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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Indianapolis didn’t fail outsider Straub; he failed Indianapolis

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I told you so.

When Dr. Frank Straub was named public safety director in December 2009, I gave you plenty of warning his term would be rocky.

Here’s what I wrote in the Christmas Eve 2009 edition of the Indianapolis Recorder.

“Newcomers, especially those who fail to understand Indianapolis’ Midwestern with a dash of Southern nuances or who come from smaller cities, don’t have a great track record coming here to run major institutions. Past performance by outsiders is the expected ill-omen for the new Public Safety Director, Dr. Frank Straub, the first out-of-towner to head this critical agency.”

Twenty-eight months later, dogged by controversy, hindered by his blustery, bull in a china shop mentality and, most important, his inconsistent credibility, Straub says he’s leaving his post in three months.

The columnists and reporters Straub’s courted here in Indy, portrayed him as a sainted reformer, stymied by the Fraternal Order of Police.

But, folks forget that when Straub came to Indy, he’d just quit as public safety director of White Plains, N.Y., in a bitter dispute with White Plains’ City Council which threatened a vote of no confidence over his policies.

Sound familiar?

Part of Straub’s downfall is one never knew if the policies he was articulating were his or those of his boss; Mayor Greg Ballard.

When Ballard named Straub, neither talked police reform. Instead the buzz words were strengthening and raising the bar in the department and building strong and sustainable community collaborations.

Yet in my first interview with Straub, he undercut the mayor’s anti-diversity policy. He told the listeners on WTLC-AM (1310’s) “Afternoons with Amos” on Dec. 17, 2009: “Clearly in any organization, public or private you want the best people in the positions doing their jobs. I’m not 100 percent sure that I agree that race should not be a factor.”

In an interview four months later, Straub promised that “we’ll prove to you, not by what we say, but by what we do, that we will enforce the law across all communities across all districts and we will drive down violent crime.”

Today, for the first four months of 2012, violent crime has risen 14.5 percent across the city from last year. Violent crime is up in all six police districts, including downtown. Citywide, while homicides are down 33.3 percent, robberies are up 16.6 percent and aggravated assaults (which increased in 2011) are already up 20.1 percent this year.

Though Straub courted many of the city’s reporters, columnists and editors to “sell” his crime fighting agenda, in a city 28.3 percent Black, Straub kept Black media and the city’s Black media institutions at arm’s length.

In May 2010, I wrote, “Six months into his reign, Straub has never met with Black media leadership and his PR mavens are clueless and disdainful about Black media. That’s not the way to build community policing or interest with a complex, geographically diverse Black community.”

It never improved.  

I spent an entire day in spring 2010 at a seminar with the top leadership of the Department of Public Safety, including IMPD’s top brass along with top commanders from the Indianapolis Fire Department, even Animal Care & Control. The seminar was run by John Jay College of Criminal Justice and paid for with federal funds.

(Note, Straub could find federal bucks for this seminar, but couldn’t get federal cash for grants for crime fighting programs).

Speaking at the seminar was William Bratton, the celebrated chief of both NYPD and LAPD. Bratton, whom Straub described as “his mentor” stressed transparency and openness, particularly when police departments are involved in high profile community crisis cases.

Weeks later, when the Brandon Johnson case hit, Straub and IMPD had a chance to practice what Bratton preached.

When IMPD released a skimpy 3½ page “narrative” summary of the Internal Affairs Report on the Brandon Johnson mess, I wrote: “IMPD preaches ‘transparency.’ To me and our community, ‘transparency’ means providing details and information, not a warmed over summary.”

Then July 18, 2010, live on WTLC-AM the day after the Black Expo shootings, Straub uttered these words: “Actually Amos, the cameras caught everything. We have the shooter.  We got him on film. We got him firing his weapon.”

No one’s seen the tape. Several sources in law enforcement and the legal community tell me the tape doesn’t exist. Straub may have made up the story; presumably to get the suspect to surrender.

What I’m hearing

in the streets

It was humbling to meet one of America’s legendary journalists – Dan Rather. In Indy for Butler’s Diversity Lecture, Rather and I commiserated our roles as broadcasting “dinosaurs” that came into the business when media was a profit-making public trust. The former remains, the latter drastically curtailed.

At 80, Rather remains dedicated to quality journalism, this time on the HDNet cable channel. Here’s a link to our interview: http://bit.ly/IYE0Mv.

* * * * *

If any African-American Democrats or independents are planning to “crossover” and vote in Tuesday’s Republican primary to help save Sen. Richard Lugar, you should know there is only one African-American on the GOP ballot.  

Clayton Graham is running for Superior Court judge. He’s running for the “Black” GOP judge spot vacated by Reuben Hill, who’s not running for re-election.

On the Democratic side, African-American attorney John Chavis is one of the Democrats running for judge. The other African-Americans are incumbent Judges Linda Brown and Grant Hawkins.

If all the African-American judge candidates win in the primary, there’d be seven African-Americans on the courts, five Democrats and two Republicans.

See ‘ya next week!

You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.

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