Various San Jose community members discussed how people should stop relying on the police to resolve non-life threatening disputes during an event at Del Monte Park last Thursday.
The Black Liberation and Collective Knowledge (B.L.A.C.K.) Outreach, a San Jose based activism community collective, hosted the “Alternatives to Calling the Police in San Jose'' event which provided a space for people to voice their concerns about law enforcement. The event also offered ideas on how to de-escalate potentially violent situations without the need for police intervention.
Cal, an attendee who wanted to go by a nickname because of privacy concerns, said police officers are called on too often to handle situations.
“If we can do better, let’s do better,” Cal said.
About 20 people showed up to the event and sat cross-legged on the asphalt of the Del Monte Park playground. Each attendee introduced themselves and explained why they came to the discussion.
A San Jose State political science senior, who would like to remain anonymous because of safety concerns, said he went to the event because he was tired of police officers killing Black people and other people of color.
“I want an immediate end to police hurting my people and one of the first steps is showing up here (to talk about alternatives),” he said.
B.L.A.C.K Outreach organizers defined “alternatives solutions” and “non-life threatening emergencies” so the attendees could have a mutual understanding about the terms.
According to the organizers, “alternative solutions” means creating a voluntary group of community members and experts in areas, like the mental health and medical field, to defuse non-life threatening situations.
“Non-life threatening emergencies” are described as incidences like domestic violence and mental health crises, where the group could intervene and provide resources. If an emergency is too violent for the group’s resources to handle, such as a mass shooting, that’s when they would call the authorities, said the organizers.
The San Jose Police Department defines non-emergencies as non-injury traffic incidents, abandoned vehicles, loud music or party complaints, according to the SJPD dispatch webpage.
A chairman of B.L.A.C.K Outreach wanted attendees to make the distinction between SJPD’s definition and the organization definition of non-life threatening emergencies. He said officers can use unnecessary violence against people involved in non-emergencies, which can result in people getting hurt or killed.
“Not every situation needs to have officers with guns,” the chairman said.
All members of B.L.A.C.K Outreach quoted in the story requested not to use their full names out of concerns for their safety.
One attendee suggested that the volunteer policing group create an app where people can request a specific service for a non-life threatening incident, such as a mediator to resolve a neighborhood dispute.
Another suggestion was creating free sessions where community members can learn how to engage in self-defense and non-violent restraints when dealing with a possibly violent situation.
Broodie, a B.L.A.C.K Outreach member and one of the event organizers, said during the meeting that future volunteers should be empathetic and compassionate toward community members and their situations. He said the volunteers shouldn’t be like police officers, who are more interested in status and power, rather than with the well-being of community members.
“Community officers see people more as a statistic or perk, there’s no empathy,” Broodie said.
The B.L.A.C.K Outreach chairman said he also wanted attendees to offer ideas on how they could build a stronger rapport with the San Jose community. He said if people see volunteers caring for their community by offering services like handing out free meals, the community will eventually trust them to handle non-life threatening situations.
“What do we need to do is to build community trust . . . by protecting people and showing up for them,” the chairman said.
Broodie said the organization hopes to have more community discussions in the future, but are unsure whether it will be virtual or in-person at the same park.
Agamut, a B.L.A.C.K. Outreach member said that while protesting and engaging in other forms of civil disobedience brings attention to poor policing, coming up with alternative solutions can help protect more people from police brutality.
“Protesting and all, that's cool,” Agamut said. “But this is the type of change we need to start with . . . we had a good turn out today.”
