A large city's policing style useful in small towns

Have you heard about this?  With all the heated discussions, protests, marches and mayhem around police targeting black folks in America, has any of our media reported in detail about the following?  I will bet it hasn’t and that most reading this letter know little or nothing of this marvelous task force with the mission to come up with ideas for better policing.  

The other day on NPR I heard this great report from BBC News, of all places!   In 2008, President Obama appointed Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey (b. 1950 and black) to head the “Task Force on 21st Century Policing.”.  The mission is to develop better policing habits and enhance the trust between police and the communities they serve.  30 years of police work in Chicago certainly gave Ramsey valuable experience.  Presently, Philadelphia has the 4th largest department in the nation with 6,500 sworn members.

I was thoroughly fascinated with not just some of the great practical training programs in place in Philadelphia for all police officers, but also the very honest and realistic manner Commissioner Ramsey looks at the entire task.  It is so multifaceted and goes way deeper than personal prejudices, attitudes and questionable tactics.  What is brought to light and comes under keen mayoral scrutiny, because of this task force work, is fresh and effective work on poverty, hunger, drugs, housing, youth work, employment and the myriad of social concerns facing individuals and families today.   

And, by the way, as I listened to this lucid and calmly presented program from BBC, I was wondering what motivates so much of our media with the ranting and raving, blaming everyone in sight and out of sight, and fanning the flames of hate, fear and anger.

Will “Task Force on 21st Century Policing” find traction in all America?  Is there application here for both large metropolitan areas as well as small towns and communities?  Personally, I think there is and it points so clearly to communication, cooperation, collective caring, and all departments of any city or town working together, with concerned citizens, to build well functioning communities.

Bob McClellan