What if cops carried freeze rays instead of guns? Could it change society? Could technology really solve police brutality?

Christians for millennia have debated whether force—and the technology employed in it—is necessary to stop evil, and whether Christians should resist lethal weapons in general. Some people envision a future without guns, where law enforcement uses non-lethal weapons. Star Trek has long pictured a reality where force involves stun guns but not bullets.

Can non-lethal technology create a more peaceful future? Could it lead to a more equitable society?

After all these centuries, Adam and Chris finally have the answer. . . . well, okay, that didn’t happen. Instead, we’re diving into this question from our unique angle, asking how is the gun shaping our relationships and our society, even when it isn’t fired?

LINKS

• “The History of Policing in the United States” (PDF)
• A list of current less-lethal weapons
• How police tactics differ around the world
• “Police, Power, and the Specter of Guns”
• “Can Star Trek’s non-violent utopia happen?”

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We have all seen videos of white police officers using excessive force or even shooting unarmed men of color. Policing has been an explosive topic when talking about racial relations in America. Following the creation of the hashtag Black Lives Matter, the cry for Blue Lives Matter was created to focus on the lives of police officers. The more recent call to defund the police has recently gained traction. 

Chief Allen Banks is the Chief of Police for the Round Rock (Texas) Police Department. Chief Banks gave 21 years of service to the Albuquerque, New Mexico police department before coming to Round Rock, Texas in 2014. The work that Chief Banks has done since being in Round Rock has earned him the Civil Rights Justice by Action Award in 2016 by the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). He was also named 2018 Citizen of the Year by the Round Rock Chamber of Commerce. Chief Banks and his wife, Tammy, have three children. 

In this episode, Chief Banks explains his policing philosophy, inequities within policing and the importance of community policing. 

You can connect with Chief Banks on Twitter at @ChiefAllenBanks or via email at abanks@roundrocktexas.gov. 

You can connect with Evan on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @its_evanb or at www.itsevanb.com. 

WHAT in the...Word???

Romans 13:1 - Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 

:2 - Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 

:3 - For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 

:4 - for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 

WHAT in the...World???

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About People We Don't Know by Malcom Gladwell (https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Strangers-Should-about-People/dp/0316478520)

Remember to rate, review and subscribe to this podcast. Thanks for listening! 

Transcribed highlights of the show can be found in our episode summaries.

In the aftermath of the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, thousands of people across the country have taken to the streets to protest police brutality. Video of Floyd’s final moments as a police officer used his knee to pin his neck and his three colleagues looked on prompted a strong reaction from around this country.

While perhaps more white evangelicals have spoken out against the police officers’ actions than after previous acts of police brutality made national news, some of the ways that they are framing their statements about law enforcement suggests they actually aren’t getting it, says Aaron L. Griffith, assistant professor of history at Sattler College in Boston.

“I worry that many white evangelicals are talking about the problem of police brutality in terms of the exceptions, in terms of the bad apples. And then proposing things like more training or pushing more into the colorblind frame or even mobilizing language like ‘racial reconciliation,’ to say that black Americans have an opportunity to forgive and befriend the officers in their midst,” said Griffith, who is also the author of the forthcoming God’s Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America.“That is very concerning to me because we've seen this before.

We've seen this in moves toward community policing, which envisions the police as more closely connected, and perhaps even friendly, to the neighborhoods they serve,” he said. “But community policing projects are really much more about just changing perceptions of law enforcement, not the practices of how they operate. And really, making police more directly connected to communities, embedding them more closely in communities, often just exposes residents to more interactions and more risks.”

Griffith joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editorial director Ted Olsen to discuss the origins of the police, how a desire to reach teenagers affected attitudes toward law enforcement, and if white evangelicals views are changing or not.

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Follow our hosts on Twitter: Morgan Lee and Ted Olsen

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Music by Sweeps

Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Linder

The transcript is edited by Bunmi Ishola

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