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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992                   TAG: 9202140455
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

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THE STATUE

THE MEDIA get the rap for a lot of things, including probably in some people's minds the debasement of morals and the decline of civilization. We're not above criticism.

But last week Lt. William Althoff, head of Roanoke's police academy, went too far. He as much as blamed this newspaper for stirring controversy about a now-infamous statue, a black lawn jockey, that adorned the Police Department's shooting range.

This statue - hastily removed by city officials amid appropriate expressions of outrage and incredulity after its photograph appeared on the front page - had been at the range for "some time," said Althoff. No one had complained before. "It was a non-issue until it was published in the newspaper."

A non-issue?

Sorry to break the news, but if this racist icon at a shooting range used mostly by white officers was for years a non-issue to the lieutenant and his colleagues, then he's right to belittle the significance of the statue itself.

No one expects a statue to possess social awareness or critical faculties.

Whether Althoff was insensitive to, or just ignorant of, the prop's offensive symbolic resonance matters little. Either way it's a troubling attitude.

The lieutenant had to know the Police Department is trying to hire more minority officers and improve its image among the black population. He is, after all, in charge of training recruits. Given unprecedented minority representation in the most recent academy class, Althoff surely knew of the city's good efforts to turn around the department's recruiting program.

We know of these good efforts. We read about them in the newspaper.

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