We clearly have a problem with violence in our society, which we seem to have accepted as a cost of being free; and so because we are human, we need police officers, who also turn out to be human.
Indeed, all lives matter, it is so written in our Constitution. However, we are not unwilling to accept, nor should we have to, unnecessary violence between officers and the populace.
I believe history provides an answer. Education and social engagement can provide a path to a better future for all.
Education must be a never-ending process, and we must help our officers continue to get better at what they do so they can better help us manage being human.
This includes continual training for handling difficult situations, which can be done with simulators, just as is done for airline pilots.
Virtual reality systems could hold the key, and there is a tremendous business potential here for the gaming companies.
And just as with flying a plane with hundreds of people on board, all officers should patrol in pairs with a seasoned police officer and a “co-pilot.”
Furthermore, all officers, just like pilots, have to be periodically certified to carry weapons loaded with deadly rounds. Until then, they carry weapons that are loaded with rubber bullets.
And let’s bring back Tasers of a new kind in the form of ultra-capacitor bullets that send a huge zap into an offender, but the officer cannot keep pressing a button and thus elicit accusations of being a torturer.
As a farmer who has touched an electric fence many times, I can attest to the thought-clearing effect a 20,000 volt zap has!
The key here is that violent criminals do not know which officers have nonlethal bullets, and once an officer inappropriately fires their weapon, at least it should not kill.
Finally, video cameras should not be a static recorder; a live link back to central command can immediately bring on a situation coach when an officer engages a dangerous situation.
There is another even more important and effective aspect to education, and that is people getting to know each other by learning and growing together, and that works both ways.
Imagine if community volunteers rode with officers as a matter of policy all the time. It could entice young people who learn what policing is really about to join the police team (lets call it a team and not a force please).
And remember clubs for young people to hang out at after school that were often run by police? Let’s call them Do It Zones: They would be far cheaper to operate and far more effective than prisons and lawsuits against the police for violence.
When people do stuff together they learn about each other and come to respect each other.
From sports, to learning skills, to inventing new products and starting new businesses to employ people in good paying jobs, this could be the focus.
Cost? A big part of costs could be avoided by using existing public school buildings.
I challenge our leaders to focus on the positives in a way we can all learn, grow and thrive together to achieve the renascence we have all been waiting for.
(Alexander Slocum lives in Bow.)