VETERAN’S DAY
Special Edition
November 6, 2019
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O PINION
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Don’t Call the Police, Call Your Neighbors
Finding new
ways to handle
crisis situations
g loria o ladipo
Here is a hard truth:
Police do not keep
communities safe.
This year alone
has produced numer-
ous stories of officers
causing distress, dam-
age, or death in com-
munities they’re sworn to protect.
As this epidemic worsens, com-
munities need to find new ways
to handle crisis situations without
police intervention.
Modern U.S. police forces
evolved from watch systems de-
veloped in the early colonies,
which were gradually profession-
alized after the emergence of cities
— and the rise of slavery. In the
South, these forces were used as
“slave patrols,” tasked with catch-
ing runaway slaves and squashing
uprisings.
The role of police has greatly
expanded since then, with officers
intervening in everything from
mental health crises to routine
schoolyard incidents. With po-
lice now receiving military-grade
weapons and often legally insu-
lated from accountability, citizens
by
are at the mercy of choices offi-
cers make — decisions that may
be made under extreme distress or
tainted with bias.
Black Americans are most at
risk. Compared to other demo-
graphics, we face a sig-
nificantly higher risk of
being killed by police.
Just this year black
Americans have been
killed sitting unarmed
in their homes, playing
video games with fami-
ly members, and engag-
ing in other everyday activities.
But we aren’t alone. In rural
communities, fatal encounters with
police officers are also increasing,
yet widely unreported. That’s one
reason Western states like New
Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona, Alas-
ka, and Wyoming, as well as other
largely rural states like West Virgin-
ia, are among the top in the country
for officer-involved shootings.
Jack Yantis, a white, 62-year-
old Idaho rancher, was shot to
death in 2015 after arriving to put
down a wounded bull that had
been struck by a car. It was the
police themselves who’d called
Yantis to the scene, yet they shot
him 12 times after he arrived with
his rifle.
Meanwhile, the opioid crisis is
leading to a greater police pres-
ence in rural communities, which
has had serious consequences. In
many places, police are using mil-
itary-style SWAT teams to inves-
tigate people merely suspected of
drug crimes, resulting in serious
injuries and deaths.
Indigenous and Latinix people
also face higher risks of police
misconduct and abuse. And across
all racial communities, people
with mental illness and low-in-
come people are at risk.
This affects everyone. That’s
why communities — all of us —
need to come together to investi-
gate alternatives to police inter-
vention.
It’s not as strange an idea as it
sounds. Several community or-
ganizations have already created
guides empowering communities
to solve problems without con-
tacting law enforcement.
The May Day Collective,
which describes itself as “a group
of local organizers from different
communities, projects, and polit-
ical tendencies,” has developed a
guide identifying “strong commu-
nities” as a replacement for police
intervention.
Their guidelines encourage
community members, before
contacting law enforcement, to:
1) Analyze the actual threat in
a given situation. If someone is
committing a minor public nui-
sance like urinating, for example,
does that pose a serious physical,
emotional or mental threat to you
or someone else?
2) Recognize and call out bi-
ases. Is your impulse to call the
police based on the situation, or is
it something based on the person’s
identity?
3) Seek out other available re-
sources — like hotlines, commu-
nity centers, etc. — that you can
call instead during emergency sit-
uations.
The guidelines also call on
neighbors to get to know each
other prior to conflicts in an effort
to increase direct communication,
instead of using armed police as
mediators.
Obviously, in some situations,
calling police may still occur. But
by understanding the often dire
consequences of calling them
in, we can be a lot more mindful
about whether circumstances truly
demand it.
Even better, we can develop
the relationships and skills neces-
sary to solve problems with one
another, helping to build safe and
accountable communities for ev-
eryone.
Gloria Oladipo is a student at
Cornell University and a perma-
nent resident of Chicago. She can
be found writing and fighting @
gaoladipo on Twitter. Distributed
by OtherWords.org
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