In this post I’ll carry on my analysis of the Interim Report released by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (a). To refresh your memory, or if this is the first you’re reading about it, Obama created a Task Force – by executive order – in December of 2014 to “identify best practices and make recommendations to the President on how policing practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust and examine, among other issues, how to foster strong, collaborative relationships between local law enforcement and the communities they protect” (b). So far, based on everything that I’ve read in the report and about the people putting the report together, the whole purpose of this is to ferret out racism and remove it while increasing “diversity” among police.
In this post we’re going to move on to “Pillar” Four of the report, Community Policing & Crime Reduction. If this is the first time you’re reading about this I urge you to start at the beginning – ObamaLaw – Coming to a police department near you! – Part One. You may also find it very enlightening to read about the individuals on this Task Force. A couple of them are decent individuals but some of them are downright scary. You can read about them here.
I was hoping that this “pillar” would be quick and simple like the last couple were, but I didn’t make it past the second paragraph before something was bugging me. Check out this paragraph and then see if you reach the same logical conclusion I did:
Over the past few decades, rates of both violent and property crime have dropped dramatically across the United States.However, some communities and segments of the population have not benefited from the decrease as much as others, and some not at all. Though law enforcement must concentrate their efforts in these neighborhoods to maintain public safety, sometimes those specific efforts arouse resentment in the neighborhoods the police are striving to protect.
Translation: Crime has come down in white communities but not black communities, therefore we’re having to put more cops in those black communities. Most of the cops are white and the black community doesn’t trust them so anytime somebody gets shot by the police the community riots – even if the person shot was guilty of the crime for which he or she was shot. Sound about right? If not, you may want to go back and re-read it. If so, I want you to follow me to the logical conclusion that made me stop here.
The writers of this report are saying that crime is not coming down in certain communities. As a result, cops are having to focus their efforts there and this is causing resentment. Okay, where did we have issues that led to the need for this Task Force? Ferguson. What is Ferguson? A town with a large black community. So we can deduce then that the resentment is coming from black communities. Why is there resentment? Because more cops are focusing their attention there. Why are more cops focusing their attention there? Because statistics indicate the crime rates are not dropping in these neighborhoods. Wait. Do you mean that police are focusing their attention on blacks because crime rates aren’t dropping there?! So….isn’t that racial profiling? No, wait, it’s not profiling because statistics show that crime rates are higher there. Well, statistics also show that blacks are arrested for committing crimes more than whites and they call that racial profiling. Hell, that’s the whole reason this Task Force was formed. So….what you’re really saying is that black communities have higher crime rates because blacks are committing more crimes? The very agency who is crying foul over “racial profiling” has just stated – in their own words and with studies cited to back them up – that racial profiling is NOT the reason there are more blacks than whites in jail and that whole argument can be put to bed. More than that, if and where racial profiling exists it is not keeping up with the crime rate. Wow, what a sobering thought. Keep this one in mind the next time you get into an argument with someone who claims you’re racist.
Moving on….
4.1 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should develop and adopt policies and strategies that reinforce the importance of community engagement in managing public safety. Community policing is not just about the relationship between individual officers and individual neighborhood residents. It is also about the relationship between law enforcement leaders and leaders of key institutions in a community, such as churches, businesses, and schools, supporting the community’s own process to define prevention and reach goals.
I don’t have a problem with this and think it’s a good idea, but I think it needs to be expanded on a bit. I think that one of the biggest obstacles to police officers engaging in the community is the fact that they never get out of their damn squad cars. How in the hell are we supposed to form a connection with somebody who is practically hooked up to the computer consoles in the cars? If police departments really want to engage the community they’ll reintroduce “beat cops” on foot. Yes, you read that correctly – cops who patrol on foot instead of in their squad cars – in addition to the cops who are patrolling in their squad cars so that there’s backup that can get to them quickly should they need it. I also think that initially these cops should be “shown the ropes” by a neighborhood ‘ambassador’, someone who is respected in the community and knows a lot of the people (like a pastor or respected elder). This way the community will be more accepting of the cops who are now on foot (viewed as less of a threat) and being introduced by someone the community trusts. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you engage a community – you meet them where they are, on their level, on their turf.
There are other action items and recommendations listed for “pillar” four. For the most part, they’re actually good ideas that could benefit all communities. However, I still think the bigger picture is being glossed over – you can engage the community all you want, the community can trust the cops as much as they want, but there will always be Trayvon Martins and Michael Browns until the youth of today are taught discipline, respect, and how to value life and property. Until these things are done, everything we do is just a band-aid.
(a) – http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/Interim_TF_Report.pdf
Realizations, Ruminations, and Life 