Silence never a wise choice when police behavior questioned

A visceral response to an assault on one's parent is easy enough to understand. Proper protocol, any protocol, in fact, isn't likely to be at the top of the to-do list in that charged moment.

So I can understand how Elgin Police officer Chris Darr might have come to be on desk duty as his employers investigate his response to the New Year's Eve brawl at the Holiday Inn that left his father, former Elgin deputy police chief and head of hotel security Jack Darr, seriously hurt.

I think most city residents would understand such a reaction on the part of a son, maybe even respect it. But that doesn't mean they would consider a too-physical response, which has been alleged by some of those charged in the fight, acceptable in one of their police officers if the allegation is found to be true.

Far more confounding is the fact that the police department again has shown itself completely tone deaf when it comes to its public response. When an incident like the Holiday Inn fight is this big and this violent, involves a popular former deputy chief and his son, and mug shots look like something straight out of the movie "Fight Club," questions are inevitable.

A most pertinent basic answer -- simply Chris Darr's official status, post-incident -- had to be pried from the police department with a crow bar. Three days after the incident, Police Chief Lisa Womack told me she still hadn't read any of the reports. I find that less than reassuring and indicative of her continued tin ear when it comes to dealing with the public.

While I think she has attempted to inject a needed dose of personal accountability into the department, her operation still buries basic inquiries in voice mail boxes and frustration. Getting simple information requires a siege and her hand-picked public relations spokeswoman is more impediment than help. The public response remains far too slow and uninformative, suggesting a bunker mentality born of something to hide, whether that assumption is justified or not. Into a void of information, of course, rushes doubt about the department's competence, forthrightness and professionalism.

When it comes to police departments, quick, clear and forthright is always the best response, even in incidents that may be embarrassing or that show individual officers made mistakes or poor judgments. In fact, especially in those sorts of incidents do departments need to be forthright if they expect to retain their integrity and the trust of the community. The average guy understands mistakes and poor judgments, but assumes the worst about silence.

Jack Darr, a popular and respected former deputy police chief, suffered multiple broken ribs, a punctured lung and numerous facial injuries. A security partner was also injured as they attempted to break up a violent dispute fueled by too much alcohol and too little sense. Nine people were eventually arrested. Among those responding to the call for help was his off-duty officer son.

Whether he violated police protocol is now under investigation, but it is not simply an internal matter, no matter that police officers always insist that it is. That his behavior is being investigated should bring a certain amount of trust that officers will be held to high standards even in understandable moments of anger, provocation and frustration. I hope the allegations prove to be unfounded, but if he acted unprofessionally, the department's integrity demands some sort of punishment.

Just as it demands a far more forthright approach to the release of basic information than exists now.