Tony StarkJan 29, 2023

Everyone wants public safety. What we have isn’t it. Setting up armed groups to roam the streets in search of traffic violations in order to find some imaginary worse crime leads to this.

Police forces across this country are rooted in white supremacy and are also overly militarized and train and exist in an institution that primes them to see Black people as a threat to be eliminated.

No one can argue a traffic violation should carry a death sentence. If and until there is true police reform, meaning use of force is the last recourse, not the first, then unnecessary killings will keep happening.

And what some want to pass off as political discourse makes it worse. Rather than treat others with a certain degree of respect, their norm is attempts at erasure and threats. Who passes legislation called "stand your ground" and “anti-woke?” We should be teaching acceptance and deescalation of conflict.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23574206/tyre-nichols-death-memphis-police

Tyre Nichols: Memphis releases video of his brutal beating after a traffic stop

Memphis police beat Nichols brutally; a video of the incident was released Friday.

Vox
Show threadSteve Rogers

@TonyStark

The heady culture of power and indifference that pervades law enforcement has to be acknowledged and dealt with systemically.

We must absolutely shut down the violent and too often deadly responses of officers to regular citizens.

Jan 29, 2023 at 3:23pmWeb
Show threadJohnWJan 29, 2023
@SteveRogers @TonyStark I think so too. I formerly supported the reform/retraining idea, but this problem is so embedded and systemic that we need a replacement.
Show threadSteve RogersJan 29, 2023
@the_Effekt @TonyStark I want to be very clear that I don't think there are simple solutions here that can be easily distilled down. Not that you are saying that, either. Forming something new or alongside would also have to be done very carefully.
Show threadJohnWJan 29, 2023

@SteveRogers @TonyStark I understand. Talking about it is easy, forming an alternative would take a lot of work, especially nationally.

But I am less inclined to desire a smooth transition at this point. People are dying.

I would like to see the force dismantled and replaced by a multi-tiered system that would include negotiators, mental health experts and counselors.

For enforcement of law itself, it may be possible to replace the police with a national guard like agency. Require Martial Arts training where both mind and body is trained, and the entire school is based upon honor and respect rather than just violence.

Show threadSteve RogersJan 29, 2023

@the_Effekt @TonyStark A woman I used to work with was killed in a wrong-way crash about a decade ago. Now, I know one case isn't the point of anything at all but we cannot ignore the need for things like traffic safety. But, whatever this force was set up for, as Tony pointed out, is perversely wrong headed as far as anything like that goes and that's a pretty typical thing.

Whatever we come up with needs accountability and a true public servant's mentality and a strong foundation of anti-racism.