Should We Defund the Police? | Middle Ground

hey guys real quick we want to give you a heads up this video has some imagery as well as some sounds of violence from the recent protests so just be warned you also want to let you know there is a podcast out now that you can listen to about the protests and tomorrow we will be releasing a follow-up episode July 4th exploring the idea of whiteness and I will be talking to my family about how they are perceiving this moment so give it a listen thank you for watching and stay safe I'm afraid I'm afraid when I see the police every single time because I don't know what that interaction is gonna lead to [Applause] [Music] my name is Brian I'm 28 years old I'm a police officer in Michigan I've been doing this for four years my name is Gloria I'm with the Youth Justice Coalition based in LA and I'm 24 years old my name is Dorian 30 years old from Compton California I'm a peace officer my name is will I'm 42 years old I'm a former police officer I did that for about 18 years my name is Ethan I'm 19 years old I'm from Indianapolis Indiana I'm a junior supply chain management major from dehy University so my name is Tennessee I am 22 years old I'm from New York City and I'm just a simple protester turn your camera off if this is not true for you I've witnessed police brutality I mean it's it's happened more than one time and the two times that it's happened it's been because I've been pulled over because I've been with my friends that have like tattoos and just like being told to get on the ground like just listening to the officers um demands and still being pushed to the ground but also seeing officers get really upset if you begin to like ask for an attorney or a lawyer I mean when I was attended to Indianapolis protests for J sorry when um after the protest when I was going to my car I was seen by four officers but I seen my cars in my car over here across the street so I'm just like excuse me officers like this buy four of them I was like I'm trying to get to my car and they were like now go home and one of them push me which I seen that's unnecessary so I did put some back which is something I said us in the door and I look at it but like me getting pushed back and then give pepper spray I seen that is you know kind of overuse of force growing up my best friend was Hispanic and had cousins that were troublemakers and gangs so on a few occasions the gang squad in the city I grew up and would pull us over pull everybody out kind of manhandle us there was another time where it's not excessive force but I was a victim of a robbery and I knew the suspect and I was you know juvenile and made a police report and nothing ever came of it so just remembering that when I got older and became a police officer that you want to be treated fairly and you also have to treat people fairly so I've never witnessed it but I've been in plenty of situations where there's a dog pile on the ground you have to apprehend somebody it's a lawful arrest and they want to put up a flight but if I ever see anything where someone's continuing to apply pressure or you know give it a knee or something push them away say hey we're good we got him in custody that's the end of it and the George Floyd cases is huge you see those officers just standing around I don't understand why none of them rip that guy off his back this is more a question for the officers do you approve of some of the crowd control tactics that you've seen in the videos of these protests we are okay with your person when the right to protest that's what this country is built on but you do have provocateurs you do have agitators in the crowd it to me it just doesn't seem like everything is always peaceful no matter what and then it just goes to show I I don't know I'm okay with something I'm not okay with others I just I don't know as a protester I'm just not sure it's for any protest even if it gets a little more like loud not a problem okay chaos is the problem I just don't know if it's like appropriate to use tear gas or rubber bullets tear gas can actually kill someone it agitates asthma and rubber bullets can cause serious damage depending on where you hay made one you know what I mean I just don't know if that's like appropriate and perfectly okay with that my only problem is give me a solution what other things do you think that we should do as opposed to that - de-escalating because de-escalation requires cooperation if I'm telling you hey let's bring it down you're not listening to me then it's not effective right because we have to maintain order that is kind of my my my desk my profession that's my job looting and destruction of property are acceptable parts of protesting [Music] I think it is acceptable and I know I'll be challenged for this at every single stage but I think that one we need to recognize that were on stolen land two we need to recognize that folks that have been completely robbed and stolen from their land their people their roots and I think that more people need to really instead of focusing and putting all that hate on people that are looting think about what caused all that anger so when I went to my protest it was really peaceful it's still like about like non-attendance you see people like starting to throw stuff at buildings and it really is people are just mad people are frustrated and trying to get their anger out and you will see the structure you will see violence because people are tired of being hurt and it's not something I can don't but it's something that will happen because it is people that do it also a lot of the times looters just be trying to hit links I gotta be honest I see people that just like you know take advantage of the situation that people are like breaking inside block all about to go hit that Bank real quick I'm about to hit that store real quick so for black people out there please do not look because they're gonna push you as it does and they're gonna make it seem like you're the bad guy at the end of the day when white people lose their gonna call them employees and it's ypres what black people oooh or black people rap they're gonna call us first and excuse it to the racist narrative that in turn is just gonna come and just make Lakers look worse there's a lot of people who don't understand the struggle of black community they don't understand how life is living in an inner city I didn't I grew up in a suburb and it was like 98% white I was very sheltered but I'll say for all the people who are sheltered out there and it's probably the vast majority of America it's gonna be really hard for them to sympathize and empathize with the black lives matter movement when they start seeing looters when they start seeing buildings burning they're just gonna think oh wow like you guys are acting ridiculous but your voice is very powerful it's important for folks to remember that this is not a moment this is a movement folks are uprising because they're tired and sick and tired of the same things happening over and over and over right looting might not be right right but like I said if it's not right what about when folks were enslaved what about all the gold I was thinking what about all these things what about the the land right so no III do stand in solidarity with folks that are doing the looting that are doing the uprisings that are in the protests because there's there's layers to this the recent protests are risking lives and likely spreading Koba 19 [Music] the other day you guys see it for what it is and it is a whole lot of people standing together even though I do see it's just causing I which approaches myself I think it's just cause they're not doing right for my people by the end they just guys see it for what it is and it could potentially spread covert justice Trump roschin spread Kobe just as people opening their businesses can spread covert just as people open their restaurants to spread Kobe I get it I understand the protest I understand what people are tired I understand that people who are tired of being tired so I mean if it's a risk they're willing to take by all means and you at the end of the day will reap the consequences or the benefits of your decision of course most you know you can probably likely to get sick from Kobe 19 but they're also people giving out PPE and you know they're encouraging everyone wear masks and a lot of protests even though it doesn't tend to happen they do advertise hey can you say six feet apart that'd be great I would rather fight for something I believe in and die for what I believe in people want to always shut down people power and they always want to make sure that we're Slyke oh now now it's like it's your fault you're you are making sure that the pandemic is thriving no let's look at it as a whole let's look at how law enforcement officers are not wearing any masks right and and I saw it first time because when I was arrested again the officers doing intake the officers doing process processing the officers on the bus we're not wearing any masks and when we asked them why are you not wearing masks wearing masks and they were like oh we're six feet apart from you on why you're not you're asking me where my arm where my number is to book me so let's look at that and let's also bring that out to the media - one thing I don't wear a mask when I'm going on duty I don't wear a mats and that's my personal choice I am also not gonna look at you and say hey hey hey you over there why are you not wearing a mask why are you I'm not gonna do that that is your personal choice that is you I do know that I've seen people try to switch the narrative but that's from the media that's not normal people medias nothing not normal people most normal people are not going to be complaining that you don't have a mask no island I perfectly understand that I'm just saying that a lot of people watch the media and so then they'll put tray these protests right very different and so just like you said right you don't wear a mask right that's fine I do think you should wear a mask for your safety because it is a pandemic and to me it is real and I want to respect other people's face and other people's opinions I do want to make sure that I had a mask just keep just to keep people safe law enforcement in the US has become too militarized one or two things in the car that needs to be reformed or there needs to be a demilitarized edition a lot of these instances occur because police have using that are far wrong unjustly so let's take the case of Rashard Brooks for example it all started because he was asleep at a McDonald's it was something so light they ended with him getting shot in the back you said I'm saying so at the end of the day it's like why do these things get escalated so much where these things have to occur where lethal force has to occur you could have chased them you could have found him later like at the end the day there's other ways around the other than lethal force I wanted to go back to what Dorian was bringing up around like what do we do maybe if officers weren't killing people maybe that would be a solution maybe if an LA County LAPD wouldn't have killed around 900 people right 900 individuals and we're talking about over militarization of law enforcement why is it that there's a helicopter that you'll have SWAT what type of guns do you all have all the weapons that you all carry what's really necessary because tax dollars are paying for that maybe we need to clarify what militarization means right because you say that what weapons are you guys using alright there are three deadly weapons in my vehicle at one time my service pistol my shotgun and my rifle the other tools that I have are tools to use tools that I'm gonna use so somebody doesn't end up dying so my taser pepper spray my baton grant it can we be trained better absolutely I don't train that often I should but when you say that's over militarize I'm not understanding what that means I don't use military weapons so I just want to point out that we as police officers we don't want to kill people that's not our objective we want everyone to go home safely I've been in multiple situations where I have had my gun on plane that's somebody and I'll point out one example there's a drunk guy behind the wheel stop that at a green light he has a gun right there in the passenger seat he keeps reaching for his gun keeps reaching for it and thank God that I didn't shoot him I could have legally shot him was so close to picking off that gun and pointing to that we carry a shotgun a rifle and a pistol these are all weapons that the general public has access to as well if they have access to it we have to have access to it I can remember a couple of the incidents that caused the police departments it started with the FBI in Miami were there they were outgunned back in the 80s and that's what caused I believe to go to automatic handguns as opposed to revolvers and then it was the LA bank robberies where those officers are outgunned and with all the school shootings and at the same time 911 hit and a lot of the local jurisdictions wanted to be able to maintain law and order in case of a terrorist attacked and not be outgunned in that circumstance so I agree with you - a regard that we had become I wouldn't call a militarized but we have become more prepared in law enforcement to handle any situation there are times and we can throw out numerous including George Floyd that that meant to do with militarization that was a bad cop I wanted to go back to some something that was pointed out earlier about SWAT 80% of SWAT raids according to the ACLU are by drug offences and I do agree with Ethan that it's not needed the SWAT team is not needed for a drug case you don't need to shoot someone for dealing drugs for selling drugs or for using drugs I don't think that's really appropriate I definitely do think race is an issue when it comes to these raids statistics have shown that black and span people are likely to be incarcerated for these things and what black people make up only 13% of the population and Hispanics make up about like what I think 18% I support defunding the police [Music] and just to make sure everybody who's cameras on you are in support of defunding the police I don't know enough about it and we did not know what that would look like to defund the police I'm alerting you guys with you Europeans are on there how you see defunded the police happening at the yjc were no cops on so we don't work with police we don't allow police in our space and we've been calling for five percent of law enforcement's budget which is a campaign that we have that's about defunding the police and we do practice transformative justice we are creating this thing called community alternatives to 9-1-1 where different folks um that have different like backgrounds as they're like medical backgrounds are able to support with like trauma and sexual assault mental health when we think about crime I think that the worst thing that that this brings up sometimes is that what about the murderers what about the rapist what about school shootouts right if you're getting to the root causes of things like those surface things might or might not expand and I think using that taking the money from law enforcement and again like putting that into schools putting that into parks putting that into youth development youth jobs I've heard these plans where people I would say minor mental health crises neighbor disputes civil I'm okay if you do fund the police if that means you're taking resources from policing shifting it to those other departments or whatnot and having them handle it so I can go out and get the murderers or the rapists and this and that they're the robbers and all that stuff it's just rhetoric to me is important when you say be fun the police okay I'm gonna take that as literal and then what the hell does that mean other than taking away our budget having less cops but we're still done with the same amount of workload that we were doing before you gonna burn me out so I disagreed with defunding the police I do completely agree you need more money being pumped into these resources especially in these inner cities the school systems a joke and that's all over the nation you know why is it that I got to go to a school where I had all these sports programs that were completely paid for and I had all these at a business club I got to be a part of these other communities don't have that and it's not fair but defunding the police I also think it's a bad idea because if you just take money away the problems aren't going to solve themselves immediately so I think money's gonna have to come from elsewhere I mean you look at all these monopolies getting away with tax evasion and in our country that's disgusting in itself why are these huge corporations getting away with so much they're getting richer and richer and richer meanwhile people at the very bottom the low-income are just gonna keep getting stepped on unless things change from the top you got to remember that if you want the best and the brightest police officers you got to pay for it and also you start taking away funding from police departments and cities the those extras that really help like the advocates in the assistance and those social workers they're gonna be the first to go and it's going to be the patrol officers that stay 2011-2012 Governor Christie took away money from New Jersey Camden was forced to cut twenty percent of its budget the Washington posted great article on this and what happened is they had a strong police union so they went in and got rid of the police by taking away the whole department brought in a county sheriff's department to cover it crime went down because they did the whole broken window theory but what did go up was excessive force complaints so the numbers are always skewed but at the end of the day it took the activists and it took this the citizens working with the police to get both the crime down and to get the use of force in the police officer complaints down now I think during a hit is spot-on because if they if this was to occur maybe relocating these resources elsewhere where people won't always have to feel like oh I'm gonna call the police you know what every situation we got people who you got carriers up in Manhattan can't call the police on black man for bird watching and doing things like police did not be the first ones to call for every little situation there are more good cops than bad you [Music] there's about 800 thousand cops in America right take me for example I usually do about at about 10 to 20 calls so on average there's about eight million police-citizen encounters on the day to day basis I don't think that a majority of us or even half of us are going around just messing people love kicking people's ass all that stuff we're just trying to do the best that we can yes there are some people out here who have nefarious reasons to becoming a cop I don't think that's the majority of us I see my partners on a day-to-day basis I know my partners I see how other people interact I see other from other states I just have to say that most cops are good cops most cops are good people that's just my experience I can't speak for everybody else but that's my experience yeah I agree and I think it's just like in the light we are right now so many bad cops are being portrayed on this and it's just like people are just seeing them all the bad cop so myself I've had more good experiences with cops they're bad experiences I can't say for everybody but you know that's just been my experience a I'd really do not think all cops a bit or most types of bet effect I think it's important to point out too that law enforcement it's one of the only professions where one incident we all get lumped into it you know a teacher sleeps with an underage student we don't go around saying all teachers are bad and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that law enforcement is one of the only professions that can restrict people's rights if you look at the numbers alone majority police are having great if not positive encounters with citizens um I think I'm a family member who is a cop and of course I think she's a good person but I think the whole well not all cops are bad again it takes away from the conversation we all know that not all cops are bad but the conversation we're trying to have it's not all cops are good either I had a friend who was raped by the cop I mean a cop is not in jail no he's still working she tried reporting it nothing happened I just think again it's like a deflection strategy the reason why we did like what the [ __ ] all right what did I do is because rhetoric I'm not gonna tell anybody has but rhetoric is very important right so we say cops kill people I've never killed anybody in my life right so you automatically have brought me into that conversation so work I'm like no not all cops bring people I'm not trying to go away from the from the subject matter when you do a broad thing like that because like I said me I'm like what this is not about good cop bad cop it's about that the system needs to be dismantled as a whole it's about remembering how the system was built the system of policing right and it was built to catch thieves it's about the fact that you all work for institutions that continuously show up to hurt harm I was arrested at the age of eleven and even just thinking about that right policing and young people being um being arrested and in juvenile halls and almost things right all these systems that that's what policing is like you're on the wrong side you know and I'm also thinking about I have a daughter too and her father was severely beat by the police by LAPD once at court the cop was not convicted of anything but it was brought up that he this specific officer had been also beating different people yeah he was still he was still in the field he was still working he was still getting paid policing as a whole and the system that is up like is Thai is like grabbing on to systemic racism right because when you think about who are in these prisons who are in these jails who is in custody you're talking you're talking about black and brown people so it doesn't matter if there's the black cop is the Latino cup is the white cup like if you're seeing their injustice going on in the departments because I know you all see it in different levels um and and you're not saying anything and what can you really say right and that's I'm not done talking to him I know no I'm not gonna start talking for you I'm not um because like you all want to cover each other's asses or whatever and that's okay but at the end of the day it wasn't one cop it wasn't three cops that killed 948 people it was several cups that have not been incited by the district attorney or by anyone else so why are we gonna keep the the little narrative around good call backup no the whole system needs to go and see this is the exact thing that I was talking about which I'm not what I want to go back and forth and I didn't mean to cut you out that that was that was I apologize for that but the problem is you keep speaking for me right so now you said you know that that's exactly what you said you guys know this you do like you don't know nothing about me you don't know anything about me I don't know anything about you so I would never serve what I've gone through in my life on you that's what you just I'm not talking about Dorian because the question question was around good cop bad cop is important because that's what you said you said you are three you guys know all three you guys know what I'm talking about law enforcement because that's what the question is centered around you can't that's why I said rhetoric to me is most important because we're having a conversation you and I glory you you everybody is here is having a conversation so we say you I have never seen this before personally I've never seen something like that right if I did you damn right I would say something I don't give a [ __ ] if I lose my job okay because I got in this to do the right thing I'm afraid I'm afraid when I see the police every single time because I don't know what that interaction is gonna meet to I don't know if you are having a good day because you'll have more power in terms of power dynamics whether you can escalate and whether you know because now I'm a threat for whatever maybe I might have said something maybe I have something maybe I made the wrong move you may be afraid because your experiences that's fine I'm not taking away from anything but there's also other viewpoints right not just yours I respect your viewpoint right I would actually recommend because you're afraid to go on a ride-along to see what we do you may not want to I got you I got you I'm just saying just to see because people think I'm 30 years old right I've only been a cop for seven years that doesn't take my sense of humanity out of me just because I became a law enforcement officer alright I'm not taking anything from anyone I think our country will make it through these divisive times I mean I think we would I know we will because this is a stepping point for our country and you know people are waking up and wanted a better nation for everybody for all of us at the end of the day there might be bloodshed there might be large loss there might be you know tears crying whatever African American people in this country been through for Jesus like we've been through Jim Crow we've been through the 60s you've been to every day so we definitely gonna make it though I think it starts with what we're doing here it starts with communication I think it turn off TV a little when it comes to being manipulated by the news and you know things kind of die down but what it really takes is not forcing somebody to see your view but to actually communicate and come up with a solution working with both sides and I think if we do that there will definitely be stronger for from it it's what we don't know that scares us but when we open up and see the other people's points of view and you see how other people live and their expectations I think we can get a lot farther I was a part of a protest with there called the New York City students for justice and we're talking high schoolers who are 17 and 18 year old year olds they're organizing their own protests that thousands of people attended I just it gave me a lot of hope because I'm like these kids are gonna get far I definitely think they're the future for our country you guys saying that just gives me hope because I guess I'm cynical I think that people I think we're going to destroy each other before that happens you're right the younger people younger people the younger generation are the future and like we'll say it all starts with conversation so I'm gonna change my answer now so I'm sorry to be so negative but I think all of us law enforcement and the communities we serve I think we want to work together we need your guys support to do our jobs but the fact of the matter is there's so much corruption out there at the higher levels and I don't think it's gonna change I think the more that we communicate on our levels is really important and it can somewhat keep the peace but as a whole things are not going to change until the higher ups start doing something what's happening in America yeah I'm just I'm just really at night I want to acknowledge the fact that if these systems don't change we will continue to be uprising we will continue to have protests have demands have solutions and I was really just remembering all the moms that I've heard had their they loved ones or their sons killed by law enforcement and what would they want to see what justice do they deserve right what what justice does George Floyd deserve does what Keisha Wilson does Breanna right like all the N is so many what what what justice do they deserve this is not gonna stop until again until we have changed you guys are all great I appreciate you I'm gonna ask that you all log out and just kind of say goodbye to each other close it ask Laurie or something though damn everyone

Channel: Jubilee

Views: 1,084,535

Rating: 4.8250036 out of 5

Keywords: jubilee, jubilee media, jubilee project, middle ground, spectrum, odd man out, versus 1, embrace empathy, live deeper, love language, blind devotion, police, protest, black, protestors, brutality, police brutality, defund police, george floyd, first amendment, peaceful protest, looting, systemic racism, black lives matter, transformative justice, riots, policing, law enforcement, ask me anything cop, jubilee cop

Id: 24xsqyMcpRg

Length: 30min 13sec (1813 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 03 2020