The culture of police must be dismantled – including their basic mission: Opinion
Money will not solve the problem and will surely not stop racism from running rampantly within the Louisville Metro Police Department. The methods and actions portrayed by the LMPD and outlined by the Department of Justice in their investigative report show how a system designed to manage oppression continues to implement these practices today.
Through byproduct of criminalizing legislation or through blatant action and civil rights violations, marginalized communities in Louisville continue to be victimized by the police. Recommendations for reformation include allocating funds to increase police training and supervision, as stated by Mayor Craig Greenberg. However, with a long and concrete history of institutional racism, civil rights violations against disabled community members and conducting unlawful practices, it is clear that prior diversification methods and trainings (including de-escalation techniques for PMI’s) have proved useless.
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Louisville needs alternatives to policing
Continuation of current methods and practices by the LMPD will only further create a divide between the police and the people and will also continue to target marginalized communities within our city, specifically Black communities. What is needed is change and alternatives to policing in various facets of our society. Equipped with the lack of accountability, use of warrior mindsets and militarized tactics, the culture of police must be dismantled – including their basic mission. Through increased funding and implementation of inadequate and harmful training, harm will continue to be brought to the most vulnerable in our society. As long as these practices are continued and the mission of police remain the same, transformation cannot occur.
Policing mental illness and adding police into schools are mere examples of how police presence creates problems which can be avoided through various alternatives. For example, mobile crisis teams are available every day, all the time in Kentucky. These crisis teams are made of individuals that are equipped with the knowledge, tools, and training to de-escalate situations involving persons with mental illnesses suffering a crisis. This method avoids the police, where potential hazard may arise.
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Policing schools strengthens the school-to-prison pipeline, where youth are subject to violence and trauma. An alternative to this is focusing on families and children through counseling, tutoring, mental health services, and social justice programs. Through these alternatives and enforcement of social/emotional learning and behavioral monitoring, police can be removed from educational institutions, thus reducing the exposure of violence to children as well as forms of punitive punishment and criminalization.
A system built to manage oppression must be deconstructed. The practices portrayed by the LMPD blatantly cause harm and disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society. Change is needed, and it must happen now. Money cannot stop racism - the problem is policing.
Dylan Hunter is a Student of Criminal Justice and Sociology at Bellarmine University and Intern at Louisville Community Bail Fund.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Police reform: The culture of police must be dismantled
