Black Lives Matter
White Lives Matter
Pink with Purple Polka-dot Lives
Matter
But Black Lives deserve the most attention. Why? Because they are statistically
the most likely victims.
In a stressful, urban environment where there might be
under-trained police, stressed police,
or police with an attitude and those police
are heavily armed, there is the potential for things to go badly wrong.
And when
there is no redress for the victims it becomes institutionalized.
It is on the
news weekly and sometimes nightly.
Most cops are public servants going to a job, doing the best they can as per
their training and conscience.
Like everyone else, they hope to arrive home safely
that night to their home and their families.
They also like to pick up a paycheck
come Friday.
Not markedly different from the rest of us.
However, they have
a special responsibility.
They wield deadly force.
And the "Rambo"
factor is at play. As their environmet gets more dangerous and hiring and payrolls
go down,
the temptation is to "automate" with larger caliber weapons,
larger magazines, new tools, techniques etc.
It is probably interesting from a
hardware point of view, but it is like handling a large rattlesnake. You can't let
go of the head.
Similarly, you can't just unholster that gun.
This author's
game warden was an artillery officer with elite units in Afghanistan.
He could
probably annihilate whole counties if the occasion warranted.
He takes great pride
in defusing every situation and talking everyone down out of their tree.
That
is a buttress for the argument of community policing.
If the local Irish cop O'Malley
knows everyone on the block, he also knows who steals cars and people come to him
willingly with info.
If he shoots their teenage son because his gun was out first,
he's not very welcome and the intelligence network dries up.
If the policeman
knows your name, remembers you played serious baseball in high school and wants to
know who's your pretty girlfriend,
it's a totally different environment than "Up
against the car!".
This approach of human policing is a good start on making
black lives matter.
And a history of this kind of policing creates a culture,
both in the police force and on the street.
It doesn't happen overnight and few
bad eggs will resist retirement to the bitter end.
But the procedure must start
now before another teenage son is killed.
Of course there is more and it gets complex, but all journeys start somewhere.