Punished for the Truth
Wednesday, December 24, 2003; Page A14

UNLESS WISER HEADS in the upper reaches of the Bush administration prevail, underlings in the Interior Department are about to deliver a low blow to honesty and integrity in government. For responding with the truth to questions from The Post and other news outlets about staffing in her department, U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers has been placed on leave and notified that superiors in the National Park Service and Interior want her fired. And what was the chief's transgression? She said her understaffed department had to curtail critical patrols in Park Service jurisdictions beyond the Mall, such as major parkways and crime-ridden U.S. parkland in neighborhoods, because of Interior Department orders requiring more officers to guard downtown national shrines. The impending action ought to be reversed. Ms. Chambers should be commended for speaking up for public safety. The Interior Department underlings trying to muzzle her are the ones who should be on their way out the door.There is more at stake than the career of a police chief who is highly regarded by officers under her command. The effect of firing Ms. Chambers because she spoke up with courage about threats to the public she is sworn to protect will have a chilling effect on public servants who believe it is their obligation to be honest about the needs of their jobs. The National Park Service officials who want the chief gone accuse her of improperly lobbying Congress and disclosing secret budget details through her public comments. If the Bush administration lets the Park Service get away with those flimsy excuses, then the White House has been really bamboozled. Let's face it: The truth embarrassed the chief's higher-ups. So they retaliated.

The chief, a veteran police officer who has served in the Prince George's police department and later was police chief in Durham, N.C., intends to defend herself, and she should. The park police department is a critical link in Washington area law enforcement. To downgrade it, as Park Service and Interior Department officials seem intent on doing, could well threaten security in the capital and create serious security gaps that area police departments -- already severely stretched -- may not be able to fill. Ms. Chambers has a fight on her hands, but she should not have to take it on by herself. Law enforcement in the Washington region, the career federal service and the public have a stake in the outcome. The White House should intervene to prevent this injustice from taking place.