Law Enforcement Reform

The news has been full of people and organizations calling for defunding, dismantling, and disbanding the police.  These words are often left to interpretation, so I want to bring a bit of clarity for some. It is not about removing law enforcement, it is about reimagining what public safety really looks like and how the current structures fail to serve all communities.  

We need to get back to community-based public safety that has the services and resources to address issues that cause distress in our neighborhoods.  

Let’s speak plainly and truthfully. I don’t know a single person who believes we could all be content if people don’t feel safe in the communities they live in. And while some people insist that we must maintain the status quo, right now the status quo is part of the problem.

It has become clear that continuing down this current path of slow, incremental change is not working. In the end, these efforts have been little more than a band-aid on a cancer of institutionally-based racism and “violence-first” attitudes and behaviors by some officers.

When I decided to pursue a degree in Law Enforcement, I wanted to change the narrative. I wanted to make a difference — to work side by side with Law Enforcement to challenge age-old systemic racism. 

I have always supported positive reforms to our law enforcement system, such as community-based policing, increased use of body cameras on officers, and better training of officers on de-escalation techniques and alternatives.

It now seems clear that we need to consider a full-scale overhaul of how some of our police departments operate, at the most fundamental levels. 

We need to delve deeper into the root causes of dysfunction in these police departments, and if that involves taking apart large pieces of a dysfunctional system and putting them back together again in a different way, then I am in favor of that approach.