Monday, June 9, 2008

Kudos to the West Long Branch PD

Last month, someone from the LBA wrote an article related to Memorial Day. In that article, the blogger made an observation about two employees of the West Long Branch Police Department.

Entirely to their credit, the WLBPD posted a comment on that post today that we believe is demonstrative of the type of leadership, service and respect that we should expect from our government. Capt. Mihlon, apparently on behalf of the police administration, addressed the topic head on by stating:

We at the WLBPD take very seriously the concept and philosophy of courtesy and respect.

Therefore, I would encourage and invite anyone who observes such a breech of same to contact me personally. Doing so allows the administration of the WLBPD to address the problem in a timely and accurate fashion. I can assure you that such a demonstration of disrespect and lack of decorum would have been dealt with swiftly and effectively.

Captain Larry Mihlon
West Long Branch Police Department
lmihlon@westlongbranch.org
732-571-5959


We applaud Capt. Mihlon for his feedback, thank him for taking the time to respond and accept his assurances (and thank him for reading the blog!)

Perhaps there is a greater lesson to be learned here. The blogger took the time to complain about the incident online in this blog but did not take the time to call the matter to the attention of police commanders who clearly agree that "such a demonstration of disrespect and lack of decorum" is inappropriate. Maybe the blogger assumed the commanders wouldn't care, perhaps the blogger didn't think it was that serious a breach to make a phone call, and perhaps the blogger just assumed that these officers would be better able to police themselves.

In any event, Capt. Mihlon was enough of a gentleman to not point out the fact that the LBA had some responsibility for not acting proactively--a lesson we all can and should learn herewith.

So, kudos to the WLBPD.

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