Power gradients either reduce the or increase the burden of evidence required to feel that an action can be 'justified' or will be supported in wider society. The steepness of the gradient varies according to many societal factors. Humans learn predominantly via role modelling - what we see and hear programs the brain for those actions regardless of our genetic inheritance. This can be healthy or unhealthy depending on what we witness. In essence, our cultures, our lore and our language either increases or decreased the effort required to travel neurological pathways - as with water, the flow will most readily move along the pathway of least resistance, of least energy required, to produce a result. In countenance to this the solution is reduction in stress and fear (to allow better use of the prefrontal cortex (rather than the primitive structures activated by fear) and changing our culture and lore toward empathy and cooperation (rather than survival of the fittest, fear and competition). Prejudice is a power gradient that produces the harm that prejudiced operators purport to be attempting to reduce.
Police reform takes intelligence, heart, a will to create a more just society for all, an ability to listen to each section of society and take account of their perspectives. Police reform takes a level of education and patience. For it is easier to transform an institution than rebuild something taken away in haste. When the institution is evolved in ways that are more loving, more kind and prevent more crime through creating emotional bonds and social stability (in conjunction with other aspects of the state - housing, food, medicine etc), then all can come to feel comforted by the existence of the police service. The previous fear will thus go in time because the changes will have been real and lasting. Trust is something earned not given, and thus through reform the police can re-earn the trust of vulnerable citizens.
It was little wonder that many shouting the loudest for no policing were criminals. Yet the call for police reform was based in neuroscience, in mental health nursing and good old fashioned common sense. It was time our police had our full backing to do their jobs right, but also the training to interact with people in a way that improved their mental health and took tension out of situations rather than causing it. We needed well trained "social firefighters" rather than "fire-starters." We needed well thought out ways to engage with youth before they became involved in gangs rather than putting so much effort into jails. When we are looking at the very fabric of society, a penny in time saves nine. We all know it, time to show it.
Police were given the budget to host community pizza dinners each month, to attract the kind of kids that were having a hard time trusting police and start to build emotional bonds with them. Communities are emotional relationships, otherwise we're just a bunch of people in the same area, atomised.
We had a new degree in the universities as part of policing reforms that combined policing, mental health and sociology. As such policing began to attract a different kind or recruit, one committed to social healing and keeping communities safe.
As part of the police reforms, in addition to mental health nursing being part of the new police curriculum and qualifications, officers were given paid time to run basketball clubs and other free social clubs for children and youth in poor areas. It allowed both police and kids to get to know one another, to really care about each other and gain the kind of empathic understanding that would help keep the kids safe. Over time, more kids from the deprived areas became police officers and a cycle of community healing was set in motion.
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