Just made it to the Mountain View Library for the Alaska Community Input Session on Police Accountability. Small crowd so far, but lots of Taco King! I'll do my best to keep a thread going of what goes on during the session 🤟 #ANCgov
I'll probably try to leave names out of this one, as I'm not sure who is going to feel comfortable with that information being shared.
We begin the session with a land acknowledgement in regional language followed by a translated version. It's a larger acknowledgement than more localized conversation, as this is a statewide community meeting.
After that there's community agreements, which include confidentiality and no recording so I'll stop now lol. Be back later with takeaway thoughts.
Alright, some thoughts after the session: 1) There are some absolutely horrifying abuses of power happening in APD and changes must be made. This isn't new info, but it needs to be known.
2) While the general sentiment of reform is a must was present, motivating factors and ideas on which issues take precedent vary considerably. This is an issue that needs more meetings and more discussion in the public, not just in the world of politicians/cops.
3) the issue of body cams is tricky. When is footage released? My personal thought is that we can't have all footage be accessible because it puts a disincentive to call the police about sensitive issues. I wouldn't call the cops about a crisis if I knew footage would be shared.
4) TPIP is a solid *start* to police reform, but doesn't solve the problem. Further, imprecise language that gives PDs the ability to define their own conditions of "necessary force" and similar terms is problematic and could lead to more clever ways to continue the same abuse.
Lastly, this issue may be an abstract one for many, but there are families and individuals for whom this is immediate and intensely personal. While reform is slow by nature, we cannot kick the can down the road and allow further harm to come to our neighbors and communities.
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