[ The definition of insanity is repeating the same act and
expecting a different result. Right now, continuing the failed efforts
to “fix” policing in America feels insane, what’s needed is
radical and systemic change] [[link removed]]

AFTER AMIR LOCKE KILLING, IS POLICE REFORM EVEN THE SOLUTION?  
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Ernest Owens
February 12, 2022
Rolling Stone
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_ The definition of insanity is repeating the same act and expecting
a different result. Right now, continuing the failed efforts to
“fix” policing in America feels insane, what’s needed is radical
and systemic change _

More than 1,000 people march through downtown Minneapolis on
Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022 in response to the police killing of Amir Locke
three days earlier., Nicole Neri for MPR News

 

In 2020, police reformers had many believing that Minneapolis was
headed in the right direction.

After Black Lives Matter protests demanded accountability following
the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who was murdered by a white
officer, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey proposed a series of reforms to
address the unrest.

One of the major proposals was to also restrict the use of unannounced
raids known as “no-knock warrants” — a controversial practice
that allows police to enter a property without announcing their
presence beforehand — at one point, there were more than 20,000
raids of this kind
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a year. Several prominent police-reform organizations, such as
Campaign Zero, led by Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson,
called for such changes because they believed it would prevent police
from using excessive force.

At the time, Frey consistently told the public that he banned no-knock
warrants for “all but exigent circumstances.”

Nearly two years later, we now know that was a lie.

Last week, Amir Locke [[link removed]], a
22-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by Minneapolis police while
executing a no-knock warrant. According to body-cam footage, Locke was
asleep in the early hours of the morning before the police SWAT team
busted in — in violation of state law
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and shot him as he picked up a gun in self-defense. Attorneys
representing Locke’s family told the press that he was not the
suspect in question, and that he obtained the gun legally. On Tuesday,
Locke’s 17-year-old cousin, Mekhi C. Speed, was charged with
second-degree murder in connection with a shooting death that led to
the Minneapolis police raid.

As a result, activists are once again calling on the city of
Minneapolis to act. Mayor Frey has now placed a moratorium on no-knock
warrants — something the public thought he had already done.

The definition of insanity is repeating the same act multiple times
and expecting a different result. Right now, police reform
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its damn mind.

According to a review of available court records from _The Star
Tribune_, the Minneapolis Police Department filed more applications
for no-knock warrants (13) than standard search warrants (12) since
the start of 2022. These 13 no-knock warrants could be even higher
given that some warrant applications are confidentially sealed.

Translation: It’s impossible to reform a system that is set up to
lie to you.

Based on the rhetoric of reformists and politicians during the racial
uprisings, such measures were supposed to be a reassurance that
history wouldn’t repeat itself — especially by the same evils that
provoked the change. But bans on no-knock policies have only proven to
be watered down. Too many well-meaning civilians and advocates put
their trust in the system only to see that trust betrayed.

Take for example the Kentucky bill signed into law in April 2021
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was inspired by the extrajudicial no-knock warrant killing of Breonna
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black EMT who was shot by police during a
botched raid. Kentucky State Rep. Attica Scott worked with community
members to create House Bill 21, which was named “Breonna’s
Law.” This bill completely banned no-knock warrants — something
that activists called for. The legislation went on to mandate alcohol
and drug testing of officers who are involved in deadly incidents,
such as Taylor’s killing.

But the bill that made it to
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Kentucky Senate floor — and what got signed by Kentucky Gov. Andy
Beshear — was Senate Bill 4, which _restricts, not bans,_ the use
of no-knock warrants in certain situations. It also doesn’t mandate
alcohol and drug testing, and does not reference Taylor — the slain
Black woman who inspired it — at all. The GOP-controlled Senate
voted the weakened bill into law, while Beshear, a Democrat, went on
to sign the bill with Taylor’s family beside him.

“It falls short of the people’s demands and is another example of
performative politics,” Scott, the primary sponsor of the House
bill, told the press at the time. “It gets us closer to justice, but
this ain’t it. I voted yes because daughters like mine deserve a
chance to live without wondering if they will be next.”

At this point, it’s hard to say if such a chance is even possible
under this type of reform.

And how can reform work when you have politicians on both sides of the
political aisle being cowards to the police and their unions? While
public perception is that elected conservatives are super
law-and-order and pro-police, Democrats in office aren’t that far
away from Republican lawmakers in backing the blue. The Fraternal
Order of the Police, the nation’s top police union, often funds the
campaigns of members from both political parties. In both 2016 and
2020, they endorsed Donald Trump for president. In 2019, the Kentucky
FOP endorsed Beshear in his gubernatorial race.

“I’m grateful to have the trust and support of Kentucky’s
Fraternal Order of Police. It’s been an honor to serve as attorney
general and partner with our law-enforcement community to combat child
abuse and human trafficking, battle the opioid epidemic, stop
scammers, and clear Kentucky’s rape-kit backlog,” said Beshear at
the time.

I wonder if Beshear felt the same way when the FOP would later file a
lawsuit in July 2021 against the city of Lexington, Kentucky’s
second-largest city, over its ban on no-knock warrants. It’s hard
not to find the hypocrisy between both politicians and the police when
they actively engage with each other in counterproductivity.
Politicians propose police reform, the cops lobby their unions to try
to kill it — and the community suffers as a result. And to add
insult to injury, the FOP will continue to offer money to elected
officials to buy their complicity — while said politicians will
continue to seek their problematic backing.

This sure doesn’t seem like progress.

And what happened in Minneapolis is all too familiar and painful:

* The police tragically kill someone in a manner that sparks instant
public outcry and protest.
* City officials then claim they will look into the matter, which
leads to them bringing outside reformers into the mix. (Cue the
“spoke with civil rights leaders” PR plug.)
* This inspires a policy proposal that eventually gets watered down
due to politics.
* The weak tea unfortunately helps the bill get approved and
implemented so that reformists, politicians, and their ilk can call it
a victory.
* That is, until the loophole built into the toothless policy gets
taken advantage of by the police — causing this cycle to repeat
itself yet again.

That’s how we got back here in Minneapolis, and sadly, will continue
to.

History is continuing to show us that you can’t reform a system that
doesn’t want to reform itself. In June 2020, disgraced New York Gov.
Andrew Cuomo proudly announced the passing of a new state law banning
police use of chokeholds — even though the NYC police department
outlawed the brutal practice way back in 1993, and the prohibition
didn’t save Eric Garner from a fatal chokehold by cops in 2014.
Research has been mixed on whether diversifying the police force has
made a significant difference in preventing harm (just look at
Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore as examples). Corruption within
police departments that try to tout themselves as being progressive
has only damaged the public’s trust (side-eying Seattle
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California
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Traditional policy and politics can’t reform a corrupt institution
when the exchange of money is involved. As long as politicians
continue to get campaign contributions and seek endorsements from cop
unions like the Fraternal Order of the Police, we can forget about any
radical change. Police have already proven themselves to constantly
lie, cheat, and steal to protect their own — guilty or not —
regardless of the facts of the case (let the Chicago Police Department
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as a blatant example). As long as national, state, and city
governments and politicians continue to fund police departments by the
millions — they will remain in a codependent relationship that
entrenches the worst practices, leads to violence, and prevents
meaningful change.

Reformers are often well-meaning. But reform is politics, and politics
is dirty. If, after two years of protests and promises, an innocent
young Black man can’t sleep in peace without cops choosing to bust
in his house and kill him, how can we believe the police will ever
change for the better?

The truth is they won’t. Endless calls for police reform are simply
not enough. Now is the perfect time for different voices to enter the
room to be able to reimagine a new system that isn’t
working _with_ the police but working to _disempower_ them. One
that is focused on restorative methods that doesn’t put the
people’s trust and taxpayer dollars into the same cycle of death,
discrimination, and deception.

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