Neighborhood Decides Not to Call the Police; Lawlessness Reigns

Minneapolis residents in the neighborhood a few blocks from where George Floyd was killed have vowed not to call the police because they want to protect people of color.  

In a shocking turn of events, things are going badly.

Two drug overdoses have occurred, and over 200 homeless tents have popped up in the park.  Residents go in shifts to over three hundred homeless people, bringing hot food and offering counseling. 

Notwithstanding their good intentions, their problems are getting worse.

Mitchell Erickson was robbed. Some young guys put a gun to his chest and demanded his car keys. Panicked, he accidentally gave the thieves his house keys.  They became enraged and left, then stole his neighbor’s car.  Erickson broke down and — by instinct — called 911.

Erickson initially said it was the right decision to call the police but now regrets it. He told the New York Times, “So I would have lost my car. So what? At least no one would have been killed.”

Joseph Menkevich came across an unconscious black man wearing a hospital bracelet in an elevator. Menkevich tried to call one of the local community activists, but the woman did not answer her phone.

Then he called the police, but requested just an ambulance. The police department sent one white officer with a squad car who offered to take the man to the hospital, but the man, who was by then conscious, refused. 

Shari Albers has had recurring nightmares of people breaking into her home. She knows her neighbors are around, but she’s afraid now that calling the police is no longer an option.  (Note: residents can call the police, of course, but the community is pressuring residents to comply to the no-cops standard.  Certainly public shaming would occur if the people there didn’t go along to get along.)

Carrie Nightshade — a mother of a 12 year old and a 9 year old — no longer lets her children near the park. She’s not judgmental towards the hundreds of homeless people, but she fears for her kids’ safety.  If Nightshade witnesses physical violence, she has vowed to call the American Indian Movement, a group formed in Minneapolis in the late 1960s to address police brutality. 

So let me get this straight.

People would rather live in a place where he can be robbed at gunpoint just to avoid calling the cops?  Or a place where children can’t go to the park, because homeless people are living there permanently in tents?

I understand that they — in the wake of the evil killing of Floyd — are grieving and trying to come up with a solution.  However, this social experiment is going badly.  

No matter your politics, police are necessary. We should not abolish the police, but we should increase funding for police training. 

More qualified police means fewer shootings, fewer mistakes. We must fix this communities’ distrust of the police, but lawlessness won’t help anyone.

Hat Tip: NY Times, Daily Wire

Image Credit: Piqsels