Editorial: Ideas shouldn't be shut down by being shouted down

Ironically, the people packing the room in protest had won the battle before the meeting even started.

Mount Prospect Police Chief Tim Janowick had dropped his proposal to allow noncitizen legal residents to apply for the police department's eligibility list. All the village board was to do Tuesday night was officially deep-six it.

Yet, apparently egged on by a radio host, people crowded the board room Monday, demanding to speak and cutting off others who tried to say something. The Pledge of Allegiance got interrupted by someone questioning whether noncitizens should say it. There were calls for the police chief's immediate firing. "Are you a citizen?" someone challenged police and fire board Commissioner Jackie Hinaber. (She is, though, with two decades of library service in addition to her police and fire board work, that hardly should have to be acknowledged).

In desperation, Mayor Arlene Juracek gaveled the meeting to a recess and cleared the room.

"We would have been here still listening to a lot of horrible ugliness," she said during the break.

We understand why Juracek eventually shut it down. And even why the village sandbagged the proposal entirely, sending it back for more study. But it is especially bothersome that in this day and age, ideas - good, bad or indifferent - can be shut down simply by being shouted down.

Janowick, aware that 10 to 15 percent of his police force will retire over the next two to three years, wants to expand his pool of police testing candidates to include legal residents who may not yet be U.S. citizens.

Police say candidates in general are harder to find than before, but Janowick also saw an opportunity to diversify his department. He's not the only top cop who thinks having officers who speak the language and understand the culture of neighborhoods they are patrolling increases the trust, and prevents some molehills from becoming mountains.

Legal residents, or green card holders, have been vetted by the U.S. government and can join the military and fight for the country. The city of Chicago as well as suburbs like Elk Grove Village, Schaumburg and Palatine have opened their eligibility process to them. Whether noncitizens would take jobs away from qualified citizens or whether the idea is right for Mount Prospect may be open to debate, but at least it's a legitimate topic of discussion.

Other towns may want to consider it. Some may not. But talking about it is hard to do when nobody will listen. Our suburbs ought to be able to hold civil conversations about the makeup of their police departments and come to conclusions that best fit their situations.

In Mount Prospect, the idea has been debated by the police and fire commission and by the village board. Yet, far from being deaf to complaints, the village responded and already was sending it back for more study before Monday's fracas.

Realistically, it won't return for consideration until the next eligibility list is being prepared in a couple years. Maybe by then, people will be prepared to listen.