Your Customer Is My Customer By David B. Parker
I believe one thing that the COVID pandemic has forced all aspects of the legal system to do is realize that we can work around predicaments rather than dig our heels in deep. Working together hasn’t violated any oath, once we learned new means to communicate. As a career law enforcement professional, I have known little other than the “us versus them” stereotype, when it came to attorneys and their clients. We arrest and detain, and the attorneys try to get them out. I am not saying we have it 100% correct now at all, but I do believe we have established better communication. Learning through necessity, we can work around problems together in order to serve our customers more efficiently and effectively. I must hand it to attorneys that they do seem, in general, to work together even when adversaries. As a law enforcement professional, it seems your side is much better in that aspect. But shouldn’t our common goal be to change or rehabilitate the deviant behavior of those we work with for the good of the community or customer? We have some quality diversion programs locally that have been recognized and modeled nationally. I believe the COVID pandemic accelerated deferred prosecution, leaving diversion as one of the only options in some cases. Yes, we continued to put violent criminals into jails and prisons, but the rate has slowed when compared to the last decade. Confining groups in small, self-contained areas went against everything the government and medical experts advised. Old practices of confinement trended toward increasing exposure, and even death, requiring new protocols to be established and enforced. Some chose politics over science, but somehow, we still worked together to reduce the rate of detention. Courts heard bail suits across the country, while law enforcement argued bail a necessity to keep the community safe. Judges across the country set or revamped bail schedules, issuing many more P.R./O.R. bonds in the interest of public health. If COVID was out of the equation and using only the data, I believe we outlined a picture for the future regarding bond issues, but the evolution will lie in the middle. We should now be asking questions if we keep the current bail process, or we eliminate the bail process? 14 Tulsa Lawyer
The pandemic changed all our lives personally and professionally. Focusing on the gains made in this short baseline time frame of COVID, I believe more has been accomplished cooperatively than any other time in my 36-year career. What changed? I believe the most prevalent response is the attention directed towards our customer base and acknowledging where we made measurable advancements. Whether considering the courts, jails, or prisons, two identifiable customer bases often intermingle. Those customers are the Public and the Detained. A third, less identified and considered cog in the machine, are the individuals working within the system, you and me. The order listed is not relevant, but each is a customer. With regard to the “Public”, the primary function of the law enforcement, including the police, prosecutors, or courts, is to enforce our established laws to protect the public. I hope we all agree that is a fact. This protection is far more in-depth than simply taking law breakers off the street or establishing case law as the sole means of protecting the public. Staying within my expertise and experience, I focus more on the criminal aspect. We arrest, detain, judicate, and incarcerate, but we protect no one as a whole if that is all we do. Yes, we remove an immediate threat, but just like attending law school, the student criminal learns. Warehousing of criminals in our jails and prisons has the unfortunate side effect of providing an institution to learn to be a more effective criminal. A cornucopia of criminal industry experts and educators are there to teach with a never-ending body of students to learn. Examples of available classes run from narcotic manufacturing 101, to establishing more effective trafficking systems, planning murder by the numbers, leadership in gang organization, advancements in technology for white collar criminal enterprises, and no one’s favorite sexual deviants in the shadows. We all know that a large portion of business is based on relationships, so where better to build those relationships. Think about that for a minute. My criminal neighbor, former schoolmate, or cousin is learning how to be a better criminal. Are we really protecting the public when the incarcerated will be your neighbor someday?
