Police shouldn’t obscure or bury the history of systemic racismDate: 6/14/2021 It’s becoming more and more clear to me there are two tracks to police reform. One track is to address how we can make police officers more effective, while the other is to stop the racist actions some officers have displayed.
There are daily examples of police officers who go out of their way to serve and protect. There are also too many instances in which racism plays a role in how they conduct themselves.
I have a nephew who is a police officer. He does good work – he was just recognized by his department – and I know he cares about doing his job well. I’m proud of him.
I have brother-in-law who was a longtime police officer. I know he took great pride in his job performance.
I’ve had positive interactions with the Springfield Police over the years I’ve lived here.
Being an officer is a difficult job to say the very least and I’m thankful for their professional efforts on our behalf and their willingness to put their lives on the line, as we recently saw in the tragedy in Worcester.
That being said, there can be no question that both nationally and locally there are officers who have exhibited terrible judgement, racial and political prejudice and a disregard for human life.
And in the 21st Century there is no excuse, no reason for these actions – none. It is frustratingly ridiculous – after the events of 2020 alone – there should be any further resistance to either part of police reform.
We can see across the Pioneer Valley residents calling for a range of actions. Frankly I believe the phrase “defund the police” is grossly inaccurate to the real goals. How police are trained, supervised and what kind of tasks they must do should all be questioned.
That’s the first challenge – how to we best use the skills police officers have?
In a recent interview of CBS’ “Sunday Morning,” one officer explained how the police are the first call for a wide variety of problems, many of which have little to do with law enforcement. For many people calling the cops is the first call you make for lost pets, uncollected garbage and other municipal issues.
Instead of calling for abolishing policing – a ridiculous concept if there ever was one – we should be looking at what officers should do and what tasks could be assigned to others.
Recently a group in Springfield called for the creation of a program that would dispatch a health care professional and a social worker to calls such as a threat of suicide or an overdose or other health or behavioral issues.
The Sarno Administration responded with a letter from a police officer who explained that Springfield has a similar program. The department also has a training program for officers but that over a number of years only 25 percent of the officers have received the training they need because, to paraphrase the letter, they are just too busy for 40 hours of classes.
That’s totally unacceptable. Why aren’t all officers trained?
It’s very clear to me that sending a trained police officer to something that should involve a health professional is only common sense and has been done in other parts of the country with considerable success.
As a 67-year-old white man I can intellectually understand what people of color must face daily in this country, but there is no way I can say I know what it feels like. I will never know the emotional toll of systemic racism.
I can say that every police chief in the nation should acknowledge the history of the relationship between communities of color and members of police departments. Don’t try to obscure or bury that history. Learn from it and take immediate action to avoid repeating it ever again.
There can no longer be any tolerance for this kind of behavior, whether it’s an individual officer or an institutional bias.
Contrary to many people, I do believe in much more civilian oversight of police departments. I do believe in having police departments that “look” like the municipalities they serve.
I would hope that police departments in our region and across the country would see the advantages of looking at what they do and how they do it as a real opportunity for change that would not only help them, but help their communities.
My fear is that too many involved in law enforcement and government will resist this change, which is essential to the future of our society.
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