Chief Teare Needs to Feel the Heat

"Honesty is the best policy". "Always tell the truth". For many people, these simple values were instilled in us as children. Of course, we have all lied in some form or fashion during some point during our life. When exposed, there's two roads a fibber can travel. First, s/he can fess up and admit their distortion of the truth. Conversely, liars could also dig themselves a deeper hole by angrily and defiantly sticking to their original story.

Much of the hoopla surrounding the John Leopold mall incident matters little in the grand scheme of things. Since I wasn't there, I cannot bear witness to anything that might have happened in Leopold's vehicle. Still, it's clear the County Executive received some form of preferential treatment by the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

Therefore, why doesn't the Chief just fess up and admit the obvious? By simply acknowledging his officers violated established protocol, Mr. Teare could do his part to help this story go away. After all, the Police Department's handling of this episode looms as the biggest political issue.

If Chief Teare goes before the Council tomorrow evening and wants to stick to his lame story, someone needs to turn up the heat. Perhaps Chief Teare can be reminded that the County Charter allows for him to be removed from office by the Council. Thus, if he thinks his loyalty to Leopold is the only thing he needs to save his job, then he better rethink his strategy. With 20+ years in Law Enforcement, I hope Chief Teare would place more value on his integrity. We'll see.