The Deconstruction and Reconstruction of the American Criminal Justice System: Part I

Steve Ramirez
Sep 2, 2018 · 27 min read

Is “Justice” really our Goal? If not, then What?

Like so many offspring, The United States is the result of both replication and rejection of the beliefs and behaviors of the parent. Our Declaration of Independence rejected the United Kingdom with prose and proposition for a land of individual “liberty.” The words themselves are eloquent and elegant. “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” Contained within this same parchment was a new way of thinking about government, namely, that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This new thinking gave birth to a new world… sort of.

Like every offspring this brave “New World” also replicated the parent nation, and this can be seen clearly in our system of criminal justice and policing. In 1829 Sir Robert Peel of the British Parliament created the Metropolitan Police of London, and the American’s copied his ideas almost to the letter. Not much has changed about American criminal justice or policing since then beyond changes in technology, and yet, a great deal has changed in the demographics and realities of post internet America. It’s time to adjust.

Times change but it is mostly the same people with different faces. The Agricultural Revolution gives way to the Cognitive Revolution which leads to everything from colonialism to communism and ultimately to these troubled post Scientific Revolution days of the “Information Age” and loosely connected tribes of the misinformed and reactionary. I will posit that we stand on the brink of ruin or salvation and that the time is now to take a deeper look into our collective myths.

I invite you to travel with me on a brief thought-experiment. Together, let’s question the concepts of Justice, Criminal Justice, and American Policing. Let’s do this fearlessly and barbeque as many sacred cows as needed. In this first installment of a multi-part thought-leadership exercise we will attempt to address the question, “What is “justice,” can we measure it? And, in seeking justice, are we seeking the right goal?

Is “Justice” really our Goal?

Almost everything we think of as real is imaginary. Imagine that? Everything from money, to government, to nations, religions and other ideologies, and even our perception of time and space are largely imaginary. And the thing is, we often blindly bet our lives on the myths created long ago by other imperfect humans.

If I were to present you with a world that I made up in my own imagination and asked you to commit your life to that world, you’d most likely respond, “That’s crazy!” and, you might be right. Here’s the rub as they say whoever “they” are; each of us has been doing exactly that since our birth. We have accepted the imaginary worlds of others as “fact.” Let’s challenge the part of the imagined world that we have all bet our lives upon, without question.

For this part of our hopefully ongoing discussion, let’s examine the myth of justice. What is Justice Anyway?

According to the Merriam-Webster English Dictionary, “Justice” is something:

· having a basis in or conforming to fact or reason

· conforming to a standard of correctness

· acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good

Hmmm? That’s, not helpful at all, is it?

That definition simply leads to more questions, such as:

· Who gets to decide what is morally upright or good?

· Who gets to decide what is correct?

· Who’s reason? (Conservatives or Liberals?)

· Is conformity and legality “just?” (Think: slavery, women’s suffrage, Jim Crow laws)

· Even if we can define justice, how do we measure it? How do we know we are achieving justice more times than not? Arrests and Convictions? What good is that to the betterment of human society?

Justice and fairness are human constructs unknown in nature. There is no such thing as fairness in life or justice in humanity on a large scale. When something happens between one person and another; something we might recognize as “justice,” it happens because of the independent choices of the person of greatest power in this instance. It happens out of a sense of compassion, understanding, and in the best case, because the decision maker possesses a holistic-long-range view. It does not happen because the “system” is just. It happens because a person of greater power in that moment concluded that, “It is ultimately in my best interest to take this action.”

Systems are imperfect algorithms. One step begets another. They can be inherently unjust. They do not take into consideration extenuating circumstances. They can pass judgment without using any judgment. For example, the motivation of the actor may not be considered by the algorithms of a justice system. If someone steals food because they are starving, should the penalty be the same as someone who steals food so that they can profit off the suffering of others by selling this food on the black-market? In every case, is punishment the appropriate response to a pre-described transgression of the national legal mythology?

What must we strive for, as individuals and communities?

The first thing we need to address are three fundamental questions:

1. What is “Justice?”

2. Is Justice really the best goal?

3. If so, what “yardstick” do we use to measure success?

4. If not, what is the goal and how do we measure success?

In his New York Times Best Selling book, Harvard University political philosophy professor Michael J. Sandel asks that exact question and does a better job of answering it than I can do in this brief space, but please allow me share a few of the highlights. Sandel asks the question, “Does a just society seek to promote the virtue of its citizens, or, should law be neutral toward competing conceptions of virtue, so that citizens can be free to choose for themselves the best way to live?” Good Question.

Sandel places competing concepts of justice into three categories. They are:

· Maximizing Public Welfare (Increasing “Happiness” for the Majority of People)

· Respecting and Protecting Individual Freedom of Choice (Liberty)

· Promoting and Increasing Individual and Public Virtue (The Social Contract)

Let’s look at the three models for justice that Sandel presents.

1. Utilitarianism -is the belief that justice is achieved whenever you “maximize happiness and pleasure while preventing or reducing pain or suffering.” (Okay…think about this…who’s happiness? At what cost? Can law create happiness? What is individual liberty? How do we define individual and collective happiness? How do we protect from the tyranny of the masses?)

2. Libertarianism — is the belief that “justice consists in respecting and upholding the voluntary choices made by consenting adults.” (Okay…think about this…how do we protect individual liberty while addressing community health or the protection of the environment?)

3. The Social Contract — is the idea that “justice involves cultivating virtue and reasoning about the common good.” (Okay, not bad, but like democracy itself this premise rests upon the idea that we can count upon an enlightened, accurately informed, rational, and benevolent voting public and I have yet to see any proof of that in existence in this country or any other.)

If we cannot even come to a consensus as to what exactly justice is, how do we measure its success? How does any system create, establish, or uphold such a moving target as this ideal we call, “justice?”

Here’s the point. I am proposing that “Justice” is too much of a variable to treat as a constant. It is the wrong answer to the wrong question. You cannot seek that which you cannot define. You cannot ensure an objective measurement of a subjective concept.

For this thought- experiment, let’s agree to rename our “Criminal Justice System” to the “Public Safety, Security, and Preparedness System.” You may be asking yourself, “What’s in a name?” Every poet knows that a single word can change everything from understanding to action. Or as author Mark Twain once quipped, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. With this in mind, let’s look at this change one more time.

· “Criminal Justice System”

· “Public Safety System.”

Think about it… that changes everything, doesn’t it?

Suddenly our measurable goals change from “Crime Rate,” “Law Enforcement,” and “Behavioral Norm Coercion” to something much more effective in the long-view and positive in the short-run. We can establish as measurable markers of success, public safety, security, and preparedness. And, for the sake of clarity allow me to provide quick definitions for these three measurable outcomes. (Plus, one additional measurement not contained within the official name of The Department of Public Safety.

· Safety- safety of people both real and perceived

· Security- security of things both real and perceived

· Preparedness -of individuals and communities

· Health and Wellness — of individuals and communities

Law Enforcement by definition and practice presupposes the application of power as the one true answer to a very complex question. The problem with the application of power is you can create three separate outcomes and only one of these is desirable in the long-view. They are:

Commitment

• Compliance

• Resistance

Of these outcomes, only commitment leads to long-term gains for individuals, communities, and nations. Commitment traditionally does not come from coercion. Coercion can lead to resistance and compliance but at its core it is a weak substitute for a mass of willing followers and following-leaders.

Only commitment leads to the release of creativity and active problem solving. Only commitment creates and supports a social movement. Only commitment can create a tipping-point of support for social change. Allow me to suggest a new paradigm for what has been traditionally considered, American Law Enforcement.

In this new paradigm our primary goals aren’t “compliance” via “coercion.” Instead, our collective measurable 21st century goals become:

Safe, Secure, Prepared Individuals and Communities

Reduction in Criminal Victimization

Reduction in Criminal Recidivism

Increase in Individual and Community Responsibility

Increase in Individual and Community Health and Welfare

National Security

Individual and Community Liberty

When you drastically change the end-state goals from “enforcement” to “improvement,” leadership, selection, training and culture must follow in-turn. Measurable goals matter because they ultimately act as driving forces of professional behavior. This is especially true when measured progress toward these goals is tied to tangible rewards for individuals and work-groups such as raises, promotions and for organizations such as increased funding and support. Add to this the intangible rewards such as the feelings of being respected, appreciated, and effective and you can see the power of measurable goals to guide professions for better or worse.

Ask many “seasoned” police officers if they feel respected and appreciated by the community and you are likely to hear a resounding “no!” Ask these same officers if they feel effective and you might get a reply like, “We keep the lid on the trash can.” This is hardly a recipe for excellence in any professional culture. Let’s change that.

To reach these collective measurable goals we need to change our approach and the paradigm that informs it. We need to revolutionize and fundamentally change how we conduct the science and art of promoting safer, more secure, better prepared, and healthier communities and individuals. In short, we can’t get there, from here. It’s time for new thinking.

The Deconstruction and Reconstruction of American Policing — The First Steps: Changing the Identity of American Policing

Professional Identity has been described as the “motives and experiences that people use to define themselves in their professional capacity.” (Schein, 1978) Another way of looking at this concept is, the conceptual identity (how one sees themselves) as a member of any professional work-group. This can include expectations related to education, training, culture, world-view, and values.

Professional identity individually informs the actions of the person within the profession. Professional identity collectively informs culture of any one professional group including values, expectations, outcomes, and values. What does this have to do with anything? It has everything to do with how people behave and what if any impact they have on those outside their tribal group.

Almost every self-selected group is a tribe. Each professional or vocational group such as police and firefighters, teachers and preachers, bakers and cooks, Politicians and Crooks (redundancy?) are all a part of a tribe that new members willingly choose to join. When we join a tribe, we willingly accept the norms, values, and related behaviors of that tribe. Everyone wants to fit in, so almost no one will ever question the status quo of the tribal culture.

Leaders must always be testing the boundaries of our social and psychological cages. We must always be cognizant that each cage is created in the minds of fallible humans and accepted blindly by other fallible humans. Cages lead us nowhere.

For this thought- experiment, let’s agree to suspend our judging-minds that immediately begin to search for barriers to change. Instead, let’s make the desired outcome be our guide and let our strategies and actions come from that end-state. As Dr. Stephen Covey once wrote, we must “begin with the end in mind.”

A New Paradigm of National Guiding Principles for American Departments of Public Safety:

Stoic philosopher and Roman statesman Seneca once wrote, “If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.” For this though experiment, let’s agree to at least temporarily accept three concepts:

  1. Justice is the wrong goal for the criminal justice system because it is not definable in any objective manner and therefore is not measurable in any prescriptive manner. Resulting action: Change the Title and End-State Goals of the system to:

· The Public Safety System- Department of Public Safety

· Measurable Goals — Improved reality and perception of Public Safety, Security, Preparedness, Health and Wellness

2. American Policing currently has no nationally unified “port to sail toward” for organizational and professional identity and meaning. There are no effective and measurable unified understandings of: professional identity, vison, mission, core values, or measurable goals beyond such things as “arrest and clearance rates” and “response time,” neither of which have anything to do with being effective in creating more safe, secure, prepared, and well communities. (We will add more core concepts as we proceed through this experiment.) Resulting action: The establishment of a national standard for an American Public Safety/Police Vision, Mission, Core Values, and Goals.

3. American Policing currently has no nationally unified “port to sail toward” for what education, training, skills and capabilities each Public Safety/Police Officer must embody. In short, a new national job description. Resulting action: The establishment of a national standard for an American Public Safety/Police education, training, skills, and capabilities.

With these three concepts in mind, please consider the following questions and the solutions I am proposing.

Why don’t we have a national police vision statement? How about this one?

“United States Policing demonstrates the highest level of leadership, training, operational and technological capabilities in the world in the combined effort to promote national security, community safety, and individual liberty.”

Why don’t we have a national police mission statement? How about this one?

“United States policing strives to make our communities safe, secure, prepared, and resilient, while protecting the civil liberties of our citizens.”

Why don’t we have a national-police set of core guiding values?

How about these?

Honor/Trustworthiness

Integrity

Compassion

Courage

Creativity

Determination

Mindfulness

If American Public Safety Professionals hold themselves responsible, (and the citizens hold them responsible) for adhering to these core values in every choice they make and every action they take and did so through consistently and constantly measurable outcomes and outputs, there will be nowhere to go but toward a culture of constant improvement through innovation, communication, problem-solving, and servant-leadership.

And now let’s consider the new measurable goals that I have already proposed.

Safe, Secure, Prepared Individuals and Communities

Reduction in Criminal Victimization

Reduction in Criminal Recidivism

Increase in Individual and Community Responsibility

Increase in Individual and Community Health and Welfare

National Security

Individual and Community Liberty

Ask yourself, doesn’t this change everything? By following the proposed national vision, mission, core values, and goals there is a clearly definable and objectively measurable destination for American Departments of Public Safety, Security and Preparedness “to set sail towards.” When the mission and goals are focused away from the strict-enforcement to one of an end-state of measurable public safety, security, preparedness, and wellness, many elements of what currently ail us are more likely to be effectively addressed as a natural outcome of the resulting new police culture. People work toward what is truly explicitly and implicitly valued. Value is communicated by actions not words.

The New 21st Century Police Officer:

Take a moment to consider what a 21st century public safety professional needs to embody in the way of education, training, skills and capabilities. Ask yourself, “Is this consistent with the police I currently see patrolling my community each day? If not, why? If you are a police officer ask yourself, is this consistent with the education, training, skills and capabilities I and my coworkers currently possess? If not, why?

To complete this thought-exercise, consider the triangular diagram provided below. I have created this diagram after in-dept consideration of the end-state goals required to effectively, efficiently, and consistently address 21st century American issues both current and foreseeable. Let’s consider each attribute or capability individually.

The Required Capabilities of 21st Century Police

· Community Educator and Mentor: This dimension of future-police capabilities includes such functions as providing leadership, guidance and engagement in the positive mentoring of American youth, working in partnership with each school-district. It also includes having the education, training, and ability to act as an effective community educator to empower individuals and communities to act in the areas of safety, security and preparedness, thus creating a police-community partnership that is real, mutual, and effective.

· Crime Prevention Specialist: Each officer needs to be trained, certified and actively involved in two areas of crime prevention: Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), and Community Education and Empowerment.

· Safety, Security, and Preparedness Subject Matter Expert: Each officer needs to be trained, certified and actively involved in Emergency Management and Preparedness Planning, Training and Exercising at both the community and policy development and execution level.

· Warrior/Leader: The realities of the job are, while most people you meet are simply doing there best with what they have, some, are going to try to kill you or someone else. To borrow the words of our Secretary of Defense and former Marine General, James Mattis, each officer must, “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” This does not mean for a second that you are a “killer.” It does mean that you must be trained and able to use deadly force in the protection of innocent life from someone else who has decided to try to take that life. For all my belief in focusing on community efficacy, crime prevention, and restorative justice, I am still quite aware that the world of an American Police Officer is a potentially dangerous one. True warriors want peace; but we are ready for conflict. It is my subjective argument that most officers in the United States are currently under-trained, under-equipped, under-led, and under-physically conditioned to effectively respond to a determined armed force of terrorists foreign or domestic. This must change. Thus far, we have only faced enthusiastic armatures such as teen-agers with mental health issues and lone untrained self-radicalized extremist. This will not remain true.

What do Police Do?

What do They Need to be Doing and How Often?

This next section addresses only one part of what the 21st century police function must be. The concept of law enforcement need not be lost as we transform American policing and criminal justice into something more than it has been and is to this day, namely, a simple system of retribution, punitive measures, and isolation. We must seek to eliminate these “end-states to nowhere” and replace them with such outcomes as restoration and reintegration, individual and community accountability, and protective-separation.

Most police organizations act as if “Crime Suppression” via “Random Patrol” is the core of their function, with “Crime Solution/Investigation” coming in a distant second. We are trapped in the 1950s and it is way past time for someone to open the cage door. I’m braking the lock now. I’m calling the prisoners of “how we’ve always done it” to come out into the sunlight. Who has the courage to come with me?

First, let’s come to a mutual understanding that controlled and replicated studies conducted since the 1970s have demonstrated that the concept and practice of “preventative patrol” has absolutely no effect on crime, victimization, or fear. It makes no one safer or more secure. It only acts to burn fossil-fuels and tax-dollars.

So, why do we still do it? Why do we still have a condition where almost every department counts the “patrol division” as the core of its function and the place where most of the resources are focused and consumed. Well, “It’s the way we’ve always done it.”

It’s important to understand that before we can transform into the new Safety, Security, Preparedness, and Wellness model of American Policing/Public Safety, we need to fix what is already broken in the current culture and practice on policing. If we transform the goal from law enforcement to public safety, security, and preparedness, many options open to us beyond coercion and compliance. Let’s look at some of the roles of the current police model, with the understanding that none of them are being preformed particularly well within the current culture and organizational design.

Crime Suppression –deter or move crime (Proactive and Reactive)

Crime Solution/Investigation — investigations leading to the gathering of criminal evidence and arrest (Reactive)

Crime Prosecution — use of proper police procedure, effective report writing, and effective testimonial skills to affect a conviction (Reactive)

Crime Prevention — changing the location/landscape or target/prey to lessen the chances of crime/victimization (Proactive)

Crime Mitigation — taking actions to lessen the negative impact of crime/victimization (Proactive and Reactive)

The diagram below illustrates that these roles are not “departments” or segments of the job, (as is often the treatment currently). These roles have equal importance and must be a constant and intrinsic part of effective policing. Most police agencies focus on Suppression and Solution/Investigation, frustrate prosecutors with their lack of care and understanding as to that function, relegate prevention to one or two designated personnel, and diminish mitigation to an “available services and rights pamphlet” handed to a victim upon initial contact. Until we make the entire mission a part of the heart and soul of every member of the profession, it will not be a profession. It will be an undertrained, underqualified, and under-performing trade where the practitioners have the legal right to take life and liberty. This needs to change.

The Roles/Jobs of American Policing

Even if current American police organizations did accomplish all these aspects of the current stated prime function of law enforcement, (which they don’t), the problem is that this is still too narrow a goal to effect change. At best, it “keeps a lid on things.” At best, it maintains status quo in the back and forth, up and down flux of more and less victimization of the innocent and hapless targets of criminal predators. We can and must do better. We must understand that we will never get anywhere new if we don’t “Turn the Wheel.” We must change direction as a nation.

The diagram below illustrates a new organizational design for each state’s Department of Public Safety. This new design supports a new way of doing business and ultimately a new culture at the front lines of what is now considered American policing. There is no doubt that a major shift of this proportion will be difficult, painful, and a learning process in the short run. With that said, the design of organizations, as well as the functions of leadership, communication, selection, education and training makes all the difference in the end-state outcome. This organizational design as illustrated below is based upon the actual operational goals and objectives. The operational goals and objective are based upon current and potential needs. This proposal does not take into consideration all the expected resistance from every group that is currently benefiting or comfortable with the status quo. This is revolutionary, not evolutionary.

The Organization Design for American Public Safety (50 State Police Agencies)

I will provide greater detail and conceptualization of this proposed revolutionary change to American policing in a future article. For now, it is enough to introduce the reader to a new concept of how this front-end section of our criminal justice system can be changed. Within this new model, the focus in not “law enforcement” but rather community and individual safety, security, preparedness, and liberty. Within this new model, all the resources that are necessary to effectuate these goals are brought together on the same team. One culture; one team. There is much more to come.

“I always wanted to go to Rome!”

I can always tell if someone is a “doer” or just a “talker” by the words they choose and use. Whenever someone says something like, “I always wanted to go to Rome,” I know that they are never going to go. Things that matter never happen because of a passive wish; they happen because we invent them in our imagination and then we act to make the image come true.

The passive wishful thinker will always find “reason” to delay action indefinably. They will site such barriers as time, obligations, cost, and fear. The action-oriented visionary will create the objective first and then begin overcoming the barriers one by one. This is how we improve as a species. No person and no nation have ever been led anywhere by passive, pensive, mediocre, status quo preserving bureaucrats. Transformation Leadership is bold, brave, visionary, energizing, empowering, inclusive, and active. How much of that are you seeing these days? To paraphrase “Dr. Phil… How’s that working for us?

A New Vision: What Turns the Ship and Why Does it Matter?

And now we come full-circle back to our original questions. Is “Justice” really our Goal? If not, what is? The myth of justice is simply too subjective to measure as an outcome. It leaves too much ambiguity to aim for and too much room for abusive behavior. Don’t get me wrong, we need our individual, community, national, and global myths to provide us with a shared framework and direction that our tiny human minds can grasp. It is our ability to create fictions like: nations, alliances, money, credit, and contracts that allow us to work together toward a common goal. Ask yourself, is the current system of “Law Enforcement” and “Criminal Justice making things better? We have the largest prison population in the world! “Community” is a word that is losing all meaning along with “Love,” “Friendship,” and “Truth.” We can’t even agree on what television personality Stephen Colbert dubbed as “Truthiness!”

We can’t agree on what justice is and how to measure it. In short, we can’t get there from here. We can however establish accurate measures of community and individual safety, security, preparedness, efficacy, health and wellness. And there is another desperately needed dividend from this approach. By changing culture within the one part of government that touches all our lives in one way or another, we have a chance to change and improve the current American culture as a whole. Yes, this is a tall and ambitious order. But as R. Buckminster Fuller once wrote, “Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment…. Humanity is in the ‘final exam’ as to whether or not it qualifies for continuance in Universe.” With all my heart, soul, and mind, I believe he was and is correct. There is much more at stake here than liberty and justice. I firmly believe what is at stake is the continued survival of humanity and the earth. Look around. Pay attention. Ask yourself, how are we doing? What are we doing about it?

A Nation of One: How Figments of Our Imagination Can Save America and by Extension, the World

I have offered quite a few revolutionary thoughts within this collection of words and symbols. If you have traveled with me this far, please allow me to offer just one more. It’s not a big thing; it’s only a proposed new national philosophy that is embodied in the idea of being a “Nation of One.”

As part of this new national philosophy and mythology that I am proposing it requires that everyone embrace the idea of “liberty” as a mythical idea and understand that “equality” is a “true-myth,” unknown in nature. When Thomas Jefferson wrote of “equality” and “liberty,” he was setting an impossible standard. We are not all equal; but we must be treated in an equitable manner. In short, the new philosophy that I believe can drive us forward into a better future is this:

As an individual, we must each choose to be a “Nation of One.”

In this aspect of my proposed new philosophy, each person understands themselves as an individual, free to learn, think, and act in their own behalf and with their personal health and wellness as their prime directive. For example:

I am a Nation of ONE. One being who is Responsible for myself. I have no master beyond my own chosen values. I adhere to no fixed dogma or ideology. I am a life-long learner. I am active, not passive. I choose my path and define myself. I am an empowered individual. I am a spiritual seeker of knowledge and understanding and my understanding changes as I learn. I realize that “everything I hear is opinion; everything I think is perception.” I am humble yet confident. I am entitled to nothing; I earn my own way. I act out of choice, not because of outside coercion, a false sense of obligation, guilt, or acceptance of martyrdom, but rather, in my own life’s best interest. I choose and seek to live a healthy balanced life: physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I choose to do no unintended harm to other living beings or the earth. I am an Individual with the right and obligation to choose freely and own the consequences of my choices. I am a Nation of One; I am Responsible for establishing Meaning in my own Life.”

As a current resident and steward of planet Earth, we must each choose to be a “Nation of One.”

In this aspect of my proposed new philosophy, each person understands themselves as a member of the community of earth. The community of earth includes all living beings and the earth’s environment itself, the air, land, and water that sustains us. For example:

“I am a Nation of One. One part of the whole Earth. I realize that it is in my best interest to care about the community of humanity, nature, and the environment. The health of these parts of me, impact the health of me. I choose and act accordingly through my own free will and dedication to living a life of meaning. I am a Nation of One; I am Responsible for the way my choices or failure to choose impacts the Earth and its inhabitants.”

A Story of Trim-Tabs and Compass Bearings…

Trim-tabs are small surfaces connected to the trailing edge of a larger direction controlling surface on a boat or aircraft such as a rudder or aileron. In short, a trim-tab is a small thing that ultimately turns a big thing. In humanity, myths, beliefs and cultures are trim-tabs that turn societies. To help you to visualize why this is important, I am going to provide you with some descriptions as made by author Yuval Noah Harari in his brilliant books entitled, “Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind,” and “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow.” The concepts are as follows:

Concept One: Defining Objectives

· Religion is interested in order

· Science is interested in power

· Spirituality is interested in a quest for truth

Concept Two: “Imagined Realities”

Objective Realities: things that exist independently from our feelings (Gravity)

Subjective Realities: depend upon the individuals actively chosen or passively accepted beliefs and feelings. (Corporations)

Intersubjective Realities: subjective entities that depend on communication and acceptance among many humans rather than on the beliefs and feelings of an individual. (Nations, Money, Religion, Political Parties, Credit)

Now, I want you to consider two more concepts before I bring them all together for you.

Compass Bearings are relative to a specific starting point and chosen destination. WE have to understand two things:

· Where are we?

· Where are we going?

Adjusting for Declination… things change. In the Marines we quickly learned that every plan falls apart upon contact with the enemy. Life and the interconnectedness of humanity and the planet is complex-not simple, messy- not neat. We must always be ready and able to adjust for the changes that come our way.

Hold these concepts in your mind as I attempt to bring this thought experiment together for you and create a more complete picture.

We Can’t Get There from Here… This Way…

If nobody leads, nothing changes. What I am suggesting here is nothing short of revolutionary. I am suggesting that we as Americans reclaim our position in the world as leaders, not by going back to “old ways” and “old days.” We must lead based upon a few core values and a world view that promotes both Individual Liberty and Individual Responsibility. And, I am suggesting this not out of some misguided emotion of national superiority but rather, a realistic and rational understanding that we have a Responsibility to ourselves, our fellow beings, the earth itself. I am suggesting that Americans resolve to become “the first domino to fall” in a new direction, inviting others to follow. If nobody leads, nothing changes.

It’s time to build a new set of goals, a new way of thinking, and new way of doing business. R. Buckminster Fuller was right when he wrote, “None of the world’s problems will have a solution until the world’s individuals become thoroughly self-educated.” I will venture to add, none of the world’s problems will have a solution until the world’s individuals and communities become both Empowered and Accountable… Free and yet Responsible.

It is in each of our best interest to lead healthy, balanced, empowered lives and to treat ourselves first and foremost with love and respect. Then, and only then, it is in the best interest of each of us to choose our actions and inactions in such a way that they do no unintentional harm to the earth and its inhabitants, promote conditions of mutual equity and actualization (not the myth of equality), and maintain an awareness of the interconnectedness of all things, living and not.

Real Transformational Cultural Change takes Leadership, not politics. Leadership takes Courage, Compassion, Accountability, and a Clear Sense of Meaning and Mission. This kind of vast change take time, effort and determination, but we have changed the world before with a single Intersubjective Reality that was widely accepted over time.

If nobody leads, nothing changes. I am suggesting that by changing from a non-measurable subjective goal of “justice” to the new measurable goals of: Safe, Secure, Prepared Individuals and Communities, Reduction in Criminal Victimization, Reduction in Criminal Recidivism, Increase in Individual and Community Responsibility, Increase in Individual and Community Health and Welfare, National Security, and Individual and Community Liberty we can create a trim-tab to move punitive and disempowering criminal justice to a more restorative and empowering system of Public Safety, Security, Preparedness, and Wellness. By reframing the objectives and adjusting our course, we can change the nature and condition of American society, not through government, social, or religious coercion, but rather, from leadership, education, accountability and empowerment

What does this have to do with saving the nation and the world? If American Policing were fundamentally changed, it can become a cultural trim-tab for individual, community and national health and wellness. We can promote a situation where government public safety and wellness effort are interactive, not reactive. We can educate, not legislate. We can do things with each other and not to each other.

I leave you with this final thought. (until my next installation of this series.) What I am about to write is purely my current subjective opinion. The United States is not united. The United States is demonstrating all the symptoms of a potentially terminal disease. We have become more fragmented, violent, reactionary, tribal, dysfunctional, disillusioned, apathetic, apologetic, accusatory, passive, misinformed and misguided. Community is a word losing its meaning as are the words: family, love, friendship, and self-responsibility. We are destroying our environment and in doing so, destroying our collective future. If we do not choose to “turn the wheel” we will end up where we are going. Oblivion as a people, nation, and species. I believe the stakes are just that big.

Imagine this. Instead of a system of retribution and enforcement we create a system of synergy and measurable improvements in quality of life. Instead of simply filling our prisons we fill our individual and unified spirits with a two-fold mandate to be both Individually Free and Individually Responsible. What if police, restorative justice courts, and restorative justice and community safety programs worked in partnership with all stakeholders? What if police, fire/rescue, emergency medical services, and emergency management trained and worked as one team? What if the academic community of social, psychological, and criminal justice scientist had to put its effort into actionable, formative and evaluative research by being “deployable” to the communities as part of that team? What might we achieve, together?

There is no panacea, but positive cultural change comes from creating new and better Inter-subjective Realities and having those new ideals widely accepted over time. We have spent too much time chasing the wrong rabbit. People need to have “meaning” before they can have hope. A hopeless people are a hapless people. Instead of pursuing the ever-changing illusion of justice, let’s consider the value of pursuing the actionable outcome of improved quality of life, and an active voting public of accurately informed, personally accountable, empowered and responsible citizens.

Who am I as a Public Safety Professional and Why does this “Thought-Leadership” article have Value?

I have over 30 years of combined military and civilian law enforcement experience including five years in the United States Marine Corps Diplomatic and Dignitary Protection/Counter Terrorism Unit and have served in the capacity of the Director for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security and Institutional Research for School Safety for the State of Texas and in this capacity led the development of the Safety, Security, and Preparedness standards for campus communities across Texas. I also served as the Criminal Justice Director for South-Central Texas, Director of the South-Central Texas Regional Law Enforcement Training Academy, and Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Studies at Texas State University.

I am a Master Texas Peace Officer, TCOLE Certified Law Enforcement Instructor, TDEM Certified Emergency Management/NIMS/ICS Instructor, Certified Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response (ALERRT) Instructor, NMT Certified Prevention and Response to Terrorist/Suicide Bombing Instructor, and LSU Certified Instructor in Counter Terrorism for Police. I have taught and trained military and police operators for the past 30 years. Finally, I teach homeland security, criminology, criminal justice, and counter-terrorism at the college level.

I am a divergent thinker who has recently chosen to live on “oblivion’s edge” so that I might be a catalyst for change from outside the system’s influences of power. I have learned all too well that from within the system, there is little hope of evolution or revolution. I wish to be an act of “punctuated-equilibrium,” like the striking of a comet or the flapping of a butterfly’s wings.

To Find and Follow more of my writing and teaching @ https://www.patreon.com/steve_ramirez

Instagram@ mbogo_7_2121

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