Melvin Russell: I love being a police officer, but we need reform
Melvin Russell: Adoro ser agente da polícia, mas precisamos de uma reforma
Melvin Russell is bringing stakeholders together to work toward the common goal of peace and prosperity for Baltimore City. Full bio
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for a very, very long time.
há muito tempo.
because I'm also a black preacher.
porque também sou um pastor negro.
a respeito de pastores negros
about black preachers,
going for another 20 minutes.
por mais 20 minutos. Amém?
pushing this thing forward.
for a very long time,
durante muito tempo.
but I'm telling the truth.
estou a dizer a verdade.
I mean, War on Drugs.
ou seja, a Guerra contra as Drogas.
being a police officer.
de ser um agente da polícia.
because it's always been a calling for me
para mim, foi sempre uma vocação
law enforcement is in a crisis.
as forças da lei estão em crise.
We can't arrest our way out of this."
Não podemos evitar isso."
that we have to adopt this thinking
que é preciso adotar este pensamento
to community policing.
ao policiamento da comunidade.
everything that we just admitted.
tudo o que acabamos de reconhecer.
several years ago.
I was tired of discrimination,
farto de tanta discriminação,
and the schisms.
e dos cismas.
in the beloved agency
mesmo na minha querida corporação
de que ainda hoje gosto.
a date that we would retire.
para nos aposentarmos.
go off into the sunset,
e eu começaria uma vida feliz,
love my wife a long time.
amar a minha mulher longamente.
that I was educated in --
onde fui educado,
back into the system.
o meu coração para o sistema.
18 months, 19 months,
some radical policing.
um policiamento radical
from being a drug sergeant --
um sargento que lidava com drogas
as a district commander,
em comandante de bairro,
in Baltimore city.
da cidade de Baltimore.
naquela época,
and the tuberculosis [rating],
da SIDA e da tuberculose,
across the nation,
I didn't say city --
estado, não disse cidade —
Precisamos de fazer algo diferente.
We gotta do something different.
We gotta think radical.
precisamos de pensar radicalmente.
à mudança que eu tanto queria,
that I desperately wanted
to that inner spirit.
a ouvir o meu eu interior.
to that man on the inside
aquele homem lá dentro
that I had been trained to do.
para que fora treinado.
to that inner spirit,
a minha intuição,
reforma da polícia
authority over for public safety,
quanto a segurança pública,
a maneira bafienta de pensar.
is we started to think holistically
and never should have been
nem nunca devia ter sido
to that intersection
recorrer a uma interseção
all races, all creeds, all colors;
as classes, raças, crenças, cores,
and the faith-based,
that I had authority over.
em que eu tinha autoridade.
things into the community
enriquecer a comunidade
strategies and deployments,
implantações extravagantes,
to the community about them.
and say, "Take that."
e dizemos: "Tomem lá!"
desse modo de pensar bafiento.
of that stinkin' thinkin',
Queremos ouvir-vos.
We want to hear from you.
na vossa comunidade?"
a acontecer coisas incríveis.
started to happen.
130 cops that were under my tutelage
que estavam sob o meu comando.
ocupantes da comunidade
into something incredible.
para uma coisa incrível.
so much, so very much.
beautiful, 23-inch arm.
It just look good!
Tem ótimo aspeto!
it so much sometimes
tantas vezes
and dehumanized us.
e desumanizou-nos.
and ... there it is.
in our protective arm.
de tratar as nossas comunidades
our brothers and sisters,
irmãos e irmãs,
in the mirror and see our mistakes.
e ver os nossos erros.
and get through this,
para chegar a isso,
makes up a community.
forma uma comunidade.
— posso dizer isto? —
on law enforcement.
no cumprimento da lei.
and the nerve to get upset
e a coragem de ficar preocupados
when we take action.
quando entramos em ação.
should be calling the police
tenhamos que ligar para a polícia
should be calling the police
para ligarmos para a polícia
está muito alta.
music is up too loud,
no meu jardim.
to my yard and did a number two;
be calling the police.
so much of our responsibility.
da nossa responsabilidade.
coming up in Baltimore --
chegado a Baltimore
rough in the street --
come and break us up.
para nos reprimir.
in the community.
it was that village mentality.
eram a mentalidade da aldeia.
and "Do this." and "Stop that."
"Façam isto!" e "Parem com isso!"
all of the community.
that makes up a community, even --
cria uma comunidade,
eu sou muito rígido quanto a igrejas,
I'm very hard on the churches,
too often have become MIA,
com muita frequência,
elas deixaram de ser
over the last 10, 20 years
round the corner and you're in church.
ao virar esquina, estamos na igreja.
em igrejas pendulares.
commuter churches.
become disconnected by default
que, normalmente, estão desligadas
where they're planted.
of that community.
but I really need to wrap this up.
mas preciso de acabar com isto.
and I call it relational equity.
a que eu chamo "património relacional".
for all of us to build our cities
para construirmos as nossas cidades
commandship in that district,
naquele bairro,
in the car with my police
com os meus agentes,
it's a little secret --
— é um pequeno segredo—
with a clergy.
looking to your right, talking about:
a olhar para o lado e a dizer, todo o dia:
all day long -- you can't do it!
— não se pode fazer isso!
incredible initiatives,
e a polícia para reconstruírem a confiança.
and police to build that trust back.
are on the wrong side of the fence.
estar do lado errado da cerca.
um problema económico,
in our community
na comunidade
to proper medical care,
médicos adequados,
and partnered up
e fizemos parcerias
to partner with us
globalmente,
what we needed holistically,
of the needs of the people,
das necessidades das pessoas,
of a four-and-a-half-year stint,
dos quatro anos e meio de função,
at a 40-year historical low:
numa baixa histórica em 40 anos.
down, back to the 1970s.
os patamares dos anos 70.
started keeping data since 1970.
a registar depoimentos em 1970.
I had other commanders call me,
outros comandantes ligaram:
Precisamos disso!"
para 30 anos atrás.
we fell, Baltimore city,
— 197, para ser exato.
to become great servers,
a ser bons servidores,
these last few years,
nos últimos anos,
rather than reactive,
no relacionamento do que na reação,
that it should've never happened.
que nunca deveria acontecer.
along the vein that we were in,
que tínhamos,
treating them with respect,
de os tratar com respeito,
to business as usual.
voltámos ao que era normal.
we have a police commissioner
um comissário da polícia
about community policing,
de policiamento comunitário,
está de acordo com ela.
como muitas cidades,
I believe shall rise from the ashes.
do meu coração...
and continue to say,
e continuarmos a dizer:
on the same path for the same goals,
o mesmo destino, os mesmo objetivos,
we all want peace.
todos queremos paz.
todos queremos amor.
a few minutes of your time.
alguns minutos do vosso tempo.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Melvin Russell - Chief of the Community Partnership Division, Baltimore Police DepartmentMelvin Russell is bringing stakeholders together to work toward the common goal of peace and prosperity for Baltimore City.
Why you should listen
Lt. Colonel Melvin T. Russell is Chief of the Community Partnership Division, Baltimore Police Department. Russell joined The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) in 1979 as a police cadet and graduated from the BPD academy in 1981 as the first and only African American class valedictorian.
Russell worked both as a uniform patrol and then an undercover officer for 20 years before re-emerging as an Eastern District Lieutenant in 2007. In this position, Russell turned the worse midnight patrol shift in the city to the best in 3 months and was promoted to Major of the Eastern District 11 months later. It was during this time as Major that Russell created the non-profit “Transformation Team” (TTT), a grassroots organization of community shareholders that are committed to working together to make a better Baltimore.
In January 2013, Russell was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and created the Community Partnership Division.
Melvin Russell | Speaker | TED.com