Tension in Madison: Role of Police

Chief Says Madison Not a Ferguson

The above is a recent interview (Apr/3/2015) in which I talk a bit about tension in Madison and that while there is tension in my old city, it is not a Ferguson. The shooting of a young black man by a Madison officer on March 13th initially sparked both grief and anger in the community. As I mention, my hop is that Madison can continue its role as a learning organization and teach others how best to respond to all-to-common incidents like these — and keep them from happening in the future.

The department stayed true to its decades-old “Madison Method” of properly responding to the protest that boiled over after the shooting that night. The department responded with tolerance and control during the many marches and demonstrations which occurred in the city in the aftermath.

Now the city is in an interim period in which an outside agency investigated the shooting; the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). Complete article

These are recommendations of newsworthy blogs for posts of mine with original content see Zachery D Taylor's Blog.

A Warning to Our Nation’s Police

A Warning to Our Nation’s Police

Many of you know that I am a person who has put a number of years into the discipline of policing a free society — and I do say “discipline” because policing consists of the multiple disciplines of psychology, sociology, law, emergency medicine, rhetoric, martial arts, history, education, and philosophy (and a few other as well).

And since my retirement, I have been watching, analyzing, writing, and listening to and about police matters. I have recently come to a conclusion about what is going on and a prediction for the future — deep-down, I do hope I am wrong!

Since Ferguson, I have felt a sense of urgency in the nation — and I know that when I write and talk about that urgency has rubbed many of you the wrong way. Agitated or not, police need to look outside themselves and into the cities and communities they serve.

Here’s what I think is going on…

The future of American policing today rests on how well and how quickly its police can regain the trust and support of poor people and people of color.

Trust and support are essential in order to fairly and effectively police a multi-cultural, free society like America.

Without that trust and support, policing will have to use fear, force, and repression to maintain a semblance public order, not the consent and support of the people themselves. Complete article

These are recommendations of newsworthy blogs for posts of mine with original content see Zachery D Taylor's Blog.

Police: No More Excuses

Police: No More Excuses 03/21/2015

To Our Nation’s Police:

What are you going to do?

When are you going to do it?

Two important questions for them to answer as we go beyond our nation’s Fergusons.

Having been a member of the police for many years, and now a writer and commentator, I am intrigued by these questions. How will our police answer? Will Ferguson be their new norm? This would not be an unusual as “hunkering down,” protecting the status quo, and castigating detractors is what many police have done for decades when faced with change. And when the fire wains and the smoke settles, nothing has changed. Complete article

These are recommendations of newsworthy blogs for posts of mine with original content see Zachery D Taylor's Blog.

What’s Happening in Madison?

What’s Happening in Madison? 03/10/2015

From this morning’s Wisconsin State Journal:

“Students from throughout Madison left school and took their rage, sorrow and demands to the city’s power centers on Monday, rocking the state Capitol rotunda with chants of ‘Justice for Tony’ then demanding a meeting with Mayor Paul Soglin and Police Chief Mike Koval while massed outside the City-County Building.

“In loud, well-choreographed voices, they vowed to press public officials and police for consequences in the death last Friday night of Tony Robinson, an unarmed 19-year-old shot by a police officer after an altercation on the Near East Side. Complete article

These are recommendations of newsworthy blogs for posts of mine with original content see Zachery D Taylor's Blog.