Let’s strive for coerced personal responsibility

My name is Larry Lautaret. I was born and raised in Kalispell, have been a pastor for 50 years, and in the Flathead for nearly 40. I have been a police chaplain for over 20 years.  I am speaking not for anyone other than as a concerned citizen but am familiar with many of our common problems.

There is much recent angst over the homeless population, the Flathead Warming Center, etc. There should be. There are at least two major aspects for concern. Both must be addressed to get any handle on the problem. 

First is the problem of the innocent poor, who, for no illegal or immoral purposes cannot financially care for themselves. The Warming Center, and other charitable and public services, can and should help. We need them. As a compassionate people and community, we should help protect life.  Nick Aemisegger’s recent letter aptly and well deals with that crucial side of the problem. Compassion is not merely an option for Christians. 

But simple poverty is not the community problem we mostly face. 

The other side of the problem is that of personal responsibility and accountability. These are also Biblical principles with Biblical and practical solutions, the “law enforcement” side of society. Every aspect of enforced behavior: law and ordinance makers, front-line police officers, prosecutors, defenders, judges, etc. must be engaged to keep our community safe and orderly.

Those who do wrong must be held accountable, or evil will increase. 

Jail alone can never be the only answer. Building more high dollar cell space is a losing proposition.

However, coerced accountability must be employed for the irresponsible. This major piece is missing in much modern thinking. Coerced restitution is God’s primary method of personal responsibility.

Those whose addictions prevent responsibility must be kept from their addictions. Those with mental illnesses that prevent responsibility must be restrained from harming others.

Those capable of being responsible must be encouraged, assisted, then even coerced to behave responsibly.

But what jurisdiction has the courage to demand personal accountability? The “church” cannot. It has the power of persuasion, but not “the sword.”

So, who? The city of Kalispell? Flathead County? The state of Montana?  Washington D.C.? To wait for some nebulous “them” to save us is foolish. Needed is wise, courageous local leadership to demand and enforce good behavior.

We should maintain the Warming Center and all other voluntary places assisting the innocent needy. This addresses the compassion side of the equation.

I propose that we establish the sort of housing and separation from society, much as Montana Code Annotated actually provides for. But MCA envisions only jail as the alternative.

I believe we could provide very inexpensive, basic, safe, supervised, involuntary, housing, much as the military and FEMA and others have used for decades, for those living irresponsibly, particularly running afoul of the law or a danger to themselves or others. 

Any police officer, with probably cause, could immediately detain and place any evil doer. 

Also needed is a lower court that could very quickly, within hours or a day, evaluate each case, and sentence according to the law and capabilities of the evil doer. Any crime that an officer is permitted to arrest for should happen. All could be subject to proper oversight and appeal, but immediate action taken. This would immediately isolate clear wrongdoers from society for a time. And at best engage them in meaningful labor for the betterment of the evil doer, restitution to any who have been harmed, and society 

The current system of permitting serial shoplifters, DUI, vandalism, for example, to have a court date “someday,” and meanwhile be loose before the paperwork can be completed is foolish.

With a Supreme Court now that seems reasonable in the approach to protecting society rather than only protecting the rights of the evil doer, I believe a jurisdiction with sufficient courage and thought could provide a model for the nation of both compassion and coerced personal responsibility.

The role of public defenders, in my estimation, should not be merely to assist evil doers in avoiding penalties, but rather to ensure that every person is given a fair and just opportunity to be heard and receive justice.

The prosecution’s job should also be that, but to see that every evil doer is held responsible.

A primary role for all public officials is to protect the innocent and restrain the guilty.

It can be done.  But it cannot and hence will not be done with “business as usual.”

Larry Lautaret is pastor at Flathead Ekklesia in Kalispell.