Doug Baldwin Passionately Urges Changes In Police Training And Tactics

Doug Baldwin has joined the growing number of athletes who have called for change in America. During a press conference on Thursday afternoon, the Seattle Seahawks wide receiver called on all 50 states’ attorney generals to review police training and procedures.

" Doug Baldwin calls on all 50 states’ attorneys general to review police procedures. Cites U.S. Constitution. #Seahawks pic.twitter.com/rthwb1pTME — Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) September 22, 2016 "

Baldwin, who has a degree from Stanford and whose father is a police officer cited a Justice Department investigation of the 2014 shooting of Tamir Rice as an example of poorly trained officers. The report claimed “officers did not effectively deescalate situations either because they did not know how or did not have adequate understanding” of how to do so.

Baldwin continued:

"“This is not an isolated incident. This is not an isolated conversation. This is not isolated to some specific parts of our country, we see that now. And the advancement of technology has proven that, from video of Rodney King in 1991 to numerous incidents that we now have visual evidence of today. “Now this is not an indictment of our law enforcement agencies, I just want to be clear. We know that there’s a select few, a very minute few, of law enforcement who are not abiding by those laws and policies. However, we also know that there are laws and policies that are in place that are not correcting the issues that we have in our society right now. “So, as an American, a black male in this country, I’m suggesting, calling — I’m demanding that all 50 state attorney generals call for a review of their policies and training policies for police and law enforcement to eliminate militaristic cultures while putting a higher emphasis on deescalation tactics and crisis management measures. “With that being said, I believe that the greatest power we have is our people. And with great power comes great responsibility. And I’ve said this before, and as Martin Luther King famously said that, ‘We must not become a culture, a society, that is more concerned with order than justice.’ And I believe that if we are more concerned with order than justice, then we lose both.”"

Wow, that’s powerful stuff from Baldwin.

His teammate Richard Sherman made a statement about what’s going on in the country right now on Wednesday. Sherman, also a Stanford product, eloquently spoke about the inequality and injustice in the United States at the moment.

Sherman and Baldwin are both excellent representatives for this cause. Both are highly-educated, popular athletes who are proposing real solutions to create change.