I am writing this the day after the verdict in the case of Derek Chauvin was delivered. It was the right verdict, and the celebration was justified.
It may have been a Pyrrhic victory.
In the period during the trial, from March 29 when opening statements were delivered through April 20 when the verdict was read, a total of 52 Americans--more than two per day--died at the hands of police in 24 states. That number includes at least 21 Blacks and Hispanics and four teens (race and age were unreported in some cases).¹
More civilians are killed annually by police in the United States than in any other country on Earth.²
How might we deal with that appalling statistic? Defunding was the knee-jerk response several months ago, but that's hardly a solution. An unfortunate fact of human society is its need for policing. Take away that guard against lawlessness and chaos would reign. No, defunding would not be the answer.
I propose superfunding American police agencies. Why do I think I'm qualified to make such a suggestion? Because I am an American civilian who has been on the wrong side of police on occasion and have been roughed up more than once. Because I'm not afraid to speak against bullies, power, and arrogance. Because I know bullshit when I hear it. And because I'm not a politician.
Policing is a state responsibility, and a federal police force would be unconstitutional. Therefore this program would be offered on an opt-in basis to the states. Enrollment would be open, with no penalty for not joining at the outset.
Step One: Scale back or repeal the federal programs through which military equipment has been acquired and require the Department of Defense to buy back all the already-deployed matériel at cost; purely defensive gear, e.g. shields and body armor may be retained. Funds from the buyback should go to a special municipal fund for police strategic support.
Step Two: Through the Department of Justice develop a grant-in-aid program that would provide funding for police recruitment and training up to 250% of the state's current budget for its academy. States and municipalities with their own academies would be invited to apply via a nationally published RFP.
In order to qualify for an award all applicants must:
- Demonstrate that the academy utilizes or will utilize best practices in all phases of training.
- Require all cadets and returning officers to receive intensive training in sensitivity to matters of race, gender, religion, and domestic violence triggers.
- Demonstrate that all recruits are thoroughly screened for tendencies toward militarism, racism, homophobia, or any other antisocial behavior. Potential candidates from minority communities should be strongly encouraged to apply. It is especially important to have native language speakers policing ethnic communities where a language other than English is spoken.
- Provide a plan whereby all police officers in the jurisdiction, regardless of any previous education or training, retake full academy training including the sensitivity training noted above. Any who refuse may be given the choice of moving to administrative duty or of taking retirement at the officer's current rank.
- It is understood that the above requirement could be difficult for large jurisdictions. Accordingly, the DOJ will be flexible in accepting any reasonable plan whereby current officers may be rotated through the training throughout and up to five years after the grant-in-aid expires.
Step Three:
Prior to issuing the RFP, select up to five police departments in jurisdictions that have had recent civil unrest to serve as test beds for specific aspects of the program outlined above.
I understand that some of that proposed program may sound impracticable, but I'm not joking. I genuinely believe much of America's police violence problem could be remediated, if not solved, through training and retraining, careful vetting of recruits, and sensitivity to ethnic concerns.
I also understand that this would be a fantastically expensive program. But ask yourself what price we might put on the lives of the 1,021 Americans who were killed by police in 2020.
So if any police professional or politician might be reading this, just ask yourself "What if?"
And think about the value of those 1,021 lives.
--- Diogenes, 21 April 2021
¹ Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States, Retrieved 21 April 2021. This link leads to monthly lists of police-involved deaths from 2009 to the present. It contains links to news reports about most of the cases.
² Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1124039/police-killings-rate-selected-countries/, Retrieved 21 April 2021.