Police

Police “protect and serve” the communities that give them authority. But policing is responsive to the kind of community its government and citizens build. Policing in too many American communities must confront violence, racism, guns, drugs, mental illness and family dysfunction, among other issues, all reflective of the community itself and its values.

Certainly, policing must reform and improve, and this will surely help. But it ‘s not the primary means to making the necessary changes in community values. Policing must be a consequence of communities and governments enacting thoughtful and effective legislation, actions aimed at turning their cities and towns into ones that live the values they espouse.

After all, the community is the reason the police exist “to protect and to serve.”