[Peace-discuss] [Discuss] interaction with Champaign police / driver did allthe wrong things

[Stuart Levy]

On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 08:43:18AM -0700, David Green wrote:
> Laurie,
> 
> I'm open to the possibility that the police followed up on this due to the other 
> complaints, and that I don't know about this. I'm not open to the possibility 
> that the phone operator showed clear disinterest in my concerns, and my offer to 
> serve as a witness. It's clear that he has not been taught to be part of a 
> culture in which every contact with the public is taken seriously rather than 
> dismissed--or when dismissed, done so with a clear explanation. I was not 
> thanked for my interest in protecting the well-being of Champaign citizens. 
> Instead, I was given a clear message that any future effort would likely be 
> fruitless.
[...]

David,

I'm glad you've raised this as an issue here, for several reasons:

   - When we see police doing what seems to be arbitrary enforcement,
	it's good to have clear examples of arbitrary *non*-enforcement
	on hand for comparison.  Often we hear that the police,
	or the state's attorney's office, are simply carrying out their
	legal obligations to do their job, as when pursuing
	the cases against Brian Chesley or Jeshaun Manning.  
	That rings hollow when we can bring up situations like this.

   - An important task of any bureaucracy seems to be
	lowering expectations of the people it's supposed to serve.
	If we accept this as routine, then just as you say,
	we're accepting that future complaints etc. will be fruitless.
	
   - This is a good example of the kind of thing that the revised,
	recently publicized police complaint procedure should be
	used for.  They might well respond that they'd acted
	according to policy, but I think a lot of middle-class
	Champaign citizens would say then that the policy was wrong,
	if police simply reject an attempt to report a reckless driver.