The Burning Man event started as a “temporary autonomous zone” with no law enforcement of any kind. Then the community came together to create its own, homegrown public safety organization, the Black Rock Rangers.
Could the Rangers serve as a model for other cities looking to defund or demilitarize their police forces?
Are social capital and good communication skills enough to inspire positive civic behavior when wielded by unarmed volunteers with “approximately the authority of a Cub Scout?”
If so, do we really need all those heavily armed federal officers to keep the peace in a city that has one of the lowest crime rates in America?
Stuart and Logan talk law enforcement and alternative public safety models with Rangers Tool and Thespian of the Black Rock Rangers, and with Roger Vind, who in his previous career as a Nevada Highway Patrolman was the first law enforcement officer to set foot in Black Rock City, and now works for Burning Man Project as its law enforcement liaison and associate director of public safety.
The Black Rock Rangers podcast:
The DIM Podcast Series - Radio Check.. from the BRR