Regardless of whether you are for or against the demonstrations
happening across our America, it's time to listen to the voices of the
protestors. "People are out here for multiple reasons in addition to
sending a message about Black Lives Matter. It's about making sure that we have
protected our right to protest and engage in free speech... It’s about [many
other things as well]…" Portland demonstrator, via The Guardian. Federal
troops should not be used indiscriminately against our citizens and certainly
not with snatch and grab arrests.
Police brutality and injustice affects every race, creed and
ideology, but there aren’t many good resources available to track this and this
is on purpose because our government does not want us to know. However, one
resource that tracked deaths in police custody from 2003 - 2009 found 4,813
persons had died during or shortly after law enforcement personnel attempted to
arrest or restrain them. With "homicides by state and local law
enforcement officers being the leading cause of such deaths," accounting
for 2,931 (60.9%) of such deaths. Of reported persons who died during the
process of arrest, they represented all people. 95 percent were male; 5 percent
were female. About 42 percent were white; about 32 percent were black; about 20
percent were Latino; about 6 percent were Asian or other.
Ready answers for the change our America needs are already
out there. CAHOOTS is one of them and it provides an excellent model for the
future of policing in America. First implemented in Eugene Oregon, where I
lived years ago, CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets), is a program
that reroutes 911 and non-emergency calls relating to mental health, substance
use or homelessness to a team of medics and crisis-care workers. These special
teams respond to such calls instead of, and not alongside, police. This highly
successful program has been in place for OVER THIRTY YEARS. In Eugene, CAHOOTS
handles approximately 24,000 calls a year, which is about 17% of all police
calls and has proven over and over and over that it is a boon to police, not a
detriment. CAHOOTS does this by allowing police to focus on combatting crime
and allowing community programs to handle mental health, substance use and homelessness
issues.
Programs modeled after CAHOOTS have been successfully
implemented in Olympia, Washington where I've lived for that past 25 years, and
in Oakland California. New York City wants to implement a similar pilot program
for two precincts in which EMTs and crisis counselors would respond to
mental-health calls instead of police. But the time for pilot programs and baby
steps is past. Our America needs action. Our America needs commitment to
change. It’s time to rethink policing. A police response is not the kind of
response needed when people are having a mental health, substance use or
homeless crisis.
The police in our America have tried to do too much, gone far
beyond their area of true expertise, which is fighting crime. Police
departments have grown too big and consume too much public funds. Police try to
be mental health counselors, drug and alcohol counselors, marriage counselors,
victim’s advocates. They try to police schools, enforce traffic laws, ensure
public safety and on and on. With all this is there any wonder why there is
dysfunction? Why police can’t adequately fight crime in big cities? Why police are
failing us?
For those who believe the police are the enemy, I ask you to
consider that the police themselves must be part of any solution developed. We
need our men and women in blue, but we need them focused on fighting crime. A
police force focused on crime might finally be able to succeed. It’s a warzone
in many cities across our America. In 2019, nearly 15,000 people were the victim
of homicide or accidental shooting. There also were 409 mass shootings and 30 mass
murders.
For police who believe we, the people, are the enemy, I ask
you to consider that criminals commit crime, demonstration in itself is not
crime, speaking up is not crime, asking for and expecting sincere change is not
crime. Police should be stepping up and helping us bring about change, not
beating we, the people, down with batons and tear gas. I ask you to consider
how you would act if your mother, father, sister, brother, or children were out
there demonstrating. Would you beat them down? Would you tear gas them? Would
you betray their right to demonstration?
For those destroying our America as part of protest, I see
your pain, I hear your anger, I understand, but I ask you to consider tomorrow.
Your tomorrow, our tomorrow. The tomorrow of your brothers and sisters, mothers
and fathers. The tomorrow of your children and their children. Our words and
our unity through these challenging times can do so much more than our anger,
than our outrage. Develop a message, develop your message. Raise your voice,
not your fists. Win hearts and minds by telling us with your words and your unity
what you think and what you feel. Help us fight for change and justice by
telling us about the change you want to see and representing this change. Help
us define our tomorrow for our America.
For the moms and the veterans out there on the frontlines
helping to defend our right to demonstrate, our right to free speech, I say thank
you. I am with you in spirit, if not in self. We are America, we are democracy.
Totalitarianism has no place in our America.
Thanks for reading, I’m William Robert Stanek, Microsoft’s
#1 author for nearly 20 years, and author of over 250 topselling books.
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