Letter to Mayor Carter

Hi Mayor Carter,
Like many citizens of Saint Paul, I've been glued to the news this week. As protests spread from Minneapolis to Saint Paul, I've been shocked at how cops are ESCALATING this situation instead of DE-ESCALATING it.

We need police reform, and training is not enough.

I want to show you what a cop told me.

"The training involved lecture, personal testimony from people who have had crisis interactions with police, and role-playing scenarios, in which the cops are tested. They generally did not do well. Many didn’t take the training seriously. Most don’t respond well to being challenged. They want to be obeyed. They want total control. People in crisis rarely give them that, and things tend to escalate. The cops are taught how to deescalate situations, using techniques such as mirroring, silence, and modulating the tempo. But, as I said, many of them consider this stuff bullshit. A culture change is necessary, from the top down and from the ground up. A big help would be if cops were legally held to the same standards that regular citizens are. Currently they are not, so there’s no real incentive for them to change."

Note that last part:

"A big help would be if cops were legally held to the same standards that regular citizens are. Currently they are not, so there’s no real incentive for them to change."

Clearly the training isn't working. We need a different approach.

I want to make it clear: I'm not afraid of the protestors. I'm afraid of the COPS. As a brown man in Saint Paul I feel terrified.

This behavior is a disservice to our community. It's also a disservice to the cops who are TRYING to DO THEIR JOBS.

We need police reform now. We need to hold police accountable for their actions.

Adit