Schumann's Cleveland Pages archives

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Baeppler quits, integrity takes a hit (24 December 1999)

Hundreds came out last night to support the popular outgoing police commander of the Second District. Gregory Baeppler, a 31-year police veteran, was forced to resign last Friday. Although a specific reason wasn't given by the mayor's office, it's assumed by practically everyone here that the proximate cause was Baeppler's public support for the police involved in the shooting of Tekili Williams at a Tremont bar earlier this year.

Baeppler himself

Baeppler, by all-and-I-mean-all accounts, has been a superb commander and a community relations hero. The cops in the zone cars respect Baeppler and the people who you might consider "mayor of the block" types adore him.

For an unexpected example of Baeppler's commitment to community relations (as distinct from "public relations" which amounts to fast talk and hand-waving) consider my little problem with dispatchers last year. The "rest of the story" is that upon the advice of my neighbor and block-mayor Gloria I talked to Commander Baeppler about the problem; he promised to call me back and did so within a few days. He determined that the call-center tapes had already been rotated out (since I'd taken a couple months to get in touch with him) and so it was a bit too late to find out exactly what happened to my call. Baeppler went on to say he was very interested in any instances of poor dispatching or inadequate response times and that I should absolutely, definitely not hesitate to call him directly in the future.

So my actual problem wasn't really solved--I mean, I still think police need to follow up quickly when a person claims to have been stabbed!--but I did get a response from Baeppler with a perfectly valid reason why he couldn't investigate any further.

Based on stories from some of the old neighborhood regulars, this is about par for the course with Baeppler. Absolutely without exception, whenever his name came up in conversation around here it is with nodding heads, broad smiles, and a story more dramatic than mine. People here love and honor Gregory Baeppler. We're sad to see him go.

Baeppler's fans

I wish I could praise Baeppler's fans so highly. The leader of Thursday night's vigil, Sandi Gerena, until recently used to be the Community Relations Board's staff liaison for the Second District Police-Community Relations Committee, which is technically a civilian volunteer organization. Under her control, that committee reversed its intended role; instead of representing the concerns of the people to the Police Department, it acted as the Department's auxiliary public relations division. Meetings over community concerns turned into embarrassing Gerena-sponsored lectures about our undeserving neighbors.

Crime Watch went... nowhere, even though Gerena and her staff marked progress by how many blocks in the district accumulated official Crime Watch street signs as a reward for holding an organizational meeting. Community Relations staff--who, importantly, are not part of the Safety Department--went into all-talk, no-listen mode when dealing with citizens.

If information-gathering was their goal, Gerena and her colleagues had a funny way of showing it. I actually witnessed one kid, perhaps ten years old or so, being cut off and talked over by CRB staffer Nina Reilly while reporting where he found a discarded gun around Archwood--this just after Reilly's speech about how important it is for adults to use children as our eyes and ears on the street. It was transparent, and astonishing.

Anyway, Sandi Gerena herself was shuffled over to the Fifth District in a office-wide shakeup. Although not much was made of this move in the citywide press, my guess is that it was an attempt by Mike White's people to break up the ongoing chumminess between Gerena and the Second District. As honestly great as Baeppler is... gushing sycophancy doesn't help him control crime, it doesn't really improve his image, and it does nothing for the average citizen who cares about having dedicated, competent, and well-organized officers on the street.

Political moves

It seems to me (and practically everyone I've talked to) that Baeppler's sacking was Mike White's sop to constituencies who were troubled by the shooting of Tekili Williams, probably including some African-Americans and some people who'd consider themselves activists against police misconduct. Without having to prosecute the off-duty cops who actually fired bullets, White was able to take advantage of his Charter right to appoint and dispose of police commanders at will. It was a visible signal whose meaning didn't have to be acknowledged by White in words.

But organizers like Gerena think politically too. Her own status took a hit earlier this year, giving double motivations for bringing together this quiet demonstration. Police and their fans have never liked White either, for obvious reasons of mixed virtue.

Part of me loves to see ordinary people turn out in numbers for any worthwhile cause; visible demonstrations happen so seldom here that this gathering at least proves the citizens aren't dead. But the other part of me says their leaders' agenda is not much more worthy than that of the opposition. It's unfortunate that a cop with the credentials and integrity of Gregory Baeppler has to end his career in Cleveland now... surrounded by political hacks on all sides.

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