Crowe Chizek Is Right

Various Waukesha County functionaries are unhappy with what they call "security" problems in the Waukesha County Courthouse. They've proposed remedies which, frankly, cost a lot of money.

So the County hired a consultant, Crowe Chizek, to review the situation.

Crowe offered a few suggestions, which do not make the functionaries happy. But the consultant also made an observation which is pertinent:

"Any cost to modify, mitigate or completely segregate the prisoner movement process from the public and staff may not support an undetermined benefit to enhancing actual or perceived safety and security," the report states.

In other words, when chasing a mirage, you've wasted your energy. What is "perceived" safety?

The "spend money" crowd is represented by this remark:

"When something goes wrong - and it will - everybody's going to ask, 'Why didn't you do something?' " he said. ["He" is District Court Administrator Michael Neimon], who pointed to one--repeat, ONE--incident which was significant, back in 1978.

Let me help you, Mike.

See, at some point in time, anyplace on Earth, "something" will go wrong. You don't have to be an actuary to figure this out, Mike. It's likely that your own children understand this.

All you need is common sense. See the Crowe Chizek quote above.