Don't Call Police. Ever.

in #anarchy7 years ago


Community Based Alternative Solutions To Involving Government and Police
By Danny Panzella

Every day all across the United States police kill civilians. Some of these civilians are completely innocent and unarmed, some of them are engaged in petty crimes and some are mentally ill. A small minority of those killed by police are engaged in violent crimes where lethal force can be considered justified.

People of color are especially susceptible to police violence. The LGBTQI community is another highly vulnerable population, along with Muslims, undocumented immigrants, sex workers and any other minority. Many victims of police violence fit into several of those subsets simultaneously, we refer to this as intersectionality.

Understand what government is.

The U.S. Government and by extension state governments are institutional violence. A group of people, elected (allegedly) by 51% make laws which are enforced by coercive force (threat of violence) or physical violence. Our government and indeed our society loves to extoll the virtues of democracy, but the truth is that democracy is what has allowed the oppression of minorities. People with guns will steal your property, put you in a cage or take your life if you disobey the 51%.

There is a conflation that arises out of this system that when the government commits acts of violence they are not only legal but morally justified. Many philosophers over the millennia have debunked this notion. Frederic Bastiat did so very succinctly in “The Law.”

Another modern philosopher Larken Rose exposes the religiosity of government in his book “The Most Dangerous Superstition.” It is an important discussion of the illegitimacy of government authority.

If we are all free and equal by nature of our humanity and natural rights; If I as an individual do not have to right to control you, then how do I have to right to empower an “elected representative” to control you? This is probably the most important question one can consider in any discussion of government.
When you call the police you are summoning the force of government. Government agents are going to show up and use the one tool they have to resolve conflict, coercive force. Without fail, no matter how much “de-escalation training” police receive; the use of coercive force ALWAYS escalates conflict. It is illogical and impossible to use violence to achieve peace. History has proven this empirically.
So how can we keep our communities safe without relying on systems of institutional violence?
The answer is both simple in theory and complex in application. I will offer some practical ways to avoid calling police, but it will require a paradigm shift in the way we think about how society should be organized. It will require us as individuals to become pro-active in how we interact with our communities. It is very easy to dial 911 and make an issue someone else's problem, it requires a lot more effort to be part of the solution to the many conflicts that will arise in any community.

Build your community

It is very easy to remain anonymous in a large city. It's almost as if we have been socially engineered to wall ourselves off from each other even as we live so close together. Most situations can be resolved without much effort or the use of police.


Studies have shown that stronger, more intimate communities are not only safer when conflict arises, but the accountability that comes with relationships helps prevents some violence from ever occurring. Closer community bonds lead to greater trust, more mutual aid and support systems for those in need which necessarily reduces violence and crime.

Get to know your neighbors. Talk to them, build rapport with them. The more people you connect with the safer you will all be. This is especially important if you have recently moved to a new area. You may not be aware of all of the good, bad or neutral actors in the community. The most responsible thing is to ask the community how they would prefer to deal with these issues. This is crucially important if you are white moving into a mixed or minority area.

In the digital age it is very easy to use social media tools like Facebook (or more privacy centric platforms) MEWE or the NextDoor app to form Neighborhood groups to quickly disseminate information and stay in contact. Don’t forget to engage with your neighbors IRL (In Real Life) on a personal level as well. There is no substitute for looking someone in the eye and having a conversation when it comes to building rapport and trust.

Don’t let all of your interactions with neighbors occur when there is a conflict. Plan fun community events as well. Meet & Greets, BBQ’s, neighborhood clean up parties and other events can go a long way to build community in a very organic way.

Conflict resolution

It’s 2 am and your upstairs neighbor is having a party with loud music. Before calling police, put on some clothes, knock on their door and politely ask them to lower the music, most times neighbors will be respectful enough to compromise. If they aren’t willing to compromise then consider the fact that its ok for them to have a party and sometimes we make compromises out of respect for those who wont respect our wishes or demands. You don’t have the right to complete silence when you live in a building or even if sound travels from one house to the next. I don't think I need to go into detail about how a person (of color) might be harmed if you call police so you can have a good night sleep.

What about for issues where safety is more of a concern? Recently the NYPD shot a mentally ill man in Brooklyn who was waving a pipe around seemingly like it was a gun. The discussion here is not whether the police were justified in shooting him, the more important question is: what could people that were frightened have done instead of calling police?

Sometimes being a good neighbor means having the courage to intervene yourself even if it means putting yourself in physical danger.
Is it worth it to you to risk your own safety to potentially save the life of a mentally ill person, or a person they seem to be threatening? A person or group committed to non-violent resolution could carefully approach the man and try to talk to him about his behavior, and more importantly warn him about how the community and police might respond to it. If you must call someone when dealing with people suffering from mental health issues, it is always better to call for an ambulance. EMTs are trained to give patients medical care, while police are trained to physically restrain people.

Other serious issues where people usually see no other alternative than to call police are domestic violence, assaults, sexual assaults, child abuse or elder abuse. In situations like these help is always better coming from family, friends and neighbors. People who have a vested interest in the safety of the victims can understand the complexity that most times accompany these situations, and are better equipped to resolve these issues without violence.

Police and other government agencies are arms length and do not have relationships with the victims or persons doing harm. They cannot fully understand the context of the violence, they can only respond to it with more force that escalates the confusion and violence.

Even police officers who are truly committed to helping, have limited tool sets dictated by dispassionate, one size fits all protocols that are rarely appropriate even if not violent or coercive.

Be Proactive

One technique is to reach out to someone before a situation escalates to the point where it becomes an emergency. I have seen many stories of parents calling the police on their own children for behavioral issues, only to have the police show up and murder the teens. If you need help disciplining your child, have an abusive spouse, or are even just having relationship issues with a spouse or parent reach out for help when the problematic behaviors begin, don’t wait until you are at your wits end and want to “scare them straight.”

Tenants and landlords also seem to have a habit of calling police on each other. There is the perception that if police reports are filed they can be used as evidence in court. The problem with this perception is that police are subject to their own beliefs and prejudices. Many, if not most times, you may not get a fair, impartial or even factual police report. The police may take a side and it might not be yours or the side of “right.”

Get Trained

What better way to help your community peacefully resolve disputes than getting trained to handle them. There are many free training programs to learn how to use empathy to mediate disputes. First responder training can help you with medical emergencies. There are training programs to help you learn how to care for the mentally ill. CPR and self defense classes are also great skills to have to build stronger more self reliant communities that will reduce the need for police interventions. Once you have the training you can share those skills by training others in your community.


My last recommendation is the book “Non-Violent Communication” by Marshal Rosenberg. This is a practical blueprint for how empathy and commitment to nonviolence can profoundly transform our personal lives and communities.

Personal and community sovereignty is an incremental process that requires empathy, education and action. We aren’t going to eliminate the need for police over night, but by being more conscious and taking action to make our communities safer we will inspire and educate others to do the same. A peaceful world is not an impossible utopian ideal, it is a real option we can all work towards rather than just hoping for it, and it starts with you. Today. Making the conscious decision to refrain from employing violence in your every day life.

Editors Note:

If you are in a situation where you feel you absolutely must call police try to use these tips to ensure safe interactions.

  • When calling in response to a mental health issue, tell 911 it is a MEDICAL EMERGENCY and ask for an Ambulance.
  • Gather your local cop watchers/ and or community members to film interactions with police.
  • Meet the police and/or first responders and guide them to help intervene in the situation safely. Be calm when dealing with police so they do not view you as a threat.
Sort:  

You know what else you hear about in the media?....lots of people getting killed intervening in other people's affairs. That happens more frequently then some of these high profile other cases. If you called the police and asked for a ambulance for someone outside acting mentally off balance and the dispatcher ask you if that person appears to have any weapons and you know they are out there swinging a pipe and you lie that's filing a false police report. That's just for starts, if a ambulance driver gets hurt by being bashed in the head with the pipe to the point they can't work anymore their family can sue you into oblivion. Studies have also shown that when people don't call the police, like the illegal immigrant communities who fear deportation, family abuse and crime rise in those areas. Even if you didn't call the police and called other agencies they are going to tell you to call the police because they can't get involved unless the people want help or are forced to get help, that force usually comes via going to court after being arrested. Even if you did live in close quarters with other tenants or neighbors it would depend on how many parties they have...is it every weekend or is it once in awhile. What happens if you talk to them and they ignore you? Do you even want to try and attempt to talk to them so they can peg you for sure if you had to call the cops or even if another neighbor does it? I can sit here and hear gun shots probably at least once every couple months, maybe at times more often....and you think I want to go out and see what's going on and talk to someone about it?....I don't think so. I am not going to share my feelings with the neighbors either....who knows what families have little gang bangers with big ears listening...I don't want my house shot up in a drive by to scare me into silence. Get real. It's the cops who choose to put their lives on the line, they get paid for that, it's not in my job description as a neighbor.

Indeed building communities is the way to go. Here in the UK no one talks to each other anymore. I live in a little village and only talk to a handful of the neighbours the rest just keep their head down. Back in the 80's I remember as a kid playing in the street all the parents would be in the street chatting! The was community today this has gone; been forced out fo our society with the trust no one attitude sad. This is what we need to bring back for sure 💯🐒

The police in Norway is actually (generally speaking) not that bad - just ask @movingman, he has had some experience with them already :-)

Of course, there are always rotten apples, and of course there exists people who have had a really terrible experience with the Norwegian police, but by average the situation is not that bad. Until recently the police force was actually (in general) not carrying guns - for the very reason to avoid unnecessary violence escalations! Now one of the political parties wanting a "strong armed police" got some political power, and under the "terror threat"-excuse they have issued a temporary order that police should carry firearms.

I can't help but feel it would be extremely beneficial if people organically grew their thoughts, feelings and opinions instead of having them spoonfed via the media. People need to turn off their TV sets which are filling them with fear and go out to meet people and discuss the real world rather than the one portrayed in the media.

Police is a name by which people get peace. They are our friend. If their condition is not good, nation will go danger.

In the past we needed good people with weapons to protect us from bad people with weapons. Today it is no different. People live in fear of everything. Your suggestions have great merit and represent great intentions, but are idealistic in my opinion.

People live in fear of everything.

It is learned pattern of behavior,and promoted by the powers that be, unfortunately.

My dad was one of 'the wise ones', by any standard.
I grew up with an ethos of 'you die if yo worry, and you die if you don't, so why worry?'.....
....I see the fear people have of life, and it is truly depressing.

Mindset has to change before real world actions do..

Over time I've learned not to respond to other people's moods. Too many people like to wipe their moody-blue butts in other people's faces. I just refuse to react to it.

Very good policy.
And I try to, but sometimes I still get sucked in. grrrr.

I'm trying to be as zen as you...

Yeah, but my wife of 48 years really knows which buttons to push to expose my worst attributes : {

48 years? - tha't a different kind of foe altogether! lol

People fail to understand that acting through wisdom, and not ego or fear, is not the same.
There is not enough of the former...

https://steemit.com/blog/@lucyreloaded/challenge-authority-with-wisdom-not-ego

Great piece, thank you. Building community is so important and we've become reluctant and lazy on that front. My family makes a point to get together with our neighbours periodically and just get to know them, without prejudice. It's amazing how many bridges can be built just by listening to someone's story.

Congratulations @sovereigncity! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

Award for the total payout received

Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here

If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Upvote this notification to help all Steemit users. Learn why here!