Below is a great article from the Washington Post detailing how a new attitude and new police leader made a massive and nearly instant transformation in Ferguson.

The new police commander ordered the gas masks off and the military style vehicles to stand down, he walked with the protestors and we saw an immediate change in tone.

When people are treated with respect they have dignity and it is much more likely to create peaceful interaction.

Those who follow this page know I’m a vocal opponent of militarized police, abuse and often police in general. As police activists often say, where are the “good cops” arresting the bad ones.

There are indeed good cops. The problem is the system they are in and below I outline some ideas of how we can all work together to change that system. Many police are wound up and placed in an environment which makes them violent – a system which would be better suited for war than protecting and serving citizens.

The escalation of the situation in Ferguson was unacceptable and only one illustration of the recent problems brought on by militarized police.

But there are alternatives. I’m lucky enough to live in a town without a notable police abuse problem. Our police are well paid, they act like members of the community, drink hot cocoa with us at an annual holiday event and are accessible and respectful.

For example, in my town, once while jogging an officer said “Excuse me sir.” I stopped — he extended and shook my hand (how often do we see on duty officers shake hands) and said “Hi, I’m Jim” (using his first name) “a Sergeant with the police department” ….(he apologized for stopping me) “Sorry to bother you but just a couple moments ago we had a report of a man in a red sweatshirt trying to rob a car right near here. Could you do us a big favor and let us know if you have seen anything or see anything further?” He waived as I was on my way. No attitude, no barking or commanding.

Contrast this with the city cop who once threatened to use a nightstick on my dad over his double parking. Or the Boston cop who said to me “Hey a–hole what the f–k are you looking at?” (To this day I can’t figure out why, I was well dressed, on a date with my wife, clearly peaceful, sober, and compliant with laws and can’t imagine anything I could have been doing or looking at which could have been an issue.)

Part of the reason we have good police in my town is because we have an active citizen community who takes an interest in the management of the town and police department. All police work for the people – but most forget it. Police in this town act like public servants rather than public masters because they have the duality of both great treatment, pay and benefits they’d be crazy to jeopardize combined with active citizens and big mouths like me who would raise holy hell and have them fired if they behaved the way some police elsewhere do. It also helps that we are a small and low crime town. But police respect of citizens and community involvement can be helpful anywhere.

Here are a few things which could help solve today’s police abuse problems:
– End police militarization and remove the weapons of war from the hands of public servants – no more MRAP vehicles or walking around with fully automatic weapons
– Increase awareness among citizens about what the current situation is – this includes increasing awareness of police abuse and also giving police the opportunity to explain actions to citizens – in fairness, there are cases when something seems abusive but on further investigation is reasonable for police or citizen safety
– Change rules of engagement – in war, our soldiers often have less right to point a weapon at civilians than in the US – police should be at least at the standard of the military and ideally something like the UK where ANY use of a firearm (that means drawing it from a holster) is brought before a trial by jury who can judge it’s justification and merit — exactly the same as if a civilian pulled a gun on a cop or other civilian
– End the failed drug war and other non violent or victimless crimes, allowing police to focus on violent crime
– End for profit prisons and with them the incentive to place humans in cages for revenue and the lobbying that goes with it
– End arrest quotas
– End asset forfeiture rules – particularly those which seize assets before or without ever convicting the citizen of a crime
– Increase citizen responsibility and defense rights, placing them on a more even footing with police – provide training to citizens on various ways to reduce crime
– Encourage accountability, transparency, communications and filming by both police and citizens
– Encourage more police behavior which places citizens and human rights first and encourages peaceful interaction and mutual respect — eliminate the “old boy network” of bad cops being covered for by good cops – encourage police to walk with, work with and interact with citizens

Police unions, politics and other factors make some of these common sense actions harder to carry out but the current situation is untenable. Police are in more danger and more hated now than in recent history. No knock, wrong door SWAT raids and other abuse has to stop.

It’s time we all take action to reverse this trend.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/08/14/with-highway-patrol-hugs-and-kisses-replace-tear-gas-in-ferguson/