How to Work with Your Local Law Enforcement

A Fort Worth police officer shot a dog.  Frank Brown shot Lily for no good reason, other than cops can do that and get away with it.  Those of us who love dogs, and even those who simply respect property rights, get all upset when we hear one of these stories.  Mark and Cindy Boling, Lily's owners, were upset, too.  To them, it was roughly equivalent to murder.  It was certainly wanton destruction of private property.

The Bolings wanted revenge at first, but they decided on a better course of action.

[They] switched gears and began advocating for more training. Lo and behold, police Chief Jeffrey Halstead listened, expressed empathy, and established a training program that will eventually reach 800 local patrol officers.

It turns out that Officer Frank Brown, who was suspended for his actions, came to understand the unnecessary trauma he had caused the Bolings.  He signed up for the training class as soon as it was offered. 

Lileks suggests the proper way to complain in today's Bleat:

Anyway. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: Complain. Not with anger. Not at the person who has no power. Not in a fashion you would like directed at you. But complain.  

We can feel bad when we get mistreated.  We can take it personally.  We can take it out on the perpetrator.  Or we can take positive, constructive action.  This is power and the benefit of operating locally.  This is the horror of a massive, centralized, faceless and amorphous bureaucracy. 

You can deal with a person.  Sure, you will occasionally run into a wicked, dedicated, irredeemable jackass.  They are out there.  They are, however, a lot more prevalent in the mob-like atmosphere of government bureaus and regulatory agencies where they can hide behind "policies" and "supervisors" and "rules".  IRS, DMV, ATF, EPA.  They are drawn to those type of environments like rattlesnakes to prairie dog towns. 

Anyway, study the approach the Bolings took.  Read Lileks.  Have a good weekend.