After all the country has been through there is a huge demand for legislative action and a call for change. I can certainly understand how the police departments can feel they didn’t have enough say in the drafting of these laws. This is probably indicative of the current lack of trust many people have with the police.
The problem I see is that it’s not law that’s preventing the police from responding. As you so accurately pointed out, it’s the POLICY (your emphasis) that is in the way of public safety. It’s clear from the way HB 1310 is written that the intent was not about preventing the police from responding in Community Care, or any other situations. The law was written specifically about the unnecessary use of force by police, and that is a genuine problem. This specific direction for implementation has not been developed by the legislature that drafted the bill nor local elected representatives, and that is where the conflict lies. These policies need to be created in conjunction with our elected officials, especially since the municipal budgets will need to be adjusted for any changes in the way we organize our public safety system. Similarly the applicable direction that describes how this law will be enacted and implemented needs to be specific about the intent so there is no interruption of service.
I looked at the facebook page you referenced but what I see is an example of why the direction to officers and 911 needs to be clear, especially with regards to intent. The post shows how individual jurisdictions are misinterpreting the law and what it actually means. Now we have a situation where an errant message is being given to officers that they can’t respond, they will act accordingly, and that, if anything, will be what causes a decrease in public safety. The public will be better served if the police work cooperatively with their local officials to develop a comprehensive system to apply these laws rather than to take an uncooperative and misguided position that they won’t respond.
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