Duluth (In)Action publicizes its launch on social media. A few hours later, we receive an email from Duluth Police Chief, Mike Tusken, entitled “I hope to be part of the conversation.”
Policing is evolving and changing and working each day at building strong community relationships with our residents. We acknowledge historical trauma by police towards communities of color. Police today have more training than ever before in the history of policing including verbal influence and defense, crisis intervention training and implicit bias. We are working with volunteers and community members to problem solve and reduce the need to call police for intervention. I support having the Minnesota legislature properly fund and empower the POST Board to have the ability to investigate, suspend and revoke the licenses of peace officers who violate public trust.
We need to focus on how we are all part of one race, the human race, and build upon what unites us, not divides us. People vs. Police or Police vs. People is devisive and I feel we should expect more, we are better. How do we work together to hold our communities up so we all enjoy safety and quality of life. When I see social justice challenges, I see a poverty many times in our communities of color driven lack of access to education, employment, housing, and healthcare. These issues need to be addressed because they are often drivers of crime and the diseases of dispair of hopelessness and addiction. I want to be part of a conversation where we look at how to create a community where we are all healthy and thrive and then we can work to redefine, reduce or rid police in society.
Duluth (In)Action responds on April 17, 2019.
Mike Tusken:
Policing has evolved, but in ways that have simply ensured tactics of social control are more efficient, that methods of surveilling the community are more intrusive, and that protecting our most vulnerable to violence is still not a priority. The legacy of violence enacted through policing significantly impacts communities of color. There’s also greater impact through this history of violence that transcends just one identity. No amount of procedural training can erase or negate this history nor can it
Posing the question “what does a world without systems of policing look like?” is not divisive, it is necessary. The long-standing reality is that not all lives, not all humans, are granted the same assurance of security or safety. This question also does not create a “people vs. police” opposition, but in
We acknowledge and understand that in our current societal context, there will be intentional interactions between DPD and community members. However, for the purposes of pursuing our mission and critically engaging with the question “what does a world without systems of policing look like?” this is our conversation and it must be held separately, on our own terms, without interruption from law enforcement.
–Duluth (In)Action
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
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