Police Reform and Police Brutality
How many killings are acceptable?
Like most of America, I was saddened and horrified by the video showing George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The following weeks of violence in our cities did nothing to lessen my sense of failure as an American still confronted by racism and injustice in my country. It was not the police in total, but rather a few police officers within the police. Most police are good people protecting the citizens was my attitude. But I had no answer to the question “How many killings are acceptable?” It has been almost twenty years since Rodney King and the LA riots. How many scenes of black men and women dying at the hands of law enforcers have there been since then? Too many for sure.
I’ve had a few problems with the police in my life. But I have never been pulled over driving while white. I never feared I’d be killed, no matter how much the police officer did not like me. I learned there were three things you said when stopped by the police, yes officer, no officer, and thank you, officer. Maybe my father taught me that, but whoever gave me that advice did me a favor. I did not think the police were my friends, but I knew they were someone I could call when in trouble. I grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, a small New England town. The police there looked out for the town youth.
I have one story that is most responsible for my appreciation of the police. In 1968, I was twenty-one and temporally assigned to the Natick Army Labs. Late one day after a night of drinking at the NCO club, I headed to the twenty-four-hour Merit gas station on Route 9 to put gas in my father’s car. It was a rule in my home, borrow the car — put in gas. I pulled in and asked for a buck’s worth, enough gas to move the needle, and left to use the facilities. When I went to pay, I realized I spent my last dollar on my last drink. Before I knew it, the attendant reached into the car and grabbed my keys. “No dollar, no keys,” was all he said. I knew I was in the wrong, but there was no way I was leaving without my father’s car. I offered to leave my wallet with him. I lived less than five miles away and would be back in less than twenty minutes. “No dollar, no keys,” he repeated. Okay, says I, I’m in the Army and I’ll leave you my field jacket here. You know I’ll be back for that. “No dollar, no keys,” he said one more time. I had nothing else. All I could think of was to put this guy on the ground and take my keys. He pulled out his wallet and showed me a five-pointed star badge. He told me to settle down. Drinks at the NCO clubs cost ninety cents. I didn’t have a dollar, but I had a dime. I called the Natick Police. A few minutes later, a cruiser pulled into the station. He listened to the story, took out his wallet, and gave the attendant a dollar. He said, “Give the kid his keys.”
So back to today, it is clear to me that we need to do more than has been done in the past twenty years. The police need to be held accountable for their actions. The killing needs to stop. A few bad apples just does not answer the question “Why is this still happening?” For most of the ideas I’ve heard these past weeks, I wonder at their effectiveness. I do not want to eliminate the police. I think that idea is absurd. I think de-funding police in favor of social programs is short-sighted, although social services supporting the police does sound promising. Riots in the street and a soft police response doesn’t address the problem. Violence is unacceptable. I decided to ask someone closer to the problem. I reached out to Ashland Chief of Police, Vincent Alfano, who spoke with me and answered my questions.
Chief Alfano has spent his life in security, in both the private and public sectors, although mostly working as a policeman. He started as a Framingham patrolman and for twenty years rose to the rank of lieutenant. Although now a city, Framingham is next to Ashland and was the largest town in the country. He left Framingham to become Chief of Police in Bolton, Massachusetts where he served for ten years. He retired from Bolton and was doing police training when Ashland approached him to become chief.
In response to many of my questions, like “Do you think civilian oversight committees are a good idea?” he said he thought maybe it was good in a big city, but it wouldn’t work in Ashland. Questioned about de-funding the police in favor of social programs, he again spoke of Ashland and small-town budgets. Big Cities have more resources. Police budgets here are tight. If you cut the budget, community services will suffer. To my question did he think racism was a problem in law enforcement, he said he thought racism was a problem. On police unions, he said in Ashland, the union plays no part in officer discipline. In response to George Floyd’s death, he said everyone in the department thought it was wrong. They reviewed their training and procedures to help ensure nothing like that could happen in Ashland. “Police exist to serve the community. Racism serves no one,” he said.
As we were finishing up our discussion the chief said, “When you strip everything away, it comes down to the integrity of the officer, the ethics of the officer, the professionalism of the officer, and the training of the officer. That is what will prevent racism. That will prevent any excessive force. That’s what we focus on in Ashland.”
I agree that the integrity of police officers is the ultimate answer, but I did not get any specific actions needed to nationally address the issue of police on black abuse from the chief, which make sense. This problem is more complex than one fixed by a single solution. But because it’s hard does not mean it can’t be done. I hope this time we do more than talk about the issue and start to make changes to stop this injustice. Every police department needs to do their own work to fix their department. We need not villainize the police to stop the abuse.
The local police in Ashland work for public safety, which is why we have a police department. Like most everything I find when I look at the town of Ashland, I am glad I live here. I am glad the Ashland police are on the job, protecting and improving the lives of Ashland residence.
