As a writer, I always knew that "dumping the notebook" would create a longer and less focused news story. The time and discipline it takes to match ideas and paraphrase would trade density for brevity, rather than the opposite. This look at how police work is conducted today and the impact that has on local, particularly minority, communities does the opposite. It's more sprawling and anything but brief. On an issue where jumping to quick conclusions is far too common, I felt the need to take more time. The short summary is simple, though: we can do better than we are today.Different Drummer: Amos of Tekoa