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Conversation with This conversation with Ted took place at Jimi's Restaurant soon after his resignation was announced and a week or so before his actual departure. Let me begin by summarizing the several tones in that longer-than-typical dialogue. As we moved or leap-frogged among topics, the Chief projected positive nostalgia for his eight years in Royal Oak, sadness or irritation about some of his experiences here, enthusiasm for his new position, and professional objectivity as we went around the commission table, comparing impressions about the elected officials, individually and as a group.
Ted cited the Police Department's positive relationships with such entities as the DDA, the Chamber of Commerce, the Restaurant Association, the School District, and I took the opportunity to relay VersagiVoice's finding that he and his department are much admired by residents. When I added that that wasn't always so, he spoke to the management consultant in me by saying he had found disorganization and low morale in the department. Anonymous negative comments about patrolmen and commanders were posted throughout the building, as one example of it. “It didn't take me long to realize that I was inheriting an isolated and divided department, with too many personnel out of touch with the community." He recalled that my wife served on the ad hoc committee set up to investigate the too-frequent complaints made against the department. At the same time as he worked to become personally "the face of the department" to residents, businesses, civic organizations, and to other departments in the city administration, he began implementing professional policies and procedures and to replace personnel with younger people, "younger in attitude as well as in age." He recalled the hullabaloo during which he was presented in the press as a martinet because he disciplined a patrolmen who didn't reply to the Chief's "Good morning." When Quisenberry described the patrolman's actual behavior, it was easy for this retried management consultant to recognize discipline was called for. In a non-union situation, the behavior he described would have resulted in termination. "There were ugly times," the Chief admitted during the first two or three years of getting the unions representing the several levels in the department "going down the same path." That path meant getting everyone in the department to recognize "we are there to serve the community.” Today we are a much better police department”. The measures of success include more than the fact that Royal Oak's police force is now well-liked. Success can be measured by such praise as the 44th District Court offers when it mentions that officers make better presentations in court; when the Detective Bureau, though reduced from 10 to 7, still knocks out over 540 criminal warrants per year as compared to roughly 200 back in 2000/01; when the number of traffic tickets increases from 8,700 to more than 22,000. About traffic tickets Ted is quick to add, "We're not talking about quotas, or about increasing income for the city. There is documentation, locally and elsewhere, that the number of crashes, of fatal or property accidents, drops when traffic laws are vigorously enforced." He spoke of a "crashes/tickets ratio" and “we’re talking safety.” Quisenberry described how he has worked with movie producers and what it means to the city when filming is done here. "Those crews and actors rent space, eat in our restaurants, even buy clothes here." [ The Chief acknowledges that there have been problems now and then with the city commission, but on balance he has grown very fond of Royal Oak and will miss being here. He and I recalled, for example, that he (and sometimes his family) appears at civic and social events in town more frequently than several elected officials. Speaking of elected officials, my usual exercise of going around The Table and comparing notes showed mostly agreement but a little sharp disagreement about the performance and attitude of individuals. The exercise is not meant to generate good/bad descriptions for publication. Instead, the exercise serves city hall observers by enabling them to exchange impressions of the officials, even about marginal matters like on-and-off facial hair Ted Quisenberry is fond of Royal Oak. He leaves with regret. Simultaneously, he is enthusiastic, even excited about becoming the Administrator of Emergency Management and Preparedness & Homeland Security for Oakland County. “I am looking at this as an opportunity to expand from being responsible for keeping the citizens of Royal Oak safe to keeping the citizens of Oakland County safe.” -- Feb 2009 |
Quisenberry
repeated his contention that a lot of cities in Michigan envy Royal
Oak's luster as a successful entertainment destination, and he
reluctantly acknowledged that the city's positive image is somewhat
diluted by the perception that "a couple of departments" are hard to
work with. “When a permit is being requested for a generally
appropriate operation or event, our approach in the P.D.