|
|
Content Warning: This email depicts police brutality. If you are not in a position to read this message, please click away and know that I won’t stop advocating for policy solutions that will end police violence and make our communities safe. Take care of yourself. |
|
Jack,
Over the weekend, a video of three Arkansas law enforcement officers beating a man went viral on social media.
We can see in the video (that as we mentioned, is graphic) a law enforcement officer repeatedly punching a man and slamming his head against the concrete ground. Another officer kicks the man repeatedly while a third officer is restraining him.
The man survived and is in county jail. He was accused of threatening an employee of a store in Mulberry and is now being charged with a wide range of crimes: second-degree battery, resisting arrest, refusal to submit, possessing an instrument of crime, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, terroristic threatening, and second-degree assault, per the state police.
None of that really matters. There is NO excuse for the behavior we saw from those officers.
We witnessed a dangerous misuse of authority that should concern everyone. I believe that a safer and fairer Arkansas for all of us means reforming the systems that make these incidents far too familiar.
I’ve spoken a bit about the work I did last year while earning my Master of Social Work, and you might already know that I spent some time working with a local police department as they started to build a co-response model.
A co-response model means sending social workers out with officers for calls with a mental health component. Of course, we don’t know the specifics of this situation or if a social worker would have been responding if available, but I am pretty confident that officers wouldn’t have behaved that way in front of one.
This is just one way we could work toward eliminating police brutality. As a community, we can urge our leaders to take action that will hold officers accountable and make our communities safer.
Social workers can work alongside law enforcement to help de-escalate mental health crises and connect community members to local resources, which reduces call volume over time.
This helps people, and the police officers I got to work with were overwhelmingly supportive of it.
Many areas across the country have been doing this a while with great results. This is something I would love to advocate for as your lieutenant governor.
We have to do better.
More soon,
Kelly
|
|
|
|
|
©2022 Kelly for Arkansas, all rights reserved.
Our mailing address is: Kelly for Arkansas PO Box 1267 Lowell, AR 72745 |
|
We hate to see you go, but if you believe you received this email in error, or you no longer wish to receive our emails you can unsubscribe from this list using the link below. Click here to unsubscribe. |
