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Wants police to de-escalate situations

To the editor:

I am writing an open letter to the police department . Do you train your officers to de-escalate? I just saw a man killed by Georgia police because he was perhaps drunk, fell asleep in his car and blocked traffic, hardly a capital offense. Perhaps, the situation could have been de-escalated with a better outcome.

I wonder how many of your readers have never over imbibed and would have acted judicially if they were asleep in their car, were somewhat tipsy, were yanked out of their car by police, put on ground and treated as if they had murdered someone. Might you have resisted?

How different might the outcome have been if police had de-escalated by calling his family or someone who could have come to pick him up, moved his car and given him a warning ticket or even requested he show up at the court house when he sobered up?

There was a time when the judiciary system did not try to fill the jail with folks who committed minor infractions, causing them to lose their job, their house, maybe their wife or husband and kids. And currently police can take all your personal property when they arrest you. I know of a person who had all their Christmas money and presents confiscated by police during an arrest.

In my humble opinion, police really need training to de-escalate and learn to have a bit of humanity. They are there to serve, not to incarcerate, beat, humiliate, and over punish. Please train your department to de-escalate and have some heart.

Marjorie Franks

Fort Dodge

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