I attended the Cincinnati Citizens Police Academy and volunteered with Citizens on Patrol for several years, walking and driving my neighborhood. I know a number of police officers and understand the range of social, medical, family and mental health issues they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. This is something you learn when you begin to see inside the issue of policing.
I have no tolerance for the egregious and horrific examples of policing that lead to the bullying and death of any citizen. It’s past time to develop the right policies and procedures for professional 21st century law enforcement.
We have to realize though that we live in a violent society that we ourselves have built. We tolerate violence in our homes and streets. We have a great appetite for violence in entertainment. We tolerate courts and legislatures that believe it’s OK for citizens to carry assault weapons in the streets and guns in bars and churches.
Congressmen listen more to the NRA than to their own constituents. So police must be as least as well armed as the criminals in the streets. The mental health worker is vulnerable against the abuser with a gun. The social worker is not prepared for dealing with guns in schools.
These are big problems, and attacking one them in part will not be effective in the long term. We hope for solutions, but we don’t vote or volunteer. We don’t want to pay taxes because we believe the money is wasted; yet we want that perfect green lawn, 2 or 3 cars and the latest of everything.
Reality is a bitch, but we have to face it and face our part in the violent society we tolerate. There’s no other choice. Violence, poverty and racism make for a toxic soup.
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