By Sunil Dutta, http://www.dailynews.com/editorial/ci_12073696
On March 21, Lovelle Mixon killed four
officers in Oakland. He was a suspect in another homicide and rape
of a 12-year-old child. He victimized families and destroyed many
lives during his short life of 26 years.
Mixon's constant run-ins with the law and
his transformation into a monster are not isolated incidents; he
is emblematic of hundreds of thousands of criminals who enter our
broken criminal justice system and spend their entire lives
cycling in and out of prison. I cannot even count how many times I
have seen repeat customers at the Los Angeles Police Department on
their road to jail again. My experience is not an exception.
Our criminal justice system is broken.
Despite spending exorbitant sums on law enforcement, prosecution
and packing our prisons (no other nation in the world has
imprisoned so many as we have), we have not enhanced public
safety. We fail in crime prevention, intervention, reintegration
and rehabilitation of criminals. We fail in preventing people from
being victimized; we fail in preventing lives of innocent people
from being destroyed.
The failure is based upon two reasons:
the punitive approach to law enforcement and the fragmented
criminal justice system. Why continue to perpetuate a disastrously
expensive and wrong approach to public safety?
Crime is expensive. Society pays for the
police and related emergency services (911, medical response,
trauma centers), the courts, the correctional system, probation
and parole agents, and social service agencies. In addition,
policing of society is prohibitively expensive (the city of Los
Angeles spent $1.92 billion on LAPD in 2008-09 budget) due to the
built-in inefficiencies, redundancies, compartmentalization, lack
of cooperation and lack of seamlessness in criminal justice
system.
Victims and their traumatized families
never receive adequate financial or psychological help. The
criminal is not rehabilitated as prisons serve as graduate schools
for criminality; and the society ends up paying economically and
morally.
I propose a radical approach to law
enforcement by creating a new public safety agency that would make
us true servants of the public, enhance transparency in law
enforcement operations, and provide proper support to the victims,
law violators, and their families. This approach would focus on
rehabilitation and make the society safer for far less cost.
The proposed system would prevent Lovelle
Mixons from forming and it would break the cycle of crime.
Additionally, the system would provide far superior services to
the society at a minuscule cost compared with the present system.
The new Public Safety Agency to replace
the current broken system would be comprehensive collaboration of
all public safety personnel. Sworn officers, prosecuting and
defense attorneys, emergency response teams, child and family
services, social welfare agents, community service specialists,
rehabilitation, job training, drug and alcohol abuse counselors,
negotiators, psychological counselors, and probation and parole
agents would work together in the same building.
They would operate under the same
umbrella working seamlessly and transparently with a goal of crime
prevention and criminal rehabilitation. All the old criminal
justice system agencies would be abolished and made part of the
new Public Safety Agency.
Consolidation of these numerous entities
alone would cut down the cost of operations instantly by more than
two-thirds, saving the taxpayers billions. Cross training various
agents of the new agency would create well-rounded public
servants. Increased transparency and focus on rehabilitation would
bridge the chasm that exists between the police and society, and
enhance cooperation that would lead to true community policing.
Any time a crime occurs, the sworn agents
would respond. Based upon the incident, the prosecutors, public
defenders, and appropriate family service agents would accompany
them. As soon as the crime scene was stabilized, supporting agents
would assist victims and the law violator.
A coordinated response would ensure that
not only the officers enforce law; the prosecutors and the public
defenders would ensure that no one's rights are violated.
Additionally, the family services and psychological counselors
would assist the victims and provide support in coping with the
traumatic incidents.
The person arrested would also receive
instant attention of counselors, and the reintegration efforts of
the arrestee would begin from the moment of his arrest. The
reintegration efforts would continue until true rehabilitation of
the law violator.
The entire family of the criminal would
be involved to create an environment where rehabilitation could
take place. The collaborative efforts of agents specializing in
probation, parole, social services, education, job-training and
counseling in the new Public Safety Agency would ensure that the
law violator is released as a productive member of the society and
constantly monitored and supported.
Additionally, mediators would be
available to resolve neighborhood disputes to prevent escalation,
consequently preventing potential crime.
Public safety agencies cannot change the
structure of depressed neighborhoods, make them lively, provide
for economic development, or improve access to education and
employment. That is the responsibility of our political leaders.
However, we can transform the structure
and functioning of law enforcement, make it accountable to the
people, and make it work to prevent crime and rehabilitate the
violators. The proposed new public safety agency is the way to the
future.
Lt. Sunil Dutta, PhD, is patrol watch
commander at Foothill Division for the Los Angeles Police
Department. The views presented here are his own and do not
represent the LAPD.
