A scene in Manhattan, New York City,, during a BLM protest on, Saturday, June 6.

Editor’s Note: This Q&A was excerpted from the June 7 edition of CNN’s Meanwhile in America, the daily email about US politics for global readers. Click here to read past editions and subscribe.

CNN  — 

After weeks of demonstrators defying city curfews and police commands, what’s the view from the side of the law? Meanwhile spoke to Jill Harris, chief of policy and strategy at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, which is investigating allegations against both protesters and police. She’s also no stranger to civil disobedience herself.

What do you think about the protests? Should protesters be asking for more specific policy change from officials?

It’s pretty clear what’s needed; they’re asking for black people to not be killed. So the question for everyone else is: “What do we need to do to reduce the likelihood that black people get killed by police?”

Sure it would be great if someone came up with a platform. But it doesn’t have to work like that. There are different movements with different parts, including organizations that come up with policies and then the crowds support them.

But sometimes, a big demonstration is just to show what’s unacceptable.

What about police taking a knee or walking with protesters?

To me, this is what’s really remarkable. It’s really some kind of hopeful sign that the police are breaking ranks – I’ve never seen them do that before.

People are telling police, ‘We hate the blue wall of silence. Why do (abusive police) get away with it? Why do you never rat them out? Why do you make them feel like it’s okay?’ And for a police officer or department to respond, ‘It’s not okay’ is big.

Yeah, maybe it’s one cop and the structure of the police force still comes from slavery patrols, but as somebody who is in the middle of a law enforcement agency trying to do culture change, I think you have to have people like that inside for culture change to succeed.

You’ve got to have some people who are thinking a different way, in order to do things differently.

You’ve been in the streets, you’ve been arrested during ACT UP protests in the 1980s. What’s it like being on the side of the law this time?

People have different roles and that’s one of the things I’ve learned over the years. There is a need for people to be in the streets screaming, but that doesn’t have to be everybody. There’s a need for people to be, in a DA’s office trying to make things better and that’s not going to be everybody. And there’s a need for people to run for office, and not everybody does that.

When I talk to law schools, I hear from students who are trying so hard to figure out: “What’s the best way for me to do good and make a difference? Should I be a public defender? Should I be a prosecutor, or work on criminal justice policy? Should I just be out in the street?”

I’m just like, “It doesn’t matter. Don’t worry so much about the exact perfect place for you to be – just find a place to help and go help. Do it as long as it feels like you’re being useful and then if it stops feeling like that, do something else.”

If there’s a snowstorm and you’re walking down the street and you see this car stuck in the snow, everybody just comes and pushes it. Nobody says, “Oh, I’m going to do this side, I’m going to do only this and this is my perfect spot for pushing.’ Everybody just pushes.