Minneapolis is on fire! Barely awake and rubbing the sleep from my eyes when I read the message from my friend back in Minnesota. Just days after the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, Minneapolis became ground zero for protests and riots – setting off a domino effect all over the world of supporters.
The last few weeks – really the last few years – has been a difficult time. I don’t know if it is because I am now a full grown adult who pays more attention to the world around her or if things have just gotten more polarized over the years. One of the biggest debates happening now is the recent calls to “defund the police” by activists and advocates alike to deal with racial tensions between the police force and black and indigenous people of color (BIPOC). Is this a good idea though? Wouldn’t this further hurt victims of sexual and domestic violence?
Admittedly, when I first started hearing calls for defunding the police my mind immediately shut down the idea. That’s silly. It will only make things worse for victims of violence if we have no police. I thought to myself. I decided to engage with fellow advocates, victim/survivors of violence and hate crimes over several months to try to understand this call better. Here is where I landed.
Most of my work has been with detectives and investigators when it comes to handling sexual assault and domestic violence cases. My experiences with those who’ve been working in that particular field for a long time have been, for the most part, great. I’ve met kind, compassionate, and caring people on the force who are passionate about finding and holding violent offenders accountable.
The number one complaint that I hear from them? There isn’t enough of them. There isn’t enough money being funnelled into their department for trainings like “trauma informed interviewing,” which has a positive correlation to successful investigations and convictions. Without this training, investigators are struggling to build rapport with victims/survivors.
Actually, some of the most challenging times I’ve experienced with law enforcement, has been with patrol officers. I had to ask myself why though? All detectives start out as patrol officers.
When I think about the work load expected of police officers, I need a nap. Most police officers are doing more than sitting in their car waiting for people to speed. They are responding to a variety of calls back-to-back. Some of the most dangerous calls for these patrol officers are actually domestic violence issues.
Officers go from helping someone find their way, to caring for a child whose mother or father was just murdered by their other parent, to ticketing someone for speeding, to helping assist in a car crash. They wake up, and do it all over again.
Often, police officers are expected to be able to handle incidents with mental health and homelessness with no resources and very little training. Adults with autism, those with hearing or sensory difficulties are all at extreme risk of being viewed as “uncooperative.”
As an advocate, I’ve dealt with undertrained and overworked police officers a lot. I’ve seen first-hand the struggles victim/survivors have had with patrol officers taking their statements. I’ve met officers who do not believe victim/survivors, whether because their story came in pieces (common in victims of trauma, proven by science), or because they hold beliefs that women lie, or the accused is a buddy of theirs (this happens more often than I’d like to admit).
I want to make it clear that I don’t dislike police officers. I still believe there is a place for peace keepers in our society, but I do agree we need some changes.
First – We must recognize the broken relationship between law enforcement and BIPOC. I don’t mean that police officers are inherently racist, but I can’t say everyone in uniform doesn’t hold onto racist beliefs, or has certain biases based on their experiences with certain people. We all hold biases, and it is our responsibility to name those biases. Sometimes, it is racism or misogyny.
Think of it this way. If the only time you interact with a person of a different race than you is when you suspect they’ve committed a crime… how does that impact how you think about the race as a whole? In talking with others who’ve had to deal with their own racism, they’ve talked about how they were traumatized as a kid by certain groups of people and how that made them feel towards the group as a whole.
We aren’t perfect. None of us are. We all need to grow and change and accept new information. We shouldn’t be afraid of that. I’m not afraid of racist ideas I partner with. I’m afraid of the ones I refuse to admit are racist. Because that grants me the right to turn a blind eye to the pain of another. That is outside of my character.
Second – There has been over $4 billion put into policing since 2016, and yet I’m not seeing any increase in trainings that help to build bridges and partnerships between communities and police officers. Nor have I seen an increase in the presence of investigators or detectives – the ones who actually solve crimes like sexual and domestic violence. What I have seen is an increase in military-like weaponry, and more fear from communities of color and victims/survivors of violence.
Third – I believe that “defunding” the police has been co-opted to mean something that the majority of people are not in support of. Yes, there are absolutely people, including people in the government, that support removing policing all together. But, there are also people who still believe people of color should be slaves – shall I assume all people feel that way since a minority group does?
The majority of the people who support defunding the police are aware of how overworked and undertrained many police officers are when responding to calls. They believe that we can make policing better and safer for the community by investing some of the money into programs that are actually better suited to handle the calls police often go on. Here are just a few.
1. Suicide Calls – Many states and cities have their own laws and regulations on what a police officer can actually do in these situations. Kevin Hines, who survived a suicide attempt off the Golden Gate Bridge, talks about how police walked by him while he was weeping just moments before he jumped. The police were there looking for people considering suicide... How did they miss him if that was their one job?
Wouldn’t it be amazing to see trained suicide crisis counselors responding to possible suicide calls? I get that this can’t always happen, since police patrolling places spot these instances on the fly occasionally. But perhaps, if protocol was to send out suicide counselors, we wouldn’t have seen the case of Charles Kinsey, an unarmed black caretaker of a client with autism, who was shot by an officer responding to a possible suicide attempt. Despite this officer hearing there were no guns present, and Charles having his hands up and telling the officer his client had autism, he was still shot. That officer was found guilty of culpable negligence, but this is a rare incident of officers being held accountable when they fire their weapon.
2. Homelessness & Mental Illness – I combined these because it is known that many folks experiencing homelessness are also battling some form of mental illness. This isn’t always the case, and I want to make sure that we still recognize that some folks are down on their luck or can’t afford housing or have been kicked out of their homes due to LGBTQ status.
Police officers are ill-equipped to handle these calls because they don’t specialize in homelessness or mental illness. The most officers can do is give them a card for a homeless shelter, or perhaps they can/would transport to a shelter or hospital for help, but most often they end up in jail, or being told to “move along.” Meanwhile, violent offenders are off committing their crimes and cops are busy doing the work of a social worker. Homelessness and mental illness are issues cities and states should be addressing in a much more holistic way than many are.
3. Training to become a police officer — other countries require 4 years or more for someone to become a police officer, while in the United States you can become a police officer with just a year or two of training. Why would we be against this when most jobs that work with vulnerable populations require a 4 year degree? Of course I recognize some go through a 4 year criminal justice program, however this is not required.
The truth is… something has to change or we will continue to see our cities burn, BIPOC lives continued to be taken far too soon, and a continued military-like police force on our streets. This is America. Land of the Free. Let’s make it that way for all of us.
What do you think? Does any of this sound like a good idea? What would you want to see change?
In truth,
Jess
