Wouldn't it be much easier for Ansel and others to immediately join the force and show everyone how it's done?

Heartening story, Ansel.
Heartening quote from black man:
"Thank God Seattle police were here and responded,"

Good model for SPD in as many situations as possible.

@1
I suspect you are being sarcastic but in fact it is a great idea and more young progressives in good health might think about joining police as a career.

Laugh as some of you may prefer, but there are two undeniable facts:
1. In complex urban society we need a police force
2. We need quality educated smart decent people to train as cops and the more (potential cops) the better

I'd like to see Stranger actively helping/encouraging/promoting SPD recruiting efforts.
(At least announce whatever SPD is doing by way of recruitment).

"Tunstall said he didn't want to approach and try to help because the man, who went by "Lucifer.""

Huh?

@5: Ugh, typo. Fixed.

Being a cop is hard. The training paradigm has never kept up with the demands society places on law enforcement.

As we have allowed our social welfare network to erode we expect first responders to pick up the slack. And they are simply not trained for that role.

Combine that with PTSD experienced by LEO's in the Reserves getting called up for multiple Iraq and Afghanistan tours, plus the confused and dysfunctional militarized warrior Rightwing culture horseshit and you have recipe for LEO failure. Which is what the far rightwing wants. They simultaneously want to worship authoritarian thuggery while painting government to be the bad guy AND seed the government with racist bad guys. So this what we end up with. Dispirited police and angry communities.

So. Yeah. It would be great if more liberals once again joined the police force— like they used to. My family are ALL military and LEO AND all democrats.

In June, an intoxicated man outside The Stranger's office was wandering in and out of the traffic. Three officers arrived on the scene, talked to him in soothing tones, and gently detained him until an ambulance arrived. He was taken straight to the hospital and not charged with anything.

Did I miss the issue where Mudede wrote about the experience?

Seriously though, it is good to read some positive news about SPD, and from Ansel especially, who I think it is fair to say is a pretty vocal critic of theirs.

I always wonder how that guy can stand in VSP and sell weed everyday, unmolested by the SPD.

"Health workers"? They're called firefighters, Ansel.