Trust continues to decline between America’s most vulnerable communities – those most in need of adequate police protection – and the police officers who serve them.
Last month in Springfield, Illinois, Sonia Massey called 911 for help, only to be shot and killed in her kitchen. Corresponding DeputyThese types of shootings often result in, at worst, riots and, at best, a sharp rise in distrust and resentment towards police.
But tragic anomalies cannot and should not define the relationship between our communities and the police who are tasked with keeping us safe.
Bad cops must be corrected, but good cops should be supported and not punished or denigrated like other cops.
That’s why Voices of Black Mothers United at the Woodson Center is partnering with organized community policing events across the country for this year’s National Night Out. We already know that building greater trust between community members and their local police helps keep everyone safer. More trust means less fear, anger, and misunderstanding, which in turn means less violence.
We know how to solve the problems of police and community violence; it’s up to us to do it together.
With greater trust, there will be greater openness. We can hold bad officers accountable. We can hold criminals accountable. We can foster a healthy emotional balance in ourselves and in the officers who make life-and-death decisions every day. We can learn to trust each other without fear or hostility.
At the end of the day, the police officers in our communities need our help to carry out the duties they are sworn to protect and serve, but we also need them to feel safe in our communities, and from that shared need comes mutual responsibility and respect.
We must hold one another to integrity, respect and honesty. We are accountable to one another and to the communities we live in. Our police officers hold us to a rigorous vetting process, rigorous accountability practices, and transparent, effective policing.
The Illinois deputy sheriff charged with shooting and killing Sonia Massey had a record of problematic behavior. Why wasn’t he marked as a danger to law enforcement?
In return, we owe police officers the same respect and trust that we expect from our communities. Police officers may one day suddenly find themselves in incredibly difficult situations and witness the worst of humanity. Police departments must ensure that officers have access to adequate mental health support to continue to do their jobs well. As communities, we must hold police officers accountable, but cutting off communication will be counterproductive.
Even if we are truly outraged by police abuses, rioting and hostility will not make us safer or solve the violence in our communities; they will create more fear and anxiety and make police responses worse.
When police respond to a call, people are usually already scared, angry and saddened. If you’ve recently suffered at the hands of a violent criminal or felt your life was threatened, it can be hard to discern who is a friend and who is an ally in the heat of the moment. But before trust can become a reality, we must choose to trust. We must choose to see each other as human beings, as neighbors and as peaceful cooperators.
The reality we choose together is ultimately the reality we build – whether it be a community filled with anger, hostility, distrust and violence, or one filled with harmony, trust, accountability and justice.
Now is the time to build a better world. A time to choose each other, a time to choose peace. A time to build relationships between community members and law enforcement that can bear the burden of true trust, even in the most difficult moments.
Sylvia Bennett Stone is national director of Voices of Black Mothers United, a project of the Woodson Center.
