Defunding the police will not stop deaths at the hands of officers, but these ideas might

“Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you.” — Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan of the folk-rock group Stealers Wheel (1972).

I have often wanted to rewrite these lyrics to “News from the Left of me, News from the Right, here I am stuck in the middle without truth.” Today, it is more compelling to me than ever, so here it is. In this age where opinions are facts and facts are ignored, butchered and skewed based on the narrative being promoted, I find myself hesitant and, even fearful, to begin any conversation about the world around us. But today I want to address the so-called “Defund the Police” movement.

Policing is a high-risk activity. Officers go into the field with a high risk of harm to themselves and a high risk of causing harm. Police officers, like all other humans, can make mistakes, errors in perception and judgment, and overreact in a highly charged environment. This can result in tragic consequences.

The concept of defunding the police gained momentum in reaction to the horrible death of George Floyd and too many others. Reaction around the country sought answers to prevent these tragedies

From this, good ideas have been promoted. But because of the narratives being promoted, nobody seems to be listening. A major goal is to eliminate the preventable deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers. But defunding police departments would exacerbate the violent interactions with police.

Here are some of the ideas that could help achieve these goals.

1. Invest more in training and the development of training programs throughout the careers of officers. Several analyses have shown that the average time of service for officers involved in shootings is 13 years. This should lead us to the conclusion that officers need to return to training regularly. Some of this training must focus on how officers can be impacted by dealing with unlawful, defiant and aggressive behavior day in and day out, year after year.

When I taught at the Criminal Justice Training Center for the state Department of Corrections, I had the opportunity to watch the training of new police officers from all over the state. The training was based on best practices. Officers were taught when and how to use their guns, tasers, batons, and pepper spray and how to defend themselves in an attack, including protecting their weapons from the attacker. There were classes on how to interact with people they would encounter, including how to deescalate a highly charged situation. Unfortunately, effective training or re-training for tenured officers is extremely limited because of organizational budgets.

2. Expand the partnership of our social service network and law enforcement. There is a “natural” tension between social workers and law enforcement. Both could benefit from recognizing this tension and adjusting their actions. There is a significant overlap between social service clients and the regular contacts of law enforcement officers. A more focused and detailed partnership between the two would help the social workers, law enforcement and the people that they serve. Simply replacing police with social workers would eliminate accountability and increase risk for social workers.

3. Increase recruiting and pay for officers with an emphasis on candidates who reflect the community they serve. Most important is to raise the standards of training for officer candidates. This is a challenge to create a police department that mirrors the community, including diversity of education, experience, aptitude, attitude, and desire.

4. Expand on the concept of community policing. Community involvement is critical to allowing police to integrate into the community. Together with the partnership created with social service providers, residents and police can interact in the service capacity that many envision for police officers.

5. Unions and management need to work closely to improve accountability. People learn best from their mistakes when the feedback they get is prompt, frequent and unambiguous, and when the consequences matter. Psychologist Robin Hogarth calls this a “kind” learning environment. Contracts and civil service rules are designed to set up a formal, adversarial process much like criminal cases in the judicial system. This leads to avoidance, formalities and antagonism between the sides. The result is that many less consequential errors are not corrected or properly disciplined, allowing unacceptable behavior to become ingrained in the system. By acting early on lower-level transgressions, unions and management can fashion corrective action that will not have a destructive impact on a career but emphasize that unacceptable actions will not be tolerated.

None of these ideas is original. Many are already implemented in jurisdictions across the country. One thing is for sure, none of them will be implemented if we defund the police.

Gary Andrews, a member of the 2020 Board of Contributors, retired from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office as Senior Counsel in 2017. He has lived in Olympia for 41 years, owned two pet stores and briefly played professional baseball. He is married with two daughters and four grandchildren. He can be reached at gandrews2804@gmail.com