I want to reflect for a minute on a larger problem with professions and institutions we rely on for our safety and freedoms. All seem to fail at self-regulation, at dealing with bad apples, misconduct, malfeasance. This is true of doctors, lawyers and police. 1
One core reason malpractice premiums for doctors are so high is that medical licensing branches have failed often to punish adequately the small number of doctors who are bad, at making sure standards are followed. Bar associations are really bad at sanctioning lawyers. 2
The fact that Rudy Giuliani, Alex Acosta, Bill Barr, Ken Starr have not been chastised at minimum by bar associations for misconduct, including, for example, the outrageous breach of conduct in the Jeffrey Epstein case in Florida, is a deep embarrassment. 3
Now we come to police. The vast majority of those in law enforcement-- just as doctors and lawyers-- are honorable people in the field for the right reasons, in dangerous and stressful jobs. But there are also bad apples-- racists, sadists, those who wield authority wrongly. 4
They discredit the rest of those in the field, and through wrongful death and wrongful assault suits, cost taxpayers millions and millions. Police chiefs, other cops, know for the most part who they are. But they protect them and cover for them. 5
Nearly all the outrageous cases we have seen had distorted & false information coming from the police force before the cell phone cameras showed the brutal reality. Abetted by elected officials, afraid to confront the police or to be accused in campaigns of coddling criminals. 6
Elected officials are often more willing to pay for the lawsuits, which go unnoticed by the taxpayers, than to grapple with the problem of the culture here. This has to change. We need a new model to weed out bad apples in all professions, but it is most urgent with police. 7
What we are seeing in my home town of Minneapolis-- not the place I would have expected to be the site of devastation, but clearly reflective of a much larger societal problem-- should be a clarion call. I must add this is not just about punishing bad actors. 8
We need a broader change in law enforcement culture. One way is the Miami Model. W 7,500 police in Miami-Dade trained in crisis intervention team policing, shootings have dropped from 2 a month to an average of less than 1 a year. Arrests/confrontations have dropped dramatically
(Please watch our documentary on Miami, The Definition of Insanity,pbs.org/show/definitio…) CIT and a commitment to deescalate can be huge. But of course, we also need to confront more directly the issue of race. Driving while black, the tilt in Stop and Frisk, are realities. 10
