Petty Policing Many Communities Want And Another Tragedy

 The recent death at the hands of police in California of a man that appears to pose no threat to the police or public, raises the question of what exactly are too many police trying to enforce? Like it or not, there are millions of people in the United States that are homeless, mentally ill, or that do not fit the norm of what far too many people in far too many communities deem acceptable. Stand out a little in far too many communities, and someone will call 911, even though there is no basis for the 911 call. Police will run like sheep to go after the person that was falsely called upon, after dispatchers, without doing any screening, take the call. 

Or police will see someone that does not fit the norm, and for some petty reason, or on some pretense,  harass someone that should be left alone. People that never should be harassed or arrested get harassed and/or arrested. Usually no one dies, but sometimes someone does, or gets hurt, for arrests that never should have taken place.

It is not enough to blame the police. Communities and their public and police officials set the norm for what they want police to do, and for who should be harassed.

Cops, which includes deputies, must stop being the petty enforcers of pettiness. 

Cops, especially in urban areas, especially in high crime urban areas, need to be assigned beats that they walk. In this way, their interactions with the public will be far different than that of cops driving around in vehicles. Cops assigned walking beats will know the people on their beat. They will serve as role models to children and youth. They cannot afford to be petty, thin skinned or vindictive and expect to be effective as walking beat cops. This is the only real, true community policing that exists, and yet no one fights for it.

Technology does not make for better policing. Technology is only an aid. Cops need to be on the ground. They need to be visible and present. Neighborhood, walking cops are needed. Get rid of the layers of fat, the many unnecessary positions, the unnecessary brass, the paper pushers, the bureaucrats, the clout, political favoritism and cronyism, the legions of people hiding in buildings, and return to the basic mission. Serve and protect through patrol, and make sure the patrol includes officers on foot assigned to neighborhood beats.

No matter the place, no matter the area, communities need to take responsibility for what their police and politicians are doing. If nonconformity deserves police responses, then expect more completely avoidable tragedies. 

True community policing is needed. Not number games policing, not petty policing. There was no excuse for the man in California to have been harassed and then arrested in the beginning. Unfortunately, this happens all the time. Petty policing, number games policing must end. Communities must learn to be more tolerant and stop unleashing police on those considered out of the norm.

If ever there will be true community policing - cops walking beats where they are fully engaged in the neighborhoods they patrol - there will be less disengaged cops that are clueless about the people they encounter.

If ever communities prioritize real community community, and stop using law enforcement to be the petty enforcers of nonconformity, everyone will be better off.