Letters to the editor for July 5

Specificity, please, about reforms needed

In the nonstop coverage of protests, I have noticed that the protesters, civic leaders and commentators make only vague statements to the effect that “Things must change” without ever saying exactly what specific changes they are suggesting. Why is that?

I suspect most of the protesters have no idea how to “fix” what they say is broken. They’ve never run anything or had to make hard decisions that will have long-term repercussions on the lives of thousands of others. So mouthing slogans is their way to express their frustration, not offer real answers.

What would you have government leaders do? Disarm the police? Take away the option of deadly force in all circumstances? Require a police officer to get approval from a citizens’ council before making an arrest? Or eliminate police forces in favor of “committees of public safety”? I think many would love that, but most who have read up on France’s Reign of Terror would disagree.

A few radicals have slipped up and come out with ideas like, “We must disassemble the mechanisms of oppression and inequality.” And what does that mean? To wit, the end of our Constitutional Republic and the free enterprise system, to be replaced by democratic socialism. That’s seems to be the real goal of these protests. The looting, burning and violence were collateral damage in that struggle.

Ted Kisebach, Lacey

It is time for police service

Perhaps the timing is finally right for rebranding police “forces” and police “departments” into “The Police Service.”

This was done in post-Apartheid South Africa and the results have been amazing. All elements of the community benefited from this change.

People call the police expecting police service, which may or may not be law “enforcement.” Police arrive at the scene expecting to provide service. Even the profile of people who apply to work as police officers has changed. The power trip mentality applicants have been replaced by people whose primary interest is to provide service to the community.

In light of recent events, it has been chilling to learn nearly 50% of officers in Minneapolis who had been fired were rehired at a later date. The cop who shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice while playing with a toy gun in a Cleveland park had only recently been hired. He had been determined unfit to serve by a previous department, but had quit before he was fired. The Cleveland Police Department fired him for lying about his previous police record, not for shooting Rice, nor was he charged as a criminal in the case. He was later hired by the police in a small Ohio town.

Words matter, and while it will take a paradigm shift for all police personnel to see themselves as providing a service, rebranding them as a Service will help. Demonstrations across the nation, saying enough is enough, may signal this is the time. Actually it is way past due.

Warren Carlson, Olympia