Lawrence, KS, which is now affectionately known as Obamaville, KS, apparently continues their efforts to show that a police department can work with a community in a way that isn't so confrontational.
http://www2.ljworld.com/...
Lawrence Police Chief Tarik Khatib has made the Department of Justice’s report on the investigation of the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department required reading for every officer on his staff.
Khatib said that’s because there are plenty of lessons to take away from the conduct of the Ferguson department.
“The patterns and practices of the department are an example of a relationship with the community gone bad,” Khatib said.
In Ferguson, city officials pressured the police department to generate revenue by issuing more and more citations for city code violations, according to the report, adding to the disconnect between the police and the community. For 2015, the city expects fines and fees to make up about 23.3 percent of its budget, the report said.
“The city and police department saw citizens as a source of revenue and a hindrance," Khatib said "That’s a dangerous circumstance to have because you start to have police officers see citizens not as people they’re supposed to help but as an annoyance to whatever it is you want to do.”
By contrast, Lawrence’s 2015 budget anticipates fines and fees to make up about 4 percent of its budget. Khatib said that looking to citations for revenue is “pretty low-hanging fruit,” but it is “unethical" and “alienates the people you serve.”
What Chief Khatib is discussing is the way in which a population is held in contempt of officers and the law, who have in Ferguson used average citizens as a source of revenue to the extent that many found themselves in social debt.
https://www.dropbox.com/...
Despite Ferguson’s relative poverty, fines and court fees comprise the second largest source of revenue for the city, a total of $2,635,400. In 2013, the Ferguson Municipal Court disposed of 24,532 warrants and 12,018 cases, or about 3 warrants and 1.5 cases per household.
This difference is a key in providing a police department into a positive force in a community.
There has never been a more prophetic moment in TV history than The Wire laying out the problems not just in Baltimore but in communities nationwide:
I mean, you call something a war and pretty soon everybody gonna be running around acting like warriors. They gonna be running around on a damn crusade, storming corners, slapping on cuffs, racking up body counts. And when you at war, you need a fucking enemy. And pretty soon, damn near everybody on every corner is your fucking enemy. And soon the neighborhood that you're supposed to be policing, that's just occupied territory.
For Lawrence, KS trying to prevent that occupied territory feeling is a priority:
http://www2.ljworld.com/...
“The key in any community is making sure the police officers don’t feel different than members of the community,” Khatib said. 'When police officers don’t feel like they’re a part of the community and the community doesn’t feel the police department is a part of them, it creates a problem just looking for a spark.”
Khatib said he envisions a larger police force where officers would be better able to nurture relationships with community members outside of the back of a police car.
“If your biases develop because you only hang out with other officers, that’s a problem,” Khatib said. “I want our officers to have nonconfrontational interactions with (residents) and our community members to have contact with officers not only when they are a victim or suspect in a crime.”
It seems as though, despite the outrage of the right at the nature of Lawrence, KS -- the law enforcement there is intent on becoming a model for other Kansas communities.