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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">uǝlƃ ☣ wrote:<br>
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<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:274ae4f9-4974-1c89-5fde-79b7b8849d61@gmail.com">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">I've thought that Portland's "street response team" [†] is a good idea that addresses much of this, at least if the idea is taken seriously and extrapolated. It helps address the militarization of police by allowing the police to be/stay that way, but then NOT sending police out for everything. The composition of the response team can be dynamic, maybe even self-organizing to some extent. And if it were extrapolated to (e.g.) groups like CERT (of which Renee' was a member back in Oregon), neighborhood watch, suburban/corporate security services, etc. it could be a serious approach to "defunding" the police. (Defund in quotes because it's not really defunding them, just changing the way it's all organized.)
[†] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.kgw.com/article/news/amid-spike-in-911-calls-tied-to-homelessness-street-roots-pitches-response-teams/283-cb0ee8bc-f0e1-4c22-984e-f1c0244e9a7a">https://www.kgw.com/article/news/amid-spike-in-911-calls-tied-to-homelessness-street-roots-pitches-response-teams/283-cb0ee8bc-f0e1-4c22-984e-f1c0244e9a7a</a></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Mary did a short stint in Western (semi-rural) Nebraska as a
regional coordinator between Law Enforcement (primarily Sheriff's
dept) and a group of trained therapists who were "on call" to meet
law enforcement on calls and *usually* take point with any call
where there might be a mental-health component. That included
domestic disturbance calls as well as drug/alcohol-involved calls,
youth and elderly, homeless (vagrant?) etc. The Law Enforcement
welcomed them with open arms and the therapists appreciated the
opportunity to be involved early, rather than later at the jail,
the hospital or a bereaved family gathering. That may not
translate into the higher gradients of urban contexts, but it was
a start. <br>
</p>
<p>Now, if their funding had come out of the Sheriff's budget, maybe
not? It sounded like it was about 1 FTE of funding, probably
stacked against a Sheriff's dept and town police forces numbering
less than hundreds over the region... seems like a good
investment... but tell that to the laid off staff when funding
shifts?</p>
<p>I do think that EMT-trained non-enforcement can pick up a *LOT*
of what we consider Law Enforcement response needs, and a LOT of
what we think requires LEO's help doesn't: <br>
</p>
<p>When I found that Ed (who had been living with me for nearly 2
years) had taken his life (3 years ago) on my property, I chose
NOT to call 911 but instead to drive 8 miles to the fire-station
who had responded just a few months before when Ed had blacked out
at a Casino. The firemen/EMTs had (against some rules I think)
taken Ed's car-keys (at Ed's request while being loaded into an
Ambulance) and drove his vehicle to their fire-station a mile away
and took his dog (100lb Akita) inside to care for overnight. Ed
and I picked "Brando" up the next day after he was released from
the Hospital. The "rules" probably called for towing his vehicle
to an impound and "towing" the dog by animal control. Instead
they did the common sense, humane thing. We brought them Jerky
and Breakfast Burritos. They thanked us and patted Brando on the
head and gave him a bite of their jerky.<br>
</p>
<p>I knew I was risking something by NOT calling 911 (though I had
the technicality that I have no landline, no cell service at my
house, and the Google Fi service I have states: "NOT FOR
EMERGENCY/911 calls!" (though I know that is their liability, not
an proscription from calling 911 on their service). I was in no
mood to have Ed's death treated as an emergency (it was a shock
but not a surprise to those who knew him well), much less a
"crime". I hoped that the EMT-Firefighters could respond more
humanely. Unfortunately, they did not answer their door, and
when I called the number on their locked door I got
central-dispatch (not 911, but nearly so) who in fact dispatched
the same team as well as 5 Sheriff's deputies to my house. I
rolled in just after the first Deputy arrived at high-speed,
lights/sirens-on, etc. So much for my good intentions. The
EMTs did arrive soon after, recognized Ed's vehicle and dog and
were very gracious, but entirely displaced by LEO. <br>
</p>
<p>The Uniformed Sheriff's officers were very professional but were
required (I suppose) to treat my home as a (possible?) crime-scene
and even after the first couple of hours seemed to be treating it
as a crime scene and me? as a suspect? in a crime?. There was a
(running the whole time) patrol car parked blocking my driveway
right up until the coroner's vehicle arrived for Ed. I spent a
couple of hours (total) with a Sheriff's Detective (2 actually)
and again they were very professional but I did feel "grilled"
most of the time. If I had been more "paranoid" about
law-enforcement, I could imagine having become adversarial with
them. It helped that the main questioner was very junior (and
clumsy in his affect/questions), it might even have been his first
case, and I recognized that this was probably being used as an OJT
opportunity for him... which made me believe that they weren't
*really* treating it as a possible homicide. There came an
unspoken moment in the "interrogation" when the tone changed
radically and it was evident to me that the two detectives had
given one another some kind of sign and they shifted to a more
conciliatory tone. </p>
<p>It was a good 6 hours after I made the drive/call that the last
deputy left my property (I'm surprised his gas tank wasn't empty
from idling all that time, radios blaring and AC running and
alternators kicking in to feed the power draw for all of that).
I couldn't (and don't) hold anything against the actions or even
affect of any of the individuals in this situation, BUT, it still
felt incredibly invasive and wasteful and disrespectful (to Ed, to
my neighbors, and to a lesser extent to me) and a recipe for bad
feelings and misunderstandings. I sent a note of
thanks/commendation to the EMT/Fire guys supervisor but couldn't
quite do the Sheriff's, even though I knew they were "doing their
job professionally"<br>
</p>
<p>Ed's son, sister and grandson came down the next weekend to
collect his possessions and decompress with me (I had met the
son/grandson) once. It was a good visit, but it became evident
that the cost of Ed's cremation was to exceed his assets (he was
living on disability and his only significant asset as a shaky
vehicle and a small bank account holding the security deposit I'd
"loaned" him so he could find a place to park the RV I'd "loaned"
him). This was going to have to come out of his son's hide which
was not impossible but not trivial for a struggling young
family. The amount spent on rushing 2 fire-trucks, an
ambulance, and 6 marked cars and two detective's cars 10-20 miles
from home-base and holding the related staff on-site variously for
30 minutes to 6 hours could have covered that expense 10 times
over. I think one EMT vehicle, one coroner, one Sheriff's
detective and a couple of hours and no lights or sirens or blocked
driveways would have been ample? Ed *did* get as much
preventative care as he would allow from mental/social services,
but a more robust mental/social health system might have reduced
the stigma's that prevented him from asking/allowing for more.
I'm not arguing that this would have kept him alive, but it might
have been more humane and less wasteful.<br>
</p>
<p>Meanwhile, just over the county line in Espanola (closer to my
home than Santa Fe), The city police have arrested the county
Sheriff either for very good, or totally frivolous reasons... In
the midst of a the Coronavirus lockdown and on the cusp of the
Police Misconduct/Abuse worldwide protests, we have that kind of
mickey-mouse stuff burning tax dollars and public trust?</p>
<p><a
href="http://www.riograndesun.com/news/rio-arriba-sheriff-arrested/article_6455c066-9bbf-11ea-9ec4-93b4a8ae54cf.html">http://www.riograndesun.com/news/rio-arriba-sheriff-arrested/article_6455c066-9bbf-11ea-9ec4-93b4a8ae54cf.html</a></p>
<p>And in my backyard (or more to the point, the back-yard I am
living in of someone else?) the Tewa Pueblo of San Ildefonso is
locked down hard against COVID19, possibly channeling "racial"
memories of the Orbis Spike/Columbian Exchange that may well have
taken over 90% of the lives of Indigenous Americans in the first
100 years after Columbus. And I can see from where I sit, "Black
Mesa" where their warriors held out for months against de Vargas'
"reconquest" of the area 300+ years ago. The first conquistador
(Onate) took the foot of every able-bodied male in the area
(rendering them not-so) to "prevent future uprisings". It didn't
work.</p>
<p><a
href="https://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/a-refuge-from-the-reconquista-joseph-aguilar-on-mesatop-archaeology/article_5c7bb04c-c31f-59fa-b8ec-c252a0bd0ce5.html">https://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/a-refuge-from-the-reconquista-joseph-aguilar-on-mesatop-archaeology/article_5c7bb04c-c31f-59fa-b8ec-c252a0bd0ce5.html</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/630.html">https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/630.html</a></p>
<p> It wouldn't surprise me if my neighbors watching the military
riot-police on TV don't have visions of conquistadores in steel
armor on horseback wielding swords instead of batons and
riot-shotguns 400 years later. Onate and de Vargas still ride at
the lead of the Fiesta de Santa Fe parade every year (as far as I
know... I only had to see that once).<br>
</p>
<p>... and here I sit, mostly safe and comfortable, half-smug,
helpless to do much more than shake my tiny fist and yell "black
(red?) lives matter!" or "I can't breathe (walk?) !" and look for
ways to take Tolstoy's admonition more personally/seriously.<br>
</p>
<p><a
href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4491-i-sit-on-a-man-s-back-choking-him-and-making">https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4491-i-sit-on-a-man-s-back-choking-him-and-making</a></p>
<p>Maybe send a check somewhere? Yell at a cop? Light up a
dumpster? Wish I could vote *twice*? Hamstring any of my
friends/neighbors who might vote for Trump before election day?
Make up a tone-deaf joke to post to FriAM? Make fun of
"snowflakes" or "deplorables"? Whine about my own 'got it bad'
situation? promote Anarchy?, demand Law&Ordure?, conflate
ends/means?, riff on hoity-toity free-associations?, contract
coronavirus and make room for a new child on this planet (or not)?<br>
</p>
<p>I'm on my 9th year of growing out the 3 corn seeds Robert Mirabal
(Channeling 'Po'Pay) handed me after <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.taosnews.com/stories/robert-mirabal-to-perform-popay-speaks-at-taos-community-auditorium,8423">his
re-animation of 'Po'Pay</a> in 2011. They might even be
knee-high by the 4th of July to celebrate the founding of "this
Great Nation" while the fireworks sold *only* on native lands
start fires in the bosque. It is a small tribute. <br>
</p>
<p>grumble,</p>
<p> - Steve</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:274ae4f9-4974-1c89-5fde-79b7b8849d61@gmail.com">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">
On 6/10/20 2:58 PM, Steve Smith wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">My "intellectual" interest is in how self-organizing principles and emergence operate in social contexts... on both sides of the debate here, as is being alluded to here already. When Law Enforcement gets significantly defunded, what fills the vacuum left by that?
</pre>
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