Regarding an Atlanta shooting last year...
Today a Fulton County grand jury indicted two men involved in the shooting. According to prosecutors, both men were members of the Bloods gang and were manning the roadblock where Turner was shot because Rayshard Brooks, who was killed by a police officer in the nearby Wendy’s parking lot, was also a member of the Bloods gang....
“There are many more who will never be criminally indicted but should be indicted for their allowing a situation like this to happen in the city of Atlanta,” attorney Mawuli Davis said Friday. “We’re clearer now than we’ve ever been that this was absolutely preventable and did not have to happen but for the city surrendering a block, a neighborhood, to what has now been described as a gang.”
It could have been a well-regulated militia of responsible citizens, but the government seems hostile to that idea and tries to prevent volunteer civil defense organizations from operating. Or it could have been professional police, but I hear the idea is to defund those and eliminate them from these neighborhoods.
The world is what it is. Somebody is going to be keeping order with guns. If you don't like the cops, you can have the community. If you don't trust the community and you don't trust the cops, you suppress both; but you're going to end up with gangsters instead. Maybe you like your local gang, and you think they're a better option. Maybe they are.
Better be sure.
I like to see neighborhoods policing themselves, within whatever limits we can all agree on. There have been and still are societies in which families largely fill that role. It can be pretty hard on the family members if there's no one to appeal to, and Daddy can execute the 14-year-old daughter if he pleases. Still, some local level of discipline is essential, because the police and the courts can never make up for complete local chaos. My idea of a successful local neighborhood is one in which the inhabitants are satisfied among themselves and aren't predators on their neighbors. Most important, they take care of business well enough that the outside authorities aren't called upon to intervene.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I dislike about all the grant money that has poured into my county since we were hit hard by a hurricane in 2017 is that we encourage state and federal interference by taking their money. It's best to be able to tell outside authorities, "Thanks, but we're taking care of this. You stay in Austin or D.C., watch and see how it's done."
I would also say you have to have a mechanism for removing your community or gangster protectors, as once they get used to telling people what to do, they might find they like it, and become worse in character. I think this is the most likely outcome, actually. The police are theoretically reined in by the courts and the voting populace. This is at least partly true, and in some places very true. Northern New England is exemplary, but even we have police at various levels who get to like throwing their weight around, and whole departments can get like that. (And yes, I have specific incidents in mind that are not just drawn from the news reports.)
ReplyDeleteLocal self-policing is ideal, but is dependent on being able to control who gets to do the policing. I can show you towns where this emphatically does not work, enough that the county sheriffs and state police (and occasionally FBI) have to be brought in to control the situation. These are usually drug transshipment areas on major routes, where small local PD's cannot compete with the firepower and sheer volume of crime. Also, the money's good, so locals often have little incentive to help law enforcement in any way - except when they are business partners on the deals.
A general problem, yes. I suspect that even many a well regulated militia might choose to turn a blind eye to drug transshipment in return for generous donations and a firm commitment not to cause trouble locally.
ReplyDeleteBefore the whole Defund thing really got going, Glenn Reynolds would quip from time to time that the police exist to protect criminals from immediate retribution by the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that was a mistake.
ReplyDelete