I was responding to another thread, but thought maybe its own thread would be better: this has been bothering me since a Law Enforcement friend went through the academy, worked until he got off probation, and quit because of the system.
I think that the entire country is missing the forest for the trees in the discussion about policing, because so few people have worked in an environment like it.
The problem isnt choke holds, or when its OK to shoot or beat someone.
The problem is how policing is done from the academy to the interactions between police and other police. The killing of Americans is a symptom, and the symptom is generally all people are talking about.
1. Cockpit Culture: Policing is an extremely hierarchical job. Where are the good cops? Trying not to railroaded by the same system. As an example; Cariol Horne. Look her up. Stopped a fellow officer from beating a person. Fellow officer turns around and beats her. She is charged with interference, fired, and had her pension taken...
- For a more relevant example: One of the 4 cops in Floyd's murder, Officer Lane, had been on his own for 3 days. He just got out on patrol in a new area of the city with new cops around him. Effectively leaving training and starting his real job. He told a two decade veteran to move his knee. He was told, effectively, to STFU. He didnt shut up. He said he was worried about distress (something he learned in training) and was told that the Sr officer had it under control. Despite having no experience he still spoke up twice to a man who had almost two decades on him, plus Military Policing. That is downright courageous. Not enough (clearly, because a man died), but WAY more forward than most people with 3 days on their own when told everything was fine by a superior (and without legal repercussions). He is a good cop who wasnt given the tools to be effective.
For trying to be a good cop, he is charged with aiding and abetting murder. It is a no win situation. The GOOD cops are criminals if they act. Aiding and Abetting if they dont. The culture needs to change, similar to how airline culture has had to. His ONLY options in that scenario would both lead to criminal charges. THAT is where the good cops are.
Here is an article about how this works in another industry that has been working for decades to fix it: Airlines. In organizations where someone has that structured authority over you (and police add in a legal authority as well), sometimes in the moment its better to die than fight it... and that is exactly what happens.
2. Police militarization is NOT the guns and trucks. Its not the cammo and vests. Back when the Marines created Marine Corps Martial Arts, the motto was "One Mind, Any Weapon." Maybe that predates MCMAP, but thats where I learned it. The goal is to teach a mindset. That the person is lethal, not the weapon. What separates the SEALs from the guy who buys the equipment and pretends is the mindset.
And Police have a similar militarized indoctrination. They START in the academy with decades of hard fought and paid in blood lessons on how to get cops home at night. My buddy, mentioned above, was rewarded for being the ONLY guy in his class to identify an ambush when called out for a Car vs Bicyclist injury. A person injured in the street, and because a cop (who knows when, who knows where) didnt go home, we ingrain into cops, with reward and punishment, to watch for a military style ambush. THAT is the militarization of police. Disassociating risk by shifting the risk to civilians.
There is a lot of nonsense about how policing isnt dangerous that always comes with a list of jobs that have higher mortality rates: THIS is why. If the risk is pushed to civilians, cops die less. But that isnt an acceptable outcome. It isnt why we have cops. We have police to take that risk. We compensate them and have benefits for families with that risk in mind. The military can go obliterate a city block to retrieve a body or end a firefight. That is the military mindset that has invaded our departments in the name of getting home safely.
and finally
3. Ordinance violation enforcement: The problem isnt Black people getting killed. It may be the most acute and permanent problem, but it isnt THE problem. If zero black men were killed over the next 5 years, their relationship with cops wouldn't be significantly improved. The problem is that police use ordinance violations to put pressure on citizens. Its why literally NOBODY feels comfortable with a cop pulling up behind them, and black people are disproportionately at risk of being stopped for some minutia.
The most telling part of this, for me, is when cops say how many traffic stops result in arrests for other crimes. Is it a traffic stop or an excuse to stop and frisk? I have had family in Law Enforcement tell me ordinance violations are their "best tool." What the frisk? Its not a tool. Police work is a tool.
Some police departments have ended minor traffic stops to improve relations. Walnut Creek is one I know of. They will make a traffic stop for more serious infractions, but they decided years ago their focus would be on other things. I dont know the empirical results, but they seem to think it is going ok.
Cops using ordinance violation to round people up just subjects certain groups to founded harassment. We can try to put in safeguards like Oaklands attempt to balance police stops against race, but that is ridiculous. If a race needs more tickets, give them more tickets. But leave it at tickets. The additional "investigation" leads to cops getting shot, cops getting into dangerous chases, civilians distrusting cops, etc. You dont use a minor meter violation to search the car, background check the owner, etc.
Anyway, those are my three steps. Maybe I am over simplifying or missing a bigger or smaller picture. But balancing being law and order focused, growing up with horrible law enforcement in Berkeley and Oakland, having plenty of friends and family in law enforcement, AND being libertarian leaning, those are what I notice the most when I see breakdowns in strategy and trust.
I think that the entire country is missing the forest for the trees in the discussion about policing, because so few people have worked in an environment like it.
The problem isnt choke holds, or when its OK to shoot or beat someone.
The problem is how policing is done from the academy to the interactions between police and other police. The killing of Americans is a symptom, and the symptom is generally all people are talking about.
1. Cockpit Culture: Policing is an extremely hierarchical job. Where are the good cops? Trying not to railroaded by the same system. As an example; Cariol Horne. Look her up. Stopped a fellow officer from beating a person. Fellow officer turns around and beats her. She is charged with interference, fired, and had her pension taken...
- For a more relevant example: One of the 4 cops in Floyd's murder, Officer Lane, had been on his own for 3 days. He just got out on patrol in a new area of the city with new cops around him. Effectively leaving training and starting his real job. He told a two decade veteran to move his knee. He was told, effectively, to STFU. He didnt shut up. He said he was worried about distress (something he learned in training) and was told that the Sr officer had it under control. Despite having no experience he still spoke up twice to a man who had almost two decades on him, plus Military Policing. That is downright courageous. Not enough (clearly, because a man died), but WAY more forward than most people with 3 days on their own when told everything was fine by a superior (and without legal repercussions). He is a good cop who wasnt given the tools to be effective.
For trying to be a good cop, he is charged with aiding and abetting murder. It is a no win situation. The GOOD cops are criminals if they act. Aiding and Abetting if they dont. The culture needs to change, similar to how airline culture has had to. His ONLY options in that scenario would both lead to criminal charges. THAT is where the good cops are.
Here is an article about how this works in another industry that has been working for decades to fix it: Airlines. In organizations where someone has that structured authority over you (and police add in a legal authority as well), sometimes in the moment its better to die than fight it... and that is exactly what happens.
2. Police militarization is NOT the guns and trucks. Its not the cammo and vests. Back when the Marines created Marine Corps Martial Arts, the motto was "One Mind, Any Weapon." Maybe that predates MCMAP, but thats where I learned it. The goal is to teach a mindset. That the person is lethal, not the weapon. What separates the SEALs from the guy who buys the equipment and pretends is the mindset.
And Police have a similar militarized indoctrination. They START in the academy with decades of hard fought and paid in blood lessons on how to get cops home at night. My buddy, mentioned above, was rewarded for being the ONLY guy in his class to identify an ambush when called out for a Car vs Bicyclist injury. A person injured in the street, and because a cop (who knows when, who knows where) didnt go home, we ingrain into cops, with reward and punishment, to watch for a military style ambush. THAT is the militarization of police. Disassociating risk by shifting the risk to civilians.
There is a lot of nonsense about how policing isnt dangerous that always comes with a list of jobs that have higher mortality rates: THIS is why. If the risk is pushed to civilians, cops die less. But that isnt an acceptable outcome. It isnt why we have cops. We have police to take that risk. We compensate them and have benefits for families with that risk in mind. The military can go obliterate a city block to retrieve a body or end a firefight. That is the military mindset that has invaded our departments in the name of getting home safely.
and finally
3. Ordinance violation enforcement: The problem isnt Black people getting killed. It may be the most acute and permanent problem, but it isnt THE problem. If zero black men were killed over the next 5 years, their relationship with cops wouldn't be significantly improved. The problem is that police use ordinance violations to put pressure on citizens. Its why literally NOBODY feels comfortable with a cop pulling up behind them, and black people are disproportionately at risk of being stopped for some minutia.
The most telling part of this, for me, is when cops say how many traffic stops result in arrests for other crimes. Is it a traffic stop or an excuse to stop and frisk? I have had family in Law Enforcement tell me ordinance violations are their "best tool." What the frisk? Its not a tool. Police work is a tool.
Some police departments have ended minor traffic stops to improve relations. Walnut Creek is one I know of. They will make a traffic stop for more serious infractions, but they decided years ago their focus would be on other things. I dont know the empirical results, but they seem to think it is going ok.
Cops using ordinance violation to round people up just subjects certain groups to founded harassment. We can try to put in safeguards like Oaklands attempt to balance police stops against race, but that is ridiculous. If a race needs more tickets, give them more tickets. But leave it at tickets. The additional "investigation" leads to cops getting shot, cops getting into dangerous chases, civilians distrusting cops, etc. You dont use a minor meter violation to search the car, background check the owner, etc.
Anyway, those are my three steps. Maybe I am over simplifying or missing a bigger or smaller picture. But balancing being law and order focused, growing up with horrible law enforcement in Berkeley and Oakland, having plenty of friends and family in law enforcement, AND being libertarian leaning, those are what I notice the most when I see breakdowns in strategy and trust.
