Ascending

The country is once again dealing with issues of police brutality, relating to the death of Tyre Nichols. A video documenting what the five officers did was released yesterday. I will not watch it: this young man’s death need not be turned jnto a lurid form of entertainment. I cannot imagine what this is like for his family.

I’m in two minds about the police. For having worked closely with DC law enforcement in my prior job as well as on community policing issues since then, i know that the majority of cops are dedicated individuals. But how does one identify the ‘bad apples’ and deal with them? The fact that police training isn’t standardized across the country (it’s a State-level responsibility) isn’t helping. Neither is the blanket denouncement of all police: it’ll only make it even harder to recruit the kinds of officers that are needed. A bit of a vicious circle…