Monday, August 24, 2020

Kenosha Police Shoot-Leaders Should Act To Solve the "Crisis of Trust" in Justice

We are in a time of transition and its time to start thinking about things in new ways. Its been that way a long time and yet we haven't fully grasped the concept that our society continues to move toward the free. While we will always need police, and should respect those good officers that help people, sometimes there are events that sting our moral sense and fathom the mind on how long will it take to create a proper review process so as to avoid future incidents such as this. 

HR practices follow standard protocol. If an employee receives one complaint "ok" if it is not serious...its a reason to engage in more training. If an employee receives multiple serious allegations of misconduct and we take no action we consider the term negligent if a situation such as the Kenosha Police Shooting occurs down the road. Leadership has responsibility to ensure they understand their crew and are willing to remove "bad apples" when necessary.

I must say that I know a lot of great officers and they are doing the right thing. We will need some type of policing no matter what happens going forward as there are destructive people in the world who don't follow standard value systems. However, we also need policing to be transparent and have moral values around truth that deeply respect human life. 

Weeding out bad apples raises the prestige of the department and the profession so that honorable law enforcement officers can shine through and help their communities. Without a review process we will continue to experience "snaps" like this that leads to death of a person, the arrest of an officer, tarnishing the badge, and a community (and society) already in flames!

We have some knowledgeable reforms that could help....

1. Recruit officers for personality and performance.

2. Review credible and/or repeat complaints.

3. Ensuring accountability throughout the system. 

The very start of reform begins in who we recruit (personality) from what sources (diversity) and indoctrinating them into a culture of inclusion (universal human suffrage). These aren't ideals of a philosophy book but are necessities if we want to keep the fabrics of society from unraveling. Our republic rests on certain fundamental principles that should apply to all citizens.

I have seen police corruption and coordinated racial/religious bullying and haven't seen an account made of the behavior. Highly manipulative misinformation seeking to use connections in law enforcement for their own personal agenda. Yet...without a review process, turning the "blind eye" and following up on the community's complaints we are unlikely to see changes that will have a positive impact on departmental performance outcomes.

When you read the article...... 

Civil Tights Leaders Demand Accountability in Kenosha Police Shooting you will get the sense that people don't trust leadership (Mandani, 2020). There must be an investigation and going outside the area to do that might be the best bet if local officials are unable to take care of the problem themselves. Assuming that the Justice Department is also seen as objective then it has an opportunity to come to a transparent outcome with the public. 

So we should start thinking about internal review processes that lessen risk and encourages higher performance in a way that leads to a stronger department and a stronger connection to the community. 

 People in influential positions should positively and politely change perspectives through persistent discussion that raises awareness until we are better able to understand and deal with our current problems.  Reviews and investigations are not about coming out to a specific answer as that would create additional bias to assess predetermined findings. Instead it is more about understanding the nature of what happened to ensure that it doesn't happen again. The community and law enforcement can work together to create trust if both sides come to understand the needs of the other. 



Mandani, (August 24, 2020). Civil Tights Leaders Demand Accountability in Kenosha Police Shooting. Retrieved NBC News, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/civil-rights-leaders-demand-accountability-kenosha-police-shooting-n1237916

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