Thread by @emrylaw

So, I am watching the @CLTCityCouncil Safe Communities Committee meeting (Stuff about Police) and I have some thoughts. CC: @BraxtonWinston @cltuprising @queencitynerve
First off, committee chair, @Larken makes clear he is not prioritizing real oversight of @CMPD

Council member Renee’ Johnson has now asked twice for review of @CMPD political policing and violence against peaceful protestors to be be prioritized and @Larken has pushed her off, in favor of garbage like the non-reform 8 can’t wait garbage.

Frederico Rios is presenting on community feedback event. He said first priority is “prevention of crime”. Police DO NOT prevent crime. They never have, they never will. They do a generally poor job of “solving” serious crime. CC: @kristie_1979 @avitale @SAFEcoalitionNC

Council member Matt Newton asks how committee was selected, who had input. Valid questions. Wonders who speaks on behalf of community. Rios says @TonyaJameson is that person. Sorry, but she is the campaign manager for @CharMeckDA. That is not a community spokesperson, has agenda

@Larken is not committed to serious oversight and defunding of @CMPD. He portrays as a progressive but is a classic neo-liberal. He is content to give @CMPD $300M a year without any results, data, or oversight. I won’t be supporting him again. He is my city councilman.

Newton is pointing out this is more of “The Charlotte Way”. Creating the perception of community engagement with a pre-ordained result. Oh boy, now our @MikeBloomberg supporting mayor @CLTMayor is talking about how committed she is to reimagining police. Give me a break.

If @CLTCityCouncil and @CLTMayor were serious about “reimagining” police, they wouldn’t have chosen a Kepp Putney redux for the next Police Chief. The way to have a “Safe Community” is to address the underlying causes of crime and violence. POVERTY.

They should read @michaelngraff recent story about tent city to understand what can be done to promote a safe and equitable community. Giving $300M to police doesn’t do a damn thing except for over-police already hurting and oppressed neighborhoods.

@DimpleAjmera making a totally rational point: Why don’t you let the community decide who is the community spokesperson, not the mayor and council. As many great things as she does, do we really expect transformative change from the campaign manager of the current DA?? GTFOH.

If folks are enjoying this narrative, please retweet and tag to amplify. The people of Charlotte are tired of “The Charlotte Way”, we want real damn change.

@CMPD youth programs DO NOT have statistical efficacy. We don’t want police involved with children. It NEVER helps, it always HURTS. Let’s stop saying “high crime neighborhoods” and start using the more appropriate term “low employment opportunity neighborhoods”.

Police do NOT build positive relationships with community, they hinder. This is now devolved into a @cmpd PR, misinformation session. Time is limited and they waste on this garbage. You can watch too:

@CMPD there is no such thing as “felons”, there are people. People remain people despite what the racist criminal punishment bureaucracy does to them by way of over policing.

@CMPD why do so many of your officers live outside of the county? They are paid better than teachers (who have more education and are more vital to our future). The cop who left a gun out and his child was injured lives in Union Co. charlotteobserver.com/news/state/nor…

Want a comparison? @CMPD annual budget= $290M. Atlanta Police Department annual budget= $218M. saportareport.com/atlanta-city-c…

In other words, each Charlotte resident, including children, spends $327 a year on the police department. So, a family of 4 drops over $1300 a year on @CMPD. Think of what we could do with that $? Also, the city is NOT @CMPD only funding source!

City councilmember @Watlington4CLT is asking tough questions about the garbage data in the @CMPD PR presentation.

Also, is it really “diversion” if the police are involved. Why are we even charging kids with felonies for taking $100 from a cash register??? @CharMeckDA ?

Police’s answer for everything is give us more $. If crime is a problem, we need more. If crime goes down, imagine what we can do with more $. If we have city leaders who don’t demand accountability, we end up giving police $300M a year. Sound familiar?

@Watlington4CLT asking good questions that @CMPD can’t answer because they don’t accurately track data. They can’t answer your questions @Watlington4CLT because their primary interest is mass criminalization and punishment. If they actually stopped crime,their budget would shrink

@JulieEiselt doubling down on neoliberal values by promoting window dressing programs like”cops and barbers” and “cops and kids” while also throwing a dig at defunding efforts. It’s clear the city council hasn’t read The End of Policing by @avitale Should I buy for them?

Also of note, while one of the few physically present council members, James Mitchell, the vice-chair(!!!) hasn’t spoken a word yet. What a shining representative he is for a community that suffers severely from the over policing of a @CMPD

@JulieEiselt now talking about getting MORE resources for the police for these “programs”. Did I call it or did I call it? At least half of the Democratic city council members are totally in the bag for @CMPD.

Now @CLTMayor back at it, asking for social work referrals to come from @CMPD. Here is an idea: why don’t we go directly to those agencies and cut the middle person of cops out of it, because we know they only do harm, never help?

Why is the violence located in certain communities? Oppression, poverty, lack of education spending. When we spend more on cops and prisons than poverty, education, and housing this is what we get. It isn’t difficult, you just don’t like doing the right thing.

Now @CLTMayor is asking @CMPD what evidence based programs they like? What a joke. Police never focus on evidence based solutions. If they did, they would cease to exist.

Was it purposeful to keep @BraxtonWinston off this committee?

They are spending their whole 2 hours talking about small @CMPD programs that are largely garbage when the citizens of #Charlotte are out in the street demanding real change. If this isn’t a snapshot of how disconnected and clueless our city leaders are, I don’t know what is.

Oh, Chief Jennings, tell me more about how the police are working on conflict resolution...because you are so damn good at it! SMH. As Baldwin said “I don’t believe what you say because I see what you do.”

Mitchell is finally talking. (I guess he finally finished eating his lunch). His valuable two cents? Correcting “PAL” as Police Activity League, rather than Athletic. SMH.

Why are police in charge of diversion programs? What evidence do we have that police know anything about working with young people? You don’t even have to have a college degree to be a cop. Why don’t we have people who actually know what they are doing work with young people?

@FedericoRiosCLT is trying to wear two hats. The city leaders and cops are trying to co-opt him, busy him with discrete agenda items so that he can’t really embrace a radical conception of a community that embraces justice and equity. Apologies for misspelling Federico’s name b4.

Matt Newton pointing out that there mere arrest, not conviction is a major barrier for folks. That is why these “programs” are ineffectual. They all start with an arrest. So, the person is still stigmatized and hindered in future development. Just stop making garbage arrests!

This is all about $, justifying existence, imbedding fear in the community. If the people are afraid and have unrealistic understanding of crime, they will not hesitate to spend, spend, spend.

The reality is that Charlotte is a far safer community than it was in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Crime has been on a steady decline for 25+ years. No thanks to police and the criminal punishment bureaucracy that has just expanded during this time.

The deeply disappointing City Manager Marcus Jones talking again. He is the one, more than anyone else who picked Johnny Jennings to replace Kerr Putney and keep the racist, oppressive @CMPD machine running at full speed.

Our obsession with “special programs” to fix broken people rather than fixing our society so we don’t have the broken people will be the undoing of our community and the country as a whole.

“Preventing Crime”. We are obsessed that asking @CMPD to further over police black and brown communities they we pejoratively label as “hot spots”. This is NOT evidence-based. Evidence suggest that more police in a community INCREASES crime.

Good news folks! Council member James Mitchell just moved to give @CMPD $14k more dollars for one of their “programs”. Because $290M just isn’t enough. You can’t make this up. It passed unanimously!!! @kristie_1979 @cltuprising @BraxtonWinston De-Fund or Up-Fund???

@DimpleAjmera asking to put on next agenda an exploration of where $ could be cut from @CMPD bloated budget and @Larken again is obstructing these efforts.

@DimpleAjmera Could the outside 3rd party to analyze @cmpd budget be an actual community group who sees what CMPD does? They can make relevant recommendations and note serious problems. I know plenty such organizations capable of doing that. James Mitchell opposes her request.

The democratic establishment in City leadership DOES NOT HAVE ANY REAL INTEREST in addressing and cutting the @CMPD budget. They punted her request to the budget committee. @Action_NC , they are giving you the old soft shoe. Take note citizens!

They have adjourned. MHP’s of this hearing (Most Harmful Persons):
1- @Larken
2- James Mitchell (No twitter?)
3- @CLTMayor
4- @JulieEiselt

Folks that somewhat get it:
1- @DimpleAjmera
2- Matt Newton
3- Renee’ Johnson
4- @Watlington4CLT

*These are the 4 we need to lean on*