Minneapolis momentum is being crushed by the crime wave - By Kate Mortenson

[the_sly_pig]

25. I am a 911 dispatcher. I have worked with police for 20 years.

Please send an officer to my address. There is a pigeon in my garage that won't leave.

Please send an officer to my address. My 27yo son has overdosed and is not breathing.

Please send an officer to my address. We live in a 2nd floor apartment and there is a frozen squirrel on a tree branch that is freaking my daughter out. Please remove it.

Please send an officer to my address. I found my 13yo daughter hanging from a belt in her closet.

Please send an officer to my address. A squirrel crawled down our chimney and is stuck in our hearth.

Please send an officer to my apartment. My X shot my neighbor in the head, shot me in the chest, and tried to shoot my 3 kids.

Please send an officer to this intersection. There is a couch pillow in the road.

Please send an officer to my address. I just woke up from being drugged and I think I've been sexually assaulted.

Please send an officer to my address. My neighbor is blowing leaves into my yard.

Please send an officer to this intersection. There has been a car accident and one person is trapped and the car is smoking.

Please send an officer to my address. I see a person I've never seen in my neighborhood walking down the street.

Please send an officer to this address. I accidentally ran over my mother and she's stuck under the car.

Please send an officer to my address. My 13yo son won't get out of bed and go to school.

Please send an officer to my address. My 19yo autistic, bi-polar son is out of control and is breaking things in the house.

Please send an officer to this address. My X won't let me retrieve my belongings.

Please send an officer to my address. My brother just stabbed me.

Please send an officer to this Park. There are kids playing basketball and it's after 8pm.

Each and every one of these statements is a real experience. I'm not going to try and change anyone's mind about anything. But to ignore the reality of what it means to police a jurisdiction is a mistake. Though there are some jurisdictions that have enough money to try and prevent crime, the vast majority of police time is spent managing crime. Most law enforcement agencies are understaffed just as most 911 dispatch centers are understaffed. If you think that hearing and witnessing humanities constant and never-ending misdeeds, 24x7x365, doesn't have an effect, you are wrong.

Thinking about throwing out the "they know what they signed up for", or the "I'm a taxpayer" canard? Super. Basic.

Covid19 has also had an extreme effect on daily law enforcement activity.

I'm not writing to make excuses for any felony committed by a Peace Officer. I'm writing to say there is nuance. There is more to it than just "us versus them". I'm constantly mystified by the thought that car-jackings, and assaults, and domestics, and robberies, and burglaries, and medicals etc. etc. etc. don't happen each day, every day in every single community.

I have no idea how to enact real change in law enforcement. I believe that using the police as a filter for every single societal problem is a mistake. I believe that 40 years of bull**** trickle down economics that has caused extreme disparities in advancement and opportunities can be blamed for societal blight. And as we have seen, the election of the Candycorn Skidmark has revealed a level of racism I had honestly thought impossible.

And yet, here in Minnesota, with everything that has gone on in the last four years, we still elect f***ing republicans. Yep, there are problems with policing. But I'm also saying that as a society we need to take a long, hard look in the mirror.

ps. 1) I am not condoning police misconduct. 2) I am not denying white privilege. 3) I have no idea what it's like to be a person of color.