Seeing a response of no response from the council to my March 12 letter regarding obnoxious behavior by local police -- a silence probably recommended by the city attorney -- I have a take-away: this city is being led by a collection of milquetoasts.
Theres a word you dont run across very often. Its not profanity but still must sting. I dont think Ive used it before and Im retired after a 38-year career of putting words to work, including 18 as a newspaper reporter.
Reporters dont use judgemental words, but that does not preclude their appreciation of them. This is an opportunity for me to find the precise characterization that will get me to the unadorned brass tacks of how the circumstances around my letter have unfolded.
According to the American Heritage dictionary, a person considered a milquetoast is of a nature that is "meek, timid (and) unassertive."
While these qualities may not reflect your collective nature all of the time, when it comes to standing up for whats right in the face of dubious conduct by people in city government, they can and in this case do.
I exchanged emails with the police chief, who defended the behavior of the two officers in question. That conversation is long over, having gotten me virtually nowhere, as is the likely outcome of this one.
As correspondent Jamie Thompson put it in The Atlantic recently in an article commenting on the origins of police behavior, "A truism in law enforcement is that officers do not rise to the moment but fall to the level of their training."
Pardon me for having ideals, you milquetoasts.
Dave Boyce
Cambridge Ave.
