Reply to Are D.C. residents divided on what to do with police reform, crime, etc.?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm black.

I grew up in a community where black respectability is strong. The elders simply will not tolerate wayward behavior in kids. Those kids grow up to be educated, productive members of society. They have children that are also well-parented. And so on.

Living in DC (trendy, gentrifying neighborhood) has been an adjustment, to put it mildly. I finally understand what it's like to feel outright disgust about my own skinfolk. The absolute trash behavior that gets passed off as "culture" here is just ... I can't even.

I woke up this morning to discarded fast food packaging and several used condoms in front of my house. Again.

I want the city government and police to treat nuisance crimes as seriously as armed robbery.

I want more policing. I want aggressive behavior profiling. Not to be confused with racial profiling -- [i]behavior[/i] profiling. People roaming around looking for an opportunity to commit a crime absolutely behave differently from a couple of friends walking down the street together to get from point A to point B. The latter should be left alone. The former should be stopped and evaluated.

I want a dedicated mental health squad that patrols the streets to deal with people behaving erratically, obviously under the influence of a substance or untreated mental illness. Wrap them up, take them to an institution, treat them on the taxpayer's dollar.

I want the city to hire an army of street cleaners to walk around and pick up garbage. Every neighborhood. Every block. Every day.

DC could be soooo much better than it is, much nicer, much prettier, much higher quality of life for ALL residents. But it will take real political will to eliminate the cancer growing deep here.[/quote]

I agree with most of this!    But in practice, social workers go up to someone causing a nuisance due to their mental health status, and ask that person if they want assistance of some kind.  If the person says no, there is absolutely nothing the social worker can do about it.  If that person wants to defecate near the bus stop, he's going to do it, and a social worker can't stop that.  The police could then arrest for disorderly conduct or trespassing.  But when that happens, it disproportionately impacts black people and other people of color.

And so police are getting mixed messages.  Don't let your arrest stats be disproportionate by race.  But please address these nuisance issues.

The solution has to be somewhere higher up the line than police and social workers on the street.  It has to deal with comprehensive, accessible mental health and substance use treatment, as well as housing options.   And they all cost tons of money.   I was hoping Obamacare would help, but the failure by congress to fund risk corridors has made it shaky at best.   [/quote]

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