On this day, we celebrate our nation’s independence from tyranny and injustice and our right to live togetherness in freedom and in peace.
In a society that such as ours that values justice and personal freedom as much as we do, trust of police is not just an add-on, it’s a necessity.
It is a necessity because police cannot effectively fulfill their duties, cannot protect our communities unless we trust them. From that trust can come support, and, yes, information from us about who’s responsible for crime and disorder in our neighborhoods; who’s dangerous and who’s not.
But there’s more to trusting police, their very safety depends depends on them being trusted by us. That’s the way it goes.
And the best way for police to re-build trust in their communities is for them to be able to use the least amount of force or coercion in carrying out their duties.
That’s why I have been focusing on the need for our police to be excellent de-escalators and, when force must be used to contain a situation or make an arrest, they have developed an array of less-than-deadly responses. It only makes sense.
And why can’t we incorporate the European Union standard for police use of force — only when it of an “absolute necessity”?
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 
Happy Independence Day!
I have just started to follow your bogs, I have gone back and read a few, in the time I have had, but I have to start somewhere.
However there is one theme I havn’t come across yet. At what point do we hold the citizens of our comunties responsible for their own actions and deeds (personal responsibility and accountability)? At what point do the community leaders stand up in their community and state, if you are believed to have committed a crime you will be arrested, and if you resist more force will be needed to take you into custody? At what point is the other side of the “trust” factor in place for the police to be able to trust in their community and officials to stand beside them in support?! Every thing of late that I have read singly states that the problems are all on the police for using too much force. However there always has to be someone on the other side of that coin, and those people aren’t even getting mentioned for the actions they took to initiate the situation. When do the community and community leaders stand up and say the actions of people commuting these crimes are not acceptable in our communities…
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Both are necessary: my point as a former police officer is that it must first begin with police.
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Gee, Dan, I wish we could hold wealthy people and corporations accountable for all the social, environmental and corporate crimes for the last 36 years, but that is never going to happen as long as the police, the DAs, and the judges are not going to take white collar, corporate crime seriously and stand up to the wealthy people and corporations.
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Very well said Gunther
It’s a Top down problem with entitlements and they are the Untouchables.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversies_involving_the_Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police
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Another thing Dan, I wish the police would do is to have their unions support other private and public sector unions when those unions are trying to get better wages and working conditions. In France, you have unions supporting each other all the time. There no this divide and conquer between unions in that country compare to that of the USA.
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One more thing Dan. I wish the police would be held accountable for violating people’s rights like manufacturing evidence or withholding evidence that could have sent a person free or not have sent the person to prison. Or holding the police accountable for illegally spying on people and organizations that were no genuine threat to the country. Or doing everything to prevent people from exercising their rights: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44965.htm
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