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A thread on the RPD, accountability, and respect:
Who do we hold to account? We hold people to account when they might have done something wrong.
Who do we hold to account? We hold people to account when they might have done something wrong.
This doesn't mean they *have* done something wrong, it means that there's some reason to believe that they have. It might turn out that they didn't do the thing, or they did it but it wasn't wrong, or they were justified, or they had some good excuse.
Perhaps the excuse means that we shouldn't blame them, or we should blame them less. I think 'it was standard protocol' does this: it says they were following training, which they presumably have good reason to follow. (Those who trained them should thus also be held to account)
But that does not mean that they are entirely off the hook: they should reflect on those orders, they should also be attuned to other factors (in this instance, Daniel Prude's suffering).
My point isn't about how I think we can condemn or justify them, the point I want to make is that they should offer that account. They should be made to tell us what happened, why they did it, and they should be punished if the answer is bad.
Why? Because Prude's family and the public need this. They need to understand why Daniel Prude was killed, they need to judge whether they find this account acceptable, and they need to be assured that in future they will be kept safe.
But the police also need to do this. To hold someone accountable is to affirm that they are a person. It manifests that we see them as able to make their own choices and to decide what to do.
They are under investigation. But through their failures to be open and honest, through their failures to be constructive, RPD, Chief Singletary, The Locust Club, and Mayor Warren fail not only Prude's family, not only the public, but themselves.
People have pointed out that the police treated Prude like an animal. But they make themselves into animals when they refuse to be held to account, they make themselves like forces of nature which we can explain, but which never justify themselves. They stop being people.
And that is exactly why reform is needed.
