There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -Elie Wiesel
You have probably heard about the controversy surrounding the proposed “Cop City” in Atlanta. Residents have been vigorously opposing this facility for a variety of reasons, including the location – in a beloved urban forest – and the training that will take place there is more in line with urban warfare than with protecting and serving.
Numerous protesters have been arrested. That is understandable, in a way. However, recently three people were arrested for collecting funds to bail out the demonstrators. What the Hades? Arresting people for civil disobedience is one thing, but going after those who got them out of the clink is definitely another.
On January 18, Atlanta police shot dead Manuel Paez Terán, aka “Tortuguita.” Police claim he fired on them first, but evidence for this is sketchy. In the autopsy report the chief medical officer wrote that there was no gunpowder residue on his hands. Terán had been shot 57 times, apparently while in a seated position. On top of all that, none of the officers had a body cam on. Apparently this had all been carefully planned. Instead of removing Terán nonviolently, which they could have done, they brutally gunned him down.
What is wrong with police in the US anyway? I could write a very long essay about the racist roots of policing in this country. Over the past decade or so, police departments have become increasingly militarized. Your “friendly neighborhood” officer is less and less Andy Taylor, and more and more Judge Dredd.
The knee-jerk reply to this is “But criminals are better armed than the cops!” OK, granted, some lawbreakers are heavily armed. However, 1) only a few actually are, and 2) we have this country’s lax gun laws and cowardly politicians to thank for that. For dealing with dangerous hoodlums we have SWAT and special-response teams. But we don’t need all cops to be like that. When your neighbor is running down the street drunk and naked, you don’t need an officer who’s armed like Rambo – you need someone who can de-escalate the situation.
Yes, police officers need training – and they need the proper facilities for that training. However, US cops need more training in nonviolent ways to handle situations. Currently it takes more hours of training to become a barber than to become a cop in the US. Police need to regard their guns as a last resort, not the first. We could learn a lot from other countries where officers seldom use their guns, and where police-involved deaths are rare.
“Defund the Police” was and is not about getting rid of police, but in spending less on militarizing them and more on programs that will ease the burden on their shoulders. What we need is a profound rethinking and reformation of law enforcement in this country.
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