, I urge PBA president Jack Soule to reread the comment of one of his members responding on the survey:
"If Jack would stop complaining and look around, he'd suddenly realize the only people listening to him and agreeing with him are the other dinosaurs and malcontents who are not able to change with the times."
Good advice also for the rest of one of Florida's most conservative regions.
Elijah Gosier's column appears periodically in Floridian. He lives in St. Petersburg. Write him c/o the St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731.