VICTOR JOECKS: Woke leaders are hurting Henderson police

If you want to see how the woke mindset destroys public safety, look at Henderson.

On Tuesday, Henderson police unions — the Henderson Police Officers’ Association and the Henderson Police Supervisors Association — presented the City Council with the results of their no confidence votes in Chief Thedrick Andres. Between the two groups, more than 95 percent of respondents cast a vote of no confidence. More than 80 percent of both association’s memberships participated.

This is an overwhelming rebuke of Andres’ leadership. Officers’ concerns include the new use-of-force policy, manipulation of promotion lists, creating a hostile work environment and retaliation.

This alarm is coming from a department with a long record of success.

“The city of Henderson has been recognized for more than 20 years as one of America’s safest cities,” Mayor Debra March said in the Henderson police’s 2020 annual report. She continued, “Our incredible Henderson Police Department can be credited with that achievement.”

You might thus think March and the council would be deeply concerned by this. Nope. Many city officials appear to have gone woke, which means putting race before anything else. Andres is African American.

During public comment, Jeff Crampton, a civilian board member of the officers association, called the tenures of LaTesha Watson, the previous chief, and Andres a “failed experiment.” He continued, “It’s not working. It needs to get fixed.”

March reflexively responded, “Because she’s Black and because he’s Black? What’s the failed experiment?”

What a vile, baseless smear. But that’s the woke mindset in action. What’s important aren’t the facts, but the skin color of those involved. This isn’t the first time the public has caught a glimpse of this. In February, City Manager Richard Derrick emailed police officers. He admonished them for a former corrections officer playing the circle game in a photo with Andres. It was a prank, not racism. But once you go woke, race crowds out innocent explanations.

For some reason, Henderson officials have wanted outside leaders to overhaul a department that was generally doing a great job. Continuing down that road could have major implications for public safety. Just look at how Henderson is trying to hide a surge in crime from its residents.

Then there’s the city’s new use-of-force policy. It “appears to be less ‘policy’ and ‘operational procedure’ and more ‘theory’ and ‘societal appeasement,’ ” Eric Daigle, a lawyer retained by the supervisor’s union, wrote in a letter. Later, he added, “A lack of clarity in policy will cause confusion and lack of confidence for the officers on patrol. I believe this will be a significant safety issue for officers and citizens.”

This isn’t surprising. Wokeism views police suspiciously. Officers, not criminals, are the ones who need more restrictions.

But that rarely ends well. If officers believe they’ll get in trouble for doing police work, they’ll do less police work. As cities around the country have seen, that usually leads to a marked increase in crime.

Woke leadership is making Henderson less safe. Officials should listen to officers expressing concerns, not imply they and their supporters are racists.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.