The Burning Man event started as a “temporary autonomous zone” with no law enforcement of any kind. Then the community came together to create our 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 communication skills enough to inspire positive behavior when wielded by unarmed volunteers with “approximately the authority of a Cub Scout?”
Stuart and Logan talk law enforcement and alternative public safety models with 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.
