By John Hammer
The Executive Committee of the Guilford County Democratic Party (click here) recently passed a resolution calling for defunding the Greensboro Police Department.
According to the Democratic Party newsletter, the resolution was done in conjunction with Greensboro Rising.
The resolution states, “Reduce funding to the police, so they cannot buy militarized weapons to harm us and redirect funding to Crisis Intervention and Recreation Centers.”
This wish list (not a radical list of demands) has been around a long time. It needs to take shape in promoting the police policy of the future which is a return to sanity. No unarmed, non-threatening person should be treated as if a terrorist and police actions that are deadly.
Under that heading, the resolution states:
“a. Invest in mental health workers to develop an in-house, adequately funded 311 number to give residents an alternative in crisis situations to calling the police. Residents should be able to access trained crisis workers – mental health providers and social workers to de-escalate and address a situation.”
“b. Invest in more funding for organizations that act as alternatives to the police for interventions in mental health, sexual harassment, and domestic violence situations.
“c. Invest in city recreation centers, to create safe, fun and well funded spaces and full-staffed programs for our youth.
“d. Fund these programs with money that is normally spent on weapons, new cars, new policing gadgets, ATVS, segways, trainings that tell police officers to attack the public and promote the ‘Warrior Mentality,’ teargas, and rubber bullets. Fund these programs with money spent setting up check-points to shake down vulnerable people with expired plates and insurance, and money spent “preemptively” profiling Black people.”
The resolution also calls for prohibiting the use of chemical agents, sound cannons “and bullets-rubber or otherwise on groups of civilians.”
How many times does it have to happen that someone with a mental illness is treated as a criminal and dies? This death occurred in 2018. There appears to have been a cover-up. That alone is immoral and most probably illegal. So, there is the crime of killing Marcus Deon Smith add to that the cover-up that followed. It isn't as though the cops don't know this stuff is illegal, immoral and flat out wrong, it is just that they operate above The Rule of Law.
By Flint Taylor
Marcus Deon Smith (click here for the videos)
One year ago at midnight, (click here) a 38-year-old Black man named Marcus Deon Smith was wandering in and out of downtown traffic in Greensboro as the North Carolina Folk Festival concluded for the night. Smith, a beloved member of the Greensboro homeless community, was high on drugs and experiencing a mental crisis when eight Greensboro police officers attempted to deal with his obvious psychological distress. Smith, who was known as a gentle, nonviolent man, frantically pleaded with the officers, repeatedly saying, “Please help me sir,” and asking to be taken to the hospital. The officers, including two sergeants, called an ambulance, and while waiting for the ambulance to arrive, they asked Smith to get in the back of one of the police cars and told him they would take him to the hospital. Smith voluntarily entered the car, but after a short period of time of being alone with no one driving him to the hospital, he began to panic and thrash around because he wanted to get out. He tried to open the door of the car, but it was locked, so he banged his hand against the window to get the officers’ attention. Smith was not under arrest and had not committed a crime....
