Forum: Summit on policing will start ongoing conversation on reforms

The June 29 event in Everett offers panel discussions and interviews with law enforcement and others.

By Juan Peralez / Herald Forum

We are existing with an institutional failure in American policing, and this leadership failure can be seen sometimes graphically within the police and citizen encounters across the country. Say their names: Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Daunte Wright, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Manny Ellis and too many more. Perhaps less visibly, it can be seen within the health experiences of police officers themselves.

It is this suffering that must be framed as the suffering on both sides of the badge. There are two worlds that must be united, police officers and the people who are served. What stands in the way is a police culture and traditional police leadership models and the ever-growing hostility toward police officers themselves.

Failure to place police culture within the political and social context of policing has resulted in the need for rule-tightening and changing the culture. It is futile to guess whether reforms or a change the culture will be effective at the level of individual racism. However, patterns are discernible in overall culture and turn into structure, and structural change has an impact. We must bring the theories of policing into touch with contemporary policy and the present reality of policing. We must not be pessimistic about reform. It must be embraced.

I and others have organized a Summit on Policing from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 29 at the Carl Gipson Center in Everett. The purpose of this summit is to promote the idea of convening a partnership of law enforcement officers in our county and state including the Attorney General’s Office, community advocates, and members of the state legislature’s Senate Law and Justice Committee and the House Community Safety, Justice and Reentry Committee to begin year-round dialogue to change police culture.

The summit will have three panels of speakers, former and current police chiefs panel, former sheriff and current sheriff panel and a panel of relatives of people killed by police. Three additional speakers, state Attorney General candidates and attorney and author, Jessica Pishko, whose new book is coming out this Fall, “The Highest Law In The Land: How The Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy.”

With the goal of enhancing public safety for everyone we must begin an ongoing dialogue on changing the culture of policing in our state. It is very difficult to change police culture at the legislative level by bringing community advocates and law enforcement together to address legislation about police accountability for only two or three months out the year. This can paint a negative picture of police vs. community. Changing police culture requires collaboration and dialogue year-round among legislators, law enforcement and the communities they serve and protect.

The discussions may not be comfortable bu let’s get uncomfortable! Why is it, that in the world’s greatest democracy that so many people of color are oppressed by our criminal justice system? Why is it that so many marginalized people fear the police? Why are the articulate and intelligent voices of police reform so frequently muted by the rhetoric of police systems and culture.

The questions are uncomfortable and there are no simple answers. What we all must acknowledge is that we must come together with open hearts and minds and find our way forward in changing police culture for everyone’s safety.

Community advocates, law enforcement and legislators acknowledge the need to change police culture and collaborate with focus on the paramount priority of saving lives. Change in police culture must focus on promoting transparency, much needed accountability that will lead to building severely needed trust in policing in communities of color.

The question we must all keep in mind as we go forward is: What will it take for an unarmed black man, woman or child to keep from getting shot or killed by police? One way is to start addressing racially biased policing by addressing the element of white supremacy within law enforcement. It is this element in policing that paints a biased and corrupt image of all law enforcement with the same brush.

It is this element in policing that also costs taxpayers money through what are called consent decrees imposed on law enforcement agencies by the federal Department of Justice. The City of Seattle has spent $200 million dollars in addressing its consent decree requirements. This is a complex issue that if not addressed will continue to cost taxpayers money with decrees and lawsuits filed against police departments for misconduct and brutality.

Please reach out to your respective legislators and urge them to support legislation that will save lives and make our communities safe for all regardless of class or color.

Juan Peralez is president of Unidos of Snohomish County, unidos-snoco.org.

Summit on Policing

The summit is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 29 at the Carl Gipson Center, 3025 Lombard Ave., Everett. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. RSVP by going to unidos-snoco.org/political-events and scanning the QR code. The summit will be live-streamed and recorded.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Sunday, Feb. 9

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

bar graph, pie chart and diagrams isolated on white, 3d illustration
Editorial: Don’t let state’s budget numbers intimidate you

With budget discussions starting soon, a new website explains the basics of state’s budget crisis.

A young man carries water past the destroyed buildings of a neighborhood in the Gaza Strip, Feb. 2, 2025. President Donald Trump’s proposal to “own” the Gaza Strip and transfer its population elsewhere has stirred condemnation and sarcasm, but it addresses a real and serious challenge: the future of Gaza as a secure, peaceful, even prosperous place. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times)
Comment: ‘Homeland’ means exactly that to Gazans

Palestinians have long resisted resettlement. Trump’s plan to ‘clean out’ Gaza changes nothing.

Rent stabilization can keep more from losing homes

Thank you to The Herald Editorial Board for its editorial, regarding rent… Continue reading

Don’t pamper young criminals with lenient sentences

I want to give a shout out to Todd Welch for his… Continue reading

Comment: Democracy depends on support of local journalism

A state bill provides funding to support local news outlets through a modest tax on tech businesses.

Comment: Love is intoxicating; romance doesn’t have to be

Navigating sobriety while dating, with Valentine’s Day coming up, is possible and fulfilling.

Comment: State attempt at single-payer health care bound to fail

Other states have tried, but balked when confronted with the immense cost to state taxpayers.

Curtains act as doors for a handful of classrooms at Glenwood Elementary on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: Schools’ building needs point to election reform

Construction funding requests in Arlington and Lake Stevens show need for a change to bond elections.

FILE- In this Nov. 14, 2017, file photo Jaìme Ceja operates a forklift while loading boxes of Red Delicious apples on to a trailer during his shift in an orchard in Tieton, Wash. Cherry and apple growers in Washington state are worried their exports to China will be hurt by a trade war that escalated on Monday when that country raised import duties on a $3 billion list of products. (Shawn Gust/Yakima Herald-Republic via AP, File)
Editorial: Trade war would harm state’s consumers, jobs

Trump’s threat of tariffs to win non-trade concessions complicates talks, says a state trade advocate.

A press operator grabs a Herald newspaper to check over as the papers roll off the press in March 2022 in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald file photo)
Editorial: Push back news desert with journalism support

A bill in the state Senate would tax big tech to support a hiring fund for local news outlets.

Forum: Requiem for a lost heavyweight: Sports Illustrated

SI, with Time and NatGeo, were a holy trinity for me and my dad. Now, it’s a world of AI clickbait.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.