Can we stop screaming long enough to talk?

Top of the evening to all.

Wow!!  Please let the carnage that is seizing the United States see a speedy, safe, and productive conclusion.  Part of that conclusion would be helped by protestors making some sort of statement about what they want.

My friends, there is not a single person in the United States, in Canada, or anywhere else in the civilized world who is not completely appalled by the police killing of George Floyd.  It is rare that there is universal agreement on whether the sky is blue.

That being said....

You are all aware that I am military.  In the planning of anything, there are meetings beforehand.  There are meetings during, if possible.  There are meetings afterward.  There is an after-action report filed up the chain of command.  This happens, whether the operation was successful or not.  There is always a lesson to be learned.  There is never complacency based on success.

I point this out because police departments perhaps should follow similar rules.  Many of them likely do.  Just because something worked yesterday does not mean it will work tomorrow.  It is axiomatic that the operation plan will never survive first contact.

With that in mind, the city of Minneapolis has this week banned the use of chokeholds in making arrests.  NYPD banned them back in 1993.  Crime in New York City hit its lowest rates in the late 1990s.  I agree with banning chokeholds.  They are dangerous. They can render a person unconscious in seconds.  There are other ways of restraining someone who is presenting an immediate physical danger.

Many communities are also discussing reducing or defunding the local police services.  Perhaps there are certain things that we can and should do differently.  Just because the current system maintains some semblance of public order, and just because that system more or less allows us to live our lives, does not mean that we cannot do it better.  Perhaps someone sleeping on a park bench illegally might be better handled by a social worker than by the police, both in terms of the situation and terms of the fact that Toronto police recently said that they spend all of their time dealing with 911 calls.  Someone sleeping on a park bench should be handled differently.  A response from a social worker might be better way, or perhaps not, but we can discuss, and we should.

Regarding defunding, be careful what you ask for.  (One wonders how many of the people requesting such defunding live in gated communities, have additional home security, and travel with bodyguards.)  Defunding is a great idea, until someone is breaking into your house.    If nothing else, before defunding, have a plan in place.  Absent that, the US will devolve into the Wild West overnight.  It will be ugly, and it will be bloody.

With concern and fear for the country that birthed me.

R/SCG