"Madison Model" Works. Or Not. Maybe.

 You gotta hand it to "journalists" on a mission.  

First, the essay praises the "Madison Model" of policing demonstrations:  don't bother them.  Of course, the Mifflin Street block parties weren't really 'demonstrations'--they were drinking, pot-smoking, and sex parties-- but never mind.  We have an agenda here. 

...Enter David Couper. Appointed police chief in 1972 at age 35, he arrived from Minnesota seeking to change the narrative surrounding the party — and his department. The city in 1973 issued a permit to party organizers. The event “went off without a hitch,” Couper recalled, and would continue to do so throughout his 21-year tenure.

That was due to a strategy that would forge the Madison Police Department’s reputation for overseeing protests that stayed peaceful....

OK.  What's the point?

...The national spotlight has shined most brightly on Kenosha, where a police officer during an Aug. 23 domestic disturbance shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, in the back seven times, sparking consecutive nights of protests. ...

Kenosha.  Alright, then, let's see what the polemicist has to say.

...Violence and property damage rapidly escalated during the first night of unrest after law enforcement began firing lung-damaging tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds. Officers continued such tactics during subsequent nights of protest...

Was it really "after"?  

Or did the police deploy gas and rubber wnen it turned to a riot?

According to this egghead, it didn't make a difference, no matter what caused what:

...The Madison model of dialogue with protesters may not have prevented the mayhem in Kenosha, because the police department lacked training and did not first do enough to gain Black residents’ trust in the deeply segregated city, said Selika Ducksworth-Lawton, a history professor at the UW-Eau Claire with expertise in civil rights and the military....

"Black residents" were not the principal insurrectionists.  The rioters and provocateurs were from Seattle, Portland, and Chicago.  But let's not let such details get in the way of The Narrative--which is now that the KPD is racist (systemic??) and stupid.

Funny thing about "racist."  The most well-known complaint about the KPD was from a WHITE MAN whose son was shot after a traffic stop.  The KPD apparently is not very good at racism.

Back to Couper the Copper, who is now a "peace activist"-Episcopal priest.  He has things to say!

...after Madison this summer saw its own smashed storefronts, toppled statues and tear gas clouds during confrontations between riot gear-clad police and protesters — interspersed between weeks of peaceful demonstrations for racial justice — Couper is among those questioning whether his former department retains the trust needed to keep the peace during future confrontations....

Because nothing is more "peaceful" than letting all of Madison burn down, eh?

There's nothing wrong with letting the children play a bit, as the Madison cops did when "activists" blocked the Beltway for a while.  But letting the children attack other citizens, and letting them do their burning and looting--not to mention attacking and hospitalizing people--that's not a matter of "gaining trust," pal.

That's a matter of justice.

But also remember, prissy-proper-police-procedures ("let it burn!!") also may NOT have worked .........because 'trust."

Helpful, eh?

It's not helpful because it's bullshit.  

You want to destroy other people's property?  Meet my pal, Tear Gas, and his friends, Truncheons.