Everybody smiles for the cameras. A ribbon is cut, the story runs across multiple media outlets. Some people heave a sigh of relief or say, begrudgingly, “It’s about time!”
I am sad.
Columbia police open new satellite office at the Mall in Columbia after fatal shootings, WBAL TV 11
Our community has been ablaze with hateful and unsubstantiated rumours about a project to create a community center for young people. But everybody smiles about more police at the Mall.
Why?
I’d smile if they were opening a special hub for teens at the Mall. Let me know when they do that.
This is how we spend our money. This is how we think we can address complicated problems. What are we calling it these days? Crime prevention? Rapid response? Investment in public safety?
- Crime prevention is meeting the unmet needs that cause suffering and put people into a continuous cycle of crisis and failure.
- Rapid response is truly paying attention, in real time, to vulnerable and distressed young people when they really need it.
- Investment in public safety is investment in human opportunity and potential.
But some people have never seen a problem that they didn’t want to throw more police at.
The old saying is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But we don’t want to invest in true prevention or cure. It seems ludicrous to me that the most noncontroversial “solution” continues to be one which uses an increasing amount of community funds and solves absolutely nothing at all.
Numbers may suggest short term improvement. In the long term nothing changes.
But somehow we’re okay with spending money on that, and not on a community center that could truly change lives.
We could choose something else. And we don’t.
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