Ralph Harris’s promotion to sergeant in the
Springfield Police Department didn’t happen as quietly as he had
hoped, and neither did his retirement.
Harris became a sergeant last fall after the
Springfield Civil Service Commission extended the police promotional list
one year past its expiration date. The action, challenged unsuccessfully in
court by 21 white officers, paved the way for the promotion of Harris along
with two other white officers. At the time, all SPD sergeants were white
males; Harris, president of the Black Guardians Association, a group of
African-American officers, diversified the rank.
After just seven months as a sergeant, however,
Harris says he decided to retire after Chief Don Kliment denied his request
to be assigned to the detective bureau. With a college degree and 27 years
on the job — 14 of which he spent in the bureau investigating
juvenile crimes — Harris says feels he was the most qualified person
for the administrative sergeant vacancy in the investigations division.
Sergeant assignments are normally made in September.
At that time, each sergeant can submit a list of three assignments he
wants, ranked in order. Harris missed out on that process because his
promotion didn’t occur until October. When two positions became open
in investigations, Harris submitted a letter expressing his interest. But
the job he wanted was instead assigned to another sergeant in the unit.
“It’s pretty clear to me that they are
just intent on not letting me do anything,” Harris says.
“I’m just tired. It’s gotten to the point where it
doesn’t mean a hill of beans. I came from the projects, I’m a
self-made person. I went through all that, toughed it out . . . then I get
to a point where people basically tell you: it don’t mean nothing.
You ain’t hooked up. You don’t have the political connections,
the financial connections, so you go nowhere.”
He acknowledges that another factor in his decision
to retire was the window of opportunity to maximize his pension, created by
the recently approved police contract. That clause was the only reason he
mentioned during what Kliment describes as a brief and cordial conversation
when Harris turned in his equipment last Friday.
“I told him congratulations on his
retirement,” Kliment says.
“You want to go out angry and bickering with
everyone?” Harris says. “There’s no need.”
Like his promotion, Harris’s retirement has
some coincidental side effects: It will cost the East Side neighborhood its
most valued law enforcement officer. That officer, Matt Fricke, has been
working the East Side in some capacity — gang unit, narcotics unit,
and now Neighborhood Police Officer — for most of his 11 years with
the department, and has earned a reputation for being responsive to the
good citizens and tough yet fair with the criminals.
But Fricke’s high score on the most recent
sergeants exam placed him high on the eligibility list, and he is next in
line for promotion. Kliment says Fricke will likely be moved up to sergeant
in mid-June.
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2005.
