Bill Walczak reminds us:

[T]he ability of police officers to be successful in ensuring peace and safety depends on characteristics like judgment, empathy, being unbiased, and able to handle people in crisis.

…

If our goal for policing is peace and safety, why do we recruit people trained as warriors rather than as social workers?

Why indeed?

Well, I’m sure you can come up with many answers, no matter which side of the debate you’re on.

For today, just read the first half of Walczak’s post—up through the paragraph that begins “Reimagining policing includes…” (The graphic and text below it will be discussed in tomorrow’s post in this blog.) Note that Walczak talks about “reimagining policing” instead of “defunding the police.” I like his phrase a lot better than that usual one. For one thing, it avoids the issue I wrote about back in June: does “defund” mean “reduce funding” or “eliminate funding”? Furthermore, it explicitly calls upon our imaginations and it refers to the process of policing rather than the ad hominem attack on “the police.” Much better!

If you don’t live in the City of Boston, you might not know who Bill Walczak is. (Even if you do, I suppose you might not know him, though you should.) For a quick summary, check out the Wikipedia entry about him. And be sure to read the post I’m writing that will appear tomorrow in this blog.

Categories: Dorchester/Boston