Editor’s note: This commentary is by Pätrick Kiernan, of Harmonyville, who blogs about the intersections of mental health and the self, marriage, and health care systems at www.patrickundcalebk.com.
Stop calling the police and start having conversations around why you were taught to do that.
I’d imagine that a lot of us were taught this go-to response by a privileged generation before us, who may have been embedded with the same teaching from the generation before them. While the institution of policing may be highly respected, actual police response has proven to rip a division in our minority and micro communities — superfluously to our black and brown sisters and brothers.
We have seen in recent years that officers here in Vermont are not exempt from the behaviors we have seen in other corners of our country. Members within our law enforcement structure have shown to add complications in surrounding community trust by being agitators, instigators … and predators.
Unless you are calling from a place of true fear of imminent harm, police presence can escalate a situation to do more harm than good to the involved parties. Disruptions by the police don’t prevent some communities’ crimes, they aid in causing them. Crime is less random in nature than the skew towards actions people take around not getting their basic needs met. Largely, our law enforcement structures are grossly underskilled in resource supports and therapeutic response needed when responding to a growing percentage of their calls.
So how would we address the shortfalls of what we have been trained to call the police for versus what they can actually do now?
I would encourage a bold and modern restructuring of the police institution to blend the respect of what they are supposed to be with what they actually can do to help the communities they serve. Restructuring the police departments here (and elsewhere) — could look like a lot of different things. We need to start asking the questions, listening to the answers, and acting on a consensus’ will for change.
Questions we should be asking our immediate family and community members about how they would address restructuring could include:
— Should the restructuring of the police force include fewer officers and more stationed drug and alcohol counselors, community resource managers, mental health liaisons, domestic violence counselors, youth service advocates, religious leaders, or surrogates from our neighborhoods?
— How might community member-led responses aid in more successful de-escalation results when compared to a stranger with a lethal weapon strapped to their side showing up?
— Could community civilian oversight boards help to maintain immediate accountability to police misconduct?
— Might qualified immunity not being offered until extended supervision hours and proven continued education is established … or ended all together?
— Might the qualified immunity be reserved for seasoned higher-ranking officers … or ended all together?
— What types of regular continual education is required to maintain an officer’s police license?
— How should officers be licensed to police the communities they serve?
— Should qualified immunity be ended?
Questions to ask community leaders vying for election positions:
-Could your municipality/town handle a concurrent 311 and 911 system?
— What are the obstacles currently in the way to achieve this idea?
— What does the phased timeline look like for the police to be demilitarized at the local station before the end of the fiscal year?
— What information remains permanent on a personnel file and what can be purged after what amount of time?
— Are impartial investigations into police misconduct initially done by an external oversight body?
— How would you implement a conflict-free civilian oversight board of the police?
— Where can budgets be reallocated to address more community resources from the law enforcement entities that do not involve hiring more officers?
— Should qualified immunity be ended!
Do you want change? A lot of people say, “effect the change from the ballot box.” But this has been slow to proof the results we needed generations ago. We are further from the goal post. What is proving veracious is the average citizen with a camera and social media account are becoming the recordkeepers of the truth some officers have a history of evading. We need to have uncomfortable conversations now; right now.
We need to listen. We then need to take these consensus-based conversations to elected leaders before, during, and after elections. Justice, equity, equality and public safety should not be productive only based around an election cycle. We should be engaged in year-round ever-ongoing conversations to protect our community members as we participate inside organizations that represent already established consensus for implementing change, like Black Lives Matter, SNaPCo, TransJustice Funding Project, and more. Because right now, advancing the immediate concerns of these organizations is a movement towards restructuring how our police are expected to act while on the job serving the community.
Challenge the status quo by grassroots the consensus. E Pluribus Unum!
