Annoying oak tree thread in bound: great time to unfollow. I warned you I was a truly terrible twitter follow...
So for years I’ve waddled around my neighborhood & taken countless pics of the ginormous live oaks all around me. Soon I’ll use my real camera to take some frame-worthy photos for a collection called ‘The Giant Oaks of East Savannah’. The title means it’s classy & stuff...
But today before it rained I waddled about to look at some oaks in the really interesting light. Here are some:
Not so giant live oak in park behind my house. But has great bones.
Truly ginormous live oak at neighbors’ bungalow at the park. Zoom in. That is one base of a tree. Its circumference at the ground is insane.
One of the large & taller of the giant oaks. Behind a neighbor on Bonaventure. Gorgeous.
Probably the largest live oak around here is very difficult to photograph well. It’s in the back of a neighbor’s house two blocks away. Easiest to view from the lane in the rear. But power lines plus limited open space make it impossible to get it all in one shot.
Here’s another live oak with a massive canopy.
And here is the street of all chinkapin oaks. This is the tree i took the acorn from 9 years ago to germinate & grow in our yard. My dad’s best friend’s house. These are smaller oaks but lovely. Anyway, will be a nice collection soon. Mercifully this is the end of the thread!
Anyway, if you know why I love these trees so much then you also know my views on local police work. They can’t be rushed. No lasting good happens to them in a day but something forever bad can happen instantly. So act w/ care every single day. For our long term. That’s the point
Here’s the Majestic Oak a few miles away. And here is one that is a secret gem. It’s at the old dairy down the street but way deep near the marsh. I’ve been to a lot of places on this planet. Our little neighborhood is my favorite place on it. Why am I a local cop? This is why.

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More from @SkinnerPm

25 Apr
Since no one piece can touch on even a fraction of the issues with local police work in America...I wrote four. Here’s the first, my thoughts of rejecting the warrior view of policing & embracing a neighbor view. Last June after George Floyd’s murder.

washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/0…
Here is the second, written during the outrage over law enforcement hiding not just their faces but also their names even as they act in all of our names. There are times for that; but accountability & transparency must be a foundation of our job.

washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/0…
Here’s the third: after the violent insurrection at the US Capitol, where I worked for the briefest of times in 2001-2002. On the horror of ‘shoot don’t shoot’ in that particular moment.

washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/0…
Read 5 tweets
24 Apr
Found out my blathering for the @washingtonpost will actually be in print tomorrow for their Sunday edition. Now that would have made my old man giggle for sure.

washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/0…
I’ll be honest: this is the 3rd piece I’ve written for the Post on police issues & I am surprised by the reaction to this one. I liked the writing of the other two: had some lovey narrative threads & repetitions. This one was just raw: wrote it quickly. Felt kinda meh about it
So it’s a bit different in style I guess but not substance. It says nothing new or revelatory. It says what I and millions stress every day. “Treat your neighbors like they are your neighbors’. And it would be better if they were your literal neighbors but that’s a larger issue.
Read 8 tweets
10 Apr
We tell drivers to pull into well-lit spots. If they go slow, the cops know what they’re doing and just follow them to the well-lit spot. It’s really obvious when this happens. IT IS NOT A REASON TO PULL YOUR GUN. If your gun is out, then bad things happen really fast. Also...
What is the point in pulling the driver out of the car? The original infraction was ‘no tag’ though it might have had a paper tag but let’s just say no tag). That’s not a reason to pull someone out of the car. Neither is a slow-speed anti-chase to a well-lit area. So I say again:
Compliance is not the goal of a police encounter. COMPLIANCE IS NOT THE GOAL OF A POLICE ENCOUNTER. Determine what the goal of the call is, the purpose of you being there, and work that issue. No tag? Ok. Wow. Maybe ask about it. Without your gun out. We don’t have to be this way
Read 4 tweets
8 Apr
Day off is done. Ton of yard work done. Even started what will be a loooooooong project: chipping off the bark from our dearly departed giant oak. Tried out some stain to see how it looks. It’s gonna be lovely. But it’s a grind of a project. Figure I’ll do a little every day.
Meanwhile the koi have gotten huge and the stupid orangey fish (god I can’t believe I even have orangey fish) are legion. Hopefully a neighbor can take a few/all orangey fish.
Big Eyes and The Lady Orangey took a nap. They’re ridiculous. From day one they’ve been besties. And yes Big Eyes is turning more orange by the day. This is insanity.
Read 5 tweets
8 Apr
The US has of course had issues with human rights and hypocrisy/and worse in foreign policy. But we still tried to point to our government as the model, saying ‘it works’. We are now trying to prove it does not work...and autocracies are using this to say their way is better
This is important. We elect a government that literally says government can’t work & who get paid to make sure it doesn’t. This is not unnoticed elsewhere. Or here. Democracy works if people work to make it work. We are in a spiral of proud dumb & the consequences are enormous
All China has to do is point to what we call governance or long-term planning in the US. We pass two week funding resolutions for our entire government. And barely can do that. We are making autocracy look better by making democracy look so bad. We don’t have to be this way
Read 6 tweets
6 Apr
Began the work day so excited to be ‘done’ with a major case. Ended the work day typing more warrants for that case while my sgt laughed at my foolish naive hopes.
I am proud of the work we’ve done so far on a sprawling complicated case. Very transparent evidence. Can withstand scrutiny & sunlight. The transparent truth, all cards on the table, is the most compelling of all narrative. Because it’s the truth. And that’s the point. The truth
And there must be nothing that isn’t transparent, documented, double checked and then confirmed from another angle. At every step and with every assertion or allegation or observation, the benefit of the doubt goes to my neighbors. As it must. Cuz we all matter or none of us do.
Read 4 tweets

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