A 2021 discussion on reimagining law enforcement explores systemic change in policing, the role of mental health support in police responses, and how officers can function as Good Samaritans. The speakers examine both policy reforms and the personal dispositions needed within police departments.
Bulletproof radio, a state of high performance. We've got to re. Envision reimagine policing. I was in a conference and was talking to folk and they said, well, what's your vision for law enforcement and policing? I said, my vision for law enforcement is we want our police officers and our sheriffs. We want them to be the Good Samaritans of the parable of the Good Samaritan and the new. That's their noble calling. You see what I mean? I mean, that is. And. And many of them are that. You know what I mean? I mean, you know, when you need them, they are that. They are that Good Samaritan who helps somebody. That's what they are. Call them. Help them to be that. And that's what we want. That's what the community wants. It's not. That's reimagining. But that is both a matter of outward changes in policies, procedures, and all that stuff, and inward dispositions. We must pay attention to the spirit of people who deal with crime all the time. Because sometimes when that's what you're constantly dealing with, it gets internalized into you. You see what I mean? We got. And we don't pay attention to their spirits, their souls. I mean, these are people. And so you need both. Anyway, I'm going off on it, but you see what I'm getting at.
It's interesting. It does take both. And the more you deal with people who hate you, the easier it is to hate them back instead of to feel love. And the police officers I've spoken with, just in personal conversations, ones I know.
Well enough, they're feeling beat down, they are feeling beaten. Yeah. They're people.
Yeah.
And that's where our systems fail, because our systems take solely an outward focus and do not pay attention to both the inward focus and outward of the police, of the community. You see what I mean? And everybody gets stuck. It's like we turn into rats on a wheel and we just keep running. We're stuck and we just. We can't get off. And we just keep stuck and we keep. I'm mixing metaphors, but playing old tapes and nothing changes until something has to break through. A new paradigm has to emerge. We have to stop and say, wait a minute. The system is controlling us. Our patterns of behavior are controlling us. We need to go back to first principles. What is law enforcement about at its core? What is it really about? And I really would suggest it is good Samaritans. Yeah, it is. It's a helping profession. How do we help them do that. Maintain law and order, Appropriate law and order. But how do we help them do that? How do we give them the resources for when there's a mental health call that they, that they have the support of mental health professionals so that you don't have just a law enforcement, a mental health situation being dealt with as a law enforcement situation. You see what I'm saying?
Nothing good is going to come of that. I mean, you have to. And there's, there's nothing you can do if you're trained to, you know, stop someone from, from doing something because it, it's not rational by definition. And I always, I always feel bad for both sides when there's, there's a problem like that because you, the crazy person needs help and the law enforcement guys stand there going, you know, what do you do? And of course they're always concerned. Whatever they do, either they're going to get hurt or they're going to get thrown in jail for, for doing stuff. And I don't see a good win the way it's set up.
So the way it's set up, it's not a good win. You're right. And so we can change, we got to change the, it's got to be a holistic approach to changing the whole paradigm so that our law enforcement folk can do what they do so that the community can be in relationship with that. I mean, it. And it can be done.
