It’s inappropriate for elected officials to discuss abolishing police in Iowa City

We should all want to live in a world that doesn’t require police - a world without violence, the need to prevent it or apprehend those who commit it. Sadly, that is simply not the world we currently or have ever lived in, and it’s not realistic that humans will evolve to that state in the foreseeable future.

My fellow Iowa City Council member, Laura Bergus, has suggested that “abolishing” the police should be on the table as we discuss police reform in Iowa City. Laura and I have worked collaboratively during her 16 months on council and have cosigned a previous opinion piece. I have the utmost respect for her hard work, research, compassion and decision making.

On this issue however, we do not agree, either on the substance of her assertion nor the method with which she expressed it.

On the substance, “abolish” is a powerful word defined as “to completely do away with,” and that doesn’t leave much room for nuance. I do not believe we can abolish the police without making our society less safe for everyone, including people of color. Who responds to a “shots fired” or “active shooter” call? An armed robbery in progress? Who does the investigative work and pursues suspects that will commit violence?

In a society where there are more guns than people, sending unarmed emergency responders to every 911 call is simply not safe or effective.

That doesn’t mean that we can’t question what calls armed officers are sent to, what protocols they follow or what laws we ask police to enforce to begin with. That work, however, is not abolishing.

It is also true that working to reduce poverty, housing and food insecurity, mental health crises, and other societal issues would reduce crime. But even in a utopia where those issues ceased to exist, there will still be violent crime and the need for armed response, because humans are flawed, make poor choices and do harm for any number of reasons not related to general societal ills.

That is where I disagree on the method of expression. Sure, imagining a world without crime or the need for armed police might be a useful philosophical exercise. It’s inappropriate for an elected official to do so in such an open-ended and public way, however, because it has real-world negative impacts.

It raises serious questions with residents about what concrete actions will come from “abolish” and in what timeframe. Bergus has said since publishing her piece that she sees this work as decades-long and points to exceptions and challenges. At a minimum, those clarifications should have been a much greater part of her piece, not a reaction to the very real concerns of residents.

It also means that “abolish,” though provocative, was not truly what the policy suggestion was in the short term.

Second, this has very real impacts on our current officers, who Bergus rightly calls “compassionate and good.” I want that description to continue to be accurate, and that means keeping and recruiting the very best. There are real risks to that goal if we are not very clear about how we are asking them to change and whether they will have jobs tomorrow.

In June 2020 the City Council passed a 17-point resolution that stated we are committed “to an extended and intense effort to address the Black Lives Matter movement and systemic racism.” Many of those 17 points relate to restructuring the Iowa City Police Department. We chose our words carefully for that document, and the word “restructure” in reference to the police was a deliberate choice. At our May 11 City Council meeting, council members voiced support for the restructure approach contained in the resolution, not “abolition”.

I am an advocate for systemic reform. The problems in law enforcement and the judicial system are well documented. We should not minimize those issues. These changes are long overdue, and the restructuring has begun.

General orders for police operations have been updated relating to chokeholds, duty to intervene and use of body cameras. The city and ICPD are partnering with Shelter House for a street outreach & engagement specialist. The city is working to increase awareness of the mobile crisis unit with the aim to divert calls from ICPD to trained mental health professionals. ICPD is joining with nonprofits to develop a co-response model for officers and trained mental health professionals. Officers now carry Narcan to assist those experiencing an opioid overdose.

These new and expanded partnerships will ultimately reduce certain types of calls to which the police respond.

It is my belief that with careful thought and continued effort we can make progress on systemic reform. The process will never end and must continually be reviewed and reevaluated. That is what we are committed to and that is what we will do.

Susan Mims is a District B member of the Iowa City Council.