THREAD: As more details emerge about NYPD officer Jason Rivera's tragic death, I'm thinking about whether police were the right ones to respond at all. A verbal argument between mom/son over food. What if mom had a different option than to call 911? More:nytimes.com/2022/01/22/nyr…
I'm thinking about Officer Rivera. Dead far too young. It wasn't his fault he was there. It was his "duty" under current system. 911 called. He was deployed. But why did he have to be there at all? If we allow ourselves to imagine different, perhaps no one would've been harmed.
The man who allegedly shot Officer Rivera had moved in to take care of his mom. After heart surgery. They argued a lot. Unclear whether different from other moms/sons living together. On this night, like others, they were arguing. About food (turns out he was a vegan she wasn't).
“In her 911 call, mom was calm. Wasn't in immediate harm." What if she had (& knew she had) option to call for a non-police response? Social worker, mental health professional, mediator. Community member. W/o a gun. I think it would have made a difference.nytimes.com/2022/01/22/nyr…
People take for granted police should respond to everything. Traffic tickets to violent crime. Domestic violence: A no-brainer, right? As a longtime public defender, it's not so simple. 911 often used by partners as a threat, not protection. Others often want help for loved one.
As a public defender, I represented countless parents, sons/daughters, grandkids, siblings in arguments that got out of control. Some – unlike this present case – got physical. Once police showed & an arrest, far more often than not, the person who called 911 didn't want that.
In this case, mom appears to have just wanted someone to calm the situation down. But here's the thing: Just the act of calling the police often exacerbates the argument & explodes a situation even before they arrive. It ups the ante. Anxiety heightens. Desperation increases.
Once mom called police, it may have already been too late for whoever wound up responding. The alleged man who shot, now critically wounded himself, knew armed cops would be there. Knew he'd be arrested for something. Made fateful decision he was *not going to go through it all.
Once mom called police, it may have pre-destined Officer Rivera & his partner to death/injury, regardless of how they responded, whether or not they acted 100% appropriately, did everything they could to deescalate. But what if mom could have called someone else?
This is important: We often think about alternatives to policing as being critical to the health & safety of overpoliced communities, predominately Black & Brown. And they are. But alternatives to policing are also critical for the health/safety of police officers.
We didn’t have to lose one officer and have another in critical condition. Or have the alleged suspect shot as well. Our failure of imagination about how we deliver public safety fails our police force too. This was a 911 call for a loved one who was clearly emotionally unstable.
If mom had instead had opportunity to call a service provider, a mental health professional, a social worker, or other trained professional her son knew wouldn't be armed whose intervention wouldnt be handcuffs, arrest, prosecution, I dont think he wouldve armed himself.
Reducing unncecessary interactions between police and citizenry is good for overall public health & safety, good for the health & safety of police themselves, good for racial & social justice, good for cost efficiency, good for people and communities. Less lives lost, damaged.
It's also about more than just alternatives *after a situation is already a crisis. A heated argument is often too late. Communities need resources to help work through conflict on a daily basis for long term. Access to therapy. Completely unavailable in poorest communities.
So much of this thread are open questions. But questions I think are important to be asking. To prevent future unnecessary tragedies like what happened to Officer Rivera & his partner. I think things would've been different w/ a non-police response & more community resources.
There's a broader conversation here. Ordinarily we hear about people in crisis, shot by police after calls for help by family members. So many examples of police called to help where someone--usually person in crisis--is harmed. Note: Unclear the mental health situation here.
In Killeen, Texas, 58-year-old Patrick Warren Sr. was shot dead in his front yard after his family requested a mental health check. This didn’t need to happen. Police weren’t the ones to respond. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/t…
In Philadelphia, a mother called police to help her 27 y/o son, Walter Wallace, suffering a mental health crisis. Police found Walter screaming. His mother was trying to hold on to him. Both of the responding officers fired 7 times—14 shots in total. nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/wal…
A young woman in Oregon called police to help Jacob MacDuff, a 26 yo in a mental health crisis. Upon arrival, police got on the phone with his mother. Begged them to be “gentle with him, remain calm, please take care of my baby.” Police shot him five times.kgw.com/article/news/l…
In each of the above examples, police also could have been shot & killed or injured as well. But here’s the additional thing: Even when no one is physically hurt following a unnecessary police interaction for a domestic call for help, the process becomes the punishment.
Read this powerful commentary by a public defender about a mom who called for help for her daughter in an argument. She didn’t want her daughter arrested. The interaction with police & then the system, caused irreparable damage. currentaffairs.org/2021/03/our-no…
READ: "Rose didn’t want her daughter arrested; that wasn’t why she called. It would only hurt her daughter. But the police didn’t listen. They arrested Anna. And the familiar nightmare began." On our irrational, traumatic responses to mental health crises:currentaffairs.org/2021/03/our-no…
"The complexities surrounding crises in mental health call for a public health response. Calls to help people experiencing mental health crises can be more safely & effectively addressed by community organizations & non-law enforcement responders." vice.com/en/article/y3z…
As more details emerge about the incident in Harlem & the death of Officer Rivera, an important part of the conversation must be about the underlying circumstances and systems that escalated an argument & put Officer Rivera unnecessarily in harms way. And what can be different.
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