Tacoma: City leaders must do police ride-alongs
Our City of Tacoma government boasted their intent to make some consequential and potentially detrimental changes to the way the Police Department operates.
City leaders demand increased training for officers, and I demand increased education for policy makers.
Each should be required to do eight ride-alongs on the swing/graveyard shifts in the most crime-ridden areas of Tacoma.
At that point they might have the minimum amount of experience required to make decisions affecting those individuals who put their lives on the line with each shift.
Police are not the enemy; this needs to be said. What we really need is for our city leaders to conduct a transparent, thorough dive into police reality if they are going to make police decisions.
This would be a huge step in building citizen confidence in police transformation.
Mary Ann Clabaugh, Tacoma
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 8:44 AM with the headline "Tacoma: City leaders must do police ride-alongs."