This Is About More than Speech
The e-mails have been pouring in today about my interview with Rick Skirvin, a former IMPD reserve deputy who was reportedly fired for posting comments in IndyUndercover; a local blog that has some issues with the current administration, to put it mildly. I’ve been told that Skirvin is either a hero or a whiner. Both sides miss the point.
The issue isn’t so much the firing. Legally speaking, a government employee’s free speech rights are very limited when it comes to speaking about its employer. However, firing Skirvin isn’t going to make IMPD’s problems go away. If anything it’s going to make things worse. Devoting time and resources to weed out dissenters as opposed to improving working conditions for law enforcement officers is a mistake.
Officers and deputies like Rick Skirvin should look forward to coming to work everyday. A positive attitude and pleasant workplace environment can do wonders for morale. Maybe that should be the focus of IMPD and not going on vitural witch hunts. They need to remember that the more you tighten your grip on employees like Skirvin, the more things tend to slip through your fingers.
