JUNE 12, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A7
POLICE,
continued from Page A1
walking down the sidewalk
and people would get out of
his way,” Teague said. “So he
began whistling some of some
tunes from Vivaldi, which are
typically very upbeat. And he
said, just by doing that, people
would look him in the eye and
they would acknowledge him
and say, “Hi.’ Members of the
minority are carrying a burden
that white folks don’t have, like
it or not.”
Overcoming the unwitting
and overt ways race impacts
our daily interactions requires a
more complete understanding
of
how
any
minority
experience differs from the
white experience of this
country. Black Americans are
regularly told to be skeptical of
police and then a video surfaces
that provides the evidence to
support it. Black parents have
to have conversations with
children about police that do
not resemble the ones white
families have in any way. By
contrast, many white people
are often told that the United
States is nearly infallible and
that any evidence to the
contrary should be met with
similar skepticism.
Teague mentions summons
up a quote he came across
in a book about the black
experience, Stamped from the
Beginning, by Ibram X. Kendi,
“We have no patterns for
relating across our human
differences as equals.”
Audre Lorde, a black, lesbian
poet and author is the source
of that quote. The lead-in to
the portion Teague mentioned
provides context and is just as
enlightening: “Institutionalized
rejection of difference is
an absolute necessity in a
profi t economy which needs
outsiders as surplus people. As
members of such an economy,
we have all been programmed
to respond to the human
difference between us with
fear and loathing and to handle
that difference in one of three
ways: ignore it, and if that is not
possible, copy it if we think it
is dominant, or destroy it if we
think it is subordinate.”
These are the kinds of things
Teague is thinking about as
a leader in the Keizer Police
Department and policing
efforts throughout the state.
Teague described himself as a
“gun-carrying, homeschooling,
conservative Christian” at
an event several years ago
regarding race relations and
Marion County police offi cials,
CHARTER,
continued from Page A1
community will continue to
change and this is a document
that will survive the changes,”
said Councilor Elizabeth
Smith at a city council work
session Monday, June 8. Smith
also chaired the charter review
task force.
Other recommendations
include reordering some
sections of the charter for
clarity and making it easier
to read and understand. While
some larger changes were
discussed, such as switching
to electing city councilors
by district or ranked-choice
voting, not enough members
of the task force voted to
move forward on those
matters. Despite not making
the cut, residents are welcome
to talk with the council about
support or opposition to such
changes during the public
hearings as the council has the
fi nal say.
Upon approval by the city
council, the changes to the
charter will be turned into
a ballot measure and sent to
voters in November. Voters
must approve all changes to
the charter.
Readers can review the
existing language alongside
the proposed changes at
keizertimes.com.
Sharing stories creates connection between strangers. Each of these black
writers shares pieces of their story, thoughts on black history
and insights into what brought us to this point through their books.
All of them are good starting points and invitations to
a broader understanding of American experience.
We Should All be Feminists
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
This Will Be My Undoing
by Morgan Jenkins
Between the World and Me and
We Were Eight Years in Power
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Stamped From the Beginning
and How to be an Anti-Racist
by Ibram X. Kendi
Well-Read Black Girl by Glory Edim
Heavy by Kiese Laymon
Democracy in Black
by Eddie S. Glaude
Citizen: An American Lyric
by Claudia Rankine
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but those labels – and their
opposites – only scratch the
surface of any person.
“They don’t touch who I
am,” Teague said. “That comes
from somewhere else, and I can
appreciate and understand how
Benny Williams [president of
the Marion County NAACP]
or Roland Herrera [a Keizer
city councilor] have to go
through life differently than I
do. It’s a matter of getting to
know people and know their
experiences.”
With that lens, Teague has a
different take on recent police
protests and that actions that
led up to them.
“The acute problem is what
happened to George Floyd, but
the chronic, more pernicious
problem is what happened to
Christian Cooper,” Teague said.
Days before Floyd died
under the knee of Minneapolis
Police Department Offi cer
Derek Chauvin, Cooper was
watching birds in New York
City’s Central Park when a
white woman called police on
him for asking her to leash her
dog.
Teague
said
fi ring
Chauvin in a moment of
passionate uprising turns the
situation political when what
both residents and police
offi cers need is clear lines of
“procedural justice.”
“We have to build cultures
within our agencies that give
people on the street procedural
justice. Where we treat them
with dignity and respect,
where we give them a chance
to be heard, where we convey
trustworthy motives, where
we make reasonable, informed,
transparent decisions,” he said.
“When you look at video
and call a guy guilty and fi re
him, I guarantee you, you're
not giving him the chance
to be heard. You're not
making reasonable, informed
decisions. You're not conveying
trustworthy motives. You're
conveying political motives.”
The type of swift, political
action made when the
offending offi cer was fi red –
before an investigation was
complete – strengthens “the
blue wall” of silence on behalf
of police offi cers, Teague said.
“If you don't build a culture
of procedural justice, a fairness
within your agency, how can
you expect the cops to hold
each other accountable?”
Teague said.
Building strong police
agencies means adhering to
strict codes of procedural
justice from the outset, Teague
said. While many police chiefs
loathe dealing with personnel
problems, Teague believes they
are among the most essential
training tools.
“Those are absolute gold
because you get to build, over
time, the reputation within
your agency of how you're
going to handle things and
how you're going to treat
people with respect,” he said.
One of the issues facing
police more broadly is the
access to research on what
makes for the best practices
and, Teague said, even when
there is ample access, the
resulting
recommendations
and resources to implement
them are aimed at large
agencies, like NYPD or LAPD.
To combat the oversight,
Teague
helped
establish
the Center for Policing
Excellence at the Department
of Public Safety Standards and
Training, home of Oregon’s
police academy among other
programs. The goal of the
project is to connect police
offi cers at all levels with the
best research to inform how
they do the day-to-day work.
Making
sure
racially
charged
incidents
don’t
arise from the Keizer Police
Department comes down to
hiring offi cers that meet a
set of qualifi cations beyond
knowing when to use force
and how to do it when the
situation requires it, Teague
said.
“We don’t test for policing
skills in new recruits, we can
teach those,” he said. “We test
for courage, conscientiousness,
a sense of justice, empathy,
helpfulness and humility.
That's it. That's who we look
for. ”
He pointed to a recent issue
with a regular gathering of
car owners in Keizer Station,
some participants would
attempt burnouts as they left
the event, creating danger for
those at the gathering as well
as those in the shopping center
for other reasons.
“Most agencies would go
up there and start laying tickets
on people. Well, that doesn't
do a darn thing for anybody
except cost those kids money
and time. It does not build
legitimacy at all,” Teague said.
Instead, a Keizer offi cer
tracked down the organizer
and asked if they could speak
about what is happening. It
turned out the man had moved
to Keizer from California
to get away from gangs and
he had been attempting to
discourage the burnouts
already while providing an
outlet for local enthusiasts.
“My guys are awesome.
They totally get this,” Teague
said.
Teague
hopes
that
instituting
forward-facing,
procedural justice in the Keizer
Police Department soon makes
its way to other agencies as
its offi cers make their way to
other communities.
The drawback to Teague’s
approach is it will take time
and, as nationwide protests
have demonstrated, many are
tired of waiting.
Contact the reporter at editor@
keizertimes.com.
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