I agree with Matthew, Wizard, and Jordan on this one. One of the points I took away from Jordan's post was that a limited investigation of the individual police officers' behavior will most likely exonerate them, since they were ostensibly following police procedures. Therefore, an effective investigation must go deeper than the officers themselves. Someone outside the MPD must examine their policies. If these officers' behavior was indeed "by the book," we must thoroughly and dispassionately examine the book itself, with a readiness to discard those chapters that have proven they do not work.
The question I ask myself is this: what should be the goal of policing, in situations like the one yesterday? My answer to that question: the goal should be that no one--including individuals behaving in a dangerous or inexplicable manner--lose his or her life. I find it tragic that I cannot believe that the MPD currently share this goal. If we could convince the department that this is the goal to follow, I believe we could effect some extremely important positive change. Robin Garwood Seward _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
