tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21107065621299760332024-03-12T21:13:39.310-07:00Police Obsolescence ProjectWorking toward a world without coercive authority.Wes Modeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13936508359690388713noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2110706562129976033.post-76678042139203069722011-08-24T13:33:00.000-07:002011-08-27T22:15:39.345-07:00Blue Light Safety ProjectAnother interesting effort about town this group is working on.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a target="_new" href="http://bluelightsafety.blogspot.com/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f6ko9dFiJtk/TlP8kiHv8aI/AAAAAAAAAhM/HQVIdAr46TM/s200/DSC_0007.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>The Blue Light Safety Project is a Santa Cruz local community effort to provide temporary safe spaces for people who are feeling unsafe. Community members who want to provide a safe space to those in need simply put a blue light on their house. The project is an attempt to provide safety in our community outside of institutional solutions such as police.<br />
<br />
<br />
You may see signs at houses around town:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<blockquote><b>This is the Blue Light Safety Project.</b> <br />
A blue light signifies that this house is a temporary safe space, <br />
open to anyone that feels in danger or threatened. <br />
Knock on the door and the residents will provide support <br />
until you feel safer or can make other arrangements. <br />
If no one is home, you are welcome to sit on the porch <br />
for a short time until you feel safe to continue on your way. </blockquote>There are several ways to support the project:<br />
<ul><li>The simplest way is to <a href="http://bluelightsafety.blogspot.com/p/your-house.html">become a Blue Light House</a>. Put a blue light on your home and become a temporary safe space in your neighborhood.</li>
<li>Talk to your neighbors about the project</li>
<li>Put a sign up to explain why you are a Blue Light House.</li>
<li><a href="http://bluelightsafety.blogspot.com/p/donate.html">Donate</a> to the project.</li>
<li>Come to a <a href="http://sccommunitysafety.blogspot.com/">Community Safety Workgroup</a></li>
</ul>Wes Modeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13936508359690388713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2110706562129976033.post-78901583864713312592011-08-13T11:38:00.000-07:002011-08-13T12:22:05.076-07:00Questions to ask yourselfHere are the discussion questions that we posed at the World Without Police BBQ and discussion. This was a remarkably simple event to hold, and generated inspiring discussion and great, actionable ideas. And hopefully raised awareness of issues around police, and inspired some folks to action.<br />
<a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DE_TA30-oWw/TkbEghgSe-I/AAAAAAAAAfg/eFfs1SyxfUQ/s1600/World-Without-Police.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DE_TA30-oWw/TkbEghgSe-I/AAAAAAAAAfg/eFfs1SyxfUQ/s200/World-Without-Police.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
We had a BBQ/potluck with simple and amazing food and a campfire/burn barrel around which we circled up for discussion. It was very lightly facilitated, where we introduced some ground rules around listening to each other and making space. Then a quick go-around/check-in at the beginning to share names and preferred gender pronoun. Then we broke up into small groups for the majority of the time and asked the groups to tackle the discussion questions (all, some, or their own). The groups reported back to the larger group when we circled back up. This turned into a general and wide-ranging discussion about <a href="http://policeop.blogspot.com/2011/08/world-without-police-brainstorm.html">strategies, tactics, vision, and ideas</a>. <br />
<br />
The discussion questions were circulated early on so people could talk about stuff during the informal BBQ:<br />
<ul>
<li>World without Police Discussion Questions </li>
<li>What services are police providing that we need? Are there alternatives? </li>
<li>What are police failing at? How could we do better? </li>
<li>What would a world without police and other coercive authority look and feel like? </li>
<li>What situations would you currently call the police? What are some alternatives? </li>
<li>What can we do right now if police obsolescence is our goal? </li>
<li>What are your own questions/issues/challenges?</li>
</ul>
Here are the <a href="http://policeop.blogspot.com/2011/08/world-without-police-brainstorm.html">ideas that came out of the discussion</a>. <br />
<ul>
</ul>
Wes Modeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13936508359690388713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2110706562129976033.post-39993383075047678342011-08-12T08:36:00.000-07:002011-08-12T09:27:55.530-07:00Things the Public Does Not KnowA discussion about the value of public relations, an acknowledgement of how rarely we have time for this important aspect of police obsolescence and finally a list of things we are pretty sure the general public has no idea are happening in this town came out of our weekly meeting.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Each one of these items is worthy of its own informational campaign. Whether we have the time and energy to help people understand these issues is the question.<br />
<br />
After the 1989 quake, the Downtown Redevelopment Agency had a vision of rebuilding this sleepy beach town in the image of Los Gatos or Carmel. They had dreams of a beautiful, affluent, bustling commercial district with sleek, modern cars, and well-placed landscaping trees, a mix of local businesses and tasteful chain stores, and most of all, culturally-diverse crowds of happy, clean, and wealthy people shopping and enjoying the downtown ambiance. You can almost imagine the architect's rendering in your mind. But it hasn't quite worked out that way. There was a fly in the ointment. <br />
<br />
Dozens of benches and peaceful sitting spots were built into the landscape of the new downtown, and from the moment they were put in, the town realized it had a problem. Street kids, homeless people, idle youth, very old people, and people set free from underfunded institutions were using these benches and sitting spots. This wasn't the vision they had of an affluent downtown. Almost immediately the benches quietly started disappearing (in many places, you can still find the bolt holes). The pleasant planters along which people would sit, had rails moved from the inside to the outside edge to prevent loiterers.<br />
<br />
When people sat against buildings, the town passed a law to prohibit sitting within nine feet of a building. When people sat on the scant edges of planters anyway, they passed a law to prohibit sitting on any landscaping. When people sat on the sidewalk, they passed a law against it. When people used the few remaining benches, they passed an absurd law to make sitting longer than one hour a ticketable offense. Downtown businesses privatized wide swaths of sidewalk with tables, chairs, and low fences, but when non-consumers used these spaces, new laws said they were trespassing. When people still found places to sit and to gather, they passed a rule that said you couldn't loiter within 50 feet of an ATM or a change machine, then they strategically deployed change machines at places where people gathered. When people still found places to hang out, they passed a law in which you couldn't loiter within 15 feet of art or statues, then they methodically deployed art up and down the downtown area, and designated informational kiosks and directories as "art." Then they prohibited smoking downtown. And dogs. And hacky-sacks. And possessing a blanket. And blowing bubbles. No shit.<br />
<br />
As everyone except shoppers and merchants evacuated downtown, the long-abandoned river levee became the new zone of contention as people tried to use it for sitting, napping, and playing music. New signs were erected closing the entire area below the levee including the river bank and the floodplains, preventing access to the river that runs through the heart of downtown. <br />
<br />
The police and the downtown "hospitality hosts" (hospitality, as in making sure you obey) are the selective enforcers of these rules. Most well-heeled Santa Cruz residents or guests do not run afoul of these laws and so are scarcely aware of them. Having money to afford private space of one's own (a car, a roof overhead at night) insulates one from the difficulty of just trying to exist physically in this town.<br />
<br />
We don't think the public knows the magnitude of the absurdity of the situation. However, if this level of oppression means that the public, going about their business in their stable lives, doesn't have to see a homeless, disabled veteran asking for change in front of the post office, we are unconvinced they would care.<br />
<br />
<br />
Wes Modeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13936508359690388713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2110706562129976033.post-28083141781874404612011-08-11T22:47:00.000-07:002011-08-13T12:20:10.653-07:00World Without Police BrainstormHere is a list of ideas that came out of the great discussion at the World Without Police BBQ:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Green porch lights</b> - someone reported that in their town, people put up green lights on their porches to signal that their house is a safe space that people can come to when they need help<a name='more'></a></li>
<li><b>Know your neighbors</b> - when we are connected to each other and to our neighbors we don't need police. </li>
<li><b>Bake pies</b> - What better way to feel connected to your neighbors? Bake them pies!</li>
<li><b>Ask a favor</b> - similarly, when people do small favors for each other, they feel more connection. Borrow a cup of sugar for the pies you are baking!</li>
<li><b>Oppose anti-homeless laws</b> - cops are enforcing the criminalization of homelessness and poverty</li>
<li><b>Guerilla benches!</b> Santa Cruz is steadily removing public benches because they've found that aesthetically displeasing people use them. Replace them <a href="http://www.mrericsir.com/blog/local/guerrilla-bench-activism/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.spacehijackers.org/html/projects/guerrillabench/guerrilla.html">here</a>! </li>
<li><b>Make cops unwelcome</b> - in general, by demonstrating that CopWatch has its eyes on police, and in particular, by making police know they are unwelcome in radical spaces and homes</li>
<li><b>Work on ways to make people safe</b> - safe and secure people don't need police</li>
<li><b>Share cop stories</b> - tell your stories about your experiences with police</li>
<li><b>Share success storie</b>s - tell your stories about alternatives to police</li>
<li><b>Crisis response team</b> - create a team or infrastructure to respond to crisis, kind of a DIY 911</li>
<li><b>Specialized conflict resolution</b> - rather than a catch-all response team, teams specialized to handle specific issues like sexual and intimate violence</li>
<li><b>Study transformative justice</b> - this general conflict resolution strategy focuses on healing and root causes</li>
<li><b>Thinking locally (not like a state)</b> - any solutions to problem can be locally focused, and do not have to take whole regions and nation-states into account</li>
<li><b>Discover people's needs</b> - when people's needs are met, they are far less likely to resort to antisocial strategies</li>
<li><b>Address issues of poverty</b> - poor people sometimes have to resort to crime just to survive </li>
</ul>
Here were the <a href="http://policeop.blogspot.com/2011/08/questions-to-ask-yourself.html">discussion questions</a> that inspired some of these ideas.Wes Modeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13936508359690388713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2110706562129976033.post-48536833359354687792011-08-11T12:09:00.001-07:002011-08-11T22:54:08.726-07:00Feeling for the Edge of your Imagination: finding ways not to call the police (from Imagine Alternatives)Dear friends, family, acquaintances and people with whom I share house party dance floors and supermarket lines,<br />
<br />
A few weeks ago, an acquaintance of mine attended a police lineup, <br />
<a name='more'></a>pointed at someone, and sent them to jail or prison. Last night, a friend’s roommate called the cops about something happening outside, and the effect of that action was a young man getting tasered.<br />
<br />
<br />
So I’ve decided to write you a letter. All of you, but especially those of you who, like myself and the two people mentioned above, are white and/or grew up middle class and/or didn’t grow up in NYC. I’m writing to you, also, if you’ve smiled your way out of a speeding ticket, if you’ve been most afraid of cops at mass protests, or if you generally feel safer when you see police around.<br />
<br />
If these things are true for you, it’s possible that you are more distanced from the real impact of policing on low-income communities of color. But whether people in your life experience those impacts regularly or not, whether you’ve spent a night in jail, done work to support political prisoners, or haven’t thought much about police brutality since Sean Bell… if you hold a commitment to making the world a better place, I’m writing to you, because there’s work to be done.<br />
<br />
I, and many people I know, want to see a world without prisons, we want the whole industry of keeping people in cages (the Prison Industrial Complex) abolished, we want no more police.* We want a world where responses to harm are community-based, transformative and actually create safety. Where that safety comes from strengthening relations of community, where interpersonal violence dissolves along with the structural violence that facilitates it.<br />
<br />
Many of us don’t believe in calling the police. Right now, right here, even before we’ve sufficiently built all the alternative structures for responding to harm. Both in an attempt to create the world we want to live in, and/but also because the impact of prisons and policing is brutal, oppressive, racist, traumatic. We see almost no good coming of it, certainly no transformation, no making things better. We don’t trust police, we don’t think of them as the “good guys,” and we don’t think calling them is going to change anything.<br />
<br />
After the above-mentioned acquaintance pointed out the person in the lineup, my partner and I took a long walk. Neither of us could imagine sending someone to jail or prison, and certainly not for the act in question (a mugging). We were shaken, appalled, angry. How could he do that? How could he send someone into a cage, especially when no one’s safety was being threatened in that moment – when he (the finger-pointer) wasn’t backed into a corner by the situation? It felt crystal clear to us how little positive impact this will have on our world, on the person who is now going to be in jail, on the woman who was mugged. It won’t fix anything, and for the person going to jail things are probably just going to get a lot worse. Prison causes harm: people locked up are subjected to abuse, assault, humiliation and torture. Thinking through the possible consequences, we wondered if the man who our acquaintance had pointed to had immigration papers. What will happen to the people who might rely on him for support or resources? Whose heart is being broken right now?<br />
<br />
As we paced in the cold night, we moved through our questions, anger and frustration. We thought about how everyone we know—even in a community that mostly wants a world without prisons—has had different experiences with harm and violence, different experiences with police, and, most likely, has a different “threshold” at which they can imagine not calling the police.<br />
<br />
I believe in a world without prisons. I’ve spent some time and effort working to address harm through non-state responses that are meant to create real change (for example, addressing partner abuse through facilitating a community-based accountability circle). However, as the conversation my partner and I were having turned to ourselves, our safety, and our worst nightmares, I wondered, in what situation might I find myself calling the police? I acknowledged that there would be situations in which I might call the cops because I haven’t yet imagined an alternative. I half-suggested we go down that road: finding those worst-case scenarios, and then starting to envision alternative responses. We didn’t have it in us that night, but something about it seemed smart—like knowing how to stop-drop-and-roll in a fire.<br />
<br />
We live in a world that’s deeply damaged by policing, in which immediate and effective community-based responses don’t necessarily exist, or we don’t know how to find/create them. Our imaginations have atrophied, our resourcefulness has withered. There are moments when immediate intervention will save someone’s life, and it needs to be fast, and the readily available structure for that immediate intervention is the police.<br />
<br />
We live in a world in which we can feel deeply powerless or afraid. It feels terrible when we, or the people we care about, get hurt or experience harm. When I think of the moments in which I could possibly imagine calling the police, I think of people I love, and of things I hope they never experience. Why do we feel afraid? Sometimes we feel afraid because we have experienced harm, because we have experienced trauma. Sometimes we also feel afraid because we have bought into aspects of racism, classism, and media-perpetuated images of danger. Sometimes it’s the complex combination of all these things—imagination, memory, and prejudice. For women, our experiences with physical safety are complex and painful—women in my life have understandably chosen and sought police intervention when it has seemed like the only available safety measure in situations of interpersonal or sexual abuse. So given these complicated realities, how can we assure that if police are called it’s an active, intentional and reluctant choice, not a knee-jerk reaction? What can we do to push ourselves further, to take another step towards a world without prisons, without police, and without the racism and brutality they reproduce?<br />
<br />
I started to think about the choking posters in restaurants. I’ve never done the Heimlich maneuver, and it’s not something I can practice on someone unless they’re actually choking. I can’t know how it feels to do it, or if it will really work, or if I’ll have the confidence to pull it off. But I’ve taken first aid classes, and I can feel under my rib cage for my diaphragm, and I stare absentmindedly at those restaurant posters all the time. I started to think about practice and preparation, about pre-thinking our possible responses. Theoretically, if someone beside me in a restaurant starts choking, I’ll feel brave, my mind will be clear, and I’ll remember what I’ve thought through. Hopefully my response will be helpful, instead of causing additional harm.<br />
<br />
So, when that roommate of my friend called the police and a young person got tasered, I wondered if she’d ever thought about not calling them before. In a moment of fear or confusion, we default to what we’ve practiced. Did she have practice not calling the police? Probably not. What would it take for her to do something different next time? Most likely, she thought someone was in danger and that she was helping. Maybe whatever was happening outside her window was loud and it was scaring her and the only thing her sleepy brain could think to do was dial 911. Maybe she doesn’t know her neighbors. Maybe the only alternative she could imagine was running outside in her nightgown, which didn’t feel safe or useful. Maybe her experiences with police have felt orderly and professional, and her first association is one of trust, not of violence and abuse. Whether these things are understandable or not, when you call the cops, you participate in a regime of violence against poor and working class people of color in this city. It’s part of gentrification, it’s part of racism and it’s part of genocide. If we’re calling the police, we’re voting for that system—instead of putting time and effort into creating real and new responses to harm and engaging with the people around us in that process. Next time, how can you do differently? I believe we can teach ourselves skills, do some unlearning, and find ways to not call the police next time. This letter isn’t about someday-visions, this letter is about what you’re going to do tomorrow.<br />
<br />
So whether this is all pretty new for you, or you’ve heard this one before, or you think of yourself as a prison abolitionist, I have a suggestion: I think we all need to think through not calling the cops. We need to explore our own personal thresholds, we need to create the Heimlich Maneuver posters that will inspire us to be brave, avoid knee-jerk dialing 911, and take the steps to create the alternative responses we wish were more common, more available.<br />
<br />
In this spirit, there are some questions and activities below. Please do them soon—this weekend, tomorrow, tonight. Make a little window of time. Don’t wait for some magical day when there’s nothing left to read or clean or check off your “to do” list. Think about it this way: you could save a life.<br />
<br />
With love and respect,<br />
<br />
Caroline<br />
<br />
Suggested Activities<br />
<br />
1. Read a poem, article or story you haven’t read before about prison/prison abolition, policing/police brutality, or alternative responses to harm. Then share the article with a friend. (Some resources and articles are listed at the end of this essay).<br />
<br />
2. Find someone you can talk with about heavy stuff, or grab a pen and paper.<br />
Ask yourself:<br />
<br />
> Have you ever called the police?<br />
<br />
Why?<br />
What did you gain from calling the police? <br />
Do you know what the result of your call was for the other people in the situation?<br />
<br />
> Have you ever chosen not to call the police when it seemed like an option?<br />
<br />
Why didn’t you call them?<br />
Did you find an alternative response?<br />
What did you gain from that response?<br />
Do you know what the effect of that response was for the other people in the situation?<br />
<br />
> Feel for the edge of your own police-calling “threshold”:<br />
<br />
In what situations can you not even imagine calling the police? What is it that seems obvious to you to do instead?<br />
Are there any situations in which you feel like it’s necessary to call the police?<br />
Name the situation (or type of situation) in which you think you would call the police, where that response is the only thing you can imagine doing, or would be automatic.<br />
Sit with that threshold for a minute. Imagine the creative response that would allow you to move that threshold back a bit and generate a more creative, community-based response. What would you need? Who would be involved? How can you start to build that possibility?<br />
<br />
> Are there situations where you and your friend disagree on whether or not you would call the police? What can you learn from your friend? What can you push them on?<br />
<br />
> Would you call the cops on an institution (like a loud business, a safety violation at a school, etc)? Do you think this is different? How? What might alternative responses look like for you?<br />
<br />
> What about times when you’re a bystander to police activity? What do you do when you see a cop stop someone on your block? Think through an action plan for spontaneous cop-watching and for ways you can support people who are being detained by the police. For more information about cop-watching, check out: http://mxgm.org/web/people-s-self-defense-campaign-psdc/mxgm-copwatch-video.html and http://www.berkeleycopwatch.org/ <br />
<br />
3. Collaborate and Share: Pass this letter along. Bring it up over dinner. Ask these questions to your family, friends and roommates. If you have a story of a community-based, non-state response to harm, consider sharing it with the Story Telling Organizing Project: http://www.stopviolenceeveryday.org/have-a-story/ .<br />
<br />
4. Keep learning about privileges you may have and the ways they manifest, keep listening and working to be a better ally to the people around you.<br />
<br />
* If this is a new idea for you, it might seem outrageous. You might be thinking, “Sure, too many people go to jail for nonviolent offenses, but… no prisons at all? What about murderers/rapists/child abusers?” It’s a good question, and one that is worth exploring. When I imagine a world without prisons, I see lots of transformation: transformation in the way we prevent harm and build healthy communities, transformation in the way we respond to harm and create safety for each other, and a commitment to supporting the transformation of individuals who have caused harm. There are lots of people who have been thinking hard about this, and there are resources listed at the end of this letter—check them out.Wes Modeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13936508359690388713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2110706562129976033.post-6984138089970799912011-05-12T12:18:00.000-07:002011-08-11T12:39:02.659-07:00Workgroup Notes - May 12, 2011These notes came out of a small group meeting that was part of the larger <a href="http://sccommunitysafety.blogspot.com/">Community Safety Workgroup</a> from which this project is a spinoff. It reflects the initial enthusiasm and energy that people brought to the idea of working to create a world without coercive authority, as well as positive solutions to frustrations with police misconduct, excessive force, and intimidation.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>POLICE WORKGROUP-</b><br />
<div><b><br />
</b></div><div><i><u>First Thoughts:</u></i></div><div><ul><li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">potluck or get together to talk about cops as a problem.</span></i></li>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">letting people know that there are other ways to handle problems in lieu of calling the cops.</span></i></li>
<li> <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">convincing neighbors that cops are problematic.</span></i></li>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">within household, education about the harm that police bring.</span></i></li>
<li>idea for testimonial zine of peoples' experiences with cops and jail.</li>
</ul> ---><b>PROJECT! <i>callout for stories about cops to later be disseminated.</i></b></div><div><ul><li>set of guidelines for cop interactions and reasons not to interact with cops.</li>
</ul> ---><b>PROJECT! </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">one or two publications: reasons why cops are harmful and how to deal with situations without cops.</i><br />
<ul><li>posting fucked up experiences with police up to a space over the internet.</li>
<li>trying to understand how police violence is going over in our community/ gauging where people are at in their feelings about cops.</li>
<li>worry posed that this small group's discussion is repeating work other groups are focused on; desire to hone in on very specific anti-cop projects (i.e. literally getting cops out of santa cruz)</li>
</ul><div><b>SUGGESTION! </b><i><b>everyone bring in 3 ideas to put on an anti-cop flyer to be posted everywhere around town.</b></i></div></div><div><ul><li>list of things to do when faced with cop contact.</li>
<li>questions cops about where they're taking people, etc.</li>
<li>create a culture of resistance: stand up to police, let them know they aren't welcome nor appreciated.</li>
<li>interjecting in police interactions</li>
<li>helping other people find strength to speak with courage to police.</li>
<li>holding cops accountable: making cop profiles.</li>
</ul> ---><b>PROJECT! <i>flyers with cops' faces, badge numbers; listing complaints and experiences with them.</i></b></div><div><i><b> </b>---></i><b>PROJECT! </b><i><b>some sort of database online that logs cops and what they've been up to. </b>(worry about it not being visible enough)</i></div><div><ul><li>lot of worry about legal repercussions.</li>
<li>response that every time we talk about "anti-cop" stuff, we're obviously putting ourselves in trouble, so...</li>
<li>weekly newsletter or report.</li>
<li>mentioning of sharing a particular bad cop experience on the radio.</li>
<li>addressing younger people... going to schools and programs in which cops are doing "we're heroes" presentations, and doing counter-talks about why cops are dangerous and need to be opposed.</li>
</ul></div>Wes Modeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13936508359690388713noreply@blogger.com0