Sunday, November 16, 2008

Community organizing obstructed by police bully pulpit?

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Photo courtesy of here.

In so many Cincinnati neighborhoods, motivated community members meet monthly to conduct business for improving their neighborhoods.  These community councils have board members, governing constitutions, and all the accoutrements of democratic organizations.  And in so many Cincinnati neighborhoods, the bulk of the community’s shared time is spent listening to neighborhood police officers discuss crime statistics in pointless detail—a pointlessness sharpened by the dynamics of what cultural critic Neil Postman once described as the ”information-action ratio.”

I do not wish to argue whether things like citizen walking patrols are effective.  Some may claim this is an example of people taking action based on hearing a crime report at a community meeting, but in actuality the relatively small number of people who join such patrols can do so without monthly chunks of time being handed over to the police departments in local community council meetings.

Community councils should be ground zero for community organizing.  These should be places where motivated citizens meet to discuss how they can empower themselves to affect localized change.  But the bulk of our neighborhoods have monthly meetings bogged down by things like the approval of minutes from prior meetings and lengthy presentations from the police department about what a great job they say they are doing.

In fact, I would venture to say that—across this City from one neighborhood to the next—the largest chunk of time is spent listening to police officers review crime statistics.  By doing this, the attendants are not learning anything in particular to do; rather, they are just listening to police officers yammer about what they did at work in the prior month.

I’m starting to think this wholesale intrusion from a City sponsored department is really just a strategy for insuring that the clock gets eaten at these monthly meetings.  How many motivated young people never return to their community’s meeting after sitting, bored, through a rehashing of minutes and a long speech by a cop?  How much time has been taken away from productive community organizing while rooms of people listen to a police officer talk about him or herself?

I am not intending to be disrespectful towards police officers, but these monthly presentations have a low information-action ratio.  I fail to see why so many communities are compelled to spend so much time on something that is not designed to inspire action.  The police have a city-wide bully pulpit, and it looks like it gets systematically utilized to help defend the status quo by making sure nothing reform-oriented starts at community meetings by eating the clock.

Socializer!

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says:
16 Nov 2008  at  12:16 pm | #

You could have the police come at the end when only those that are interested would have to stay and listen.

Freedom Fighters says:
16 Nov 2008  at  10:16 pm | #

.

Well, there goes your FOP # 69 endorsement.

Oh, that’s right, you claim not to be a republican. Never mind.

.

says:
18 Nov 2008  at  09:48 am | #

Mein Frau was a community council president once upon a time until she got tired of me associating her with Nazis.

These cops are told to attend these meetings and they are just trying to do what they think the members want. If they did not recite the statistics, what would they do? It is far easier to recite than to prepare an exciting speech to entertain the herd, which , generally, is used to boring or they wouldn’t be at a meeting trying to feel powerful and looking for ways to tell others how to live.

I am sure these cops aren’t looking forward to these meeting unless they also need something boring to do.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I don’t like community councils.

Love ,
Dieter

JennyEdwards says:
18 Nov 2008  at  04:17 pm | #

Officers attend council meetings for a variety of reasons
both personal and professional; sometimes because they really
LIKE the work they do and the citizens involved. For others, it is there assignment. Evidently my venture in this area as been light in poor experiences
with law enforcement, as most times I sense a ‘hail fellow well met’ encounter; the few times there has been angst, it was usually personal attitude about something......

The days of “front-porch democracy” and knowing your local police, sheriff,
fire personnel, %#^^@ even knowing your neighbor, seems to have come and gone for most of us. The media turn in the late 70’s lured us inside and perhaps some of us like being inside without knowing what goes on in the neighborhood....from the neighbors, the grocer, the mailman........

The stats are boring and hearing Part One/Part Two crime gets aged quickly. For some people who attend council meetings, it is their only community time to address matters with and officer, or ask questions about police procedure or function.  When I lived in District 5 I was amazed at the positive and negative responses the representatives from the police force would have in individual councils and civic meetings. Sometimes it was based on the ruggedness of increase in crime in a neighborhood and no answers seemingly forthcoming; other times it was like the District could do not wrong at any juncture.

My bearing is always to listen and learn and try to glean more from other persons chosen occupations and how they engage people one-on-one. My frame of reference is looking at how things are community oriented and ALSO community driven....who cares to engage and participate in various arenas just as humans.

Good topic with many facets.

FF????  Does the FOP really ONLY endorse Republicans?
All Republicans???  Never a Dem???

JFD says:
21 Nov 2008  at  08:41 am | #

1) The Police show up to these meetings because they are invited.

2) The distribution of statistics takes only a few minutes; the rest of the time is spent on Q&A. Meaning, there must be some who are interested in what they have to say.

3) Having a neighborhood officer who is engaged with the community, and wants to help make a difference, is important. Clifton Heights has had some good ones and some bad ones. The good ones go above and beyond, and the bad ones just want something to show up on their service record. If a community feels they have a bad one; go to the brass and request a change.

4) Jason, I can’t recall, when you printed anything respectful, about the police.