Some Thoughts on Ferguson
I’ve been out of town for a few days, but even in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan my wife and I couldn’t get away from news coverage of what’s going on in Ferguson, MO.
I think I can speak somewhat intelligently on this seeing how I spent three years going to law school in St. Louis, so I am somewhat familiar with the lay of the land.
With respect to Ferguson, it is a classic example of how everything that could go wrong did.
The robbery over a pack of cheap cigars, police overreaching by arresting journalists, outsiders coming in and looting, you name it.
But deep at heart with this entire situation is the issue of relationships, particularly between police and the communities that they serve.
The Ferguson Police Department did not look like the community it represents, nor did it have the relationship with the business and faith-based community that it should have, because if it did, a lot of this might have been avoided.
That is something that should never be lost on Indianapolis and other major cities. No matter how many police you put on the street, it won’t make a difference unless the department has an open, honest and trustworthy relationship with the community that it serves.
People don’t take to the streets for the last thing you did, it’s all the other stuff beforehand that should have been dealt with a long time ago.
Just a few thoughts; it’s nice to be back.
