Guns: What Will You Do If Your Police Are Defunded? (Pt. 1) | Dana Loesch | GUNS | Rubin Report

Defunding the Police:
Replacing Guns With Prescription Pads Is Not the Answer
by Noel Hunter, PsyD
June 17, 2020

As calls for police defunding and reform become louder amidst the powerful Black Lives Matter movement, the suggestion that mental health workers step into the void is also taking hold.

Why is it that so many people seem to think it’s a good idea to replace certain functions of police with mental health workers?

It is likely that deep down, people know that the mental health system, particularly psychiatric hospitals, serve much the same function as the police and jails: social control.

As stated by Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu, in her recent article We don’t need cops to become social workers: We need peer support + community response networks,

“Psychiatric institutions are, in fact, part of the carceral state. This means that they are part of the many systems that function to: contain people, take away their locus of control, offer surveillance, isolate them from their communities, and limit their freedom.”

To be clear, replacing police presence with mental health interventions will look nothing like a cozy visit to one’s beloved therapist in a private practice office, sipping oolong tea and smelling lavender oils.

There may be times when a caring social worker listens, de-escalates the situation, mediates conflict, and directs the person and/or family toward resources without violence and without force. This stuff works and I’m certainly here for it.

More often, however, mental health workers responding to emergency calls and crises results in coercion, labelling and othering, paternalism, force, and, yes, even violence, all under the guise of “for your own good.” The penal system and that of mental health are both spokes of the same wheel: built on patriarchy, oppression, isolation, silencing, and control.

And, before the refrain of “not all professionals” or “not me” or “not anyone I’ve ever known” starts to reverberate, know that these words are always the words of an oppressor. So, please, just stop. This is about systems, not individuals, even if individuals within such systems inevitably become part of the problem.

The Mental Health System is Built on Racism and Bias

It is nothing new to point out that the mental health professions have been designed to act in the role of regulating the marginalized and reinforcing White male control.

Since its beginnings, psychiatry has used its medicalized language and pseudoscience to deny experiences of abuse, tyranny, and assault as delusional or, worse, the uneducated perceptions of lesser stock that cannot appreciate help when they see it. Drapetomania, a purported “peculiar” mental illness that made slaves run away, is certainly a prime example.

Mental health professionals played a central part in the development and legitimization of the Eugenics movement. Psychological tests were designed based on White, American norms to determine intelligence and mental fortitude. Those who did not do so well were thought to be genetically inferior and in need of either help from the superior genetic class and/or sterilization or, worse, extermination as in the Nazi camps.

Though it may be believed that much has changed, only just this last month did universities in California decide to stop using the SAT due to its inherent racial and socioeconomic prejudices. This test was designed in a not dissimilar manner to those of a century ago. And it’s 2020.

Aside from such egregious arrogance, the current bio-medical paradigm is also fundamentally racist (and sexist, and heteronormative, etc., etc., etc.) at its core. Diagnostic categories exist based on whatever deviates from the social norm, which, of course, is that of the upper-class White Western man.

Think that’s an unfair overstatement? First, diagnoses are based on committees that consist of almost entirely White men. Second, these categories are nothing more than descriptions of behaviors, not a disease that one can locate and define. Lastly, in an effort to legitimize these made-up categories by looking at the brain, fMRIs have been used to suggest that these diseases can be found in the brain. How do they know? By comparing “ill” patients to “controls.” Who are the controls? White middle-upper class college kids in America. For added fun, these brain scans aren’t even that useful in telling scientists anything about any individual’s brain anyway.

But, there’s more.

Rates of admission into psychiatric facilities, even without bringing more mental health professionals into Black communities, are three or more times higher among various Black groups. These admissions are also more likely to be by force. In other words, Black individuals are being forcefully locked up far more than White people — Does this sound familiar?

And, as soon as a person becomes diagnosed as mentally ill, the contextual and societal factors (racism, poverty, lack of education, chronic stress, oppression, abuse, neglect, violence, etc.) that underlie the emotional distress in the first place immediately become secondary or forgotten altogether.

Giving greater power to mental health professionals to diagnose and institutionalize is directly antithetical to finally giving weight to these social traumas and putting them front and center.

Beatings Hurt, But Psychological Abuse Sometimes Hurts More

Being beaten, bullied, abused, and/or assaulted can scar a person for life. But, doing these same things emotionally, and telling the person that they should appreciate it is devastating beyond belief. This is emotional and psychological abuse. Period.

In fact, studies have shown that psychological abuse has effects that are at least as dangerous, if not more so, than physical abuse. Emotional pain and assault are real, and sometimes worse than physical pain.

One of the worst ways that emotional manipulation, oppression, abuse, paternalism — call it what you will — deeply harms is by fundamentally changing one’s sense of self and agency. If you’ve spent a lifetime experiencing microaggressions, lack of opportunities, surveillance, poverty, and/or overt racism and then meet a doctor who tells you that the emotional distress and fear you experience as a result are, in fact, symptoms of a brain/genetic illness in need of drugs (of course, their drugs, not yours!), your sense of defectiveness and helplessness risks becoming solidified at the very core.

Replacing the taser guns and brute force of militarized police with needles and the psychological manipulation and gaslighting from medicalized authoritarian do-gooders is flipping the same coin on its head. It’s like entering the Upside Down in Stranger Things.

I mean come on! Is this the best answer we, as a society, can come up with when calling for dismantling systems of oppression and racism?

Black Voices Matter

More than anything, being labeled as mentally ill and given mind-altering, numbing, and tranquilizing drugs serves first and foremost to silence and to tame the voices of the suffering. Trauma and oppression give way to chemical imbalances and brain diseases, despite no physical or scientific evidence to justify this.

People are not ill for being angry, crazed, overwhelmed, fearful, suspicious, hurt, sad, and/or unable to express it in ways others find tolerable. And, they sure as heck are not sick because they’re poor, despite the apparent fact that poverty has, quite literally, been medicalized and pathologized as “mental illness.”

The voices of the traumatized, the tortured, the oppressed, the abused, and the hurting deserve to be heard. Psychiatry will ensure that that only happens if it is done in a docile, pleasant, and non-discomforting, straightforward, logical manner. Even then, you’ll still be gaslighted into thinking you’re crazy or be told you’re just paranoid.

As stated in this recent article in The Atlantic: “The country needs to shift financing away from surveillance and punishment, and toward fostering equitable, healthy, and safe communities.”

Who can argue with that? If funding were directed toward programs and initiatives that provide basic needs, hope, and empowerment; if oppressive patriarchal systems were dismantled and rebuilt on a diverse platform of equality; if humanity and relationship were valued above money, retribution, and preparing for war, then we all might find the peace in our communities that we are hoping for. If we had universal healthcare, universal childcare, caring and empathic doctors of all kinds who were trained to listen instead of know everything, and interventions based on safety, validation, and empowerment, then maybe people might actually start to heal.

Sadly, however, the movement towards progress appears to be suggesting taking a parallel road that leads to reliance upon yet another racist system based on oppressive patriarchal ideals. While it might sound caring and kind to turn towards the mental health system to respond to community distress, it must be recognized that this is an intertwined system with that of the (in)justice system and is one equally built on institutional racism, surveillance, punishment, and abuse.

Having social workers, peer workers, and other advocates respond to emergency calls by providing de-escalation of crises through listening and facilitating problem-solving, and by offering home visits (particularly to the elderly and disabled) along with housing connections, food, supplies, family interventions, supportive relationships, and assessment of abuse is a promising initiative that should most certainly be funded to a greater extent than it is currently. More efforts toward inclusion of peers and community members versus healthcare workers is an even more promising step.

At the same time, having social workers, medicalized peer workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists respond to distress calls or community violence through the lens of getting them mental health treatment is simply replacing one racist, oppressive regime with another. They may not come in guns a-blazing or physically beating up innocent bystanders, but, as a system, they are granted the authority to psychologically manipulate your reality, beat you down with words and restraints, and drug you into submission — and insist you thank them for it afterward.

What is needed is anti-violence, preventative, humane, community-based initiatives, not another racist, White-centered, patriarchal, oppressive, violent, forceful system that is dictated by powerful White men and demands a submissive and complacent sort of happy silence.

People need to be brought together with compassion and harmony, not split apart and isolated through diagnosing their pain as existing in the brain, drugging them, and locking them away in a veiled jail cell.

Please, if change is gonna come, can we at least try to do better than this?

***

While allocating money for community services is beneficial in many ways, evidence has shown that public safety is maintained through funding specifically for that purpose, Hollywood said.

"It can't just be that you are taking money out of the police and then putting it into community development that doesn't necessarily have a relationship to providing improved security. It needs to be about providing safety and security," Hollywood said.

Hollywood said interventions to reduce violence by targeting issues like drug use or environmental conditions usually fix only those things and tend not to reduce violence.

"What tends to reduce violence are programs and specific interventions and strategies specifically related to reducing violence," he said. "But that doesn't necessarily have to be policing in the way it's been done."

An argument can be made for experimenting with partnerships and community problem-solving interventions that are committed to reducing violence, Hollywood said. "In fact, you should be funding things that are proven to be more effective and move away from things that are less effective, especially if they are also causing community relations and civil rights concerns," he said.

Deterrence intervention programs, which focus on those at high risk of being involved in violence, have been effective, he said.

The Group Violence Intervention model from the National Network for Safe Communities uses partnerships among community members, law enforcement and social service providers to directly engage with people involved in street groups.

The program has shown results in cities like Boston, where shootings fell by 27 percent in 2018, according to the organization.

Alternatively, there are community problem solving interventions, such as the Cure Violence model by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which uses "violence interrupters" and outreach workers who generally act independent of law enforcement, have also been effective, he said.

Iterations of both of these programs have been used in Chicago. "Violence interrupters" from social service organizations were able to mediate tensions this month between Black and Latino communities that began violently feuding, according to Block Club Chicago, a local newspaper.

While other large cities, like New York and Los Angeles, have pledged some form of divestment, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has served on police oversight committees like the Chicago Police Board and the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force, has been hesitant to accept any proposal that would reduce the police budget.

Instead, she has focused on making what she called "bold" changes that would enact various reform measures, including licensing and certification of police officers, as well as reassess use-of-force protocols through a task force.

"The 'defund the police' narrative unnecessarily puts police and communities in competition with each other for funding. It shouldn't be an either/or question. It should be a both/and question," said Abt of the Council on Criminal Justice, who wrote the book "Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence — And a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets."

"In Chicago and across the country, police are a necessary but not sufficient aspect of violence reduction," he said. "We absolutely need more anti-violence programs that do not rely on the police, but we need those in addition to the police, not instead of the police."

What need re-examining are police violence and accountability, he said. Strengthening internal discipline, flagging questionable conduct through early warning systems and establishing accountability protocols, such as requiring a report every time a gun is pointed, can all play positive roles in reducing excessive use of force, he said.

Kapustin said that while there is no clear-cut approach to what is best for Chicago, the most critical thing to keep in mind when considering policy or budgetary changes are the communities that will be most affected.

"The communities that are bearing the brunt of all the well-placed mistrust and anger at law enforcement and the justice system, those same communities are also faced with tremendous amounts of violence," he said. "They are the ones caught in the middle."

***

Defunding or disbanding the police will probably lead to more citizens arming themselves out of fear that police will not be around to offer help. This will put more guns on the street and increase the chances that another Ahmaud Arbery tragedy occurs. More guns in circulation could mean more suicides, more accidental shootings and more guns that can be stolen and used to commit acts of violence.

Make no mistake, police reform is needed. We could be witnessing a watershed moment — an opportunity to reimagine the function of police in our society. But this opportunity will be wasted if our local governments make hasty decisions in the face of public pressure. Rather than defunding or disbanding, a more promising approach to police reform will involve two things.

First, before taking money away from the police, local governments need to hold agencies more accountable for their spending. We need to determine whether resources are being used to fund evidence-based policing practices, training programs and proper use of technology. Only then could we have an informed discussion about budget-cutting or reallocation. In some jurisdictions, this process will result in trimming agency budgets and reducing the number of officers. In other areas, however, this could shed light on a need to increase police budgets.

Second, we need to reconsider making the police responsible for so many societal ills. The police response to drug epidemics and the mental health crisis has failed. We need better state and local infrastructures to handle those problems. And, such plans need to be in place before reallocating money that once went to the police.

With such plans in place, many police officers would welcome relinquishing such responsibilities. This would put us in a better position to reduce racial disparities and the use of excessive force. And it would give officers more time to focus on problem-solving with their community members and attending more training programs — both of which would improve community outcomes. We hope reason and care prevail in our search for effective police reform.

***

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“Abolish Police” Movement Losing Popularity As Violence Soars In Minneapolis?
by Cam Edwards
23 Jun 20

As members of the Minneapolis City Council continue to push to abolish the city’s police department, Mayor Jacob Frey is moving in the opposite direction. In the wake of a staggering rise in violence and shootings across the city, Frey announced on Monday that the city’s police department is going to be working with other law enforcement agencies from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office to the FBI, ATF, and Secret Service in an effort to restore some semblance of peace to city streets.

“The violence and lawlessness that we’ve seen the last few days is not acceptable in any form,” Frey said. “Residents, businesses and all that choose to be in Minneapolis for any reason deserve to feel safe.”

Police Chief Medaria Arradondo declined to reveal how the other agencies will interact with his department, but he said it would include being a visible presence as well as providing intelligence.

Arradondo, the city’s first black police chief, made a point to remind the public that many of the gunshot victims “are members of the African-American community … young men. Their lives are not disposable. This cannot become our new normal.”

According to the Star-Tribune newspaper, 111 people have been shot in the city in the past four weeks, including twelve people shot in one incident in the city’s Uptown neighborhood over the weekend. Nine more people were shot on Monday in three separate incidents.

Monday afternoon saw police at three scenes of gunfire. Shortly after 2:30 p.m., ShotSpotter technology recorded the sound of 41 rounds at N. 16th and Newton avenues, police said. One person went to the hospital in critical condition, while three others came away with noncritical wounds. Then shortly after 4 p.m., four people suffered gunshot wounds in a commercial stretch in the 600 block of W. Broadway. Another person was injured by gunfire shortly before 7 p.m. at 25th Ave and 4th Street.

Two people were also stabbed, one fatally, in the 500 block of Nicollet downtown Monday afternoon.

WCCO-TV reports that the city’s Shot Spotter system has logged 1,600 shots fired over the past month, and many residents who may have been on board with abolishing the city’s police department a month ago are speaking up now about the need for a greater response from officers.

[Dustin] Sanchez, a father or four, says his family chose the area because of walkability and convenience. Lately, he says it’s been a hotbed of tension and frustration.”

“There is like zero authority here. We’ve called 911 a couple of times and they told us we were on our own because they don’t have people to come down and help. There is no help with city officials or police right now. There are literally citizens trying to keep people off our block right now, keep people off our street,” Sanchez said. “I just want to have a family and live here and enjoy here in our community, watch it continue to grow.”

Kory Harris is another concerned neighbor.

“Have some common sense,” Harris said. “There’s no need for the violence, we need to come together.”

City leaders say officers responding to shootings have had bottles and rocks thrown at them. But at Broadway and Lyndale avenues, community activists urged people to partner with police. Lisa Clemons and Jamar Nelson are with the group A Mother’s Love. They want to work with law enforcement to end violence and are upset that Minneapolis City Council members want the department disbanded.

Gun sales are still brisk in the Twin Cities, and you’ll still find plenty of armed citizens protecting themselves, their families, and even their neighborhoods as police continue to be confronted with violent protesters as they respond to calls. In order to address the gang members and violent criminals who are no doubt emboldened by the city’s response to the looting and rioting in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, however, the city is going to need more than armed citizens acting in self-defense. They need a law enforcement agency empowered to make arrests, and a criminal justice system that will treat violence seriously. You can’t have that if your police department’s been abolished and replaced with social workers, no matter how hard-working and well-meaning they might be.