Is it time for a national police training standard?
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I believe New Mexico has a model system in place. I’m not convinced that a national standard could enhance the level of professionalism. Continue Reading
Police officers have a damn hard job
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If we really want to reduce officer-involved shootings, we have to address the issues that lead to people being on edge and desperate — society’s ills, the most challenging problems of our time, including poverty, mental illness, addiction, and structural racism. Continue Reading
Police use-of-force training sparks discussion, builds understanding
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Every law enforcement agency should engage citizens in these difficult, informative, and relationship-building conversations. Continue Reading
The armed civilian who helped stop UT’s tower sniper 50 years ago
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When Charles Whitman went to the top of the University of Texas Tower and started shooting on Aug. 1, 1966, dozens of people grabbed their rifles and tried to stop him. But only Allen Crum made it to the top of the tower with police that day. Continue Reading
Our Constitution will protect us, if we use it right
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The political right, left, and center are increasingly coalescing around the concern, the fear, that the core values we all cherish are being subsumed by what President Eisenhower might have called the “military, contractor, security complex.” Continue Reading
Local relationships can improve race relations, trust in police
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Sure, it’s great to get together once a year for breakfast on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, but on what other occasions do they meet? Continue Reading
We need to relinquish space, uplift the voices of the most marginalized
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Until we acknowledge and dismantle the historic and intersecting systems of oppression that have created this reality — imperialism, colonialism, white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy — systems in which I am complicit and from which I benefit — communities will not be safe or free. Continue Reading
Obama, Bush call for unity at Dallas memorial
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Steps away from five pictures bearing the images of officers who were killed last week, President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said the best way to honor the lives of the officers is for Americans to put aside their differences and unite. Continue Reading
Comments about Black Lives Matter made in ’emotional time,’ El Paso chief says
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El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen issued a statement Monday afternoon explaining, but not apologizing for, his claim that Black Lives Matter is a “radical hate group.” Continue Reading
El Paso leaders condemn police chief’s remarks on Black Lives Matter
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After El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen called Black Lives Matter a “radical hate group,” 13 area leaders are calling on the mayor and city council to repudiate his comments. Continue Reading
Black gun owners in Texas decry racial bias
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When police mistakenly identified a peaceful protester who was legally, openly carrying a weapon as a suspect in the Dallas attacks, it sparked outrage among black gun owners. Continue Reading
Dallas attack tests city’s progress in police relations
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A fragile peace settled over Dallas after a sniper caused the worst loss of police officer lives since September 11, but beneath calls for unity tension simmered. Continue Reading
Following shootings, hope lies in values that make Santa Fe special
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Our collective focus remains on access to opportunity, on reforming an often broken criminal justice system, on moving away from militarized policing to a community-based force, and on addressing head-on the sickness of violence that has this nation in its grip. Continue Reading
Dallas police, protesters were united before sniper attack
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Thursday night’s brutal attack on Dallas officers followed an otherwise peaceful demonstration against police brutality, in a city where authorities have gone to great lengths to improve relations with the Black community. Continue Reading
NM officials join nationwide mourning for victims of recent shootings
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Officials from New Mexico are joining others in expressing grief and trying to make sense of a week that has seen the killings by police of two black men in Louisiana and Minnesota and the slaughter of several police officers in Dallas. Continue Reading