HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-27-20 Public Comment - Z. Unruh - Bozeman as an Inclusive City Public Comments 7_27From:Zoë Unruh
To:Agenda
Subject:Public Comments 7/27
Date:Monday, July 27, 2020 10:59:40 AM
Hello,
Thank you for the opportunity to submit public comments. Myname is Zoë Unruh, and I’m a few weeks away from graduating fromMSU’s accelerated nursing program. As such, I’m taking a lens ofpublic health in reviewing the proposed suggestions to improving theBPD’s policy around diversity and inclusion. The main thing that I think is worth discussing is the affirmationthat de-escalation training is the answer to policebrutality. Unfortunately, this has not been the case since thebeginning of de-escalation training. Most recently Rayshard Brooks,the young Black man who was shot and killed in Atlanta, wasmurdered by a police officer who had just finished his de-escalationtraining. The skills were fresh in this officer’s practice, and he still shota man in the back as he was running away. De-escalation training hasnot proven to decrease police brutality – instead it is used as asmokescreen to make people believe that work is being done todecrease police brutality. Persons with mental illness in Montana are killed by police at twotimes the rate of other people in Montana. Why is it that we feel theneed to send in an armed team to a call about mental health? Even ifthey are trained in de-escalation, it would be FAR safer if we had anunarmed team ALSO trained in de-escalation, with even MOREtraining in how to respond to someone with mentalillness. The assumption that police violence is not a problem here is incontrast to the data: Montana is actually 9th in the nation per capitafor fatal police shootings, more than New York, California, andIdaho for comparison. Similarly, providing anti-bias training does not improve outcomes
for people of color. “Researchers have found no impact on problemslike racial disparities in traffic stops or marijuana arrests; both implicitand explicit bias remain, even after targeted and intensivetraining” (Vitale, 2018). The problem is not in the lack of training ofofficers – the problem is in policing itself. I’m not saying we shouldget rid of emergency responders. Instead, we should be creatingresponse teams who are unarmed who can respond to non-violent 911calls. The mayor of San Francisco recently said that more than 50% of911 calls could be responded to by unarmed professionals. Eugenehas had an unarmed mobile crisis unit for 30 years, and many othercities are developing similar units. So again, I don’t think training nor reform are the answers to
police violence, and they certainly aren’t the answer to reducing
crime. As healthcare providers in public health we’re constantly talkingabout upstream solutions to promote health. Why aren’t we doing thesame thing for crime? Upstream solutions to crime are programs toend poverty, homelessness, and provide resources for persons withmental illness. The solution to police violence is to reduce the scope ofpolicing and invest in community health. De-escalation and anti-biastraining programs require more money for police departments, whichfurther depletes the budget available for community programs. Andwith data in hand that shows de-escalation programs do not actuallyreduce police violence, I’d rather invest that money in mycommunity and create real change.
Thank you again for the opportunity to comment.
Warmly,
Zoë521 W Lamme St