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Cops should be civilian peace keepers

Cops should be civilian peace keepers
8.juin.2020

To Serena Valentino:

Oh, I'd argue ... except I agree. Beat cops? So 1950 ... like Mayberry. I do believe we need:

1. cops on the beat,
2. cops must live in the city they serve, preferably in the neighborhood they serve; everyone should know their name.
3. peace-keeper cops not Rambos.
4. total disarmament; first step is to take away all the military toys; second is to determine whether they even need a gun.
5. training in disescalating tense situations and knowing how to resolve issues with minimal force.
6. disarming of neighborhood security forces; an opening up of gated communities; barriers create inequities and the false illusion that some folks are better.
7. civilian boards that can oversee oversee situations not just a crisis.
8. I know I'm missing something but my mind hasn't had enough coffee yet.

If police officers think brute force is needed to guard the vicious animals in the zoo ... if they will not live in the Occupied Zone because they are afraid or 'better than that' ... if they wish to bully rather than serve ... then they should be fired. In the inner cities where I lived there were neighborhood 'mamas' and everyone knew who they were and respected them: young/old, tall/short, skinny/fat. NO ONE ever felt that these women needed a gun or badge to do their job.

To Connie Kapoor re 'cops leave you alone if you're not doing anything illegal':

Actually ... no. I've seen the police intimidate and harrass. Good cops will not leave you 'alone' either. They will talk to you and get to know you. This idea that cops are 'good guys', there only to bash the 'bad guys', is so American. I'd laugh but it isn't funny in the least.