The abrupt retirement of former Police Commissioner John Barbieri in Springfield certainly surprised me. In fact, I’d venture to say it surprised most people in the city and probably in the law enforcement community throughout the Pioneer Valley.

The commissioner has been in his office for five years and while there has been significant progress in decreasing many aspect of criminal activity in the city, the incidents for which the city has had to pay damages for inappropriate police behavior have been considerable.

Barbieri’s departure has strengthened the resolve of the Springfield City Council to make sure its ordinance creating a civilian police commission, which would hire, fire and discipline officers, a reality.

Under the ordinance there would be a police chief who would run the day-to-day aspects of law enforcement, while the commission would be charged with the discharge of discipline.

It could be argued the combined tasks of running the department plus the discipline activities may be just too much for any one person.

It also could be argued that those responsibilities lumped together creates a powerful position that reports only to the mayor, and perhaps when it comes to transparent government,that is the wrong approach these days.

Any form of government requires checks and balances. Even with the “strong mayor” form of city charter Springfield has, the City Council provides a very necessary component.

At a press event last week, councilor after councilor praised the former commissioner for his performance. Over his tenure, we’ve seen technological advances that have helped stem crime as well as a data-driven philosophy that has put police officers in areas that need them the most.

Having said that, now is the time for a change that would decrease the power of the position and increase the transparency. Such a move would send a profoundly positive message to the city’s residents.

If I could be presumptuous enough to offer some advice to the mayor, I would suggest thinking about the potential strengths of the City Council’s ordinance. Involving more of the public and allowing the head of the department to concentrate on ways to rid the city of even more crime is not a bad idea.
    
End of a personal era

My family lived in Granby while I was in junior high school, high school and college. It was when I was in eighth grade that the movie bug sunk its incisors into me hard and deep.

Putting this as diplomatically as possible, being a film crazy kid did not exactly increase my popularity among my peers.

I would buy Variety, “the Bible of show business,” and read just about every book I could on film. I watched every old movie I could. In my senior year in high school I interviewed my first movie star, Flash Gordon himself, Buster Crabbe.

I was a nerd before that was even remotely cool. Thank goodness, nerds now run the world.

Since there were few among my small circle of friends who shared my mania, I looked for other ways to connect with my tribe. Watching the Oscars was just one of those efforts. It was a significant event that I first did alone and then with my long-suffering wife Mary.

This year for the first time in probably close to 50 years, I missed the show and I really don’t mind.

This year, the management at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences faltered greatly. They spoke of a new category called “most popular film.” That was immensely stupid. They went back and forth about having a host – they eventually didn’t. They wanted to give people 90 seconds to get from their seats to the stage and give their thank you speech.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. Those measures took out the entertainment value of the show and it’s all about entertainment.

The show was frequently a train wreck and that was part of its charm.

I’ve never believed, for instance, that the “best picture” was indeed the most artistic movie made that year. I think it’s next to impossible to make such a call.

As an adult I liked to see the Oscars as a sort of pop culture and socially political indicator. I also liked them as one of the last examples of old fashioned Hollywood ballyhoo.

They were stripped of those this year.

So, I listened to my body, went to bed, read for a while and went to sleep before the show was over. An era was over – perhaps for good.

My friend Mike Moyle shared a quote on Facebook from author Robert A. Heinlein that applied here: “It’s amazing how much ‘mature wisdom’ resembles being too tired.”