Change Doctrine: Police & Community (by Mutendei Writes, Guest Blogger)

(Photo: NYS)

With so many cases to cite, it’s clear that the problem with society is not “law and order” but the people, who, by their own self-sanctified declarations, enforce “law and order.”

This is true for multiple societies and communities in the United States of America, as well as Africa, with Kenya, being a specific focus for this point of discussion.

The past month has seen so many incidences of police and prosecutorial misconduct (standard procedure) in the United States and Kenya (representative of power).

A common counter argument of the guilty institutions has been the argument that the affected individuals became victims of the police and legal system because of bad parenting and lack of community accountability. This is why the credibility of the victims of systemic violence is always attacked first as opposed to the history of the perpetrators being revealed.

Fair enough.

LET’S KEEP THAT SAME ENERGY.

The violent police and nefarious prosecutorial system are then equally bad products of bad parenting and lack of community accountability, the parents (besides the biological parents of k*ller cops and k*ller prosecutors) being the governments that they themselves are “fruits of a poisoned tree.”

Krasner dismisses 31 from Philly DA’s Office in dramatic first-week shakeup (inquirer.com) 

Under court order, District Attorney Krasner releases list of tainted police (inquirer.com) 

Yesterday Jackie Johnson,... - The Breakdown with Shaun King (Facebook)

So let’s look at how these “fruits of a poisonous tree” come to be.

THE LEVEL OF EDUCATION.

(Photo: NY Post)

In America the majority of cops are demographically white, yet what is the education level in respect to their profession of the white police demographic and that of members of “minorities” sprinkled amongst them?

These “minorities” have the benefit of a different cultural context, but that context is erased in the greater cultural context of “The Blue.”

So what is the culture of “The Blue”?

Circling back to education, one cannot have culture without education, or indoctrination when it comes to the police and the “law and order” establishment.

In America, in most of the police precincts, you can become a police officer within three to six months.

I verified this by simply googling “How long does it take to become a police officer in America?” and came upon this fantastic article by Jake Horton under BBC Reality Check. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56834733

In addition to this article, there are several others that can provide further evidentiary support. Graham Kates from CBS pens a similar article https://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-training-weeks-united-states/

So with the training period of police in America being roughly three to six months (a laughable timeframe for such a “cornerstone” profession) what is required education wise to become a police officer?

Jake Horton’s article covers this in detail, but for clarity, summarily it is only a high school diploma. In Kenya, as indicated on the Kenya Police government website Kenya Police Service, the requirements are listed that an applicant shall be a person who:

· Is a citizen of Kenya

· Holds a Kenya National Identity Card

· Possess a minimum qualification of ‘D+’ in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination with a ‘D+’ in either English or Kiswahili languages

· Be aged between 18 and 28 years for holders of KCSE Examination Certificate or its equivalent, and up to 30 years for diploma and degree holders

· Meets the requirements of chapter six of the constitution

· Is physically, mentally, and medically fit

· Has no criminal convictions, or pending criminal action

· Female candidates must not be pregnant at recruitment and during the entire training period

It is held in theory but not practice by police organizations who claim that their core function is to “protect and service” or in the case of Kenya “Utumishi Kwa Wote” (Service to All).

Their impact on communities has proved otherwise.

(Photo: Toronto.com)

The Key point to note in reviewing both sets of qualification criteria is the lack of a community service requirement for institutions that are supposed to be community serving and facing.

Where is the community service or community sensitivity training and engagement requirement before applying to become or becoming a police officer?

In every other professional vocation, applicant hopefuls undergo a period of supervised apprenticeship within the very circles that they will operate in their official earned capacity.

Where is the apprenticeship for police officers and by extension the political office holders who appoint the political office holders among the police service ranks?

The logical follow-up to this is where this training occurs? Does it happen in the communities that the policing is centered in, or is it far removed training centres?

In America (and Canada), to the best of my knowledge no state/province or federal body exists that covers and enhances community training for police officer candidates.

One could consider the Boy Scouts of America, but are they really effective in this regard?

In Kenya there exists a perfect body to enact such indoctrination, exposure and training for police officers, but it is not put to such a noble use, nor is it really visible in the communities where it is required the most. This organization is in Kenya called the National Youth Service.

To further see how rotten the current administrative setup is, one only needs to ask, what does the National Youth Service serve or enact in communities under the banner of “National-Service”?

In addition to an analysis and adjustment to the qualifying conditions that police officers emerge from, equal consideration must be given to the demographic locales that police officers come from.

If your “aim” as a police officer or institution, is to serve and protect communities, why not serve and protect the communities that you live in?

This is equally a systemic problem in both America and Kenya (in this discussion, representative of Africa).

(Photo: Seattle U)

As a writer and creative story teller, I cannot morally or ethically tell a story that’s not mine, when the story is linked to a particular demographic of persons in society or if linked to a particular history, tell the story without doing sufficient in depth, objective research.

Why is the same principle not applied to policing? How can you have police officers who have no stake in the community being the ones who police it? This is part of the problem of Police Culture, as captured in articles about the divide between the police in America and the American communities victimized by them.

The Fraternal Order Of Police: A Union That Stands In The Way Of Police Reforms (NPR) 

About the Fraternal Order of Police - Fraternal Order of Police (fop.net)

Why the Fraternal Order of Police Must Go (The Marshall Project)

The American Journalist and Community Activist, Shaun King has touched on this multiple times in the constant, continuing struggle against police brutality and racialized policing.

Shaun King Solutions For Police Brutality - New York Daily News (nydailynews.com)

(Photo: Buffalo Rising)

One key focus and recent issue that Shaun King discussed is that the majority of Buffalo, New York’s police officers do not live in Buffalo themselves. The following three links discuss this travesty in depth.

The issue of residency for Buffalo Police resurfaces at Common Council meeting (WBFO)

Lawmakers craft legislation that could create Buffalo Police residency requirement (wgrz.com)

Strong Neighborhoods Buffalo, NY (buffalony.gov)

The same geographical sourcing discussion needs to be had in Kenya (and Africa) more so as Kenya is more ethically fragmented (again, an imposed inheritance permeated by the political establishments of today and yesteryear).

This push back against “the poisoned tree and its fruit” has worked its way into the work of activists and artists both in Kenya and America - Haki Yetu (Our Rights) / Black Lives Matter, yet it has not worked itself into the communities that produce these poisoned fruits that many police officers are. To state them categorically, these communities responsible for the sorry state of policing are the police themselves and the political bodies that oversee their creation and administration.

(Photo: The Guardian)

One avenue for change that has been sung far and wide in America is “defund the police” which has led to several alternatives of engagement when dealing with problems that require de-escalation with surprising results in America.

In Kenya (and Africa at Large) however there is no means to “defund the police” when policing policies, enactment and funding are strictly the preserve of the upper political hierarchy, and not the community level in contrast to the city council framework of some America states where “Defunding the Police” (reprioritizing the police) can have some traction.

In Kenya, just like in America, the policing structure needs an immediate and robust overhaul both in the structure and constitution of the structure itself and the pay/ living conditions of the officers themselves. With such poor community service training, Kenyan police officers themselves bear the burden of poor economic and living conditions for their service in contrast to their North American/ European counterparts who have a landscape of ingrained benefits in their remuneration by comparison. The Kenyan police in this regard have to go and “look” for theirs (economic sustainability), creating a moral hazard that can be argued till death, yet simply solved by those holding the purse strings and the ability to create a better service, training and community standard for the police and the public they are supposed to serve. The result is a demoralized, economically focused police force (not service), further perpetuating corruption as a way of life.

(Photo: The Guardian)

Until then, cases of police violence as highlighted in the links below will continue to be a consistent occurrence, heavily ignored with inaction by the political/administrative hierarchies of the day, who contribute to the bad mentality and health of policing as also shown in the last two links below.

https://www.one.org/africa/blog/ndwiga-brothers-death-police-brutality-kenya/  (The One)

Nine weeks of bloodshed: how brutal policing of Kenya's Covid curfew left 15 dead | Police (The Guardian) 

https://theconversation.com/why-violence-is-a-hallmark-of-kenyan-policing-and-what-needs-to-change-139878 (The Conversation)

Coronavirus corruption in Kenya: Officials and businesspeople targeted (BBC News)

COVID-19 Millionaires exposed (YouTube)

One solution to the policing problem and moral hazard of policing in Kenya (and by extension Africa) is to remove the appointment of the upper echelon of police management from underneath the Executive and place it under Judiciary Arm of Government, who can hopefully hire and fire without bias or political alignments, the upper brass of police institutions.

This as a solution could be further heightened by devolving police administration so administration and enactment occurs both at a devolved county and federal/national basis.

Until these changes happen, the police will continue to be cannon fodder for artists to write and perform about, communities to mistrust and be victims of, and politicians and the administrative hierarchy to continue to exploit them, making communities and the police irreconcilable enemies.

In this regards, Life will continue to be stranger than fiction and we will continue to be bombarded with Shows and Movies that attempt to normalize and sanitize the Rule/ Law Breaking Police in America and elsewhere, making police violence excusable and cool as they continue their carte blanche on communities.

· Training Day

· Assault on Precinct 13

· Black and Blue

· Street Kings

· Serpico

· LA Confidential

· Rampart

· American Gangster

· Brooklyn’s Finest

· Bad Lieutenant

· NARC

· 16 Blocks

· 21 Bridges

· Detroit

· Pride and Glory

___________________________

Written by Mutendei Writes for Kya Publishing's Reflection & Reason blog.