One of the Black Lives Matter leaders commented that to solve this problem of racism and racial discrimination that leads to unfair treatment of Black people by police officers, we need more community policing. Sure, that makes sense, but could that really solve the problem? In the past, it has cleaned up crime, but it has also led to the capture of more criminals and therefore a larger jail and prison population. Still, there has been quite a bit of research on this topic and I would like to point out a very smart book to read on this topic, the book is:
“From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime” by Elizabeth Hinton, Harvard University Press, Boston MA, 464 pages, May 2016, 978-0674737235. By the way, there is a great YouTube video with the author done by CSPAN TV’s Book Review Program, I definitely recommend it and then read the book after watching it.
In the book, Elizabeth Hinton reminds us of the romanticized notion of the police living in the district, the community they police. We all think this is a smart policy, but one that is rarely used in our modern American society. Why? If it works, why aren’t we doing this? The truth is; in many cities in the United States we already are. In fact, the city of Baltimore does, and yet they still had a big problem there with the shooting of a black man, while he was running from the police. This book and the recommended philosophy of community policing also ties directly to the Dallas shootings and the boiling pot on race relations, police robotics, gun control, Black Lives Matter protests.
The question remains; If community policing is the key, then why have a top-down set of federal government guidelines and federal government intervention every time someone claims a shooting was based on race and without motive? If we have community policing, shouldn’t it be the community that decides, not the media or the federal government?
Yes, it’s true, I offer more questions than answers, but these are the hard questions we need to ask ourselves before we allow the Administration or the media to blow up the events by provoking more protests, leading to more riots, more vandalism, more shootings and more racial tensions in this great nation. I ask you to please consider all of this and think about it.