It’s important to take a closer look at the powers that be every so often, and, if something is amiss, take them to task for it. That’s why the First Amendment ensures every citizen the right to petition the government. That’s why legislators hold town hall meetings during their terms and on the campaign trail. That’s why university administrators are expected to hold office hours and meetings with concerned students, faculty and staff members.
Petitions and letters of disapproval are an important facet in ensuring the various institutions we participate in do not fail us.
But the vote of no confidence, issued by the Bradley University Police Benevolent Association, Inc. earlier this month, is not one of the most effective examples we’ve seen.
Here’s the gist of BUPBA’s letter: Members of the organization are unhappy with the way Bradley University Police Department has been run under Chief Brian Joschko’s leadership. The letter cites morale reaching an “all-time low,” and “a narcissistic attitude” on Joschko’s part.
Here’s why we aren’t very confident in this vote of no confidence: There just isn’t enough substantial evidence to support it.
While we can’t know everything that goes on inside the BUPD building, we do feel as if Joschko, his fellow BUPD officers and BUPD staff members do a good job keeping Bradley safe. That’s the heart of the matter.
Last year, more efforts were initiated to make student and campus safety not only a top priority for the officers (as it should be, and always has been), but for university students, faculty and staff members alike. Campus safety presentations were held, and the Crime Prevention Officer position was created as a liaison between BUPD and students.
This year, BUPD also held emergency preparedness presentations after the shooting in Parkland, Florida. And last year, they hosted an inaugural awards ceremony to honor officers and community members who helped BUPD maintain their mission on campus. That doesn’t sound like low morale to us.
And while BUPBA said they filed around 24 collective bargaining agreement grievances with the university since Joschko was hired, we were only given “approximate” numbers. Of those numbers, a majority of those resolved grievances were resolved in favor of BUPBA, which shows willingness on the university’s part to work with its police union to enforce the contract.
University President Gary Roberts told The Scout that university administration would be holding meetings with BUPD and BUPBA to better understand the problems in the vote of no confidence – that’s the right reaction, and that’s about all there is to it, at this point.
We’re not going to invalidate the way some officers feel, because we don’t work at BUPD. We aren’t patrol officers. We don’t clock in every day and work 8-hour shifts.
But we do feel safe, and that wouldn’t be the case if BUPD was a blatantly dysfunctional department.
