As a country, we have tackled and solved far greater problems than this current crisis. Nearly a half-century ago, we celebrated a decade-long space race, pushed hard by both our elected representatives and publicly funded scientists, by achieving the extraordinary goal of landing a man on the moon. If we could land on the moon decades ago, why, in the 21st century, can we not devote more public funding and more research to combating this growing wave of unintended deaths during policing?
First, we must start by recognizing that both the epidemic of police violence, as well as the counter violence that results in the form of ungovernable protests and terror attacks, are, at their core, a public-health problem in need of public dollars to fund both behavioral research, as well as defensive technologies to protect officers, and new technologies to subdue violent suspects through effective, non-lethal means. Our growing fixation with obsolete, ineffectual, and deadly firearm and taser technology, in combination with increased video exposure to the barbarities committed by both law enforcement and misguided social justice warriors alike, only reinforces the need for better tools.
Second, we must act to reform the attitudes within the law enforcement apparatus, in an historic effort to regain the trust of a public that has a growing number of legitimate reasons to distrust police. At the heart of this, is the simple idea that police officers should look like and live in the communities they serve. This also means we should eliminate the military surplus-style equipment that departments across the country have been stockpiling for the past decade that makes our police look more like invading armies than public servants.
Third, we can not expect a nation to heal, when a disparate number of mostly black men remain in prison for nonviolent offenses like marijuana possession. Both law enforcement, and the public alike, must advocate relentlessly for an absolute and nonnegotiable end to a failed "war on drugs." Those non-violent offenders convicted of simple drug possession should be pardoned, with reasonable reparations given, and full voting and other legal rights restored.
How will law enforcement react to this atrocity? If the cycle of violence continues, with no reforms or changes made to protect the lives of the public, for whom law enforcement officers are sworn to serve, then I predict there will be a growing number of needless deaths on all sides. However, if this attack—as awful and completely unjustified as it was—serves as a wake-up call to all of us—a tipping point—then maybe we can act together to stop this reckless loss of life.
Edited by drtrmiller, July 9 2016 - 6:49 PM.
