National Night Out, and a Community Police Review Board
I’ll try to keep this brief on the National Night Out part. It’s insane to me that the day where the police are supposed to reach out to the community, we are instead being asked to join them at the police station. It’s a terrible precedent to set in public outreach for the largest potion of the City’s budget, and the part with the least public trust in our marginalized communities, if not the public as a whole.
We hear from the Police Chief that trust has to be a two-way street. That’s not unreasonable to say, but what does that actually mean? I’m not asking to be facetious, I mean it seriously. We’re not talking about a relationship where two people are equals. There’s a dynamic of power to this equation that makes it hard for me to see the two-way street here. A person might have trust in an individual officer, but that doesn’t communicate to a whole department, or vice versa, trust in an officer doesn’t go through the whole community. Not without significant work.
If the police want a two-way street, the best chance we have is a Community Police Review Board. Janet Diaz is putting forward legislation I drafted that will do this. It brings the public and the police to the table, with the main control being in the hands of the public, not the police bureau, but includes the police meaningfully. It not only addresses and advises on issues or concerns with use of force, but also community outreach, and the budget. This is all critical input and understanding we need to progress policing as, say it with me now, a community.
It’s easy for people to say, “more budget equals more police, which equals quicker and better responses” or “less budget equals less police which equals less excessive use of force.” But, we need to get real here, folks. We’re going to have a local police force, otherwise we get the State Police. I don’t know about you, but especially right now, I’d rather have local police. Police that I have a better chance of communicating my local needs and concerns to. Policing in America is one of the most divisive topics we have, but this gridlock preventing progress needs to stop. We need to start working towards something better for all of us.
I refuse to let the police department decay away into a defensive body trying to keep things the way they are. I refuse to allow the police to continue operating within the status quo, when we can set a new bar, and be an example for other communities. I’ve seen some of our police do great work, literally being impressed in the moment, and I’ve also seen some of our police do poor work, literally being left in tears. We don’t need to jump down every officer’s throat, but we definitely should challenge the department as a whole when it comes to our interests as a community. Ultimately, however, the right place that pressure is on elected officials who direct and make the ordinances that officers follow.
For me, trust is not this blind thing. You don’t trust that a snake won’t bite you. We have to place our trust in the context of what needs trusted. Like, I trust that when the heavy rains fall, the ground becomes wet. Trust is a word, and possession, we could all do better with from time to time. Trust is not this blind thing we can rely on.
So, I hope you’ll trust me when I say the legislation I’ve drafted and Janet Diaz is willing to put on the floor is what I think many intersections of our community need to move forward on this issue, and make real progress, build real community trust between the public and police. We can’t just smack this ball around and wait for the next incident, for more intense feeling that divides us further when our government won’t act and plays helpless. The next time it hits the fan, AND IT WILL… we need to have more confidence in the process. We need to be able to trust again, and trust is not meant to be blind. Trust is built.
So…
Please email councilors on the Public Safety Subcommittee, Ahmed and Hursh, and tell them to put this forward to full council. Here are their emails: aahmed@cityoflancasterpa.gov and jhursh@cityoflancasterpa.gov.
Here is a link to the ordinance text, https://ecode360.com/LA1674/document/753171490.pdf, and if you have any questions, reach out to me. I wrote this thing after all, and my inbox is open: TonyDastra.PASun@gmail.com.
Thanks for reading and thanks for caring,
Tony Dastra
