How to Make Our Communities Safer by Reducing Our Reliance on Policing
by kottke.org
kottke.org— From Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing, a list of 10 Ways To Reduce Our Reliance On Policing And Make Our Communities Safer For Everyone, which includes proposals like having mental health and social workers to respond to crises, have crime labs operate independently of law enforcement, and replacing cops in schools with counselors & safety coaches. For children growing up during the era of mass incarceration, seeing armed officers in their schools is commonplace. Federal grants...
kottke.org—Defund the Police? We’ve Already Done It Successfully in America.. The American system of law enforcement is so deeply embedded into our national psyche that if you find the idea of defunding or abolishing the police challenging, I don’t blame you. But imagine calling an ambulance because a loved one was having trouble breathing or was suffering a stroke and, instead of the expected trained paramedics, a man with a gun showed up. Not great, right? As Jamie Ford explains in this thread, that was not unusual in America until recently. Until the 70s, ambulance...
www.vice.com—Police Arrested 120 Anti-Racism Protesters in Omaha, and Barely Anyone’s Talking About It. While in jail, protesters told VICE News they were routinely denied water, bathroom access, and an adequate explanation for why they were being held even after they'd made their bail payments.