As crime rates have risen over the last couple of years, many cities have begun refunding police. The intention of the Defund the Police Movement was to keep communities safer by removing police officers that committed crimes against the public under the pretense of the law. The time period instead saw an increase in crime with a decrease in responders. The Defund Police Movement created quite a conundrum.

Now because of the Defund movement, there has been a mass exodus in the profession. It is harder to hire good police officers. The career of being a police officer has been shamed. There has also been a reduction in diversity that is so desperately needed in the field.

Communities need more services, especially more services than law enforcement. Covid has such a devastating impact on people’s livelihoods. Poverty increases crimes. When people can’t survive, crime is a natural response. If you can’t feed your family, you would be willing to steal bread. I know I would. Increasing law enforcement is not the answer to society’s ills. But there is legitimate crime that needs to be responded to and there are criminals who have taken advantage of the reduction in police forces.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/democrats-went-defund-refund-police-rcna14796

In this episode, we discuss the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement overall has good goals of eradicating white supremacy and violence the black community from the state. However, there was violence that occured during protests. Time magazine wrote that 93% of protests that occurred were peaceful. LA saw a lot of violence whereas Salt Lake only had two incidents. BLM leadership in Salt Lake did not support the violence by asking protesters to not act violently. Despite that, the leadership of movements cannot control all its supporters unfortunately.

There is a long history of racism that contributes to the Defund Police and Black Lives Matter movements. In the next episodes, we will discuss the impacts of the defund movement.

Finally, we all have bias, whether we are aware of it or not. As a society, we can slow down and learn to question our beliefs.

Sources: 

https://time.com/5886348/report-peaceful-protests/

https://blacklivesmatter.com/

This is a continuation of the conversation about police reform proposed by the IACP, the International Association of Police. The IACP calls for police reform now. The propositions of this episode include utilization of a national use of force database, national standards for discipline and termination, and a mandate decertification database. To fulfill the training requirements needed to ensure each officer is held to the same standard, it would require additional funds. Diversity training is included to challenge bias against communities of color. 

The police need to have officers that are educated and diverse. However, the police force is currently having mass exoduses of officers due to the current coverage in the media. It is hard to retain and hire officers that would fit this description. Defund the police movement has made it harder to keep talented officers. Additionally, defunding the police has led to a cut in preventative services. Everyone agrees that police reform is needed. The IACP pleads with Congress to pass police reform now with these proposed solutions. We can advocate for police reforms by reaching out to our congress people and expressing concerns to pass police reform now. We can all agree that police reform is needed now. We can band together to pressure Congress into passing the much need police reform policies. 

Key takeaways: To have better trained police officers, more training is required. Use of force training is currently only four hours every two years. For police officers to respond and not react, they need more hands on training. Training requires funds. The cuts in funding have also impacted important programs such as homeless outreach and sexual assault investigations.

Overview: This episode is the first of two. We are discussing police reform with our police officer / social worker friend. This police reform framework has been outlined by the IACP, the International Association of Chiefs of Police. They call for Congress to act immediately and create police reform. Police reform will bring safety to the public and a return of legitimacy to the profession. The IACP has over 31,000 members in over 165 countries.

In this episode, we discuss adopting the national consensus policy on the use of force and mandating participating in the national use of force database.  More training is needed for the police, which requires more money and investment.

https://www.theiacp.org/news/blog-post/it-is-beyond-time

Key takeaways: To have better trained police officers, more training is required. Use of force training is only four hours every two years. For police officers to respond and not react, they need hands on training. The cuts in funding have impacted important programs such as homeless outreach and sexual assault investigations. 

Overview: This episode is the first of three. We are discussing police reform with our police officer / social worker friend. This police reform framework has been outlined by the IACP, the International Association of Chiefs of Police. They call for Congress to act immediately and create police reform. Police reform will bring safety to the public and a return of legitimacy to the profession. The IACP has over 31,000 members in over 165 countries. 

In this episode, we discuss adopting the national consensus policy on the use of force and mandating participating in the national use of force database.  More training is needed for the police, which requires more money and investment. 

https://www.theiacp.org/news/blog-post/it-is-beyond-time

In this episode, we continue the introduction of our police officer friend. He asks the country for empathy, just the way anyone else would want empathy. At the end of the day, police officers are people too. Many police officers join the force to be of service to communities. 

We will talk about police reform in the upcoming episodes. It is noted here that police reform is going to need a diverse task force. He mentions that they need educated and diverse police officers to bring back legitimacy to the field. However, so many police officers are leaving the force and making it harder to get the diversity that is needed. 

The world isn't so black and white. There are so many shades of grey. Remember not to place others in boxes, as we don't like to be confined ourselves. If we only give what we get, the world stays the same. 

The world today is a bit depressing. Covid is bringing on an existential dread. Inequities are rampant. And people are angry. 

For the next few episodes, we will be speaking with a police officer who is also a social worker. ACAB is a popular slogan in the media. It means that All Cops Are Bastards. I do believe that the system is unjust AND I believe that there are good cops. The narrative ACAB is a divisive and harmful slogan. Because my friend is a good cop and I want him to be safe on the streets. 

He started as a social worker in juvenile diversion. He moved into policing to make a difference in the system. Now that he is a police officer, he better understands the realities that face police officers that are trying to make a difference. Good cops are facing a harder time policing due to the narrative that all cops are bad. Cops are human and want empathy. Police reform is needed to bring legitimacy back to the profession. 

There are grey areas in the police reform and Black Lives Matter movement. Some of this will be highlighted in these episodes. Please keep an open mind as you listen. 

This next section is split into two parts. We will discuss policing reform with our social worker / police officer friend. We review half of the points that are expressed in the blog. They are steps that can be implemented by congress now for nationwide police reform. Tune in for the second half of the interview - coming soon.

Blog for police reform recommendations found here:

https://www.theiacp.org/news/blog-post/it-is-beyond-time

The purpose of creating this podcast is to help create world peace. Even a more peaceful world would be great. To heal the world, we must heal ourselves. We heal ourselves and the world through mental health, social equity, and connection to something greater than ourselves aka spirituality.