IT IS TIME TO RE-EVALUATE WHAT WE ARE DOING

Last week there were two letters in the Salisbury' News and Advertiser from
two individuals with extremely different perspectives. One spreads fear of
police and all the awful things he perceives they do. The other, a new voice
from Ocean City, spreads the fear of Salisbury and drugs in order to gain
support for his fellow police officers. I am tired of both views.

Fear mongering is an old tool to sway public opinion. The revolutionaries
need people to be afraid of the "King's" troops in order to take action
against the "King". Conversely the "King" needs an enemy the population
fears. This way, they will support the "King" and provide tax money which
will be used to suppress any particular group currently out of favor. It is
a constant struggle between the two groups, which often gets out of balance.
The swing of the power pendulum is as old as mankind.

You might ask where are we today and where are we going tomorrow? That can
be hard to tell sometimes; different attitudes will cloud opinions. As an
engineer, I try to discount personal biases and evaluate facts from a
long-term perspective.

The facts about crime is that we currently live in a time when our prison
population is at an all-time high. We have the highest incarceration rate
in the world; Wall Street investments in prison industries are a good
investment; we lock up blacks at incredible rates; Wicomico county is
funding a variety of new or expanding detention centers; and Salisbury's
police force has nearly reached 40 percent of the general tax fund compared
to 18 percent historically.

One might counter and say the crime rates has taken some small dips lately,
but they are still huge, from a historical perspective.

One month ago there was gunfire at a fast-food restaurant in Salisbury that
resulted in considerable media coverage. I have no insider information on
the events; I was not a witness; I will not condemn our police force; nor
defend the individuals in the vehicle, but there is one thing I know about
this incident that I am certain is true.

The two police officers were deadly afraid of the men in the car, as was
true of the two men in custody. It is a powerful statement of where we are
today that our police are as afraid of our minority citizens as they are of
the police.

I am tired of fear and listening to those who promote it. Perhaps, just
maybe our current model of crime and crime control is not working. It is
time to re-evaluate what we are doing; why we are doing it; and where we are
going.