Mondays with Mike: Cop show

Watch it!

I thought “Defund the police” was a dumb term for a stupid idea the first time I heard it. I’m all for “fund our schools,” but the idea that it’s a zero-sum game between police and schools or other social investments is nonsense.

Clearly though, it’s time to change how police do their policing. It’s long overdue. Video cameras have laid bare the truths about policing that Black and Brown people have known forever.

I believe we can change policing for the better, but after watching the documentary film “Women in Blue,” I think it’s a little more complicated than rooting out racism. (As if that’s not a big enough ask.)

The PBS/Independent Lens production starts in 2017 when the filmmaker, Deirdre Fishel, begins to track four women in the Minneapolis Police Department. (Yep, Minneapolis.) Her impetus was the appointment of MPD’s first woman Police Chief. I don’t want to be a spoiler, but I will say that the movie obviously wasn’t about an incident in the future—George Floyd—but it kind of was. At least if we’re talking about changing the culture around policing.

These women did just that in their very finite spheres just by thinking and acting differently than their male counterparts. The filmmaker had incredible access, and the timeline runs from 2017 through police violence crises and ultimately, to the Floyd killing.

Now, if you’re defensive of cops, don’t jump to the conclusion that this is anti-police. The film makes painfully, frighteningly clear how hard their jobs are. I think regardless of what you think about cops, gender equality in the workplace, or Black Lives Matter, you should see this thing. The female cops struggle and they absolutely shine. And though it’s a rough subject with a rough ending, they give me optimism that we can and will do better.