Steve Woolrich is a crime prevention practitioner and the principal of Rethink Urban’s collaborative focusing on community safety and well-being.
As a kid I use to marvel at the sight and sound of a police car driving by me at warp speed. Fast forward to 2020, and it’s rarely one police car — it’s the cavalry. The idea that we might enjoy one day or night without this obtrusive noise filling our streets may be a pipe dream, and we seem to accept this as being normal — it’s not.
According to most of the candidates hoping to win a council seat in the Victoria byelection, we still need more police, or at the very least they’re suggesting we stick with the status quo.
Have we become so dependent on our police services that we can’t accept new alternatives?
We can no longer ignore the tragic circumstances we face within the realm of policing, we are clearly at a crossroads.
Let’s be clear, I’m not opposed to policing and in fact, I’ve been working closely with police services for almost 30 years. What’s most disturbing are the mixed messages, and confusion that exists both internally and externally. How many times have we heard police leaders say: “We’ll never arrest our way out of this?” And yet, these same leaders and many politicians continue to want more. More officers, better equipment … more lights and sirens.
Can we not blaze a new path forward or pen a new story about how we might police our future, and what is deemed to be essential to delivering these services? Bryant Welch, a Harvard-trained lawyer, psychologist, lobbyist and lawyer says “when people hear the same message, in the same language, over and over again, it functions like an implant.”
The transformation required will not come from most police leaders or politicians, it will come from citizens. Once empowered, they will embrace a new story, and a better way forward.
Case in point, the City of Medellin, Colombia, once considered the murder capital of the world. In a series called The Life-Sized City, host Mikael Colville-Anderson explores urbanism, and how this city is addressing social problems head on. Sergio Fajardo, mayor from 2004 to 2007, described his city as a place of fear and no hope, and that it’s been transformed.
Their chief resilience officer, Santiago Uribe Rocha, spoke to a strong civic pride that exists, and citizens becoming more conscious of their role.
When we think of community safety and our own well-being we must open our eyes and see that the police are not going to suddenly lead us down a new path, one of real transformation. As citizens we must find our own way past this grand illusion and empower ourselves at a grassroots level.
Medellin’s former architect and chief planner, Jorge Perez Jaramillo, hits the nail on the head. He states: “Citizens have become conscious about their role, and that the transformative process doesn’t depend on the politicians or the leaders, it depends on the citizens.” Before, Jaramillo says, “we had a lot of dwellers, and now we have a lot of citizens which is different, same amount of people but not the same conditions. A citizen is responsible, has rights but has responsibilities — a dweller only has rights.”
If a Third World city like Medellin can be transformed, Victorians can’t be excused. While I remain hopeful that we can shift our paradigm and not be so reliant on the police, I’m also confident that as citizens we can be more engaged in creating our own ideals around community safety and well-being. We are not a city of dwellers, are we?
It’s probably safe to say that in the byelection and budget we can cue more lights and sirens. Will it make our city safer? No, and in the meantime we can start recruiting more citizens.
