In a sharply worded letter Wednesday, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval chastised City Council members for their “collective silence” while segments of the community verbally bash the city’s police officers.
The letter followed a Tuesday night council meeting where citizens weighed in, often harshly, on the March 6 shooting death of Tony Robinson, an unarmed black 19-year-old, by Officer Matt Kenny, who is white.
“In short, your collective silence is DEAFENING and that is why I chose to write to you today,” Koval wrote in the letter to council members. “Don’t think that I haven’t noticed or that my employees haven’t noticed — we have!”
Koval said people can attack him all they want and he can take it. But accusations against Madison Police Department employees must be challenged, he said.
“Last night, I sat patiently listening to people accusing MPD of everything from being sanctioned murderers to racists,” he wrote. “Given the nature of the proceedings, I was left with no recourse to respond to any of these diatribes, falsehoods and shock-value missives.”
When leaders fail to stand up to the mob call for lawlessness, and fail to defend the good people tasked with enforcing those laws, those are awful, evil, leaders.
I feel bad for this police chief. He, and the citizens of Madison, deserve better, moral, leadership.