This is from a preliminary Google search of the term "police mindfulness training":
I did not read the articles. I did not research this topic.
I am only thinking about how the decisions that people make in the moment are the culmination of their conscious and unconscious belief systems. Maybe every police station should require that police officers take half an hour at the beginning of every shift to:
-take stock of their emotional state
-think about how much sleep they have had over the past week
-take stock of their use of alcohol, caffeine and other substances over the past week
-run through potential scenarios of interacting with the public
-be made aware of what is on the public's mind locally and nationally by perusal of social media and traditional media
-be made aware of police news in other stations and states
-be made aware of political agendas pertaining to law enforcement
-re-establish goals
What you think about every day is what decides what you do.
I'm not offering this idea as a panacea. I'm saying that without daily reminders of and cognitive engagement with these issues, it's difficult for organizations to effect permanent change.
Our culture is full of rage. It is our most admired emotion. We are all used to it.
Police officers are public servants who carry the power of life and death with them at all times. They should be encouraged to be thinkers.
I have never thought of this before, but in these incidents where police officers murder people, particularly when they slowly murder them in front of witnesses and cell phones, it almost seems as if they're in a trance. I'm not saying that they are not responsible for their actions; it's more a question of how and why the background of racism breaks through and they can't evaluate their own behavior or the behavior of their colleagues or even hear bystanders screaming at them.
It has happened before. There was outrage before. There were calls for reform before. The rioting people are going to go home.
What is going to prevent the next lethal trance?
I'll add this to the mindfulness checklist:
-Take stock of desensitization
Police officers see real violence a lot more often than most people do, whether it's violence that is directed toward them, violence that causes victim injuries that they have to report and investigate, or violence that they have to de-escalate. Maybe they and everyone else should assume that to be a police officer is to live with PTSD for the rest of your life. Some officers can cope with it and those who can't are overtaken by their prejudices and they kill people.
I'm not saying there is no evil in law enforcement. I'm asking why there are police officers who kill helpless people in broad daylight in front of screaming witnesses and cell phones, when they could plot murders and get away with them more easily if what they really want is to kill people. There are probably police officers who do that, and they're not the ones who get caught.
I am definitely not suggesting that PTSD be given as a workable defense for police officers who are charged with these crimes. This page is about prevention, not excuses.
