Enough is enough. For over thirty years I have been a
criminal defense attorney in the State of Minnesota. During that
time I have watched politicians at every level of government side with law
enforcement against the citizens of the Great State of Minnesota buying into the
notion that the citizens are somehow the enemy and what is needed is to give
law enforcement the same tools as the military coupled with sweeping
legislation granting unprecedented powers to law enforcement agents that
require legal gymnastics and the suspension of disbelief to uphold their
constitutionality.
What have we gained as a society for this blind faith surrender of
our civil liberties and constitutional rights and billions of dollars spent
militarizing law enforcement agencies across this state and the nation? A self-fulfilling
prophecy. A police culture that views themselves as an occupying
army, a thin blue line, that is the only defense against an enemy that
outnumbers them at an approximate ratio of between 2 and 3 officers per 1,000
citizens. The conventional wisdom has been for too long that to
even the odds and protect the lives of the men and women in law enforcement,
what was needed was an ever-increasing arsenal of weapons, gear and tactics
that only belong on a battlefield during wartime. Not only did we give
law enforcement the weapons and tactics of war to use against us, the American
public, we did so with minimal oversight and even less
accountability. Are we then supposed to be shocked and outraged by the
result? I contend it was highly predictable.
When this culture is combined with the failed “War on Drugs” which
we now know had its origins in the most evil and cynical political and policy
motives (targeting racial minorities and suppressing lawful civil dissent) it
is no wonder that communities across this country have lost faith in law
enforcement. The civil forfeiture laws have been turned into a
revenue stream for cash strapped agencies that have become a means to an end in
itself and one of the chief corrupting influences on law enforcement
personnel and along with excessive force, the prime causes of citizen
alienation.
This model of law enforcement that has been going on since at
least the early 1970s is broken and no amount of money, no level of military
force is going to improve it and as a matter of fact have made things
worse. We keep telling ourselves it is just a few bad cops and if we
just do a better job of weeding the bad ones out, the system can be
saved. Pardon my language, but BULLSHIT!!!
Open your eyes and open your minds to the bloody
obvious: the system is broken, the system is corrupt and the system
produces rank and file officers who are taught that we the citizens are the
enemy, we are targets to make money off of and feed a prison industrial complex
through mass incarceration. As someone with over thirty years of first-hand
experience fighting to protect the constitutional rights of our citizens in a
system where every benefit and advantage goes to the state in order to
perpetuate income streams for mean spirited and entitled local governments to
run local government and services off the backs of the working poor through
traffic and nonviolent criminal enforcement. Remember Ferguson,
Missouri? Well the same thing goes on in places like Anoka County
and in judicial districts across the State of Minnesota not only through fines
but through user fees and insidious, non-transparent “assessments” sometimes
double and triple the amount of the fine.
We can do better. Minnesotans used to lead the way on
difficult policy issues with innovative, creative and courageous
solutions. But lately our state has been infected with a resistance
and fear of change in favor of a complacency and don’t rock the boat stagnation
that has not and will not serve us well. Minnesota has yet to pass
legislation or promulgate regulations that protect citizens and their privacy
in the digital age. Most states have laws and regulations that
address law enforcement use of drones, stingrays, electronic plate readers and
the data generated by such methods. Not
Minnesota. Governor Dayton, whose administration did so many great
things over two terms will always have a diminished legacy in my
mind for capitulating and siding with law enforcement over the citizens on
issues like medical marijuana and his executive order depriving the courts of
the ability to oversee law enforcement spying on citizens with technology like
plate readers and stingrays.
So, I have pointed out many problems with law enforcement and our
current system. Anyone can do that. The last thing we
need is another committee or investigatory commission to study the issue and
waste time and delay with hopes of passing the buck to future administrations
and generations. We don’t lack in studies, we lack in resolve and
courage to take bold initiatives and quit being held hostage by entrenched
power bases like police unions. Here are my suggestions for changing
the culture of law enforcement in Minnesota from that of a militarized, warrior
culture fighting an unwinnable “drug war” where citizens are viewed as the
enemy and revenue streams to that of community service officers.
1. Demilitarize the police and change their culture to that of
community service officers whose job is to assist citizens not make money off
of them. While enforcement of the law is necessary it should be
reserved for serious violations including property offenses and crimes of
violence. Do not prioritize victimless crimes or use law enforcement
to impose morality. Emphasize treating citizens with respect and
de-escalation training.
If current officers resist
on the grounds they won’t be safe accept their resignations in
mass. The days of employing police force whose number one priority
is going home safely each night to their families are
over.
Much like the war in Iraq
when American troops and contractors prioritized American and Western lives
above the native population which became so cowardly that convoys would run
over Iraqi women and children pedestrians rather than slowing down or yielding
to them out of fear of ambush, a community service force of citizen officers
would place an equal value on the lives of all citizens. We should
remember General Petraeus’ strategy in the Arab Awakening which emphasized
getting out among the citizenry and working to improve their quality of life
like restoring utilities and sewer systems in addition to providing for their
physical security.
The first thing a citizen
should think of when they see an officer is a fellow citizen who is there to
help them. Their primary function is to assist and educate reserving
issuing tickets for those who persistently ignore warning and reserve arrest
and incarceration for offenders who threaten public safety. We need
to raise the pay to attract better educated officers who are good at soft
skills and problem solving. Stop hiring 22-year olds whose only life
experience is the military and consider older candidates with some prior life
experience.
Of the hundreds of officers,
I have encountered or had on the witness stand over the years, there is one
that stands out. He was Savage police officer who joined the force
in his thirties and eventually retired in his late forties. He told
me “I was very fortunate in that I never had to draw my gun in the line of duty
in my 13-year career. Part of it was by virtue of working in a
relatively safe suburban community with not a lot of violent crime, but part of
it was because it isn’t necessary. If you treat people with dignity
and respect and take the time to listen to people and reason with them, there
should be no need to have to draw your weapon." He added,
"...there are obviously situations that require an armed response and
luckily I was never in one of those situations, but I truly believe my younger
colleagues are too quick to resort to force instead of listening to and
reasoning with people".
2. Legalize Marijuana and end the drug war including abolishing civil
forfeiture laws except in very rare cases like in prosecution of major
organized crime organizations. The latter was actually one of the
recommendations of the review panel of the Metro Gang Strike Force debacle who
had concluded that the unit was not searching for drug dealers to seize their
assets but rather looking for citizens with nice belongings who they believed
did not deserve them so that they could seek forfeiture of.
3. Limit the number and use of Emergency Response Units (i.e. SWAT)
to hostage and terrorist situations as their mission was originally envisioned by
the experts who helped set them up. Through mission creep and bad
incentives like programs providing civilian police departments with surplus
armored personnel carriers and tanks no longer used by our military, we were
sending precisely the wrong message to our citizens and the
officers. The experts believe we can reduce the use of ERU and SWAT
units by 90% by stop deploying them for routine search warrant executions which
executions will drop dramatically once we legalize marijuana and end the war on
drugs and replace it with a medical treatment and education model.
Making these changes won't be easy. They
will take courage and keeping an open mind so that we do not keep making
the same, safe but failed decisions of the past
