Editor,
In his piece plugging the U.S. Public Service Academy on Feb. 27, Zac Westbrook sounds like a military recruiter trying hard not to sound like one.
If the graduates are going to be helping out at Katrina-like disasters, why is it modeled after academies that are military? His calling the latter "illustrious" is what gives him away, like when a posse of trained killers is called an elite corps. He claims getting into the academy will be "extremely competitive, requiring a recommendation from a member of Congress." Since when did getting your parents to get back a favor from their favored politician show you off as a winner in fair-minded competition?
Notice also how he begins the list of occupations for graduates with teachers, for whom there is no inherent physical danger, then adds the dangerous jobs. This is straight from the playbook of military recruiting. But the military is bending over backwards to recruit, given the shortage of willing bodies, offering huge bonuses and even taking in criminals.
For the police, we have all these ads in Albuquerque seducing you to join up. When it comes to EMTs, the shortage of health care professionals in New Mexico is legendary. And he admits the Border Patrol is desperate for enlistees. In an environment of such high demand, being locally qualified to do the job is enough to get the job and satisfy our community's vital needs expeditiously. Why create a federal hurdle off to the side that requires competition just to get to jump the hurdle?
Within such an "academy," I shudder to think what product would emerge when those getting licensed to teach mix with those licensed to use violence. In the longer term, could this mysterious "specialized training" by a federal academy for future police and firefighters in local municipalities result in the ability of the resulting "leaders" to get around Posse Comitatus?
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Historically, there is a troubling precedent. The colonizing British in India created the Indian Civil Service for which it trained Indian "civil servants." It was publicized as elitist, and its officers were ordered to enforce British rule over locals through locals. But what do I know? I am merely the product of what Westbrook calls "your average institution," but I still call it a real university.
Arun Anand Ahuja
UNM student
