Pastore now does research for the nonprofit Criminal Justice Policy Foundation out of New Haven. Rob Stewart interviewed him. People thought they could sit back and just dial 911 when they needed help. That reactionary approach is wrong. I had to humanize the police and stimulate citizen involvement.
Community participation makes policing effective.
The drug war is detrimental to policing because it treats the police officers like military in combat and it treats everyone else like the enemy. Traditionally, the policing philosophy was to buy more tanks, helicopters, bulletproof vests, and high-powered guns. Certainly addicts fall into the category of special populations. Lock 'em up. If we humanize the selection and training of police officers, it checks their trained reflex to pull out a gun first.