How about liberated zones wherein block clubs pay residents $10 hour to walk the streets in pairs for 1>3 hour shifts. Anyone who wants to walk can. They just get to know the community, talk with people. Everyone will get to know everyone better, low income people will have a way to supplement their income, relationships will be built. No guns. No violence. The only equipment Street Walkers would carry would be notebooks, pencils, and cell phones in case the police are needed. Mostly, though, we don't need the police. We need to get to know our neighbors better. We are presently asking the police to do a job they cannot possible do: read Police Unbound, by our former chief of police. All professional police cultures everywhere are the same...it cannot be otherwise. Arming people to deal with social problems we have not resolved as communities will always lead to the event that happend this week to our Somalian neighbor, or what happened to my African American neighbor who was victim of a stake out gone awry. I am not suggesting we don't need police. I am saying that we must come up with solutions that will lessen our dependence on police.
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