We know there is a problem, but what are the solutions.
First lets deal with something I rarely hear about and am wondering if we need to change the approach.
Everyday you hear the Mayors and the Police Chiefs get up in front of crowds and say we are working to solve the problem of black people being shot disproportionately to everyone else. That is all well and good, but behind these people are the police officers. These are the people on the front line of our problem right now. And what has caught my attention is of how some police unions do not seem to be as in step as city leaders. Or the rank in file in general or certain aspects of the rank and file.
I think sooner or later the police, meaning the actual people who make up the police force and black community leaders need to have the sit down of all sit downs. I understand there is a fraternity to being a police officer and most officers serve with good intentions. The problem is not addressing the officers who are not addressing the problem of bad cops and the actual bad cops. And the best way to confront this is to bring it into the light. Have both groups sit in the same room (maybe post Covid19) and look each other in the eye and say what needs to be said. I do not want to put words in either side’s mouth, but I am sure there will be talk that may need mediators around and some controlled circumstances because we cannot have any sugar coating of the depth of the problem. And everyone needs to realize there are two sides to every sit down. It may be a hornet’s nest at first, yet sooner or later the nest needs to be removed.
This is a small step, yet until we all realize this is life and death we cannot overcome the obstacles to solving the problem.
And on a note to help the above idea going forward I have to do some more research, but the little I did made me think about some more ideas. I reviewed the minimum qualifications to becoming a police office. I researched five states and only one required a full college degree. Two required at least 60 hours of post high school education and two required High School diploma or GED.
Now, education isn’t the only requirement. All states had significant other steps to complete, such as exams, physicals, background checks, psychological screenings and more. And I do not think requiring much more education upfront is an immediate answer. What I am curious about is how much more is required of officers as they advance in their tenure. I know they have certain requirements and have to requalify in certain areas, but what civic training beyond a couple of classes in Community College do police officers go through. I know if you want promotions you have go back to school for certain jobs, yet what about the rank and file?
How much does law enforcement study more than their job? I do not know. Are they regularly attending classes on social studies, civics, maybe first year psychology, social services etc? Or about requiring some social services work as part of ongoing training? The point is police officers are human beings and we, as human beings, tend to want to be accepted in our crowd. So what kind of crowd is developing or letting to be developed. If we changed the mindset of the majority to include much more empathetic responses, will that create a better culture for police officers?
And I know there are some programs in cities that do the above, I just do not know how strong they are or how much is followed up. Nothing is perfect so we need to fight the urge to ignore doing more just because we do not like it. Any programs you develop constantly need re-evaluation and improvement. And if it doesn’t work, you need to know why because we cannot sit idly by and watch people get shot, officers in trouble, cities burning and say we are a law and order country. Right now, we are not and our government leaders are doing exactly the opposite of what is needed. The hate and the negativity have got to go.
Secondarily there are some programs throughout the land that touch on bringing different groups together to work into the neighborhoods including combining police with social workers. These are the ideas that should move forward combining a higher level of ongoing education and interaction with the community. The goal is to change the mindset of the rank and file to a more proactive mode of protecting and serving, not reacting because the more serving we do the less protecting we need.
We need our police officers for so many reasons so we need to find a way to make the police and the community allies for the safety of us all.
Cheers
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