Top cops finally getting along?

I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised by the cooperative spirit that's popped up from the Wilmington Police Department and the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office this week. At an anti-gang forum Wednesday night, Police Chief Ralph Evangelous said his department and the Sheriff's Office would try to work together to do more to fight gang and youth violence in the area, including seeking grant money to increase resources.

"We could go out and compete against each other and we'll both lose," Deputy Police Chief David Conklin said yesterday. "And what we wanted to do was make sure we're successful for the community."

That's certainly encouraging. But check this out: "Sheriff (Sid) Causey and Chief Evangelous are both committed to doing whatever we can together to help make the community safer," Chief Sheriff's Deputy Ed McMahon said. Did you ever think Evangelous and Causey would get along again? Last spring Causey ended a mutual aid agreement between the two agencies in some sort of bizarre power struggle. Eventually, the two law enforcement leaders sorted things out. But you had to wonder if they'd really be able to work together again.

I'm glad, though, they found common ground to fight a growing problem. We all should be glad. When I lived in Gainesville, FL, the police department and sherrif's office had a contentious relationship. It got nasty to the point where the sheriff's office started a campaign to merge services basically as a way of trying to get rid of the police department. The "merge" never happened, but it wasn't good, that's for sure. After all, you want your crime fighters fighting crime, not each other.

So hail to the chief and the sheriff. We're glad your on-again-off-again relationship is back on… for now.