Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Police policies

[Elizabeth Magill (pastorlizm]

I have done several stand up routines about our development phase here
for Mosaic Commons. We are a funny bunch. Liz Magill

berlin, MA.

On Sun, Jun 6, 2021 at 3:07 PM Chris Hansen <itschrishansen [at] gmail.com> 
wrote:
>
> Maggie- it's good to virtually meet another therapeutic skit writer!
> I have a fantasy that I will develop a CoHousing-themed comedy routine and 
> travel the country exchanging nights' accommodation for a night's 
> entertainment.
> I couldn't do this routine at my home CoHousing, because some people would 
> recognize themselves and be offended, but they are all situations I'm 
> confident are instantly recognizable to most intentional communities!
> It would be great to exchange skits, and perhaps plan to perform at a 
> CoHousing conference... :)
> Cheers
> Chris
>
> On Sun, 6 Jun 2021 at 07:51, Maggie McGovern via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l 
> [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
>>
>> Thank you Liz and Sharron for sharing. The confusion around when to use 
>> authority seems to be a theme. I appreciate all the examples! Wow! I’ve been 
>> writing funny cohousing skits (really as therapy haha) and some of these 
>> stories are inspiring.
>>
>> Perhaps no one has written guidelines about using police (or other 
>> authorities). Very interesting.
>>
>> I would love to see who is on board with what agreements here. I like that 
>> idea Liz. It’s not really an agreement to me if people aren’t on board. 
>> Coming in new I assumed people liked and used the agreements but that’s not 
>> always the case. I’d love transparency around that like, “many of us agree 
>> to this...” or wording that reflects what’s true.
>>
>> Well thanks for the replies!
>> Maggie
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> > On Jun 3, 2021, at 6:19 AM, Elizabeth Magill <pastorlizm [at] gmail.com> 
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > We don't have policies on that, but we have a slightly similar
>> > situation. (We are two coho communities on one property.)
>> > In the northern community a dog bit a young person who lives in the
>> > southern community. The bitten family called animal control.
>> >
>> > The northern community (with the dog) reacted by saying "you must talk
>> > to the family before calling".
>> > Our community (with the bitten person) reacted by saying "you can call
>> > if it feels appropriate".
>> >
>> > I work with communities on conflict. Often there is conflict that
>> > "that other person isn't following our policies."
>> >
>> > I think it would help when developing policies to ask how you would
>> > enforce it once it is in place. Also ask whether you really have
>> > agreement from all people to follow it.
>> >
>> > So taking a policy about calling police (or animal control, or any
>> > outside the community resource)--would the person who has done that
>> > follow such a policy? And if they did not, then what would the
>> > community do about the fact that they didn't follow it? In my
>> > experience, and in this case even in my dreaming of best case
>> > scenarios, I can't imagine what would happen if someone didn't follow
>> > the policy. What would be a logical consequence? Who would make that
>> > consequence happen?
>> >
>> > The only next step that I can imagine is to talk to the person about
>> > them calling the police. Do you have someone from the community who
>> > would come with you as you try to do that?
>> >
>> > It sounds like a very frustrating situation and I'm sorry there isn't
>> > a way to change other people's behaviors. I wish there was.
>> >
>> > Liz
>> > Mosaic Commons in Berlin, MA.
>> >
>> >> On Thu, Jun 3, 2021 at 7:34 AM Maggie McGovern via Cohousing-L
>> >> <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Hi people. I’ve never posted to here so I’m not sure if I’m doing this 
>> >> right. I’ll find out!
>> >>
>> >> I’m curious if any of you have policies/guidelines/agreements/rules 
>> >> around people calling the police?
>> >>
>> >> I’ve had a neighbor call the police on me for something that was not 
>> >> breaking any agreements and wasn’t brought to my attention by him (we do 
>> >> have agreements to go to each other with complaints but he has chosen not 
>> >> to do that). We don’t have any agreements around calling the police and 
>> >> for my and other’s safety and peace of mind I would like that to exist. I 
>> >> was thinking of having a discussion in our coho with those interested but 
>> >> I thought I’d first see if other Coho’s have written agreements that I 
>> >> can bring as options. When I think of writing something it is very hard 
>> >> for me to clearly, concretely describe how it would look to use police 
>> >> when needed and not just as a threat.
>> >>
>> >> I also know there are many views on this from people trusting the police 
>> >> as a strategy for protection and conflict resolution to those who see 
>> >> using police as a danger given historical and current violence and abuses 
>> >> of power and then everything in between. Anyone tackled this?
>> >>
>> >> Thanks,
>> >> Maggie
>> >>
>> >> Sent from my iPhone
>> >> _________________________________________________________________
>> >> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
>> >> http://L.cohousing.org/info
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > -Liz
>> > (The Rev. Dr.) Elizabeth Mae Magill
>> > Pastor, Ashburnham Community Church
>> > Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
>> > www.elizabethmaemagill.com
>> > 508-450-0431
>>
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
>> http://L.cohousing.org/info
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Chris Hansen
> 32 East Village Drive
> Burlington
> Vermont 05401
> USA
>
> Ph 603 3988730



-- 
-Liz
(The Rev. Dr.) Elizabeth Mae Magill
Pastor, Ashburnham Community Church
Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
www.elizabethmaemagill.com
508-450-0431