I love being a police officer, but we need reform | Melvin Russell

Prevodilac: Nikolina Ajdukovic Lektor: Mile Živković

I have been a police officer for a very, very long time.

Ja sam bio policajac dugo vremena.

And you see these notes in my hand because I'm also a black preacher.

I vidite ove beleške u mojoj rugi jer sam takođe crni propovednik.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And if you know anything about black preachers,

I ako znate nešto o crnim propovedačima,

we'll close, and then we'll keep going for another 20 minutes.

mi ćemo završiti pa nastaviti dalje još nekih 20 minuta.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So I need this to keep pushing this thing forward.

Zato mi ovo treba da bih nastavio dalje.

I've been a police officer for a very long time,

Ja sam bio policajac jako dugo vremena,

and I mean I predated technology.

ja sam prethodio tehnologiji.

I'm talking about before pagers.

Pričamo o vremenu pre pejdžera.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Laugh if you want to, but I'm telling the truth.

Smejte se ako želite, ali ja govorim istinu.

I predate War on Our Fellow Man -- I mean, War on Drugs.

Ja prethodim ratu protiv naših bližnjih, mislim, ratu protiv droga.

I predate all of that.

Prethodim svemu tome.

I predate so much

Prethodim toliko,

and I've been through ebbs and flows

prošao sam kroz plime i oseke

and I've been through good and bad times,

i prošao sam kroz dobra i loša vremena,

and still I absolutely love being a police officer.

i dalje definitivno volim što sam policajac.

I love being a police officer because it's always been a calling for me

Volim da budem policajac jer je to uvek bio moj poziv,

and never a job.

a nikad posao.

And even with that,

Čak i s tim,

my personal truth is that law enforcement is in a crisis.

moja lična tajna jeste da je policija u krizi.

It's an invisible crisis,

U nevidljivoj krizi,

and it has been for many, many years.

i to mnogo, mnogo godina.

Even though we in law enforcement say,

Iako mi u policiji govorimo:

"You know what? We can't arrest our way out of this."

"Znate šta? Ne možemo da se iz ovog izvučemo hapšenjem."

We say in law enforcement things like,

U policiji govorimo stvari poput:

"Yeah, it's illegal to profile."

"Protivzakonito je opisivati nekog."

You know what?

Znate šta?

In law enforcement, we even agree that we have to adopt this thinking

U policiji mi se slažemo da moramo prihvatiti ovo razmišljanje

and become more oriented to community policing.

i postanemo više orijentisani ka tome da postanemo policija zajednice.

And yet all the while, still,

I čak stalno, i dalje,

we continue in the same vein,

nastavljamo istu stvar,

the same vein that contradicts everything that we just admitted.

istu stvar koja protivreči svemu što smo upravo priznali.

And so that's the reason for me, several years ago.

I to je moj razlog, pre više godina.

Because I was tired of the racism, I was tired of discrimination,

Bio sam umoran od rasizma, od diskriminacije,

I was tired of the "-isms" and the schisms.

umoran od -anja i -acija.

I was just so tired.

Bio sam toliko umoran.

I was tired of the vicious cycle,

Bio sam umoran od ukletog kruga,

and I was tired of it even in the beloved agency

bio sam umoran čak i u voljenoj agenciji

in the department that I still love today.

u odeljenju koje volim i dan danas.

And so my wife and I, we sat down

Moja žena i ja smo seli,

and we decided and we targeted a date that we would retire.

odlučili smo i odredili datum kada ćemo ići u penziju.

Mi bismo se penzionisali, ja bih otišao ka zalasku sunca,

We would retire and I would go off into the sunset,

maybe do ministry full time, love my wife a long time.

možda bih se bavio propovedanjem stalno, voleo bih ženu mnogo.

Y'all know what I'm talking about.

Znate o čemu pričam.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But we decided that I would retire.

Odlučili smo da ću se penzionisati.

But then there was a higher power than I.

Onda je došla veća moć od mene.

There was a love for the city

Postojala je ljubav prema gradu

that I loved, that I grew up in, that I was educated in --

koji sam voleo, u kom sam odrastao, u kom sam se obrazovao,

a city that pulled my heart back into the system.

grad koji mi je vratio srce u sistem.

So we didn't retire.

Zato se nismo penzionisali.

We didn't retire

Nismo se penzionisali

and so what happened was,

i desilo se

over the next -- I would say, 18 months, 19 months,

u narednih nekoliko recimo 18 meseci, 19 meseci,

I had this passion to implement some radical policing.

imao sam strast da implementiram radikalno održavanje reda i mira.

And so now, over the next 19 months,

U narednih 19 meseci

I shifted, and I transcended from being a drug sergeant --

prebacio sam se i napredovao od policijskog narednika za drogu

spremnog da se penzioniše kao policijski narednik za drogu

ready to retire as a drug sergeant --

and went from level to level to level,

i išao do nivoa do nivoa do nivoa

until I find myself as a district commander,

dok se nisam našao kao komandir okruga,

commander of the worst district in Baltimore city.

komandir najgoreg okruga u gradu Baltimoru.

We call it the Eastern District,

Zovemo ga Istočni okrug,

the most violent district,

okrug sa najviše nasilja,

the most impoverished district --

najsiromašniji okrug,

46 percent unemployment in that district.

46% nezaposlenosti u tom okrugu.

National rating at that time,

Nacionalna procena u to vreme,

national rating, the AIDS and the tuberculosis [rating],

nacionalna procena side i tuberkuloze

was always on the top 10 list

uvek je bila u top 10 listi

for zip codes for cities across the nation,

za poštanske brojeve gradova širom zemlje

or just zip codes across the nation.

ili samo poštanske brojeve kroz zemlju.

The top 10 -- I didn't say state, I didn't say city --

Top 10, ne govorim o državi, ne govorim o gradu

that little neighborhood.

nego o tom malom susedstvu.

And I said, you know what? We gotta do something different.

I rekao sam, znate šta? Moramo da uradimo nešto drugačije.

We gotta do something different. We gotta think radical.

Moramo uraditi nešto drugačije. Moramo radikalno misliti.

We gotta think outside the box.

Moramo misliti šire.

And so in order to bring change that I desperately wanted

I kako bih napravio promenu koju sam očajnički želeo,

and I desperately felt in my heart,

koju sam očajnički osećao u srcu,

I had to start listening to that inner spirit.

morao sam da počnem da slušam taj unutrašnji duh.

I had to start listening to that man on the inside

Morao sam počnem slušati čoveka iznutra

that went against everything that I had been trained to do.

koji je išao protiv svega što sam bio naučen da radim.

But we still did it.

Ali smo svejedno to uradili.

We still did it because we listened to that inner spirit,

Svejedno smo to uradili jer smo slušali unutrašnji duh,

because I realized this:

zato što sam shvatio

if I was to see real police reform

ukoliko želim da vidim prave promene u policiji

in the communities that I had authority over for public safety,

u zajednicama nad kojima sam imao vlast za javnu bezbednost,

we had to change our stinkin' thinkin'.

morali smo da promenimo naše loše razmišljanje.

Morali smo to da promenimo.

We had to change it.

And so what we did is we started to think holistically

Počeli smo da razmišljamo u holističkom smislu,

and not paramilitarily.

a ne u paravojnom.

So we thought differently.

Tako da smo mislili drugačije.

And we started to realize

I počeli smo da shvatamo

that it could never be and never should have been

da nikad neće moći i da nikad nije smelo da bude

us versus them.

mi protiv njih.

And so I decided to come to that intersection

Tako sam došao na tu raskrsnicu

gde sam mogao da upoznam sve slojeve, sve rase, sve veroispovesti, sve boje

where I could meet all classes, all races, all creeds, all colors;

where I would meet the businesses and the faith-based,

gde bih upoznao poslovanja i verske grupe,

and the eds, the meds,

najbolje i srednje

and I would meet all the people

i upoznao bih sve ljude

that made up the communities that I had authority over.

koji su činili zajednicu nad kojom sam ja imao vlast.

So I met them and I began to listen.

I tako sam ih upoznao i počeo da slušam.

See, police have a problem.

Vidite, policija ima problem.

Off the top, we want to bring things into the community

Mi želimo sa vrha da donesemo ljudima stvari

and come up with these extravagant strategies and deployments,

i smislimo ove ekstravagantne strategije i razvijanja,

but we never talk to the community about them.

ali nikada ne razgovaramo sa zajednicom o njima.

And we shove them into the community and say, "Take that."

I gurnemo ih u zajednicu i kažemo im: "Uzmite to".

But we said we'd get rid of that stinkin' thinkin',

Rekli smo da moramo da se otarasimo tog lošeg razmišljanja,

so we talked to our communities.

pa smo razgovarali sa zajednicama.

We said, "This is your community table.

Rekli smo: "Ovo je vaš sto zajednice.

We'll pull up a chair. We want to hear from you.

Privući ćemo stolicu. Hoćemo da čujemo šta mislite.

What's going to work in your community?"

Šta će funkcionisati u vašoj zajednici?"

And then some great things started to happen.

I tad su počele da se događaju neke odlične stvari.

See, here's the thing:

Vidite u čemu je stvar,

I had to figure out a way to shift 130 cops that were under my tutelage

morao sam da smislim način da promenim 130 policajaca pod mojim nadzorom

from being occupiers of communities

od toga da budu okupatori zajednice

to being partners.

do toga da budu partneri.

Morao sam da smislim kako to da uradim.

I had to figure out how to do that.

Because here's the crazy thing:

Evo u čemu je luda stvar,

in law enforcement, we have evolved into something incredible.

kao policija, evoluirali smo u nešto neverovatno.

Listen, we have become great protectors.

Slušajte, postali smo veliki zaštitnici.

We know how to protect you.

Znamo kako da vas zaštitimo.

But we have exercised that arm so much, so very much.

Ali smo vežbali tu ruku toliko

If I was a natural police department

da ako bih ja bio živi odsek policije

and I represented a police department,

i da predstavljam odsek policije

you would see this incredible, beautiful, 23-inch arm.

vi biste videli ovu neverovatnu prelepu ruku od 58cm.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

It's pretty, ain't it? It's cut up.

Zar nije lepa? Isklesana je.

No fat on it. Mmm it look good. It just look good!

Nema sala na njoj, izgleda tako dobro. Samo izgleda tako dobro!

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

That's a great arm -- protection!

To je odlična ruka - zaštita!

That's who we are, but we've exercised it so much sometimes

To smo mi ali smo vežbali sa njom tako puno ponekad

that it has led to abuse.

da je dovela do zloupotrebe.

It's led to coldness and callousness and dehumanized us.

Dovela je do hladnoće i bezosećajnosti i načinila nas neljudskim.

And we've forgotten

I zaboravili smo

the mantra across this nation

mantru širom nacije,

is to protect and serve.

da štitimo i služimo.

Y'all don't know that? Protect and serve.

Ne znate to? Štitimo i služimo?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So you look at the other arm,

Onda pogledate drugu ruku i onda

and then you look at it and ... there it is.

pogledate je i... eto tu je.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

You know, it's kinda weak.

Znate, nekako je nejaka.

It looks sickly.

Deluje bolešljivo.

It's withering and it's dying

Vene i umire,

because we've invested so much in our protective arm.

zato što smo uložili toliko u našu zaštitničku ruku.

But we forgot to treat our communities

Ali smo zaboravili da tretiramo naše zajednice

like they're our customers;

kao da su naše mušterije,

like they're our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters,

kao da su nam sinovi, ćerke, braća i sestre,

our mothers and fathers.

majke i očevi.

And so somehow, along the way,

I nekako, usput,

we've gotten out of balance.

ispali smo iz ravnoteže.

And because we are a proud profession,

I zato što smo ponosna profesija,

it is very hard for us to look in the mirror and see our mistakes.

teško je da se pogledamo u ogledalo i uvidimo svoje greške.

It's even harder to make a change.

Još teže je da se načini promena.

And so, as I try to hurry and get through this,

I tako, kako pokušavam da se ubrzam i prođem kroz ovo,

I need to say this:

moram da kažem ovo,

it's not just law enforcement, though.

ipak nije u pitanju samo policija.

Because every one of us makes up a community.

Svako od nas čini zajendicu.

Everybody makes up a community.

Svako čini zajednicu.

And as communities -- can I say this? --

A kao zajednice - mogu li da kažem ovo -

we have put too much responsibility on law enforcement.

stavili smo previše odgovornosti na policiju.

Too much.

Previše.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

And then we have the audacity and the nerve to get upset

I onda imamo smelosti i hrabrosti da se uznemirimo

with law enforcement when we take action.

zbog policije kada preduzmemo nešto.

There is no way in the world

Nema šanse

that we, as a community, should be calling the police

da mi, kao zajednica treba da nazovemo policiju

for kids playing ball in the street.

zbog dece koja se igraju loptom na ulici.

Nema šanse da ćemo zvati policiju

No way in the world that we should be calling the police

because my neighbor's music is up too loud,

zato što je komšijina muzika preglasna,

because his dog came over to my yard and did a number two;

zato što je njegov pas došao u moju baštu i obavio veliku i malu nuždu,

there's no way we should be calling the police.

nema šanse da treba da nazovemo policiju.

But we have surrendered so much of our responsibility.

Ali smo predali toliko odgovornosti.

Listen, when I was a little boy coming up in Baltimore --

Slušajte, kad sam bio dete koje je raslo u Baltimoru

and listen, we played rough in the street --

i slušajte, igrali smo se grubo na ulici,

I ain't never see the police come and break us up.

nikad nisam video policajca da je došao i razdvojio nas.

You know who came? It was the elders.

Znate ko je dolazio? Stariji ljudi.

It was the parental figures in the community.

To su bile roditeljske uloge u zajednici.

It was those guardians, it was that village mentality.

To su bili čuvari, to je bilo seoski mentalitet.

They came and said, "Stop that!" and "Do this." and "Stop that."

Došli bi i rekli: "Prestanite to da radite!"

i "Uradite ovo" i "Prekinite to".

We had mentors throughout all of the community.

Imali smo mentore kroz čitavu zajednicu.

So it takes all of us, all of us.

Zato smo svi potrebni. Svi.

And when I say community,

Kada kažem zajednice,

I'm talking about everything that makes up a community, even --

govorim o svemu što čini zajednicu, čak i -

listen, because I'm a preacher, I'm very hard on the churches,

slušajte, zato što sam propovednik, veoma sam strog prema crkvama

because I believe the churches too often have become MIA,

zato što verujem da su crkve previše često

missing in action.

nestale u akciji.

I believe they have shifted over the last 10, 20 years

verujem da su se promenile u poslednjih 10, 20 godina

from being community churches,

od toga da su bile crkve zajednice,

where you walk outside your door, round the corner and you're in church.

gde možete da izađete iz kuće i da iza ugla imate crkvu,

They shifted from that and became commuter churches.

od toga su se promenile i postale udaljene crkve.

So you now have churches who have become disconnected by default

I sada imate crkve koje su postale udaljene

from the very community where they're planted.

od same zajednice gde su postavljene.

And they don't take care of that community.

I ne vode brigu o toj zajednici.

I could go on and on, but I really need to wrap this up.

Mogu da nastavim o ovome večno, ali moram da završim.

Community and policing:

Zajednica i policijski režim,

we've all lost that precious gift, and I call it relational equity.

svi smo izgubili taj dar, i to nazivam odnosima pravičnosti.

We've lost it with one another.

Izgubili smo jedno za drugim.

It's not somebody else's fault --

Nije niko drugi kriv,

it's all of our fault.

za sve smo to mi krivi.

We all take responsibility in this.

Svi imamo odgovornost u ovome.

But I say this: it's not too late for all of us to build our cities

Ali govorim ovo, nije prekasno za sve nas da stvaramo naše gradove

and nation to make it great again.

i ovu naciju da je napravimo velikom opet.

It is never too late.

Nikad nije kasno.

It is never too late.

Nikad nije prekasno.

You see, after three years

Vidite, posle tri godine

of my four-and-a-half-year commandship in that district,

od moje četiri i po godine službe u tom okrugu,

three years in,

tri godine u tome

after putting pastors in the car with my police

posle stavljanja sveštenika u kola sa mojom policijom

because I knew this -- it's a little secret --

pošto sam znao ovo, to je mala tajna,

I knew this:

zato što sam znao da

it was hard to stay a nasty police officer

bilo je teško ostati gadan policajac

while you're riding around with a clergy.

dok se družite sa sveštenstvom.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

You'd be getting in and out of the car, looking to your right, talking about:

Znate izlazili biste iz kola, pogledali desno i rekli:

"Father, forgive me, for I have sinned," all day long -- you can't do it!

"Oče oprosti mi, jer sam grešio" ceo dan ali ne možete!

So we came up with some incredible initiatives,

Pa smo smislili neverovatne inicijative,

engagements for our community and police to build that trust back.

obaveze za našu zajednicu i policiju kako bismo povratili to poverenje.

We began to deal with our youth

Počeli smo da se bavimo našom omladinom

and with those who we consider are on the wrong side of the fence.

sa onim za koje smo mislili da su na pogrešnoj strani ograde.

We knew we had an economic problem,

Znali smo da imamo ekonomski problem,

so we began to create jobs.

pa smo počeli da stvaramo poslove.

We knew there was sickness in our community

Znali smo da postoji bolest u našoj zajednici

and they didn't have access to proper medical care,

i da nisu imali pristup odgovarajućoj medicinskoj nezi

so we'd partner up.

zato smo se zbližili.

We got to that intersection and partnered up

Došli smo do te raskrsnice i zbližili se

with anybody that wanted to partner with us

sa svima koji su hteli da se zbliže sa nama

and talked about what we needed holistically,

i pričali o tome šta nam treba u holističkom smislu,

never thinking about the crime.

nikad nismo mislili o kriminalu.

Because at the end of the day,

Jer na kraju dana,

if we took care of the needs of the people,

ako zbrinemo potrebe ljudi,

if we got to the root cause,

ako dođemo do korena problema,

the crime would take care of itself.

kriminal će se sam rešiti.

It would take care of itself.

Sam će se rešiti.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

And so, after three years of a four-and-a-half-year stint,

I tako, posle tri godine od četiri i po godine ograničenja,

we looked back and we looked over

pogledali smo nazad i preko

and found out that we were at a 40-year historical low:

i saznali da smo da smo na najnižoj tački u poslednjih 40 godina,

our crime numbers, our homicides --

brojevi krivičnih dela, ubistava,

everything had dropped down, back to the 1970s.

sve je palo na nivo 1970-ih.

I može da ode dalje, ali problem je,

And it might go back further,

but the problem is, we only started keeping data since 1970.

počeli smo da čuvamo podatke tek od 1970-ih.

Forty-year crime low, so much so, I had other commanders call me,

Četrdeset godina pada kriminala, toliko da su me drugi komandiri zvali,

"Hey Mel, whatcha doin', man?

"Hej Mel, šta to radiš čoveče?"

Whatcha doin'? We gotta get some of that!"

Šta radiš? Daj i nama da se uključimo!"

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And so we gave them some of that.

Tako da smo im dali da se uključe.

And in a short period of time,

I u kratkom vremenskom roku,

the city went to a 30-year crime low.

grad je bio u tridesetogodišnjem padu kriminala.

Prvi put u 30 godina, pali smo, grad Baltimor,

For the first time in 30 years, we fell, Baltimore city,

to under 200 homicides -- 197 to be exact.

ispod 200 ubistava, 197 da budem precizan.

And we celebrated,

I proslavili smo to,

because we had learned to become great servers,

jer smo naučili da budemo veliki sprovodioci,

become great servers first.

prvo veliki sprovodioci.

But I gotta tell you this: these last few years,

Ali moram vam reći ovo, poslednjih par godina

as much as we had learned

koliko smo shvatili,

to become great proactive police officers

da postanemo veliki proaktivni policajci

and great relational police officers rather than reactive,

i veliki relacioni policajci, pre nego reaktivni,

these last years have disappointed me.

poslednje godine su me razočarale.

They have broken my heart.

Slomile su mi srce.

The uprising still hurts.

Ustanak me i dalje boli.

It still hurts my heart,

I dalje me boli srce od toga,

because truly I believe that it should've never happened.

jer zaista ja verujem da to nikad nije trebalo da se dogodi.

Verujem da nikada nije trebalo da se dogodi

I believe it should've never happened

if we were allowed to continue along the vein that we were in,

da nam je bilo dozvoljeno da nastavimo putem u kom smo bili,

servicing our community,

time da služimo našoj zajednici,

treating them like human beings, treating them with respect,

da ih tretiramo kao ljudska bića, sa poštovanjem,

loving on them first.

prvenstveno da ih volimo.

If we continued in that vein,

Da smo nastavili tim putem,

it would've never happened.

nikad se ne bi dogodilo.

But somehow, we went back to business as usual.

Ali nekako smo se vratili na staro.

But I'm excited again!

Ali ja sam uzbuđen opet!

I'm excited again, because now we have a police commissioner

Opet sam uzbuđen jer sad imamo policijskog komesara

who not only talks about community policing,

koji ne samo da govori o policiji zajednice,

but he absolutely understands it,

već apsolutno to razume,

and more importantly, he embraces it.

i što je najvažnije, on to prihvata.

So I'm very excited now.

Zato sam veoma uzbuđen.

Listen, I'm excited about Baltimore today,

Slušajte, uzbuđen sam zbog Baltimora danas,

because we, as many cities, I believe shall rise from the ashes.

jer mi kao i drugi gradovi, dići ćemo se iz pepela.

I believe -- I truly believe --

Verujem, zaista verujem -

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

that we will be great again.

da ćemo opet biti veliki.

I believe,

Verujem,

as we continue to wrap arms and continue to say,

kako nastavimo da spojimo ruke, i nastavimo da govorimo:

"We're in this together,"

"U ovome smo zajedno!"

because it's not just an intersection:

jer ovo nije samo raskrsnica,

once we meet, we now gotta get on the same path for the same goals,

kada se nađemo, moramo da stanemo na isti put naših ciljeva

and this city will become great again.

i ovaj grad će postati veliki ponovo.

This nation will become great again.

Ova nacija će opet postati velika.

Because we have the same goal: we all want peace.

Zato što imamo isti cilj, svi želimo mir.

We all want respect for one another.

Svi želimo poštovanje jedno prema drugom.

We all want love.

Svi želimo ljubav.

And I believe we are back on that road,

Verujem da smo ponovo na tom putu,

and I'm so excited about it.

i veoma sam uzbuđen zbog toga.

So listen, I thank you for giving me a few minutes of your time.

Slušajte, hvala vam što ste odvojili par minuta za mene.

God bless you all.

Bog vas sve blagoslovio.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

God bless you.

Bog vas blagoslovio.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)