discussion #6: september 8, 2020 guest speaker—john costabile
For this discussion, we welcomed our first
invited guest – John Costabile, retired Racine Police Officer – to give us the
perspective of a career law enforcement officer. Over his 30-year career, he
held many positions in law enforcement, from patrolman to inspector, and he
oversaw professional standards, which included handling citizen complaints and
disciplining officers. He was also a founding member of the Association of SWAT
Personnel – Wisconsin, the country’s first organized tactical association. He
continues to serve this organization in retirement. Mr. Costabile shared the history
of policing in the United States – how it was modeled after the London
night-watch program of the 1800s and how the function was instituted here in
the United States to maintain status quo for the wealthy and powerful. The institution
evolved over time and in a number of cities across the country, including
Racine, community policing is in place so that officers serve as partners to
citizens. He believes that most people who become police officers do so for
altruistic reasons and the institution, itself, is not racist. He asked us to
keep in mind that the violent situations that we see on the news are
aberrations compared to the many police-citizen interactions taking place on
any given day. He did, however, state that institutional
racism does exist and that police are put in the position of having to enforce
laws that are inherently racist. He said that police do need reform but that
they have been consistently resistant to change. We asked for his perspective
on “defunding the police.” He talked about how under the Kennedy and Johnson
administrations, the resources were in place – social workers, early childhood
programs, access to psychologists, etc. – to provide the support needed. This
changed during the Reagan administration, when social safety nets were slashed
by 70% – and continued to be cut by subsequent administrations – leaving the
police to try and handle myriad problems when they are neither equipped nor
trained to do so. Multiple reports have identified the same set of issues –
lack of jobs, poor education/inequitable schools and more – as causing the
breakdown of communities, but little has been done to address this in the inner
cities. He commended the group for the effort we have undertaken to educate ourselves
through reading and recommended two additional books – The Mismeasure
of Man (Stephan Jay Gould), which analyzes the early works of
scientific racism, and, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime (Elizabeth
Hinton), which outlines the rise of mass incarceration in the United States and
the bipartisan efforts across administrations that built and continues to
fortify the structure. On the Catholic realm, he mentioned the USCCB document, Economic Justice For All. We asked him how a group like ours could help in the community. He
suggested that we talk to the Mayor’s ombudsman to talk about housing issues in
the city. He also advised meeting with the police department as concerned
citizens. He left us with a final thought: Find ways to build up others.