Cop Block

Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

Cop Block
Articles Original Content 

Can CopBlockers Lead Alternative to Police Monopoly?

Pete Eyre 1245 Views , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Buckminster Fuller, perhaps most well-known as the popularizer of the geodesic dome, sought to understand “the principles governing the universe and help advance the evolution of humanity in accordance with them.” A lofty goal to be sure, but perhaps not so beyond reach as one may think.

I’d proffer that you would rather sell a good you made than have it taken from you by force. That you prefer abundant choice to restrictions of choice. That you choose not to wantonly take the life of another because that act conflicts with your innate sense of right and wrong, not because some stranger in a far-away domed building decreed that such an act is prohibited.

To put it another way, most of us prefer peaceful interactions to violence. And that is why so many of us rightly take issue with the monopolized policing apparatus.

The monopolized policing apparatus fuels division and destruction. In addition to the readily-seen negative impact on the millions of people caged for actions that caused no victim, and the “us vs them” paradigm it relies upon, it also creates discord within injustice system actors themselves. There is a reason those within the policing “profession” have such high suicide, alcoholism, and domestic abuse rates. It’s the same reason a large percentage of individuals who go into policing quit within the first few years. The institution is founded on coercion. It is not in accord with the evolution of humanity.

Many of us who write here at CopBlock.org have encouraged police to quit their jobs. Others have clamored for petitions to reform or provide oversight to their local police outfit. But if the only change one can affect is within themselves and through their own actions, that’s where we should start.

 

create-new-buckminster-fuller

 

Monopolistic policing does not serve us. We must build alternatives that do. Below is an outline of how such an alternative may start to take shape. I want to help get the ball rolling but this needs to be a bottom-up, emergent process, so your input and involvement and leadership are welcomed. Please leave a comment feedback and ideas. And if you want to spearhead something yourself please do.

Proposal

  • Facilitate the creation of properly-incentivized response teams that will increase the quality of life of other community members.

Working Title

  • CopBlock Response

Key Attributes

  • Mutual aid
  • Commonsense

Execution

  • Solicit feedback and further refine vision
  • Develop training core and create needed resources (both text- and video-based)
  • Create logo / t-shirts so as to be recognizable
  • Replicate the Uber model to focus on one area at a time. Work with proven folks on the ground (nucleus may be existing and active CopBlock, CopWatch, or Peaceful Streets groups). Train. Canvas online and offline. Roll out. Incorporate lessons learned into future iterations elsewhere
  • Create a new subpage on CopBlock.org to give an overview and list offshoots. Also indicate on CopBlock.org/Groups

Deliverables

  • Timely response when summoned
  • Some groups may choose to have a presence in busy areas (akin to Guardian Angels)
  • Intra-group training at agreed-upon frequency so that each member becomes more well-rounded and skilled (akin to vision of app Peacekeeper)
  • Offer training to community members (know your rights, filming police, self-defense, basic first aid, etc.)
  • Arbitration or conflict resolution
  • Updates from active groups, which will grow their clout in the area and act as practical briefings others can learn from

Funding

  • Groups could start by accepting donations for services rendered in their preferred mediums (goodwill, cash, cryptocurrency, metals, PayPal, etc.)
  • Once a reputation is established, groups could add or transition to a retainer model or a client-based model (akin to Threat Management Center)
    • Using Cell 411, groups could opt to have a public and private cell within their area. They would seek to respond to all calls for help but would give priority to those in the private cell (who have paid a retainer). Those in the private cell could also net other benefits if warranted, such as coverage via CopBlock.org and legaland assistance (akin to a deliverable of CopBlock Protection)
  • If project is aligned with CopBlock Network then donations could be received via those existing channels and dispersed to bolster active groups or to specific individuals who can then help to train other groups
  • Groups could seek sponsorship from area individuals, neighborhoods, and businesses who recognize the value they create
  • Creators or distributors of products may find it worthwhile to sponsor the project via a donation (videocameras, first aid supplies, etc.)

Questions

  • Might labeling the project “CopBlock Response” deter some from becoming involved or make the focus too narrow?
  • What would help this project scale?

 

“It is not love to my neighbour – whom I often do not know at all – -which induces me to seize a pail of water and to rush towards his house when I see it on fire; it is a far wider, even though more vague feeling or instinct of human solidarity and sociability which moves me.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Related Resources

 

 

EPN

Pete Eyre

Pete Eyre is co-founder of CopBlock.org. As an advocate of peaceful, consensual interactions, he seeks to inject a message of complete liberty and self-government into the conversation of police accountability. Eyre went to undergrad and grad school for law enforcement, then spent time in DC as an intern at the Cato Institute, a Koch Fellow at the Drug Policy Alliance, Directer of Campus Outreach at the Institute for Humane Studies, Crasher-in-Chief at Bureaucrash, and as a contractor for the Future of Freedom Foundation. In 2009 he left the belly of the beast and hit the road with Motorhome Diaries and later co-founded Liberty On Tour. He spent time in New Hampshire home, and was involved with Free Keene, the Free State Project and The Daily Decrypt.