Disband the cops. If you must, re-create public safety organizations on Peelian principles (i.e. "policing by consent"). Police should operate based on the consent of the public and not based on the application of the force of law and accompanying state-sanctioned violence. 1/? https://twitter.com/MykeCole/status/1266806003955367943

Imagine how differently an organization embodying the Peelian principles highlighted below would act, keeping in mind that the targets of police action are just as much members of the public as those who call the police. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelian_principles 2/

"2...the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour..." 3/

"3...to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public means also the securing of the willing co-operation of the public..." 4/

"4...that the extent to which the co-operation of the public can be secured diminishes proportionately the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion..." 5/

"7...that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being *only* members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen..." 6/

While these principles might sound anodyne, they radically depart from the US model of the relationship between the police and the public. I'm hardly an expert on criminal or racial justice, but I have had some exposure to this other way of doing things. 7/

I obviously benefit from a enormous amount of privilege, and even I've had bad interactions with police for no apparent reason (and I don't have to *fear for my life* in a random traffic stop). The clear message in these negative interactions is always "comply or else." 8/

My criminal procedure professor (who had substantial experience with the criminal justice system) cautioned my classmates against exercising their Constitutional rights unless we "had to," because that wouldn't keep us from being roughed up and held overnight without cause,... /9

i.e., there's a risk that even privileged law students will be subject to violence for not following (unlawful) orders. Given our racist past and present, it should be impossible to avoid seeing how this power leads to violence against the black public in particular. 10/

Back to Peelian principles. In the UK (where I lived decades ago), the difference in the tenor of interaction with the police was stark. When we moved there, several of my family members noted it. Police appeared to be helpful civil servants, not a paramilitary organization. 11/

At the time, we chalked it up to the British police not wearing guns, but no longer think that was it. The guns are the outward sign of a deeper difference. Here, we know in our guts that the police have near-absolute discretion to initiate violence against you. 12/

This is reflected in legal bars, like qualified immunity,* as well as cultural/political factors, e.g. people don't convict police and politicians are afraid of seeming "weak on crime," i.e. "insufficiently addressing white fears." 13/

* Abolish it!

Toss in the fact that many police officers apparently view themselves as the last bastion against total chaos (the "thin blue line"). As the article up-thread notes, this has intensified since the War on Terror, but it has deep, deep roots. https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1267109727256948736 14/

This thread is embarrassingly long, so I'll wrap it up. There is no reason to permit, let alone encourage, an us-v-them mentality in the police. Police should be no more than members of the public who get paid to help others on a consensual basis. /end