Bold Initiative to Change the Police Culture in the State of Minnesota

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