Local Policing

The Highland Institute rolled out its speaker series with the Institute's inaugural address by Boulder's newly-named police chief, Maris Herold (Click Here to Watch). Our next session will center around the dynamics driving local policing today and why Chief Herold's message and credentials make her an excellent choice for Boulder(Scroll Down to Read her Op-Ed).

Before we continue on to Chief Herold and her address, we might ask whether all local policing is like all politics in that it's (always) local. The current national convulsion would suggest otherwise i.e. that local policing everywhere can be assessed only through the lens of some wider consciousness, the most prominent of which might be deemed the "conversation" over race.

What started as a protest movement over the 2012 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin (by George Zimmerman) has evolved and coalesced into a well-funded and organized network operating under the entity known as "Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc." which calls for, among other things, the restructuring, the downsizing, and even the elimination of local police.

About time, some would say. They might cite law enforcement's sordid history of racism, with policing itself starting out as slave patrols. Putting aside for the moment the accuracy of that observation, we come to a central question: has the notion of racism, which may or may not be endemic to our society at large, become unfairly projected onto law enforcement? That is not to say there are no bad apples in uniform. The question becomes whether police actions are scrutinized in the context of all the facts and circumstances or are judged automatically through a kind of (anti-) racist lens. 

Or, perhaps, the police antipathy goes to something deeper than race. The co-founder of the BLM organization, Patrisse Cullors, openly acknowledged in a 2015 interview that she and her co-founder were "trained Marxists." While our role in Member Monday is to observe and discuss rather than to judge, we might ask whether the issue of race is but a Trojan Horse within the context of a much broader anti-police (indeed, anti-capitalist) movement. 

Chief Herold's presentation mentioned none of the above, nor should it have. Instead she addressed what local policing might look like in an evolved world. And, in a sort of back-handed way, she actually agreed with the need to restructure law enforcement, though not in the way envisioned by certain interest groups. The essence of her vision is one of "holistic governance," meaning a redefined role of police where we all share greater responsibility for law enforcement. 

Chief Herold, with her background in social work, is certainly well positioned to appreciate how the police would benefit through the strategic augmentation of trained social workers. Some cities have initiated rapid-response tactical task forces including crisis workers and medics as first responders for certain non-violent, non-criminal emergency calls (click: Social Worker Police Augmentation).

We welcome Chief Herold as she implements her own vision.