Sam Riddle: 'Don't Call The Police'

[Beringia]

Last edited Sun Feb 7, 2021, 02:38 PM - Edit history (1)

Article from June 2020

https://thepulseinstitute.org/2020/06/14/sam-riddle-dont-call-the-police/




Editor’s Note: Sam Riddle is an honorably discharged Vietnam era veteran and a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. Riddle has over 45 years of experience in management, political and media consulting with emphasis on crisis management. He is currently a senior fellow at The PuLSE Institute, focusing on veterans’ poverty and Detroit’s economic recovery. He’s also the host of Riddle @Random broadcast 9-11am weekdays on 910 AM Super Station. For submission inquiries contact Bankole Thompson, the editor-in-chief of the Institute at [e-mail].

EXCERPTS

Policing, as we know it today, is as archaic as those doctors in Abraham Lincoln’s day that used to bleed patients to heal them. That medicine did not heal. That medicine killed. So, it is with policing in America today. Policing kills.

Don’t call the police. Calls to the police for minor infractions that should be decriminalized in the first instance often result in black people being murdered by cops who are ill-equipped to respond with anything but force of badge, a deadly firearm and that other pandemic virus that kills -racism. The criminalization of poverty that manifest itself in homelessness, inability to get treatment for addiction and mental challenges including autism confounds street police quick to the trigger.

In San Francisco they get it. Mayor London Breed just announced that if the call is not about violent criminal conduct police will not respond but appropriate social agencies/professionals will be sent on the call. Mayor Breed is clearly cognizant of existing issues such as systemic racism and the debilitating impact of wealth inequality that drives poverty.


The PuLSE Institute History (Public Leadership and Social Equity)

The founding of The PuLSE Institute, was inspired by the writings of prominent journalist and author Bankole Thompson, whose impactful, insightful and impassioned Detroit News columns and distinctive forums about extreme poverty and economic inequality issues in the city of Detroit, are an urgent call to action against these inequities.

Members of the PuLSE Institute



Bankole Thompson, PuLSE editor in chief
Jonathan Wolman, Detroit News, editor and publisher
Reverend Jesse Jackson, Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition
Rabbi Daniel Syme, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth El, Senior Fellow focusing on faith, race and poverty


Sam Riddle on Detroit 960 SuperStation weekdays 9 to 11 am est (Riddle at Random)

http://910amsuperstation.com/?page_id=532

[marble falls]

1. Sam Riddle is a force of nature.

[Beringia]

2. Agree 100%. I lucked out hearing him on Michael Moore Podcast Rumble

and thought this guy was on fire and I listen to him sometimes in the morning, but I don't live in Detroit, so I am not really glued to it.

[marble falls]

3. I only run into him in articles about his issues, but I have read a lot of his stuff on his website,

[murielm99]

4. Calling the police could also result in

black kids ending up with a record for very minor offenses. Then, they are unable to go to college or get into some careers later in life.

I know that juvenile records are sealed. But not all the black kids who are arrested are underaged.

In my area, the cops often talk to the young people who are pushing things and looking at minor offenses. They talk to them and let them go, at least the first few times. Cops need to know their community, how to talk to people, and how to work things out.