tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/police-reform-15561/articlesPolice reform – The Conversation2024-01-14T12:51:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2177312024-01-14T12:51:29Z2024-01-14T12:51:29ZUrban Kenyans mistrust police even more than rural residents do: study sets out why it matters<p>Across the African continent – from <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/10/20/in-nigeria-police-brutality-on-two-years-after-endsars-protests">Nigeria</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanaians-dont-trust-the-police-a-criminologist-on-what-needs-to-be-done-about-it-216671">Ghana</a> to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-protests-police-trfn-idUSKBN23G2QQ/">South Africa</a> – widespread protests have taken place to demand police reform in the wake of police misconduct and brutality. A continent-wide survey done in 2022 shows very low trust in the police and a prevailing perception of <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/AD512-PAP9-Citizens-report-widespread-predation-by-African-police-forces-Afrobarometer-dispatch-20march22.pdf#page=2">the police as the most corrupt</a> among key institutions.</p>
<p>Low public trust in police poses a serious problem for the most central state institution tasked with upholding law and order. Trust influences both <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10439463.2015.1077837?casa_token=lT9eMx7fNTYAAAAA%3AdNayrFpApabWcaVi3iJ3A2fZIMWBCkM9M1g6gSNg4shQZxGJbShjWG0N4scdiQzDz_btx94CIdGl">police effectiveness</a> and the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1098611103258959?casa_token=Tb5FMa0zv0UAAAAA:_aXSde5HYiY68ovVq8SzIPufP7zx8D-nHE4RB39LCVXF0E7mcU0OhKssPhFTXYIQ4P5rk2u8Nl5h">perception of safety</a> among the public.</p>
<p>We are scholars with a longstanding research engagement with Kenya who <a href="https://www.katalog.uu.se/profile/?id=N99-1598_1">study</a> the <a href="https://www.katalog.uu.se/profile/?id=N7-1153">role of the police</a> from the perspective of conflict research and political science. In a recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10439463.2023.2239430">study</a>, we set out to analyse citizens’ trust in the police in Kenya. </p>
<p>We analysed data from four national surveys conducted in the country between 2011 and 2019. In each survey, respondents were asked a number of questions, including how much they trusted the police. <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/AD552-Kenyans-cite-criminal-activity-and-corruption-among-police-failings-Afrobarometer-16sept22-1.pdf#page=2">These surveys found</a> that Kenyans had limited trust in the police. </p>
<p>Trust, as we study it, is an individually held belief that a certain actor can be relied on. It is closely related to perceptions about fairness and legitimacy. We argue that individuals who have witnessed or experienced unfair treatment by the police are more likely to mistrust them. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10439463.2023.2239430">study</a> found that urban and rural residents in Kenya perceived the police differently. Those in cities and urban centres had lower trust in the police than the rural population. The findings matter because Kenya is rapidly urbanising, and the policing challenges we describe will grow with the expansion of urban centres.</p>
<p>Additionally, <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-has-tried-to-reform-its-police-force-but-its-left-gaps-for-abuse-176044">reform processes</a> intended to improve legitimacy and effectiveness of Kenyan policing will be more likely to succeed if there is adequate understanding of the contexts in which the police operate, and how environments shape citizens’ perceptions of the police.</p>
<h2>Understanding the differences in trust</h2>
<p>Over several years, we have conducted interviews with local residents, the police, experts and civil society actors in Kenya. Based on our research, we argue that three major dynamics help explain the urban-rural divide in police trust. </p>
<p>Firstly, the police face <a href="https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=sv&lr=&id=HXEdAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=urban+policing+cities+challenges+&ots=g1cHUCy00Q&sig=EPfpfoaKqXJ3XYEwIyrVmY7BYAw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=urban%20policing%20cities%20challenges&f=false">different security challenges</a> in urban and rural settings. Urban environments are generally more challenging than rural contexts because:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>police-citizen interactions are more frequent and visible to the public in cities</p></li>
<li><p>many different groups and interests are present in cities.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Secondly, police have been involved in <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-police-killings-point-to-systemic-rot-and-a-failed-justice-system-193468">extrajudicial killings</a> in urban settings. These have primarily affected poor, young men in low-income and densely populated settlements. An estimated <a href="https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2023/07/kenya_country_brief_final_en.pdf#page=4">50%</a> of Kenya’s urban population will be residing in slums, as defined by UN Habitat’s <a href="https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2022/06/wcr_2022.pdf#page=18">World Cities Report</a>, by 2030. It is in these types of settlements that police have become <a href="https://theconversation.com/many-kenyans-have-embraced-vigilante-cops-an-ineffective-police-force-is-to-blame-196449">notorious</a> for arbitrary arrests and use of excessive force. </p>
<p>This behaviour has negative spillover effects on the urban population and makes citizens in urban areas more likely to form negative views of the police.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/many-kenyans-have-embraced-vigilante-cops-an-ineffective-police-force-is-to-blame-196449">Many Kenyans have embraced vigilante cops – an ineffective police force is to blame</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Third, the dynamics in rural settings are different from those in urban areas. In many rural locations, police are spread thin. They cover large jurisdictions and geographical distances, influencing whether and how citizens can be served. Although around 70% of Kenya’s population lives in rural areas, such areas are usually served by <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43905012">few and often under-resourced police officers</a>. A <a href="https://icj-kenya.org/news/executive-summary-report-of-the-national-taskforce-on-police-reforms/">task force</a> reviewing ongoing police reforms recently concluded that police vehicles in rural areas don’t always have enough fuel to cover the area under jurisdiction. </p>
<p>Due to limited interactions with the police, Kenyans in rural areas are less likely to see the police as a relevant actor, for good and for bad, and are more likely to turn to other security providers. These include <a href="https://crimeresearch.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Policing-the-Periphery-Opportunities-and-Challenges-of-Kenya-Police-Reserves-.pdf#page=17">community-based militias and vigilante groups</a>.</p>
<h2>Implications for police reforms</h2>
<p>In Kenya, law enforcement remains influenced by colonial legacies and extended periods of authoritarian rule. In colonial times, the police were used to <a href="https://theconversation.com/humiliation-and-violence-in-kenyas-colonial-days-when-old-men-were-called-boy-and-africans-were-publicly-beaten-218261">repress and control Kenyans</a>.</p>
<p>Addressing these legacies is necessary for democratic consolidation. </p>
<p>Kenya has initiated <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-has-tried-to-reform-its-police-force-but-its-left-gaps-for-abuse-176044">police reform</a> with the purpose of building a more legitimate and effective police force. A major reform process began in 2009, codified into the <a href="https://www.klrc.go.ke/index.php/constitution-of-kenya/158-chapter-fourteen-national-security/part-4-the-national-police-service/412-243-establishment-of-the-national-police-service">2010 constitution</a> and new <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/Acts/NationalPoliceService(Amendment)ActNo11of2014.pdf">police legislation in 2011</a>. These processes established national policies for community policing and an independent agency to improve civilian oversight. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gove.12672?casa_token=KDZIMZZyBYsAAAAA%3AjZS68xeaqMZ6ZfXIsb3Jr0XpmuJj4_YCLEn9t8AhJCKTatR7fEWNnK_ARbhsXP7aQQ-TuutQTj5H6h8">progress has been limited</a>. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gove.12672">Corruption</a> within the Kenyan police remains widespread and normalised. Impunity remains high. Despite an emphasis on community policing, the establishment of such structures has been <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/reader/68f17c94582e95f55d6faac47761d73251f89120">uneven</a>, and public awareness remains low.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-has-tried-to-reform-its-police-force-but-its-left-gaps-for-abuse-176044">Kenya has tried to reform its police force, but it's left gaps for abuse</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The need to improve police-community relations is underlined by frequent transgressions of human rights and police brutality, including over 100 <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-09-14-imlu-128-cases-of-extrajudicial-killings-recorded-in-11-months/">extrajudicial killings</a> documented in the last year.</p>
<p>Therefore, improving security provisions and reducing misconduct in informal settlements in urban areas should be a key priority. </p>
<p>Better oversight to address impunity would help address issues of trust, but the police also need sufficient resources to carry out policing tasks. Investing more in community policing structures – intended to serve as a link between communities and the police – could also help improve relationships and build trust.</p>
<p>Much of Kenya’s police reform is premised on addressing the most serious problems facing urban areas. While it’s important to address issues of insecurity here, reform processes must not lose sight of priorities in rural areas, where the majority of the population still reside.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristine Höglund receives funding from the Swedish Research Council and the Formas research council for sustainable development.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Elfversson receives funding from the Swedish Research Council and the Formas research council for sustainable development.</span></em></p>Due to limited interactions with the police, Kenyans in rural areas are less likely to see the police as relevant actors.Kristine Höglund, Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala UniversityEmma Elfversson, Associate professor, Uppsala UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1990392023-02-08T13:41:24Z2023-02-08T13:41:24ZHow Black communities cope with trauma triggered by police brutality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508202/original/file-20230205-29-3bqf1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1772%2C451%2C5224%2C4206&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A portrait of Tyre Nichols at the entrance of the church where his funeral was held in Memphis, Tenn., on Feb. 1, 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/screen-at-the-entrance-of-mississippi-boulevard-christian-news-photo/1246727538?phrase=tyre%20nichols&adppopup=true">Lucy Garrett/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The release of footage showing the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols by <a href="https://wreg.com/news/local/tyre-nichols/">Memphis police</a> and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/atlantas-cop-city-people-protesting/story?id=96716095">protests in Atlanta</a> in 2023 renewed public debate on the issues of police brutality and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/31/1152502698/tyre-nichols-killing-revives-calls-for-congress-to-address-police-reform">police reform</a>.</p>
<p>For some people, seeing is believing, and the circulation of videos documenting police violence is valued as a tool of accountability. </p>
<p>But for many in the Black community, which studies show is <a href="https://www.healthdata.org/news-release/lancet-more-half-police-killings-usa-are-unreported-and-black-americans-are-most-likely">disproportionately affected by police brutality</a>, viewing videos of and having conversations about police violence can have several <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14065">adverse effects</a>, including <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40615-019-00629-1">psychological distress</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.2006261?casa_token=s7mKCpWoc0wAAAAA%3AxA42-v7wRL8cmVj0XubR0Mv4fv0udBbgqKwHoVRDohPSr41dFVOGRvbGkXUz4t9YukrN0RutFwXY">trauma</a>. </p>
<h2>What is trauma?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/trauma">American Psychological Association </a> defines trauma as “any disturbing experience that results in significant fear, helplessness, dissociation, confusion, or other disruptive feelings intense enough to have a long-lasting negative effect on a person’s attitudes, behavior, and other aspects of functioning.” </p>
<p>In her <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/judith-lewis-herman-md/trauma-and-recovery/9781541602953/">seminal book</a> “Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror,” published in 1992, <a href="https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/58637">Dr. Judith Lewis Herman</a> notes that encountering a traumatic event permanently alters one’s perceptions of safety. </p>
<p>To prepare for a threat, these individuals develop intense feelings of <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/fear">fear</a> and <a href="https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/related/anger.asp">anger</a>.
These changes in <a href="https://www.psychologytools.com/resource/fight-or-flight-response/#:%7E:text=The%20fight%20or%20flight%20response,body%20to%20fight%20or%20flee.">emotional state</a> are usually biological, as shifts in attention, perception and emotion are normal <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10829/">physiological reactions</a> to a perceived threat. </p>
<p>This is known as our “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128009512000042">fight or flight response</a>.”</p>
<p>Trauma can manifest itself in various ways. For example, on some occasions, traumatic events are known to lead to feelings of <a href="https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/related/depression_trauma.asp">depression and intense sadness</a> and episodes of
<a href="https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/trauma">helplessness</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, trauma is known to increase one’s state of <a href="https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-hypervigilance#:%7E:text=Hypervigilance%20%E2%80%94%20the%20elevated%20state%20of,(PTSD)%20can%20exhibit%20hypervigilance.">hypervigilance</a>, or the elevated state of constantly assessing potential threats in the area. This state of <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/hypervigilance#causes">elevated alertness</a> often creates anxiety around dying and can have physiological impacts on the body, such as sweating and elevated heart rate.</p>
<h2>Police brutality and Black trauma</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/deion-hawkins">critical scholar</a> and researcher, I use <a href="https://www.theiacp.org/resources/document/successful-trauma-informed-victim-interviewing">trauma-informed</a> interview techniques to better understand the intersections of police brutality and mental health in the Black community. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10646175.2023.2174391">My research</a>
focuses on those most affected, and that <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00026/full">research</a> highlights the human experience. </p>
<p>There is always a face behind the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fvio0000418">statistic</a>.</p>
<p>Thus, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00027642221145027">my work</a> typically uses <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2837428/">critical race theory</a>, as it focuses on the perspectives of marginalized people. For example, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33902344/">my study</a> published in the Journal of Health Communication explored how stories of police brutality are circulated within the Black community and how these stories affect mental health. </p>
<p>Through dozens of interviews, I discovered three key ways in which trauma is triggered by incidents of police brutality that often appear in Black communities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black woman wearing a mask is standing next to large poster that has a portrait of her son. her son" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508207/original/file-20230205-13-u33jo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508207/original/file-20230205-13-u33jo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508207/original/file-20230205-13-u33jo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508207/original/file-20230205-13-u33jo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508207/original/file-20230205-13-u33jo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508207/original/file-20230205-13-u33jo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508207/original/file-20230205-13-u33jo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Valerie Castile stands by a portrait of her son, Philando Castile, on July 6, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/valerie-castile-stands-by-a-portrait-of-her-son-philando-news-photo/1225042618?phrase=Philando%20Castile&adppopup=true">Stephen Maturen/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Intense sadness, hypervigilance and sense of helplessness</h2>
<p>The excerpts below are direct quotations from members of the Black community whom I interviewed as part of a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10410236.2021.1913838">larger research project</a>. This study was conducted in Washington, D.C., in 2018, but <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-41051-001">its findings</a> are still relevant, as it reveals how police brutality directly fuels trauma in the Black community. </p>
<p>Because of research protections and protocol, pseudonyms are used, and no other identifying information can be published. </p>
<h2>1. Intense sadness</h2>
<p>When asked about feelings after viewing videos or images of brutality, every interviewee indicated intense sadness as the primary emotion. This sadness often affected how individuals went about their day, especially work-related activities. </p>
<h2>Darius</h2>
<p><em>I remember I walked into work, face cut up and people were like, “What’s wrong? What happened?” I told them I had been in a fight. But really, I had been beat up by a police officer who assumed I was someone else. I appreciated them asking me if I was OK, but I wasn’t really comfortable telling them, you know? We had previous conversations that let me know they didn’t really think Black lives mattered. After Philando, I had to take a sick day to recover. That’s how sad I was, man.</em></p>
<h2>Chanelle</h2>
<p><em>Philando Castile. I was rrreealllly sad. Philando was the boiling point. I cracked. I literally had to leave my desk at work and take a break. When I came back, my white co-workers told me I was overreacting because I didn’t know him, which pissed me off. What they don’t get is that Philando could be anyone in my family. It’s not just Philando, it’s that I fear my brothers could be shot in cold blood at any moment. That’s why I was so damn sad.</em> </p>
<h2>2. Hypervigilance</h2>
<p>Interviewees also discussed their chronic fear of dying at the hands of law enforcement. In turn, this fear prompts a permanent state of hypervigilance or hyperalertness; many members of the Black community constantly feel they are going to die if they encounter a police officer. </p>
<h2>Mary</h2>
<p><em>Whenever I see cops, I tense up. One time, cops pulled up to me when I was in a car and my friend looked at me with the straightest face and said, “One of us is about to die.” I was so shocked, and I said, “That’s not funny.” But he was serious. He really thought one of us was going to die.</em></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="George Floyd's headstone sits front and center in an orderly faux cemetery with other white headstones set up in grass" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each headstone in Minneapolis’ ‘Say Their Names’ cemetery represents a Black American killed by police – deaths that create a ripple effect of pain felt in Black communities nationwide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/george-flyods-headstone-sits-front-and-center-at-the-say-news-photo/1232363944?adppopup=true">Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Luke</h2>
<p><em>There is not a single time where I can sit in a car and hear a siren or see a cop light flash, that I’m not fearful. I imagine it’s like what soldiers feel when they hear anything that sounds like a bomb. When I hear sirens, I start to look around and hope that someone else is around. Because, if I were to get shot, I would want someone to be able to tell the truth. People are straight up dropping at the hands of police. I never want to be in that situation.</em></p>
<h2>Corey</h2>
<p><em>I’m always scared and alert, honestly. I walk around on campus, and I use my iPad to listen to music. I always have my iPad with me. I’m afraid the police are going to see me holding my iPad and assume it’s something else, and before I have time to explain what it is, I’m afraid I would be shot. I always have my headphones in, too. I replay this terrible scenario in my head over and over again. A cop is yelling at me to stop, but since my headphones are in, I can’t hear him and keep walking. He thinks I am running away and shoots me in my back.</em></p>
<h2>3. Sense of helplessness</h2>
<p>Adding to sadness and hyperalertness, many Black Americans also feel they have little control over interactions with police and cannot change the outcome. This is true regardless of their tone, behavior or actions. This is known as helplessness, a known symptom of trauma. </p>
<h2>Lena</h2>
<p><em>It’s a sad reality to accept that no matter how you dress, how you talk, a police officer will always judge you and think you’re a threat. I don’t think we have control over if we are going to get beat or not. Black folks could literally read a how-to-survive book and do every step, but cops would still find some reason to make the situation worse. We are always in a Catch-22. If we talk too much, we are talking back. If we talk too little, we are suspicious. I do everything in my power to avoid cops. Listen, someone broke in my house and I refused to call the police. I be damned. Because I think they would have assumed I was the robber and shot me.</em></p>
<h2>Virginia</h2>
<p><em>Every time I see a video, I feel an intense sadness. It feels like you are in the world’s worst … cycle I guess; some kind of sick joke. It’s like, damn, it happened again. Like nothing is ever going to change. Things may look like they are getting better, but then even when they are arrested, the sadness continues.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199039/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deion Scott Hawkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Police brutality disproportionately affects Black communities and can cause numerous adverse effects, including depression, anxiety and trauma.Deion Scott Hawkins, Assistant Professor of Argumentation & Advocacy, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994582023-02-08T03:58:27Z2023-02-08T03:58:27ZState of the Union: What experts have said about Biden’s proposed reforms on policing, guns and taxes – 8 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508788/original/file-20230208-17-sinz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C458%2C5542%2C3134&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/StateoftheUnion/0793dd475cc34b48ac6cd1b296624993/photo?Query=biden&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=96897&currentItemNo=2">Jacquelyn Martin, Pool/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The speech lasted 70-odd minutes and was interrupted at least 70 times, mostly by standing ovations from supporters, but also from occasional interjections from less sympathetic lawmakers.</em></p>
<p><em>There was also policy to dissect in President <a href="https://apnews.com/article/state-of-the-union-biden-2023-b9bebd876a42a9510f068a04a3f2a348">Joe Biden’s State of the Union address</a>. Some of it was new, much of it wasn’t – which meant that The Conversation was able to pull from its archives articles that shed light on and provide context and analysis to some of Biden’s proposals. Here are what scholars had to say on three policy themes that emerged.</em> </p>
<h2>1. Reforming the police</h2>
<p>Biden may well have been planning to push for police reform in the State of the Union address before the recent release of footage showing police officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols. But that incident – the latest in a series of high-profile deaths of Black men at the hands of police – has again shined a light on the failure to address systemic problems in the nation’s policing.</p>
<p>In front of an audience that included Nichols’ mother and stepfather, the president called on Congress to “finish the job on police reform,” while referencing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act – a bill that failed to pass into law amid gridlock in Congress.</p>
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<img alt="Two Black people stand with heads bowed as other people around them turn to face them and applaud." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols are applauded by other attendees at the State of the Union.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/StateoftheUnion/a50366a28afe4a7a81c35bc884ac3629/photo?Query=tyre%20mother&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=86&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Patrick Semansky</a></span>
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<p>The bill would have addressed some of the problems of U.S. policing. It includes a ban on racial profiling by all law enforcement agencies and an end to the “qualified immunity” that protects officers in civil lawsuits. It would also expand the powers of the Justice Department to hold departments to account over civil rights violations.</p>
<p>But, as <a href="https://law.rutgers.edu/directory/view/ak1444">Alexis Karteron</a>, associate professor of law at Rutgers University – Newark, notes, <a href="https://theconversation.com/tyre-nichols-death-prompts-calls-for-federal-legislation-to-promote-police-reform-but-congress-cant-do-much-about-fixing-local-police-159881">it isn’t a sufficient fix</a>. The problem is the federal government has only limited power when it comes to effecting change among the nearly 18,000 police departments in the U.S. </p>
<p>“For those looking to the federal government to solve what’s wrong with policing in America, federal legislation can’t ensure that every police department will make meaningful changes. That’s because the [George Floyd Justice in Policing Act] reflects the hard reality that the federal government has almost no control over state and local police departments,” Karteron writes. She adds that even if it is passed, the likelihood is some of those agencies would sue, “arguing that the federal government is attempting to coerce them into adopting policy reforms they do not need or want.”</p>
<p>Which is why some policing experts, such as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=rJXj1KEAAAAJ">Thaddeus L. Johnson</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=w9JwJd8AAAAJ">Natasha N. Johnson</a> at Georgia State University, have suggested that <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-police-reform-talks-have-failed-but-local-efforts-stand-a-better-chance-of-success-168630">reform is best undertaken at a local level</a>. That would leave the federal government to play “a clear role in regard to financing reform and addressing nonpolicing issues that contribute to crime, such as underlying poverty and the lack of green spaces.”</p>
<p>Federal money could also help police departments recruit and train police officers. Biden in 2022, announced plans to add 100,000 officers nationwide as part of his policing plan. <a href="https://theconversation.com/memphis-police-numbers-dropped-by-nearly-a-quarter-in-recent-years-were-staffing-shortages-a-factor-in-the-killing-of-tyre-nichols-199078">Research from criminologists</a> <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/criminology_and_criminal_justice/our_people/directory/adams_ian.php">Ian T. Adams</a> of the University of South Carolina, <a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-public-affairs-and-community-service/criminology-and-criminal-justice/about-us/justin-nix.php">Justin Nix</a> of the University of Nebraska Omaha, and University of Utah’s <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ypvpo1gAAAAJ&hl=en">Scott M. Mourtgos</a> suggests that adding officers would help reverse a trend that has seen many leave the profession since the protests that followed George Floyd’s death. In Memphis, where Tyre Nichols was killed, police staffing has dropped by nearly a quarter in recent years.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tyre-nichols-death-prompts-calls-for-federal-legislation-to-promote-police-reform-but-congress-cant-do-much-about-fixing-local-police-159881">Tyre Nichols' death prompts calls for federal legislation to promote police reform – but Congress can’t do much about fixing local police</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-police-reform-talks-have-failed-but-local-efforts-stand-a-better-chance-of-success-168630">Federal police reform talks have failed – but local efforts stand a better chance of success</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/memphis-police-numbers-dropped-by-nearly-a-quarter-in-recent-years-were-staffing-shortages-a-factor-in-the-killing-of-tyre-nichols-199078">Memphis police numbers dropped by nearly a quarter in recent years – were staffing shortages a factor in the killing of Tyre Nichols?</a>
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<h2>2. Tightening gun controls</h2>
<p>The State of the Union comes just 38 days into the new year, but already there have been 60 mass shootings in the U.S., according to the nonprofit <a href="https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/">Gun Violence Archive</a>. Brandon Tsay, who disarmed the gunman at the Jan. 21, 2023 deadly attack at Monterey Park, California, was among the attendees in Congress to hear Biden speak.</p>
<p>Biden detailed what his administration was able to do to promote gun control, notably through provisions contained in the Safer Communities Act. Hailed by Biden as “the most sweeping gun safety law in three decades,” the act was limited in scope, but experts believe its modest reforms will save lives.</p>
<p>Among other provisions, it gives support to states to pass so-called “red flag laws” that allow authorities to seize the firearms of individuals deemed to be a threat. Political scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=3y3BVcEAAAAJ">John A. Tures</a> of LaGrange College has <a href="https://theconversation.com/red-flag-laws-saved-7-300-americans-from-gun-deaths-in-2020-alone-and-could-have-saved-11-400-more-185009">examined the effectiveness of red flag laws</a>.</p>
<p>He found that states that passed such legislation saw significantly lower firearm death rates than states without them. </p>
<p>“In 2020, if there were no red flag laws, I estimate that 52,530 Americans would have died in gun deaths. The number actually recorded was 45,222, indicating red flag laws saved 7,308 American lives that year,” Tures writes.</p>
<p>Lives – mainly female ones – will also be saved by the closing of the “boyfriend loophole,” which had allowed some people with a record of domestic violence to keep and buy firearms. The Safer Communities Act extended the wording in a federal ban to “those who have or have had a continuing relationship of a romantic or intimate nature.” <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=QHzNAqcAAAAJ">April Zeoli</a> at Michigan State University writes that <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-closing-the-boyfriend-loophole-in-gun-legislation-save-lives-heres-what-the-research-says-185481">closing the boyfriend loophole will save lives</a>. But she notes in a separate article that recent court rulings may <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-judge-in-texas-is-using-a-recent-supreme-court-ruling-to-allow-domestic-abusers-to-keep-their-guns-195273">allow domestic abusers to keep their guns</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Biden called for a ban on assault weapons “once and for all.” Such a ban once existed but was allowed to lapse. But do bans on assault rifles work? Yes, writes <a href="https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/michael-j-klein-1">Michael J. Klein</a> of New York University, who was part of a team that analyzed the impact of the federal ban on assault rifles in place for a decade from 1994. </p>
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<p>“We calculated that the risk of a person in the U.S. dying in a mass shooting was 70% lower during the period in which the assault weapons ban was active,” he writes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/red-flag-laws-saved-7-300-americans-from-gun-deaths-in-2020-alone-and-could-have-saved-11-400-more-185009">Red flag laws saved 7,300 Americans from gun deaths in 2020 alone – and could have saved 11,400 more</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-closing-the-boyfriend-loophole-in-gun-legislation-save-lives-heres-what-the-research-says-185481">Will closing the 'boyfriend loophole' in gun legislation save lives? Here's what the research says</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-judge-in-texas-is-using-a-recent-supreme-court-ruling-to-allow-domestic-abusers-to-keep-their-guns-195273">A judge in Texas is using a recent Supreme Court ruling to allow domestic abusers to keep their guns</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/did-the-assault-weapons-ban-of-1994-bring-down-mass-shootings-heres-what-the-data-tells-us-184430">Did the assault weapons ban of 1994 bring down mass shootings? Here's what the data tells us</a>
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<h2>3. Taxing the rich?</h2>
<p>Biden came to the State of the Union armed with economic data showing robust job growth and evidence that once-soaring inflation is beginning to fall.</p>
<p>With the United States’ increasing national debt as a backdrop, Biden outlined a plan to boost government revenues through a minimum tax for billionaires and a quadrupling of the tax on corporate stock buybacks.</p>
<p>Even if Republicans in Congress were to approve the measures, it is unlikely to set a course for a new era of progressive taxation. As <a href="https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/profile/1047593">Gabriel Zucman</a> and <a href="https://eml.berkeley.edu/%7Esaez/">Emmanuel Saez</a>, economists at the University of California, Berkeley, explain, similar plans eyed by Democrats in recent years <a href="https://theconversation.com/tax-the-rich-democrats-plans-to-make-the-wealthy-pay-a-little-more-will-barely-dent-americas-long-slide-from-progressive-taxation-168057">hardly amount to squeezing the uber-rich</a>; in fact, they do little to reverse the decadeslong trend toward regressive taxation, in which lower earners pay a larger percentage of their earnings in tax than wealthier ones.</p>
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<p>The two economists conclude that although it would “increase taxes on millionaires significantly,” the 2021 proposal put forward by Democrats would “largely leave billionaires off the hook, despite the explosion of their wealth during the pandemic.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/tax-the-rich-democrats-plans-to-make-the-wealthy-pay-a-little-more-will-barely-dent-americas-long-slide-from-progressive-taxation-168057">'Tax the rich'? Democrats' plans to make the wealthy pay a little more will barely dent America's long slide from progressive taxation</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
President Biden outlined his achievements in key policy areas and sketched out his plans for the rest of his term in office.Matt Williams, Senior International EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1815462023-02-03T13:30:10Z2023-02-03T13:30:10ZPolice traffic stops can alienate communities and lead to violent deaths like Tyre Nichols’ – is it time to rethink them?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507965/original/file-20230202-14530-1p6zzq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3671%2C2082&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The fatal beating of Tyre Nichols started after he was pulled over by cops.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MemphisPoliceForceInvestigation/f7da78aa167a423a8fa327e1703219f7/photo?Query=Tyre%20Nichols%20officers&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=300&currentItemNo=103">City of Memphis via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/us/tyre-nichols-timeline-investigation/index.html">killing of Tyre Nichols</a> has raised questions about the use and risks of a routine part of U.S. policing: the traffic stop.</p>
<p>Nichols died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2022, from injuries sustained in a <a href="https://www.memphistn.gov/news/video-footage-of-incident-between-tyre-nichols-and-memphis-police-department/">beating by five officers</a> three days earlier. The violence occurred after the 29-year-old Black man was <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/tyre-nichols-memphis-police-reckless-driving-b2270667.html">pulled over while driving in Memphis, Tennessee</a>. The officers, all of whom are also Black, have since been fired and face charges of second-degree murder.</p>
<p>While not all traffic stops result in violent encounters – indeed <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3355119">studies suggest</a> that relatively few do – the case of Nichols highlights that such encounters can become sites of police violence. And this isn’t an isolated incident. Before Nichols came <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61123590">Patrick Lyoya</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/20/us/philando-castile-shooting-dashcam/index.html">Philando Castile</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/sandra-bland-brian-encinia.html">Sandra Bland</a>, to name just a few high-profile cases. All were killed by police in incidents that began with a traffic stop.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2HBudoEAAAAJ&hl=en">We have</a> analyzed a data set of <a href="https://scholars.org/brief/what-20-million-traffic-stops-reveal-about-policing-and-race-america">more than 20 million traffic stops</a> as part of research into the effectiveness of this routine part of police life. What <a href="https://sppga.ubc.ca/profile/megan-dias/">we have found</a> is that, even by its own standards, the return on this high-contact form of policing is slim – it <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/papers/APSA_2022_PoliticsOfPolicing.pdf">rarely leads to criminal charges or convictions</a>. Moreover, the negative consequences are far-reaching. Law enforcement traffic stops are prone to racial bias and cause harm to communities and individuals disproportionate to any benefit that they bring, <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/articles/PGI-2016-Targeting.pdf">our research suggests</a>.</p>
<h2>‘Broken taillight’ theory?</h2>
<p>Traffic stops represent the <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpp08.pdf">most common nonvoluntary interaction</a> between citizens and police officers in the U.S. Every year, around <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/papers/APSA_2022_PoliticsOfPolicing.pdf">20 million stops are recorded</a>.</p>
<p>Some of these stops are for legitimate public safety reasons – drunken drivers, for example, are an obvious risk to other road users. But police officers have huge discretion when it comes to conducting traffic stops for a whole slew of driving infractions, from a broken taillight to speeding. They can also, in most states, initiate a traffic stop as the pretext to investigating other crimes. This right was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1996 in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1995/95-5841">Whren vs. United States</a>. The ruling stated that it is not unconstitutional for officers to use any traffic violation, no matter how minor, as a reason to search the vehicle for other suspected crimes – for example, the possession of illegal drugs – if they have reasonable cause.</p>
<p>These <a href="https://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/s98oday.htm">pretextual stops</a>, stopping cars for minor infractions as an opportunity to look for evidence of drug-related or violent crime, can be thought of as the roadside equivalent to “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/stop_and_frisk">stop and frisk</a>” – the practice of allowing officers to search someone on the streets if they have “reasonable” suspicion of criminal activity.</p>
<p>Both form part of what is called the “<a href="https://cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/what-works-in-policing/research-evidence-review/broken-windows-policing/">broken windows” theory</a> of policing. This idea, which rose to prominence in the 1990s, holds that minor instances of disorder in a neighborhood create an environment that will eventually lead to more serious instances of crime, and that by focusing on smaller infractions police can root out more serious offenses.</p>
<p>The SCORPION unit that pulled over Nichols exemplifies the type of high-contact, proactive, and aggressive policing that often characterizes broken windows tactics. The officers who killed Nichols <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/tyre-nichols-video-assault-cops.html">gave him more than 70 orders in just a few minutes</a>.</p>
<p>Broken windows policing has long been <a href="https://news.northeastern.edu/2019/05/15/northeastern-university-researchers-find-little-evidence-for-broken-windows-theory-say-neighborhood-disorder-doesnt-cause-crime/">debunked by many criminologists</a> who find that it fails to achieve its objectives, at the detriment of communities. Our research suggests that traffic stops yield few results when it comes to serious crimes. <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/papers/APSA_2022_PoliticsOfPolicing.pdf">Analysis of 9.5 million traffic stops</a> in North Carolina between 2013 and 2019 shows that just 1.2% led to felony charges. The felony conviction rate resulting from pulling over a driver was 0.23%.</p>
<h2>Driving while Black</h2>
<p>While the effectiveness of traffic stops as a tool to apprehend serious criminals appears tenuous at best, what is clear is that pulling over drivers has the <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/articles/PGI-2016-Targeting.pdf">potential for negative</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/police-killings-traffic-stops-takeaways.html">sometimes violent, outcomes</a> – <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/traffic-stops-are-flashpoint-policing-america-reformers-are-winning-big-n1280594">especially for Black drivers</a>.</p>
<p>It can also affect entire communities. Ferguson, Missouri, is just one well-known example of how widespread racially biased traffic stops can <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.pdf">erode trust in the police</a>.</p>
<p>In places like Ferguson, evidence has shown that intensely policing minor traffic infractions, while legally permissible, can <a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/08/25/343143937/in-ferguson-court-fines-and-fees-fuel-anger">drown communities in fines, fees and administrative burdens</a>. And Ferguson isn’t alone. Funds from penalty fines are used to help fund police and local governments across the U.S. A 2019 study found that in 600 jurisdictions across the U.S. <a href="https://www.governing.com/archive/fine-fee-revenues-special-report.html">fines made up more than 10% of funds</a>. In almost half of those governments, money from ticketing accounted for more than 20% of funding.</p>
<p>This financial burden falls disproportionately on Black drivers. A <a href="http://nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/police-ticket-quotas-money-funding.html">2021 New York Times analysis</a> of 4,000 traffic citations handed out in Newburgh Heights, Ohio, a small town just south of Cleveland, found that 76% of license and insurance violations and 63% of speeding tickets were handed to Black drivers. Black residents made up just 22% of the town’s population.</p>
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<img alt="Demonstrators gather on a street, one crying out and the other with a face mask with 'defund MPD' written on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Release of video footage of Tyre Nichols’ beating has sparked protests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MemphisPoliceTyreNicholsWashington/350e3ec761224f99bdbaacbf65249747/photo?Query=tyre%20nichols&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=247&currentItemNo=114">P Photo/Carolyn Kaste</a></span>
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<p>Racial bias has <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2020/may/black-drivers-more-likely-to-be-stopped-by-police.html">long accompanied traffic stops</a>. In the largest study of its kind, Stanford researchers in 2020 analyzed 100 million traffic stops and concluded that “persistent racial bias” existed. The study found that during daylight hours Black drivers are more likely to be pulled over than their white counterparts. But at nighttime, when the “<a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2020/05/05/veil-darkness-reduces-racial-bias-traffic-stops/">veil of darkness</a>” makes it harder for officers to racially identify drivers, white drivers are stopped more often than Black drivers.</p>
<p>This concurs with our own findings on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2016.1160413">traffic stop data from North Carolina</a>: Black men are far more likely to be searched by cops than their white counterparts – at a rate of just under two to one – despite being less likely to be found with any illegal substances.</p>
<p>Traffic stops can also be a precursor to violent and deadly encounters, such as in the case of Nichols’ killing. The New York Times in 2021 found that over a five-year period, police officers in the U.S. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/police-traffic-stops-killings.html">killed more than 400 drivers or passengers</a> not brandishing a gun or knife and not being pursued over a violent crime. Black Americans were disproportionately represented among those killed by officers, the newspaper found.</p>
<h2>Taking a new route</h2>
<p>Using the traffic code to raise funds for jurisdictions or as a pretext to investigate serious crime produces only dubious public safety benefits and comes at a heavy costs, research indicates. </p>
<p>It has prompted <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/09/03/police-pretext-traffic-stops-need-to-end-some-lawmakers-say">some policymakers to look at other options</a>, such as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/traffic-stops-are-flashpoint-policing-america-reformers-are-winning-big-n1280594">scaling back the types of infractions</a> that can provide a basis for a traffic stop. In 2020, Virginia became the first state to <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+sum+HB5058">ban officers from conducting traffic stops for low-level violations</a>, such as a broken taillight or illegal tinted windows. A year earlier, the <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-supreme-court-bans-police-officers-random-questions/">Oregon Supreme Court ruled</a> that it is impermissible for police officers to use a routine traffic stop as a springboard for broader criminal investigations by asking if they can search a vehicle without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.</p>
<p>Such moves will limit the number of interactions police have with motorists. They could also save lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The case of Tyre Nichols highlights how traffic stops can turn deadly. Traffic stops are also prone to racial bias, can break down community trust in police and yield few results, research shows.Derek Epp, Assistant professor in the Department of Government, The University of Texas at AustinMegan Dias, PhD Candidate, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1988512023-02-01T19:15:05Z2023-02-01T19:15:05ZTyre Nichols’ death underscores the troubled history of specialized police units<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507650/original/file-20230201-8653-ncdbsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3722%2C2093&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of Memphis' SCORPION unit were behind the brutal beating of a suspect.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MemphisPoliceForceInvestigation/9536d0e992af49cbb5b1f5d928e3a160/photo?Query=Tyre%20Nichols%20officers&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=300&currentItemNo=104">City of Memphis via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tyre-nichols-death-investigation-memphis-police-officers-charges-what-we-know/">officers charged</a> in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/01/27/us/tyre-nichols-police-beating-timeline.html">fatal beating of Tyre Nichols</a> were not your everyday uniformed patrol officers.</p>
<p>Rather, they were part of an elite squad: Memphis Police Department’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/memphis-police-scorpions.html">SCORPION team</a>. A rather tortured acronym for “Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods,” SCORPION is a crime suppression unit – that is, officers detailed specifically to prevent, detect and interrupt violent crime by proactively using stops, frisks, searches and arrests. Such specialized units are common in forces across the U.S. and tend to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/30/dc-police-special-squad/">rely on aggressive policing</a> tactics.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/criminology_and_criminal_justice/our_people/directory/adams_ian.php">academics who</a> <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/law/faculty_and_staff/directory/stoughton_seth.php">study policing</a>, and as former officers ourselves, we have long been aware of potential problems with such specialized units. Treating aggressive crime fighting as the highest priority in policing can cultivate a corrosive culture in which bad behavior is often tolerated, even encouraged – to the <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL261/better-policing-toolkit/all-strategies/zero-tolerance/in-depth.html">detriment of community relations</a>. Changing that pattern requires wrestling with complexities of policing in modern society.</p>
<h2>From Prohibition to the war on drugs</h2>
<p>Crime suppression units, sometimes called “violence reduction units” or “street crimes units,” have a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/31/scorpion-police-units-harm-communities/">long and often sordid history</a> in the United States.</p>
<p>Such specialized units are usually set up to address specific issues, such as drug trafficking or gang crime. An early precedent to modern crime suppression units can be seen in the squads set up by the federal Bureau of Prohibition and their local counterparts during the 1920s. These squads were charged with enforcing newly passed alcohol laws but <a href="https://prohibition.themobmuseum.org/the-history/enforcing-the-prohibition-laws/law-enforcement-during-prohibition/">often lacked the training or numbers to support their mission</a>. The predictable result was the unlawful <a href="https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/prohibition-bureau-bureau-of-prohibition/">killing of civilians and corruption</a>. Indeed, the <a href="https://law.jrank.org/pages/11309/Wickersham-Commission.html">Wickersham Commission report</a>, released in the early 1930s, shows how the power that goes with being part of a specialized unit can be corrosive. It noted that the “unfortunate public expressions [by police] approving killings and promiscuous shootings and lawless raids and seizures” can lead to the alienation of “thoughtful citizens, believers in law and order.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photo shows police officers in 1920s uniforms pouring out liquid from a barrel." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prohibition police units often overstepped the mark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cambridge-officer-patrick-f-ready-has-his-ax-in-hand-as-the-news-photo/160467129?phrase=prohibition%20police%20US&adppopup=true">Hugh E. O'Donnell/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In more recent times, police agencies have used specialized units to respond to violent crime, often because of a surge in public demand for the police to “do something.” Investing in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/how-actually-fix-americas-police/612520/">a more robust public safety infrastructure</a> is expensive, politically fraught and, even if successful, could take decades to reap rewards. So instead of addressing social problems, such as poverty and lack of economic opportunity, elected officials turn to police leaders, who often reach for a familiar tool: <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/addressing-violent-crime-more-effectively">aggressive enforcement tactics</a>. Such an approach is intended to prevent, detect and interrupt crime, and to <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674248908">identify, apprehend and punish</a> criminal offenders. </p>
<h2>When cops ‘own the city’</h2>
<p>That was exactly the pattern in Memphis, where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/us/memphis-shooting-gun-violence.html">violent crime</a> in 2020 and 2021 experienced <a href="https://memphiscrime.org/the-stats/">a significant increase</a>, with a per capita murder rate that put it among the most dangerous cities in the nation. These historic rises in homicides were in contrast to <a href="https://memphiscrime.org/the-stats/">dramatically lower rates</a> just a few years before.</p>
<p>In 2021, the city hired Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, who bluntly described <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/memphis-police-scorpions.html">her vision</a>: “being tough on tough people.”</p>
<p>As homicides soared, Memphis established the SCORPION team, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/scorpion-unit-memphis-police-task-force-center-tyre/story?id=96720313">assigning 40 officers to clean up the most crime-ridden parts</a> of the city. Both Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Chief Davis <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/memphis-police-scorpions.html">celebrated</a> the number of arrests that the SCORPION team’s officers made, along with the guns, cash and vehicles they seized.</p>
<p>Positions in specialized units come with prestige, flexibility and the lure of future promotions. In better times, membership is restricted to officers with more experience and training. But as the Memphis Police Department lost around 23% of its sworn personnel between 2013 and 2018, <a href="https://www.actionnews5.com/story/38513242/mpd-makes-changes-to-college-requirements-for-recruits">the department lowered overall minimum standards</a> for officers, and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/memphis-police-scorpion-unit-tyre-nichols-rcna67711">inexperienced officers were appointed to SCORPION</a> – <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tyre-nichols-police-officers-charged-48d48f2137a2f34482274edb1bd1bab2">including those now charged</a> with murdering Tyre Nichols.</p>
<p>Memphis is far from alone. In 2007, the Baltimore Police Department <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e25f215b3dbd6661a25b79d/t/61dfb0a510a6fd7443dd5914/1642049707420/GTTF+Report_Executive+Summary-c2-c2-c2.pdf">set up the Gun Trace Task Force</a> to address illegal guns and violent crime. And before that, in the 1990s, the Los Angeles Police Department established the Rampart <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/scandal/crashculture.html">CRASH, or Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, unit</a>, which focused on gangs and violent crime. In New Orleans, the city’s police department viewed its task force officers, known as “jump out boys,” as “<a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/03/17/nopd_report.pdf">enforcers and agents of crime control</a>.” </p>
<p>Scandal connects these units. In each case – and in many more – officers stepped over the line from aggressive enforcement to misconduct, abuse or even outright criminality. Members of the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force were <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/we-own-this-city-gun-trace-task-force-baltimore-hbo-1698924">eventually convicted on charges including robbery, racketeering and extortion</a>. Rampart CRASH unit officers <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/scandal/cron.html">robbed banks, stole narcotics and engaged in extrajudicial beatings of suspects</a>. The New Orleans Police Department was eventually <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/us/plan-to-reform-new-orleans-police-department.html">placed under the oversight of a federal consent decree</a> after the jump out boys developed a reputation as “dirty cops, the ones who are going to be brutal,” in the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/03/17/nopd_report.pdf">words of one sergeant</a>.</p>
<h2>Do the ends justify the means?</h2>
<p>These result were, for many, entirely foreseeable. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://thecrimereport.org/2020/01/27/renowned-policing-expert-herman-goldstein-dies-at-88/">eminent criminologist Herman Goldstein</a> wrote in 1977, problems arise when “the police […] place a higher priority on maintaining order than on operating legally.” Recent scholars refer to “<a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315162591/police-ethics-michael-caldero-brian-withrow-jeffrey-dailey">noble cause corruption</a>,” but readers are probably more familiar with a synonymous phrase: “the ends justify the means.”</p>
<p>Even when well-intentioned, prioritizing aggressive police enforcement can be deeply destructive. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12192">Research has found</a> that aggressive police units have significantly more use-of-force incidents and public complaints, while also having fewer complaints against them upheld. This suggests a culture in which some violations are tacitly approved so long as the unit is productive – that is, it makes arrests.</p>
<p>To a significant extent, this comes down to agency culture. A permissive culture, as researchers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(03)00002-3">have long recognized</a>, can both protect and corrupt the nature of policing. Every police department has a culture, but those best able to balance the missions of addressing violent crime and maintaining community support set about shaping and reinforcing their culture instead of leaving it to grow wild.</p>
<p>When aggressive police culture overwhelms the professional norms of constitutional policing, the public safety mission of policing breaks down. Chiefs are put into a difficult position – they must ensure that officers who use coercive authority in response to public demands for crime control also respect the legal limits of their authority.</p>
<p>The legitimacy of policing, we believe, depends on recognizing that while hyperaggressive tactics by young, often inexperienced officers in crime suppression units may contribute to short-term deterrence of some violent crime, those same tactics are very likely to leave a wake of public disgust and distrust behind. That can seriously undermine public safety efforts, including the investigation of violent crimes that rely heavily on community cooperation. </p>
<p>If the history of crime suppression units teaches us anything, it is that they must prioritize legal and <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/248411.pdf">rightful policing</a> above aggressive crime fighting. To do otherwise is to risk becoming just another source of violence in already victimized communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The officers charged in the murder of a Black man in Memphis, Tenn., were part of the elite SCORPION squad. Such units have an ugly history.Ian T. Adams, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South CarolinaSeth W. Stoughton, Professor of Law, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1980062023-02-01T17:11:41Z2023-02-01T17:11:41ZThe Met police force is too big to govern – here’s how it should be broken up<p>In the two weeks since an officer in London’s Metropolitan Police <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/16/metropolitan-police-officer-david-carrick-revealed-as-serial-rapist">admitted to being a serial rapist</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61837635">politicians</a> and commentators have called for the Met to undergo “root-and-branch” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/19/keir-starmer-suggests-met-explore-changing-name-in-root-and-branch-review">reform</a>.</p>
<p>Beyond the abhorrent case of the now-former police constable David Carrick, Met commissioner Mark Rowley has revealed that London currently has a damaged and ineffective police service. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64400235">Rowley said</a> that every week for the foreseeable future, many of his officers would be appearing in court in trials involving “violence against women and girls” – as defendants, not case officers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11456705">Since the 1970s</a>, the Met has had a series of so-called “reforming commissioners”. One was Rowley’s predecessor, Cressida Dick, the first woman to be appointed to the top job. </p>
<p>She had what many felt was a fairly disastrous tenure, which ended after the heavy-handed policing of the Sarah Everard <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-60707646">vigil</a> and the Charing Cross misogyny <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/met-police-charing-cross-iopc-operation-hotton-b993054.html">scandal</a>. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, publicly <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2022/02/culture-of-sexism-report-was-the-last-straw-for-cressida-dick">said</a> he had lost faith in Dick’s ability to change the toxic force culture where sexism, homophobia and misogyny seemed to be prevalent.</p>
<p>Being the chief of the biggest police force in the country is undoubtedly a very tough job – I think, in fact, it is an impossible one. London and its 8 million inhabitants deserve to be policed effectively, and by a respected service, but calm thought is needed about how that can be achieved.</p>
<p>As a criminologist, researcher of police culture and oversight, and former police officer, I care about the way our police forces are <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-so-many-men-get-away-with-rape-police-officers-survivors-lawyers-and-prosecutors-on-the-scandal-that-shames-the-justice-system-192782">perceived by the public</a>. I have concluded that the Met is just too big and the toxic culture is too deeply set into its foundations. </p>
<p>I believe we are now entitled to ask why it should not be disbanded. Rather than tinker with the branches, perhaps the root needs to be dug up, thoughtfully divided and transplanted.</p>
<h2>A new structure</h2>
<p>The Metropolitan Police was created in 1829, and was the first professional police force in the UK. As London grew, the area policed by the Met expanded, as did the workforce. The Met <a href="https://www.met.police.uk/police-forces/metropolitan-police/areas/about-us/about-the-met/structure/">currently employs</a> nearly 47,000 people, of whom 35,000 are police officers. </p>
<p>Policing in the rest of England and Wales developed in a rather haphazard way until the 1964 Police Act, through which parliament <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/laworder/policeprisons/overview/nationspoliceforce/">ratified</a> the 42 other forces which exist today. These forces were each designed to cover an English county, with exceptions for larger areas such as West Midlands and Greater Manchester. These two forces have around 6,500 officers, while the county forces average around 2,500.</p>
<p>The Met is unique in both size and governance structure. Rather than having an elected and dedicated police and crime commissioner like every other force, the Met is jointly <a href="https://www.met.police.uk/police-forces/metropolitan-police/areas/about-us/about-the-met/governance/">governed</a> by the home secretary and the mayor of London, who often don’t see eye to eye. The Met also has unique national policing roles, leading on counter terrorism and protecting the royal family and senior politicians.</p>
<p>The potential argument that it is more sensible for the whole of London to have one police force doesn’t stand scrutiny. In the middle of London, there is a separate police force – the <a href="https://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/">City of London Police</a>. They police just one square mile around St Paul’s and the Tower of London, but are fiercely independent of the Met influence, are considered effective and efficient with good <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/peel-assessments/peel-2018/City%20of%20London/">performance ratings</a> for keeping people safe and reducing crime. </p>
<p>A reorganisation strategy could include a single force south of the Thames and an east-west split in the north. Or, a more sophisticated arrangement where the existing forces surrounding London – Hertfordshire, Surrey, Thames Valley, Kent and Essex – absorb their neighbouring outer London boroughs. For example, Kent police could take in the boroughs of Bexley, Greenwich, Lewisham and Bromley.</p>
<p>The City of London police area could be expanded beyond its current anachronistic square mile to take the remaining East London boroughs. This would leave one constabulary covering <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone">roughly the area</a> within the north and south circular roads surrounding inner London, containing about 3.8 million people.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Photo of the front of New Scotland Yard building in London" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507344/original/file-20230131-4565-kupivk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507344/original/file-20230131-4565-kupivk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507344/original/file-20230131-4565-kupivk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507344/original/file-20230131-4565-kupivk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507344/original/file-20230131-4565-kupivk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507344/original/file-20230131-4565-kupivk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507344/original/file-20230131-4565-kupivk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A restructure could be the catalyst needed for culture change at the Met police.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-8-march-2017-new-632652380">pxl.store/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>These smaller forces would have a fresh command team, and the former Met boroughs would absorb the culture and ethical standards from outside of London. Each could then create its own identity, ethical standards and history, where fresh ideas are allowed to flourish. </p>
<p>Counter terrorism responsibility could be transferred to the <a href="https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/">National Crime Agency</a> which is where many people think it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/01/national-agency-could-replace-police-in-leading-fight-against-terrorism">belongs</a> anyway.</p>
<p>In the face of so much damage being done to public confidence, the current Met force structure should not be considered sacrosanct or immune to full-scale reform. The reputation of every force in the country is being tainted by the mismanagement and bad behaviour of one huge policing organisation. </p>
<p>In 1997 it would have been unthinkable to most people in Northern Ireland that the famous <a href="https://www.rucgcfoundation.org/background/">Royal Ulster Constabulary GC</a> would ever be completely disbanded and replaced by a new police service with a different name, uniform, symbols and culture. But <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/18/police-reforms-helped-bring-peace-northern-ireland/">police reform</a> was a key part of the peace process, leading to the modern police service of Northern Ireland.</p>
<h2>Changing the culture</h2>
<p>It is my experience talking to police officers outside London that they feel the Met has a prevailing culture of a kind of arrogance. Their criticism is that Met officers feel that they are “Policing UK PLC” and that the county forces are amateurs who should watch and learn. </p>
<p>This is anecdotal of course, and perhaps an unfair generalisation. But the reality is that, as illustrated by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/19/stephen-lawrence-timeline-of-key-events">Stephen Lawrence</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39951648">Rachel Nickell</a> and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2700427.stm">Victoria Climbie</a> murders, the Met seems to be no better at policing than any other police force in England and Wales.</p>
<p>The Met also seems to be quite an inward-looking organisation. Upon the creation of regional police and detective <a href="https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/10595/1/Thesis_peacock_s_2010.pdf">training centres</a> in the 1940s, every force in England and Wales (except the Met) began sending their officers to these shared centres where they would mix in a classroom for weeks with colleagues from other forces. Police officers were exposed to the high ethical standards and practices which were prevalent and commonly accepted elsewhere. </p>
<p>The Met, meanwhile, did all their initial police training and specialist detective training <a href="https://www.barnet.gov.uk/libraries-old/local-studies-and-archives/pocket-histories/hendon/hendon-police-college">in-house</a>. Their officers were rarely exposed to what was happening in policing elsewhere, including what sort of behaviour might be unacceptable in other forces.</p>
<p>Perhaps this history of insulating their staff from the rest of the police family in England and Wales contributed to the current problem. The Met’s traditions, rituals, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Police-Corruption-Exploring-Police-Deviance-and-Crime/Punch/p/book/9781843924104">canteen culture</a> and ethical standards are deeply ingrained. Decades of evidence show that it will take more than a new commissioner to change it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198006/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Fox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>London’s police force has a deeply ingrained culture that can’t be fixed by one commissioner.John Fox, Senior Lecturer in Police Studies, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1987212023-01-30T19:39:26Z2023-01-30T19:39:26ZBlack police officers aren’t colorblind – they’re infected by the same anti-Black bias as American society and police in general<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506931/original/file-20230129-14826-zhltil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Demonstrators block traffic in Memphis after police released video footage depicting the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/demonstrators-block-traffic-protesting-the-death-of-tyre-news-photo/1460145824?adppopup=true">Scott Olson/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/los-policias-negros-no-son-neutrales-padecen-los-mismos-prejuicios-antinegros-que-la-sociedad-estadounidense-y-la-policia-en-general-200051">Leer en español.</a></p>
<p><em>Once again, Americans are left reeling from the horror of video footage showing police brutalizing an unarmed Black man who later died.</em></p>
<p><em>Some details in the latest case of extreme police violence were gut-wrenchingly familiar: a police traffic stop of a Black male motorist turned violent. But, for many of us, other details were unfamiliar: The five police officers accused of using everything from pepper spray to a Taser, a police baton and intermittent kicks and punches against the motorist were also Black.</em></p>
<p><em>After pulling over 29-year-old Tyre Nichols for what they said was reckless driving, Black officers in the Memphis Police Department’s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/28/us/tyre-nichols-protests-saturday/index.html">now disbanded SCORPION unit</a> beat Nichols, ultimately to death.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation asked Rashad Shabazz, <a href="https://newsroom.asu.edu/expert/rashad-shabazz">a geographer and scholar of African American studies</a> at Arizona State University, to explore the societal conditions in which Black police officers could brutalize another Black man.</em> </p>
<h2>What could influence Black police officers to savagely beat a Black motorist?</h2>
<p>Policing in the U.S. has, from its inception, treated Black people as domestic enemies. From the <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/869046127">the slave patrols</a>, which some historians consider to be among the nation’s <a href="https://time.com/4779112/police-history-origins/">earliest forms of policing</a>, to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html">murder of George Floyd</a>, and now the death of Nichols, law enforcement officers often have viewed Black people as what sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, in “<a href="https://worldcat.org/en/title/1021060181">The Souls of Black Folk</a>,” called a “problem.” </p>
<p>American society <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986207306870">assumes that Black people are prone to criminality</a> and therefore should be subject to state power in the form of policing or, in some cases, vigilantism – as in the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/us/ahmaud-arbery-hate-crime-federal-sentencing/">killing of Ahmaud Arbery</a>. This is a link deeply woven into American consciousness. And <a href="https://spsp.org/news-center/character-context-blog/stereotypical-biases-black-people-toward-black-people">Black people are not immune</a>. In this way, the long-held <a href="https://news.wttw.com/2021/05/06/chicago-police-disproportionately-target-black-men-search-warrants-watchdog">targeting of Black men by police</a> and widely held negative beliefs about them are a powerful cocktail that can compel even Black officers to stop, detain and brutally beat a man who looks just like them.</p>
<h2>Could their actions have been motivated by anti-Black bias?</h2>
<p>It’s hard to investigate the minds of the officers who beat Nichols so savagely and say for sure what motivated them. But <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/22/881643215/police-researcher-officers-have-similar-biases-regardless-of-race">there is ample research</a> that suggests <a href="https://www.bu.edu/antiracism-center/files/2022/06/Anti-Black.pdf">anti-Blackness</a> is a factor in American policing. And Black officers, agents of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-racist-roots-of-american-policing-from-slave-patrols-to-traffic-stops-112816">institutionally racist system</a>, are affected by this. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/black-on-black-racism-the-hazards-of-implicit-bias/384028/">Anti-Blackness affects Black people, too</a>. And this might explain why <a href="https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/anti-black-bias/97383/">Black police officers exhibit more anti-Black</a> bias than the Black population as a whole. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506913/original/file-20230127-13119-morwci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman stands with her eyes closed, her head tilted in the direction of man leaning in to comfort her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506913/original/file-20230127-13119-morwci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506913/original/file-20230127-13119-morwci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506913/original/file-20230127-13119-morwci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506913/original/file-20230127-13119-morwci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506913/original/file-20230127-13119-morwci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506913/original/file-20230127-13119-morwci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506913/original/file-20230127-13119-morwci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Civil rights attorney Ben Crump comforts RowVaughn Wells, mother of Tyre Nichols, during a press conference hours before the video of police beating Nichols was released.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/civil-rights-attorney-ben-crump-comforts-rowvaughn-wells-news-photo/1460059603?phrase=tyre%20nichols&adppopup=true">Scott Olson /Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>To comprehend this, we have to take a step back and think about race. Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist, described race as a sign. When we look at skin color or <a href="https://www.alanalentin.net/2021/08/06/race-the-floating-signifier/">people as racialized subjects, they signify</a> something to us. Black people, in this society – and <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/pandemic-border/how-covid-19-exposed-chinas-anti-black-racism/">in other parts of the world</a> – <a href="https://www.vox.com/explainers/2018/8/1/17616528/racial-profiling-police-911-living-while-black">for many signify danger, threat and criminality</a>. And as a result, institutions like the criminal justice system respond to their perceived threat with <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/driving-black-abc-news-analysis-traffic-stops-reveals/story?id=72891419">profiling, harassment and violence</a>. </p>
<p>Our surprise that five Black police officers could brutalize another Black man indicates we have an impoverished understanding of race and racism in this country.</p>
<h2>What does Tyre Nichols’ death mean for calls to diversify policing?</h2>
<p>For years, elected officials, activists and citizens have been making calls to reform policing. Many have said bringing more people from ethnically diverse backgrounds onto police forces would go a long way toward correcting institutional racism in the criminal justice system. </p>
<p>The final report of “<a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/final-report-presidents-task-force-21st-century-policing">The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing</a>,” commissioned through an executive order by President Barack Obama, called for law enforcement agencies to “strive to create a workforce that encompasses a broad range of diversity, including race, gender, language, life experience, and cultural background to improve understanding and effectiveness.” </p>
<p>One recent study concluded that <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd8694">Black and Hispanic police officers make fewer traffic stops</a> and use force less often than their white counterparts. But, at the same time, Black and brown police officers live in the same culture that sees Black people as criminals and threats. So simply having more officers of color <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2020-02-05/is-hiring-more-black-officers-the-key-to-reducing-police-violence">doesn’t do enough to fix the problem</a>.</p>
<h2>How does seeing video of another Black man brutalized by police, this time Black officers, affect Black people?</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, videos of Black people killed at the hands of police officers have filled social media and news sites. I, for one, cannot watch them because <a href="https://theconversation.com/pain-of-police-killings-ripples-outward-to-traumatize-black-people-and-communities-across-us-159624">they terrify me and amplify fears</a> for my safety and that of my family and friends. I watched about 30 seconds of the Black police officers pummeling Nichols and couldn’t take any more. I know I’m not alone. Studies tell us that police killings of unarmed Black people <a href="https://www.bu.edu/bulawreview/files/2020/05/09-HERD.pdf">are psychologically traumatizing events</a> for Black people. This kind of horror should be traumatizing to the nation. But if Black is the sign of danger and criminality, who will have empathy for the Tyre Nicholses of the world?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506898/original/file-20230127-16-3eb2id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="At night, three people wearing coats stand before a sign that is leaning against a tree and lit by candles. It reads, 'Justice for Tyre.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506898/original/file-20230127-16-3eb2id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506898/original/file-20230127-16-3eb2id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506898/original/file-20230127-16-3eb2id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506898/original/file-20230127-16-3eb2id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506898/original/file-20230127-16-3eb2id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506898/original/file-20230127-16-3eb2id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506898/original/file-20230127-16-3eb2id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">People honor the memory of Tyre Nichols during a candlelight vigil held in his honor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-attend-a-candlelight-vigil-in-memory-of-tyre-nichols-news-photo/1459866296?phrase=tyre%20nichols&adppopup=true">Scott Olson/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p><em>This article was updated to cut out repetition in the introduction.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rashad Shabazz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Black police officers can have bias against Black people – and act on it.Rashad Shabazz, Associate Professor at the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1987112023-01-28T00:14:16Z2023-01-28T00:14:16Z‘Acts that defy humanity:’ 3 essential reads on police brutality, race and the power of video evidence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506900/original/file-20230127-10847-1b0tbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=447%2C320%2C5182%2C3426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People attend a candlelight vigil in memory of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tenn., on Jan. 26, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-attend-a-candlelight-vigil-in-memory-of-tyre-nichols-news-photo/1459866539?phrase=tyre%20nichols&adppopup=true">Scott Olson/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the case of the five Black, former Memphis police officers accused of murder in the beating death of Tyre Nichols, justice has moved quickly. </p>
<p>In fewer than 30 days after Nichols’ Jan. 10, 2023 death, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/former-memphis-police-officer-indicted-tyre-nichols-death-cnn-reports-2023-01-26/">former officers were charged</a> with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. </p>
<p>The Memphis Police Department released video footage of the officers’ encounter with Nichols on Jan. 27, 2023. And some who’ve seen the video, which includes footage captured by body-worn cameras, cameras mounted on dashboards of police vehicles and security cameras on utility poles in the vicinity, have <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/mother-of-tyre-nichols-calls-for-peaceful-protests-when-horrific-video-is-released/ar-AA16OGVm">described it as “horrific.”</a></p>
<p>Before the video was released <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/27/us/tyre-nichols-memphis-friday/index.html">Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis told CNN</a>: “You are going to see acts that defy humanity.”</p>
<p>In recent years, as national outrage over the systemic racism within U.S. law enforcement has grown, The Conversation U.S. has published several articles on police brutality, race and the national outrage over systemic racism within the U.S. criminal justice system. </p>
<h2>1. Different interpretations of video evidence</h2>
<p>Media Studies Professor <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/cmci/people/media-studies/sandra-ristovska">Sandra Ristovska</a> examines the use of video as evidence in state and federal courts in the U.S. and <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-rodney-king-to-george-floyd-how-video-evidence-can-be-differently-interpreted-in-courts-159794">writes</a> about the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9JiIdsjfjo">Rodney King</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fpivi5ljhI">George Floyd</a> cases where jurors interpreted video evidence differently. </p>
<p>In the King case, the four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of charges of assault and excessive use of force as the jury believed the video showed a justified response to King’s allegedly frightening actions.</p>
<p>Lead prosecutor Terry White ended his closing arguments by asking the jury: “Now who do you believe, the defendants or your own eyes?”</p>
<p>In the Floyd case, jurors believed their own eyes and convicted Derek Chauvin for the murder of Floyd.</p>
<p>As Ristovska explains, bystander, bodycam and dashcam videos of policing can be powerful forms of evidence.</p>
<p>“Yet judges, attorneys and jurors may see and treat video in varied ways that can lead to inconsistent renderings of justice,” she writes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-rodney-king-to-george-floyd-how-video-evidence-can-be-differently-interpreted-in-courts-159794">From Rodney King to George Floyd, how video evidence can be differently interpreted in courts</a>
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<h2>2. The racist roots of policing</h2>
<p>As historian <a href="https://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/people/clare-corbould">Clare Corbould</a> explains, police violence that disproportionately targets African Americans long predates portable video cameras. </p>
<p>Where Black Africans were once enslaved to provide cheap labor, Corbould writes, they are now policed, charged, indicted and incarcerated at staggering rates.</p>
<p>“As many have noted since [George] Floyd’s murder, the origins of U.S. policing lie in the control of supposedly disorderly populations,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/relief-at-derek-chauvin-conviction-a-sign-of-long-history-of-police-brutality-159212">Corbould writes</a>, “whether of enslaved people or, after the end of slavery, an impoverished class of laborers including Black people and immigrants.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/relief-at-derek-chauvin-conviction-a-sign-of-long-history-of-police-brutality-159212">Relief at Derek Chauvin conviction a sign of long history of police brutality</a>
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<h2>3. College requirements for police may reduce fatal encounters</h2>
<p>In their peer-reviewed study of data on 235 U.S. city police departments from 2000 to 2016, <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/thaddeus-johnson/">Thaddeus L. Johnson</a> and <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/natasha-johnson/">Natasha N. Johnson</a> found that police forces requiring at least a two-year college degree for employment are less likely to employ officers who engage in actions that cause the deaths of Black and unarmed citizens. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/college-requirements-for-police-forces-can-save-black-lives-but-at-what-cost-187251">they explain</a>, “Our results demonstrated that college minimums are associated with as much as three times lower rates of police-related fatalities involving Black people than police forces without a college degree requirement.”</p>
<p>Their findings further suggest that the impact of a more educated police force may emerge during only the most dangerous encounters that often precede the use of weapons.</p>
<p>More research needs to be done but they conclude that police agencies trying to reduce fatal confrontations should consider ways to recruit college-degreed applicants while at the same time support college attendance among current officers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/college-requirements-for-police-forces-can-save-black-lives-but-at-what-cost-187251">College requirements for police forces can save Black lives, but at what cost?</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The death of a Black motorist after a beating by five Black Memphis police officers has triggered national outrage over police brutality and systemic racism with the U.S. criminal justice system.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1934682022-10-31T13:11:19Z2022-10-31T13:11:19ZKenya: police killings point to systemic rot and a failed justice system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492323/original/file-20221028-36977-kmf02n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kenyans protest against extrajudicial killings in Nairobi’s Mathare area on 13 April 2022.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Barely a month into office, President William Ruto of Kenya ordered the <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/why-president-ruto-disbanded-dci-s-special-service-unit-3987662">disbandment</a> of a <a href="https://twitter.com/DCI_Kenya/status/1211966538972049408?s=20&t=L41YydNRm4sS4omGWIN2oQ">special police unit</a> placed at the centre of a widening investigation into a wave of <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/counties/siaya/river-yala-dumped-bodies-back-as-six-men-woman-retrieved-from-water-3955046">extrajudicial killings</a> and enforced disappearances. At least nine officers of the Special Service Unit face charges relating to the disappearance in July 2022 of two Indians and their Kenyan driver. The Indians were in Kenya at the invitation of Ruto’s presidential digital campaign outfit. </p>
<p>Police killings of citizens are shockingly <a href="https://www.theelephant.info/radio/2017/11/09/you-are-five-times-more-likely-to-be-killed-by-police-than-by-criminals/">commonplace in Kenya</a>. Those who bear the brunt are mostly <a href="https://www.theelephant.info/reflections/2021/08/20/die-kijana-die-the-crime-of-being-a-young-poor-man-in-kenya/">poor, young and male</a> suspects of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14678802.2016.1200313">crime</a> or <a href="http://www.knchr.org/Portals/0/CivilAndPoliticalReports/Final%20Disappearances%20report%20pdf.pdf">terrorism</a>.</p>
<p>Since 2017, <a href="https://missingvoices.or.ke/top-stories/disbanding-dcis-hit-squad-not-enough-declare-sanctions-ruto-told%EF%BF%BC/">1,264 cases of executions and 237 enforced disappearances</a> have been documented by the Police Reform Working Group in Kenya, a civil justice advocacy group. Another player in the social justice movement is the <a href="https://www.matharesocialjustice.org/who-is-next/">Mathare Social Justice Centre</a>, which has been documenting these state-sanctioned murders in Mathare, a low-income area of northern Nairobi, since 2014. Other centres followed suit in other <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/reporter-police-violence-in-the-slums-of-nairobi/video-47374614">neighbourhoods in Nairobi</a> where unlawful police killings occur regularly. </p>
<p>Yet these and <a href="http://parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2021-11/Report%20on%20Inquiry%20into%20Extrajudicial%20Killings%20and%20Enforced%20Disappearance%20in%20Kenya_.pdf">other records</a> are incomplete for a number of reasons. First, they tend to focus on a specific locality. Second, they only include cases that multiple sources show to be police related. “Police related” means, for example, that the victim was last seen with police officers. In most cases, such victims were later found in the morgue or never again. </p>
<p>The special police unit is not the only culprit. It is the third special squad under the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to be <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/disbandment-of-police-units-began-way-back-in-the-early-1980s-3994676">disbanded under a cloud</a> in the last 13 years. Other security and policing agencies implicated in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances include the <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/special-report/death-in-the-wilderness/">armed forest and game park ranger units</a>, the <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/entertainment/news/article/2000220760/lost-without-a-trace-in-police-kdf-hands">Kenya Defence Forces</a> and the <a href="https://www.justiceinitiative.org/publications/were-tired-taking-you-court-human-rights-abuses-kenyas-anti-terrorism-police-unit">Anti-Terrorism Police Unit</a>. </p>
<p>Since 2005, I have researched police violence and extrajudicial killings in Kenya, especially in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kwale. I work closely with grassroots organisations.</p>
<p>Considering the evidence of <a href="https://www.theelephant.info/features/2018/02/22/the-killing-fields-of-mathare-extrajudicial-executions-and-the-grassroots-group-that-is-documenting-them/">police killings of citizens</a> over decades, some social justice activists I have spoken to recently are asking “why now?”. </p>
<p>Police killings are systemic in Kenya and have been since the late 1990s. So the disbandment does not seem to be prompted by a quest for justice. Instead, it seems more likely spurred by a wish to replace influential officers from the previous regime with new and trusted ones. This is a tactic Kenya has seen before.</p>
<h2>Police violence is systemic</h2>
<p>Investigations are rare unless there is overwhelming <a href="https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/extrajudicial-killing-of-human-rights-lawyer-willie-kimani-his-client-and-their-taxi-drive">public outrage</a> stoked by the media, or the victim is well-known or well-connected. </p>
<p>That might explain why justice was won for lawyer Willie Kimani, his client and their driver following their abduction and execution by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62264439">police</a> in 2016, while <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/kenya-police-watchdog/">thousands</a> of other complaints are unattended. </p>
<p>It might also explain why the disappearance of Ruto’s campaign staff is being pursued with vigour – <a href="https://www.pd.co.ke/news/bones-believed-to-be-of-indian-it-experts-found-154727/">involving more than 100 police officers</a> at one point. </p>
<p>Over in Nairobi’s poor neighbourhoods, it’s business as usual. Social justice activists document a rising number of cases of dead bodies with clear signs of <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/202105110085.html">torture</a>. There are no direct witness accounts to verify police involvement in each case but there is reasonable suspicion. This suspicion is derived in part from the fact that several of the deceased were on police “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0263775819884579">death lists</a>”. </p>
<p>Death lists, according to social justice activists, are names and pictures circulated by police and their paid informers. These lists of crime suspects are mostly circulated in WhatsApp groups and sometimes even on <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47805113">Facebook</a>. Many are killed after ending up on these lists. </p>
<p>Even in cases where there is ample evidence, “<a href="https://www.sapiens.org/culture/kenya-killer-cops/">killer cops</a>” are rarely prosecuted. </p>
<p>Criminal violence by police also takes place in other <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/kenya-police-killings-and-vengeful-attacks-amid-election-chaos-new-testimonies">cities</a>, at <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/newsplex/families-demand-answers-as-police-killings-shoot-up-in-mombasa-95398">the coast</a> and in remote <a href="https://www.garoweonline.com/en/world/africa/shoot-to-kill-orders-issued-in-kenya-as-us-troops-arrived-for-al-shabaab-war">rural areas</a> in Kenya.</p>
<p>This points to a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10439463.2014.993631">structural rot</a> within the <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/culture/kenya-killer-cops/">police service</a>, of which the Special Service Unit is a <a href="http://apcof.org/wp-content/uploads/apcofpolicingtheurbaneng.pdf">symptom rather than a rogue element</a>.</p>
<h2>True police reform</h2>
<p>Extrajudicial killings by police rarely attract wide public outcry outside the urban settlements and poor rural areas where they mostly occur. They have been <a href="https://www.theelephant.info/features/2017/05/04/run-kijana-run-the-crime-of-being-a-poor-young-man-in-kenya/">normalised</a> in public discourse. </p>
<p>Despite mounting evidence, only a <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/nairobi/article/2001361228/most-cases-on-rogue-police-go-cold-says-ipoa-report">small fraction</a> of the documented cases reach the courts. With such a low success rate, activists find it more and more difficult to persuade witnesses to come forward. </p>
<p>This explains the high levels of cynicism about potential police reforms among the social justice activists I have spoken to recently. There is not much to read in the <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/national/article/2001458496/new-dci-boss-amin-mohamed-ibrahim-sworn-in-makes-public-his-phone-number">replacement</a> of one director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations with another. As noted, it is not uncommon for a new president to replace top officers within police cadres. What’s more, the replaced director was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ibInw4m1Y">no friend</a> (12:55) of the new president. </p>
<p>A genuine move towards justice and peace could start with disbanding all police units implicated in violence over the years. The entire service could be overhauled. </p>
<p>Second, all perpetrators should be brought to justice instead of being redeployed. </p>
<p>Finally, a reformed police service should be completely transparent and held accountable by the communities it serves. Only then will police work with local communities on safety issues instead of doing <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/oped/comment/who-protects-poor-while-police-guard-the-elite-and-property-3552288">the bidding of political and business elites</a>. </p>
<p><em>This article has been co-authored by Samuel Kiriro (<a href="https://www.sjc.community/">Social Justice Movement Kenya</a> and director of <a href="https://www.ghettofoundationkenya.org/">Ghetto Foundation Kenya</a>) and Perpetua Kariuki (<a href="https://www.sjc.community/">Social Justice Movement Kenya</a> and liaison to <a href="https://missingvoices.or.ke/">Missing Voices</a>)</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193468/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi van Stapele does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To move towards justice and peace, Kenya must disband all police units implicated in unlawful violence and punish criminal officers.Naomi van Stapele, Professor in Inclusive Education, Hague University of Applied SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1835142022-05-24T22:41:22Z2022-05-24T22:41:22ZPublic police are a greedy institution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465130/original/file-20220524-20-s2rnf4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C62%2C5955%2C3880&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A photo from a demonstration calling for police accountability and an end to police brutality in Vancouver, in May 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The ongoing <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/defund-the-police-canada-1.5605430">calls from communities to defund public police, that grew louder</a> following the police killings of <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/crime-law-and-justice/killing-of-george-floyd">George Floyd</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html">Breonna Taylor</a> in 2020, have raised several crucial questions. </p>
<p>As researchers of police work, we looked at some of the critical issues surrounding these calls in our new <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003167914">book on police, greed and dark money</a>. We examined the push by public police to accumulate more resources despite these calls and the rise of secretive or “dark money” in public policing.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305791.001.0001">criminologists have shown that social development leads to less street crime and healthier communities</a>, police departments seem unperturbed when social programs for housing, mental health and health care get cut to <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/defund-the-police-this-is-how-much-canadian-cities-spend-1.5018506">fund growing police budgets</a>. It is also <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/police-foundations-scrub-corporate-partners-board-members/">unclear whether a well-funded police institution leads to less transgression</a> or safer communities.</p>
<p>The greedy tendencies of police departments help illustrate the major problems with public police funding in Canada and the United States today. </p>
<h2>What is a greedy institution?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.asanet.org/about/governance-and-leadership/council/presidents/lewis-alfred-coser">American sociologist Lewis Coser</a> first spoke of greedy institutions in 1974. A greedy institution <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241608330092">demands loyalty and conformity to its culture</a>, worldview and politics. For example, the military is a greedy institution since it demands full loyalty to branches of the armed forces. </p>
<p>We are not the first scholars <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X8601300101">to apply the greedy institution concept</a> to public police and to suggest its officers must be loyal and not cross the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7392282/rcmp-directive-thin-blue-line/">“blue line.”</a> Our book extends this concept to show how the police institution seeks loyalty and conformity not just internally, it does so externally as well. </p>
<p>While the public police demands loyalty to its institution and conformity to its worldview, its challengers, within and outside the institution, tend to be shunned or neutralized.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A new book, Police Funding, Dark Money and the Greedy Institution outline how public police departments demand loyalty and funds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Routledge)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The other meaning of greedy institution is literal. </p>
<p>Police greediness is evident in the quest for private sponsorship of police, especially through private police foundations. These foundations exemplify the attempt of police departments to extend their networks and social connections while accruing more financial resources.</p>
<p>Another example is paid duty policing, which we argue reveals the police managerial desire to control officers’ off-duty activities, while ensuring they receive significant extra money beyond their salaries.</p>
<p>In both instances, dark money is something that often involves secret or anonymous donations or income. The murky exchanges of dark money are mostly hidden to the public.</p>
<h2>Police foundations: a funnel for private capital</h2>
<p>Police foundations have emerged as entities that allow private corporations and individuals to donate to police. In our book, we show how foundations are <a href="https://policefoundations.org">being established at record pace</a>. In the U.S., there are hundreds of police foundations. In Canada, police foundations in Vancouver, Delta and Calgary, as well as a few others, have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azx055">funnelling corporate money to police for decades</a>.</p>
<p>Not many people know how prominent the police foundation has become, nor about the sources and levels of dark money it funnels into public police or the related conflicts of interest that arise. For example, Axon (makers of tasers and body-worn cameras) and other weapons companies <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10439463.2016.1251431?journalCode=gpas20">are major funders of police across North America</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of the Mobile Command Centre - a black van." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2156%2C1193&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Vancouver Police Department’s SWAT Mobile Command Centre costs $500,000 and is funded by the donors of Vancouver Police Foundation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5dzqnNFk0k">(Vancouver Police Department YouTube channel)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It usually works like this: Private entities give dark money to the foundation. <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/08/24/Private-Firms-Pour-Millions-Militarizing-Police/">Most foundation money ends up getting distributed to the police</a> rather than <a href="https://thebaffler.com/latest/giving-back-to-themselves-ramakrishna">local charities</a>. The police often spend those dollars on tactical units, surveillance devices and police dog teams, things often associated with <a href="https://theconversation.com/rise-of-the-swat-team-routine-police-work-in-canada-is-now-militarized-90073">militarization of the police</a>. </p>
<p>The foundation is the police institution’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2012.684019">shell corporation</a> through which other corporations and individuals <a href="https://readsludge.com/2020/06/19/corporate-backers-of-the-blue-how-corporations-bankroll-u-s-police-foundations/">can privately donate</a>. These donations continue despite already ample public police budgets and <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/defund-police-dominated-2020-what-happened-n1278506">even after wide public calls to defund public police</a>. </p>
<p>The foundation is also a communication vehicle for police, through which allies <a href="https://canadians.org/analysis/troubling-financial-connections-between-big-oil-and-police">such as powerful corporations</a> or folks from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1748895818794225">local companies and affluent individuals</a> are accrued. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2017.1341509">The foundation can advertise the police worldview</a>, garnering more loyalty and conformity. In this way, police foundations <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/do-cops-serve-the-rich-meet-the-nypds-private-piggy-bank">assemble allies and social and political capital</a> even amid loud calls to defund police. </p>
<h2>Paid detail policing as literal greed</h2>
<p>Paid duty or paid detail is another type of greediness. You may have noticed uniformed and armed police officers standing or strolling about at sporting events: chances are <a href="https://cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/3123/3436">those officers are working paid duty</a>. The sports team or corporation’s venue is paying the officer individually. </p>
<p>If you’ve ever seen police standing around at a construction site, movie shoot or retail outlet or outside a nightclub, chances are those uniformed officers are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23640987">receiving handsome compensation from a private funder</a>.</p>
<p>Paid duty also reflects a greedy institution. </p>
<p>Officers are <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/07/07/high-demand-for-paid-duty-officers-is-putting-a-strain-on-toronto-police-and-event-organizers.html">making big money from these paid duty postings</a>. They receive up to $100 an hour extra from working paid duty and — where not legally required through obscure bylaws — loyal funders are expected to provide “easy gigs” such as standing around at construction sites or sporting events. Yet police administrators often restrict paid duty gigs where cannabis, alcohol, gambling or nudity is involved and that are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0964663918810375">assumed to taint officers’ loyalty</a>. </p>
<p>In Winnipeg, police were <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6277732/winnipeg-police-special-duty-theft-december/">criticized for paid duty guarding of groceries</a> after they <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/winnipeg-superstore-police-racial-profiling-1.5391157">engaged in racial profiling of Indigenous customers</a>. </p>
<p>Paid duty is a problem for professional, accountable policing and its connection with <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/investigations/bs-md-ci-police-foundation-20160827-story.html">police corruption</a> including in Jersey City, Seattle and <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_314863d6-48ca-11ec-a62e-fb326a0266e7.html">New Orleans</a>. In Toronto, officers sometimes miss court dates and exceed limits on paid duty hours worked during lucrative jobs provided by external funders, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/03/04/paid_duty_policing_costs_taxpayers_millions_audit_report.html">as reported by the <em>Toronto Star</em></a>. </p>
<p>Paid duty is also a problem because some funders are public, including government departments that operate road maintenance and construction, utilities and hospitals. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/paid-duty-police-work-does-it-cost-city-too-much-1.2640944">The public already pays for police operations</a>, with huge proportions of government budgets, but then are <a href="https://nationalpost.com/posted-toronto/motion-to-eliminate-65hour-paid-duty-officers-at-work-sites-to-go-to-council">asked by the police institution to pay again for paid duty</a>.</p>
<p>Both private sponsorship through foundations and paid duty channel dark money into police departments. This all suggests that public police need greater scrutiny so that their greedy influence and reach can be reigned in and this institution can be re-envisioned through a lens of the public good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Walby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The greedy tendencies of police departments help illustrate why public police funding is a major problem today in Canada and the United States.Kevin Walby, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, University of WinnipegRandy K. Lippert, Professor of Criminology, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1769662022-02-15T16:20:37Z2022-02-15T16:20:37ZSolutions exist for Canada’s alt-right radicalization<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446363/original/file-20220214-17-mwp8ph.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4483%2C3167&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Counter-protestors gather in support of vaccines and mandates to oppose the anti-vaccination protests that have grown into a broader anti-government movement tin Ottawa. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While enacting the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-premiers-cabinet-1.6350734">Emergencies Act</a> may clear our streets, the protests have revealed the foothold alt-right extremism has in Canada. The government response has been outmatched by internet-based misinformation, organization and recruitment. </p>
<p>For the last three weeks, we have watched radicalization happen in real time. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.start.umd.edu/publication/terrorism-radicalization-and-de-radicalization">Experts note that radicalization</a> often begins with a person’s desire to belong, and belonging is cultivated around shared interests, fears and opportunities to feel heard. People then join a group by embracing the shared symbols and rhetoric — movements become radical extremism when people embrace personal attacks as a means to feel empowered at the expense of others. </p>
<p>Supporters of the “freedom convoy” have used COVID-19 vaccine mandates as a rallying cry and hatred has been used to empower and bind the movement together. Leaders of the movement are using <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/43/26703.short?rss=1">common populist tools</a> to turn frustrations into <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-police-not-the-military-must-stop-the-freedom-convoy-and-canadas-far-right-uprising-176872">rhetoric of rage and symbols of fear</a>. </p>
<p>The result: more than <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-airport-convoy-protest-traffic-1.6346256">400 reported incidents of hate</a> in Ottawa in three weeks.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of people wearing winter gear walk down the street. They are holding a Canadian flag with the colouring of the U.S. flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446379/original/file-20220214-113586-j1vyya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446379/original/file-20220214-113586-j1vyya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446379/original/file-20220214-113586-j1vyya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446379/original/file-20220214-113586-j1vyya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446379/original/file-20220214-113586-j1vyya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446379/original/file-20220214-113586-j1vyya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446379/original/file-20220214-113586-j1vyya.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People walk during an anti-mandate protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 13.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While “freedom convoy” supporters may be a <a href="https://theconversation.com/majority-of-canadians-disagree-with-freedom-convoy-on-vaccine-mandates-and-lockdowns-176323">minority in Canada</a>, social science has shown it only takes a <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-25-revolution-how-big-does-a-minority-have-to-be-to-reshape-society/">committed minority to shift a whole group</a>. </p>
<p>To turn back the tides of radicalization and hate, Canada needs investments in our democratic culture, improvements in policing and support for grassroots efforts. We can look to international and local examples for practical solutions.</p>
<h2>Invest in democratic culture</h2>
<p><a href="https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/democracy-index-2020.pdf">Canada ranks as one of the strongest democracies</a> in the world, but our research at the <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/dialogue.html">Simon Fraser University Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue</a>’s <a href="https://www.democracydialogue.ca/">Strengthening Canadian Democracy Initative</a> has shown that many people have a <a href="https://www.democracydialogue.ca/resources/Building-Community-Democracy">hard time explaining how their personal actions relate to democracy</a>. Democracy feels disconnected from community and civic life.</p>
<p>To heal the rift, we can look to the Council of Europe for help. Their <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/reference-framework-of-competences-for-democratic-culture">Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture</a> names a total of 20 critical understandings, values, attitudes and skills that people must cultivate in competent democracies. The framework also puts these ideas into practice for ministries of education and practitioners. </p>
<p>As part of its <a href="https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/backgrounders/2021/12/09/summit-democracy-2021-submission-and-commitments-canada">commitments to democracy</a>, the federal government needs to invest in a national effort to develop its own framework of democratic skills, attitudes and knowledge, immersed in truth and reconciliation and adapted to our particular form of immigration and multiculturalism. </p>
<p>We need a formal process for creating a national dialogue about the attitudes and behaviours we want in our democracy. </p>
<h2>Invest in police reform</h2>
<p>Canadians <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/human_rights-droits_homme/advancing_democracy-avancer_democratie.aspx?lang=eng">promote respect for the rule of law</a>, but the protests have documented the truth: the law treats Canadians differently based on their skin colour. </p>
<p>RCMP are quickly militarized to push Indigenous people off their land when they <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rcmp-wet-suwet-en-pipeline-resistance-1.6254245">blockaded pipelines</a>, but police <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/12/world/americas/canada-truck-protests-police.html">have not removed white protesters</a> with the same vigour. </p>
<p>The hypocrisy of the last three weeks erodes trust in all our institutions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Police swarm protesters near a railway crossing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446527/original/file-20220215-17-1bjzlrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446527/original/file-20220215-17-1bjzlrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446527/original/file-20220215-17-1bjzlrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446527/original/file-20220215-17-1bjzlrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446527/original/file-20220215-17-1bjzlrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446527/original/file-20220215-17-1bjzlrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446527/original/file-20220215-17-1bjzlrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ontario Provincial Police officers make arrests at a 2020 rail blockade in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory as they protest in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en Nation hereditary chiefs attempting to halt construction of a natural gas pipeline on their traditional territories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To restore trust, the rest of Canada should follow Nova Scotia’s lead. Last month, Halifax released a list of <a href="https://www.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/boards-committees-commissions/220117bopc1021.pdfhttps://www.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/boards-committees-commissions/220117bopc1021.pdf">36 recommendations</a> to re-task police, reform practices and accountability to improve public safety. </p>
<p>All levels of government need to invest in similar commissions and, more importantly, enact their recommendations. </p>
<h2>Invest in de-radicalization</h2>
<p>The federal government may have a <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ntnl-strtg-cntrng-rdclztn-vlnc/index-en.aspx">2018 National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence</a>, and invested in countering misinformation through its <a href="https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ntnl-strtg-cntrng-rdclztn-vlnc/index-en.aspx">Digital Citizen Initiative</a>, but they have yet to be scaled up effectively. </p>
<p>To shrink the foothold of alt-right fascism, we can look to Norway and Germany’s <a href="https://www.exit-deutschland.de/english/">EXIT programs</a>. These approaches model a national strategy that supports grassroots counselling and family support to help those leave radicalized groups. </p>
<p>They encourage people to build new productive relationships and promote trust among communities and institutions. They are hailed as one of the most successful de-radicalization strategies, and in Norway, their efforts are believed to have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/18335330.2019.1662076">eliminated the threat entirely</a>.</p>
<p>Effective grassroots programs exist in North America and can be scaled. <a href="https://www.lifeafterhate.org/about-us-1">Life After Hate</a> uses support networks to help people move away from radicalization. In Canada, the <a href="https://preventviolence.ca/">Organization for the Prevention of Violence</a> works with communities to develop public education campaigns tailored to different extremist beliefs. These approaches also fulfil the need for community that often draws people to extremism in the first place.</p>
<p>Most de-radicalization approaches emphasize using dialogue: building empathy and exploring the values and motivations at the foundation of someone’s ideas. </p>
<p>It’s challenging to forcibly <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/the-capitol-riot-could-lead-to-further-radicalization-heres-how-to-pull-people-back-from-the-brink/">convince someone they are wrong</a>, but loved ones can <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/splc_peril_parents_and_caregivers_guide_june_2021_final.pdf">reintroduce them to trustworthy news sources</a>, reduce <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-twitter-echo-chamber-confirmation-bias/">confirmation bias</a> and <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2021/11/thanksgiving-qanon-family-behavioral-science.html">reconnect with communities that bring them joy</a>. </p>
<h2>Invest in local democracy</h2>
<p>If radicalization is tempting because it creates belonging and a sense of empowerment, we need to invest in democratic forms of those experiences in our own backyards. </p>
<p>Scotland, for example, has passed the <a href="https://www.gov.scot/policies/community-empowerment/">Community Empowerment Act</a>. The act provides a fund to allow communities to tackle poverty on their own terms. It also creates community councils to elevate citizen voices in government and encourages deliberative activities to involve residents in solutions. </p>
<p>Canada often creates funding opportunities and programs to encourage solutions to important problems — it’s time to ensure those take place at national and local levels to promote democratic skills, belonging and empowerment. Proven solutions exist. We just need to invest in them. </p>
<p><em>Kelly Grounds co-authored this article. She has worked as a junior policy analyst in cybersecurity and as a research assistant on disinformation projects.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176966/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Strengthening Canadian Democracy Initiative has received funding, in the past, from the Government of Canada's Digital Citizen Initiative. The SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue receives contracts from the government to engage citizens on important topics of deliberation.</span></em></p>To turn back the tides of radicalization and hate, Canada needs investments in our democratic culture, improvements in policing and support for grassroots efforts.Jennifer Wolowic, Co-leads the Strengthening Canadian Democracy Initiative at the SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1721202021-12-09T21:48:35Z2021-12-09T21:48:35ZRethinking police reform: From defunding to promoting sustainability<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433768/original/file-20211124-27-ml9azc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C5160%2C3445&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rethinking what we mean by police sustainability, how we measure it and how we hold the police accountable for outcomes, may create the opening for a more viable path to reform. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/25/us/derek-chauvin-sentencing-george-floyd/index.html">Derek Chauvin was convicted of the murder of George Floyd</a> on June 25, 2021. Since then, calls for police reform haven’t been as loud. </p>
<p>One explanation might be attributed to the language of “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2021/05/19/7-myths-about-defunding-the-police-debunked/">defund the police</a>.” This slogan <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/25/us/defund-police-crime-spike/index.html">has been polarizing</a>, alienating police and other stakeholders from crucial conversations about change.</p>
<p>The never-ending pandemic and an increased focus on climate change may also have helped stall talks; however, the issues that led to the many calls for change have not gone away, nor are they new.</p>
<h2>Calls for reform</h2>
<p>Since the 1980s — and throughout my 24 years of policing experience — recruitment of diverse officers and diversity training have been consistently identified as key to improving police-minority relations. </p>
<p>For instance, in 1989, the <a href="https://novascotia.ca/just/marshall_inquiry/_docs/Royal%20Commission%20on%20the%20Donald%20Marshall%20Jr%20Prosecution_findings.pdf">Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall, Jr. Prosecution</a> (an Indigenous man who was wrongly convicted), recommended the police establish recruitment targets to reflect the general population, develop policies on racial stereotyping and deliver cultural sensitivity training to their members. </p>
<p>Recently, a <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/432/SECU/Reports/RP11434998/securp06/securp06-e.pdf">House of Commons committee</a> also recommended enhanced training and diversity hiring as part of a response to reports of systemic racism in policing. </p>
<p>Similarly, President Barack Obama’s 2015 <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf"><em>Task Force on 21st Century Policing</em></a> called for the creation of a diverse law enforcement workforce to improve understanding and effectiveness in working with communities, along with the adoption of a police culture of accountability and transparency and efforts to proactively promote public trust through non-enforcement engagement activities.</p>
<p>While a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53309-4">seemingly impenetrable police culture</a> has been consistently cited as a barrier to reform, from my related academic research, I propose that an equally problematic issue is the continued reliance on outdated indicators of police performance. In short, these indicators reinforce conventional ideas of police sustainability rather than align with the concerns of “defund the police” advocates.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of police officers stand together wearing helmets with faceshields above their heads." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433767/original/file-20211124-25-n6xf9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433767/original/file-20211124-25-n6xf9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433767/original/file-20211124-25-n6xf9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433767/original/file-20211124-25-n6xf9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433767/original/file-20211124-25-n6xf9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433767/original/file-20211124-25-n6xf9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433767/original/file-20211124-25-n6xf9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recruitment of diverse officers and diversity training have been consistently identified as key to improving police-minority relations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Sean Lee/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sustainability now</h2>
<p>Traditionally, police sustainability has been associated with police effectiveness and demonstrations of value, which have often been linked to <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/248476.pdf">crime stats, crime clearance rates and arrests</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, these metrics provide no information about the experiences of Black, Indigenous and other racialized people. They also fail to provide information on public perceptions of fair and equitable treatment by police. </p>
<p>Internally, limited attention has been paid to assessing the experiences of women and racialized officers. Therefore, it is no surprise that their <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2019001/article/00015-eng.htm">representation within the police</a> is lower than in the general population. </p>
<p>Women and racialized officers are also continually subjected to <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/proposed-class-action-lawsuit-led-by-former-constable-alleges-racism-in-rcmp-1.5022934?cid=ps:localnewscampaign:searchad:ds:calgarycrawl">discrimination </a> and <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/06/28/women-in-policing-share-stories-of-harassment-ask-why-is-it-so-hard-to-get-justice/">harassment</a> within their own departments.</p>
<p>Additional problems with traditional indicators of success were highlighted in a session on <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/248654.pdf">policing and public safety</a> at the Harvard Kennedy School. A summary report from this session noted that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Just as we measure internal organizational success by employee adherence to rules, we measure external operational success through crime rates and arrest statistics. We do both to the detriment of building trust and legitimacy, because they ignore what the research tells us and what the public and the rank and file tell us. Both the public and rank-and-file officers want to be treated fairly by those in authority. We should not be surprised that we end up with poor morale among our officers echoed by the lack of trust from the community.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Studies show a promising link between fair treatment and several positive outcomes, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370813491898">increased openness of officers to change</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/13639511311329732">improved attitudes about community policing</a> and increased support for more <a href="https://asu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/justice-from-within-the-relations-between-a-procedurally-justorga">democratic forms of policing</a>. </p>
<p>My own research also suggests that treating officers fairly and with dignity and respect may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOTB-11-2019-0132">counter harmful aspects of police culture</a>. </p>
<p>Clearly, it’s time to rethink how we approach police reform as well as how we define and assess police sustainability. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person wearing a face mask carries a sign that reads 'defund brutality'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433766/original/file-20211124-19-z16qev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433766/original/file-20211124-19-z16qev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433766/original/file-20211124-19-z16qev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433766/original/file-20211124-19-z16qev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433766/original/file-20211124-19-z16qev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433766/original/file-20211124-19-z16qev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433766/original/file-20211124-19-z16qev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A key outcome of police sustainability is enhanced legitimacy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nathan Dumlao/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Redefining police sustainability</h2>
<p>In the book, <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/policing-for-sustainable-development-goals/"><em>Policing for Sustainable Development Goals</em></a>, the authors advocate for a more human-rights oriented style of policing that focuses on: protecting the vulnerable, working within the rule of law and being representative of a transparent, effective and accountable public organization. </p>
<p>Consistent with the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">UN sustainable development goals</a>, police sustainability should also be concerned with providing a safe and secure workplace.</p>
<p>Repositioning police sustainability as creating public value while also ensuring a positive societal impact means paying attention to policies and practices that promote a safe and healthy working environment on top of police actions that benefit communities. </p>
<p>Under this new interpretation of sustainability, indicators of success pertain to both the internal and external environments. Internally, these indicators include positive assessments of interactions that may also act as early warnings of possible misconduct. </p>
<p>Externally, a key outcome of police sustainability is <a href="https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7419&context=jclc">enhanced legitimacy</a>, which can be measured through citizen perceptions that the police act lawfully, treat community members fairly and with respect and keep them safe. </p>
<p>Rethinking what we mean by police sustainability, how we measure it and how we hold the police accountable for outcomes, may create the opening for a more viable path to reform. </p>
<p>Such actions call for examining police reform through the lens of sustainability rather than “defunding.” In the end, we may just achieve the same goal of meaningful change without alienating key stakeholders in the process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172120/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Workman-Stark does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The continued reliance on outdated indicators of police performance reinforce conventional ideas of police sustainability rather than align with the concerns of “defund the police” advocates.Angela Workman-Stark, Associate Professor, Organizational Behaviour, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1711832021-11-04T12:25:26Z2021-11-04T12:25:26ZWhy voters rejected plans to replace the Minneapolis Police Department – and what’s next for policing reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430106/original/file-20211103-23-n2v7oa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C0%2C6192%2C4106&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Precincts around where George Floyd was killed voted in favor of disbanding the Minneapolis Police Department.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jordan-and-royal-pacheco-learn-of-george-floyds-murder-at-news-photo/1325462666?adppopup=true">Brandon Bell/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Voters in Minneapolis <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/02/1051617581/minneapolis-police-vote">rejected a measure</a> that would have transformed the city’s policing 18 months after the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html">killing of George Floyd</a> thrust the city into the forefront of the police reform debate.</em></p>
<p><em>By a <a href="https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-election-results-2021-st-paul-mayor-police-city-council-charter-amendments-rent-control/600110186/">56% to 44% margin</a>, voters said “no” to a <a href="https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-supreme-court-minneapolis-policing-measure-stays-on-ballot/600097750/">charter amendment</a> that would have replaced the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety focused on public health solutions.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/phelps">Michelle Phelps</a> at the University of Minnesota leads a <a href="https://www.michellesphelps.com/research/policing">project looking at attitudes toward policing</a> in the city. The Conversation asked her to explain what happened in the Nov. 2, 2021, vote and where it leaves both Minneapolis’ beleaguered police department and police reform movements nationwide. An edited version of her responses are below.</em></p>
<h2>What have voters in Minneapolis rejected?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Minneapolis,_Minnesota,_Question_2,_Replace_Police_Department_with_Department_of_Public_Safety_Initiative_(November_2021)">wording of the amendment</a> was quite complicated.</p>
<p>In essence, the amendment would have eliminated the existing police department in the city charter and replaced it with a Department of Public Safety charged with delivering “a comprehensive public health approach” to public safety, with the details of the new department to be determined by the mayor and city council.</p>
<h2>So this was a ‘defund the police’ bill?</h2>
<p>The proposed amendment itself didn’t require police numbers be reduced, but it removed a barrier to defunding. It was a chance for a new approach to policing.</p>
<p>The amendment would have eliminated a city charter requirement that Minneapolis maintain a <a href="https://www.startribune.com/by-requiring-a-minimum-force-minneapolis-charter-poses-obstacle-to-defunding-police/571120052/">minimum number of officers</a> based on population size. And it would have shifted some of the power for policing matters from the mayor to the city council, which could have required the new department to focus resources on alternatives to uniformed police, such as unarmed community officers or mental health specialists.</p>
<h2>Why did the amendment fail?</h2>
<p>The vote should not be seen as evidence that Minneapolis residents are content with city policing. Polls have shown that the Minneapolis Police Department is <a href="https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-poll-public-safety-minneapolis-police-crime-charter-amendment-ballot-question/600097989/">viewed broadly unfavorably</a>, especially among Black residents. And 44% of voters did vote in favor of the amendment, so it is very much a mixed signal.</p>
<p>The reasons people voted against the amendment were complex. Yes, there was an element of resentment among white, more conservative Minneapolis residents who saw this as a radical attack on law and order. But it failed to get enough support among precincts with majority Black residents too.</p>
<p>One possible reason: As well as being <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/blacks-whites-police-deaths-disparity/">more likely to face police brutality</a>, Black Americans are also more likely to ask for the assistance of officers due to neighborhood violence. This bled into concerns over the impact that the amendment would have on police officer numbers.</p>
<p>As a result, the Black community <a href="https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-police-ballot-question-divides-black-activists-leaders/600110965/">was divided</a> over the amendment. At the same time that some Black activists and city leaders were calling for dismantling or abolishing the Minneapolis Police Department, other Black residents in North Minneapolis were <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/now/judge-orders-minneapolis-hire-more-132100293.html">suing the city to hire more officers</a>.</p>
<h2>Who voted against the amendment?</h2>
<p>We don’t have a full breakdown of the vote yet, but we have <a href="https://www.startribune.com/how-minneapolis-voted-on-the-police-charter-amendment/600104740/?refresh=true">precinct heat maps</a> that give a rough indication of who voted “yes” and who “no.” </p>
<p>Support for the amendment was high in some parts of South Minneapolis, especially the multiracial communities around George Floyd Square. There was also strong support in some gentrifying neighborhoods where there are a lot of young white voters.</p>
<p>In the southwest precincts – where there are clusters of wealthy, white residents – there was very strong opposition to the amendment. But most precincts in North Minneapolis, which has the highest proportion of Black voters, also voted “no” on average. When looked at through the lens of race, the story of the amendment is complicated.</p>
<p>Initial poll results also suggest age was an important a divide, if not more so than race.</p>
<p>In sum, both support for, and opposition against, question 2 in Minneapolis highlights the complex racial politics around both fear of police violence and fear of crime.</p>
<h2>Are those fears supported?</h2>
<p>Certainly opponents of the amendment have tried to argue that efforts to reimagine policing has left Minneapolis less safe. It is true that a <a href="https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/05/16/former-minneapolis-police-officer-talks-about-his-decision-to-leave/">lot of officers have left the force</a> since the summer of 2020 – many have left to go to departments outside the city, while others are on medical leave for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).</p>
<p>And there is a perception among the public that fewer officers results in greater community violence. But the truth of the matter is trickier. The city has not defunded the police – the <a href="https://www.police1.com/funding/articles/minneapolis-mayor-unveils-plan-to-boost-police-funding-closer-to-previous-levels-HUFv3sitMVg0CekA/">budget for 2021</a> was roughly in line with 2020. So the drop in officer numbers is not a result of the city defunding the department. Instead, officers are leaving the force. And there’s some evidence too that the officers that remain have at times shirked their duties to the public or “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-policing-minneapolis/">pulled back</a>” in proactive activities.</p>
<p>It is too simple to say that the reduction in police numbers has resulted in the increase in violent crime. We also <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-guns-pandemic-stress-and-a-police-legitimacy-crisis-created-perfect-conditions-for-homicide-spike-in-2020-168823">have to factor in</a> the economic and social impacts of the pandemic, along with the fact that the courts were also shut down during that period. </p>
<p>At the same time, there has been an intense scrutiny on police violence in Minneapolis since George Floyd’s murder, and this has changed how officers and citizens interact – 911 calls have declined, relative to the rate of shootings, and trust is at a low. Meanwhile the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/31/us-gun-sales-rise-pandemic">uptick in gun sales</a> likely contributed to the increase as well. So there are a lot of factors beyond the number of police, or what they do, that can fuel violence or promote safety.</p>
<h2>What is next for police reform in Minneapolis?</h2>
<p>I’m not convinced this is the end of the amendment – it could return in some form. Yes, it failed this time, but there is a core of residents, organizers and activists who want to move away from the status quo when it comes to law enforcement.</p>
<p>The immediate concern for the city will be <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/now/judge-orders-minneapolis-hire-more-132100293.html">hiring officers to comply with a court order to comply with the minimum officers standard in the city charter</a>, in addition to continuing to work to reform the department. So we will likely see more officers, not less, in the immediate future.</p>
<p>But there is real momentum for transformations in policing beyond reform. It is still possible that Minneapolis gets a Department of Public Safety, but through city ordinances rather than amendment and without disbanding the Minneapolis Police Department. And the city is continuing to onboard new mental health professionals to respond to some 911 calls.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, we have an <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/trial-over-killing-of-george-floyd/2021/04/21/989446758/doj-to-investigate-minneapolis-police-for-possible-patterns-of-excessive-force">ongoing federal Department of Justice investigation</a>. That could well end with a consent decree or memorandum of understanding that would mandate some of the changes that activists and community members are looking for.</p>
<h2>How will this vote affect the wider police reform movement?</h2>
<p>After George Floyd, what happens with policing in Minneapolis is no longer just about Minneapolis.</p>
<p>For advocates of the type of transformative changes envisioned by the amendment, it is a mixed result. While some may argue that the failure of the amendment to pass confirms that police defunding or abolition is politically toxic, close to half of the electorate voted for it – momentum has never been higher, despite the loss.</p>
<p>And had it been followed by <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/minneapolis-bloody-summer-puts-city-on-pace-for-most-violent-year-in-a-generation/">continued increases in shootings</a>, the danger would have been that the amendment would have been held responsible. The silver lining for those pushing for a “yes” vote is that perhaps the city now has the chance to develop alternative public health models without as much national scrutiny.</p>
<p>One thing is sure: This is not the end of the conversation.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 115,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171183/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle S. Phelps does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Minneapolis residents voted 56% to 44% against an amendment that would have transformed the city’s police. The reasons they did so are complicated, an expert writes.Michelle S. Phelps, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Law, University of MinnesotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1686302021-09-24T12:36:30Z2021-09-24T12:36:30ZFederal police reform talks have failed – but local efforts stand a better chance of success<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423038/original/file-20210923-19-jst6w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Another door closes on federal police reform.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sen-cory-booker-speaks-with-members-of-the-press-after-news-photo/1235437009?adppopup=true">Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bipartisan talks over police reform <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/22/bipartisan-police-reform-513609">ended with no agreement</a> on Sept. 22, 2021, with House Democrats and Republicans blaming each other for the lack of progress.</p>
<p>It isn’t the first time that <a href="https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5011&context=flr">reform at a federal level</a> has been attempted – nor the first time <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-legislation-breonna-taylor-politics-14423b35b5cc36502cd52a5df1170e77">it has stalled</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/29/congress-to-hold-police-reform-legislation-talk-as-george-floyd-act-stalls.html">sticking points</a> this time appear to be centered around proposed changes to use-of-force procedures and plans to strip officers of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-qualified-immunity-protects-police-officers-accused-of-wrongdoing-159617">qualified immunity</a>, which shields them from being sued.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/natasha-johnson/">scholars of criminal justice</a> – one <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/thaddeus-johnson/">a former police officer of 10 years</a> – we were not surprised by the collapse of bipartisan talks. Policing in the U.S. is politicized, making it harder to reach consensus in an age of polarization, even though <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/315962/americans-say-policing-needs-major-changes.aspx">most Americans believe that major changes</a> are needed. </p>
<p>In determining the magnitude of this failure, it is important to keep in mind that policing in the U.S. is inherently local. The nearly <a href="https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/america-has-18000-police-agencies-no-national-standards-experts-say-thats-a-problem">18,000 police departments</a> in the country face a variety of different issues, ranging from problems recruiting enough officers – and of a sufficient caliber – to a breakdown of trust with the community. </p>
<p>Even without legislation from Congress, there is a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/opinion/police-reform-obama-task-force.html">national blueprint</a> for police reform. President Barack Obama’s <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf">Task Force on 21st Century Policing</a> set out six pillars to guide departments toward better practices. Those included strategies to build trust with the community, provide oversight, implement better training and procedures, and improve officer safety and well-being.</p>
<p>The federal government can play a clear role in regard to financing reform and addressing nonpolicing issues that contribute to crime, such as underlying poverty and the lack of green spaces.</p>
<p>In the years after the 9/11 attacks, the federal government <a href="https://theconversation.com/militarization-has-fostered-a-policing-culture-that-sets-up-protesters-as-the-enemy-139727">made funding available</a> for local departments to buy military-grade weapons and vehicles through the Defense Logistics Agency’s 1033 Program and the Homeland Security Grant Program. The federal government might now be better placed playing a similar role as a funder for local law enforcement reforms.</p>
<h2>City by city</h2>
<p>While reform has stalled in Congress, there <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/legislative-responses-for-policing.aspx">has been movement</a> elsewhere. Steps toward reform are underway in many U.S. cities, including <a href="https://www.davisvanguard.org/2021/04/philadelphia-da-throws-weight-behind-police-reform/">Philadelphia</a>; <a href="https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/02/24/proposed-defunding-reforms-of-oakland-police-department-draw-mixed-reactions/">Oakland, California</a>; and <a href="https://www.kgw.com/article/news/politics/oregon-police-reform-bills-passed-activists-reaction/283-d1fea772-7ea5-4165-99b0-eacc7c79e995">Portland, Oregon</a>.</p>
<p>Many of <a href="https://www.axios.com/police-reform-george-floyd-protest-2150b2dd-a6dc-4a0c-a1fb-62c2e999a03a.html">these efforts</a> are geared toward ending specific practices, including those that tripped up negotiations in Congress, such as the granting of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/20/george-floyd-derek-chauvin-killer-mike-police">qualified immunity</a> and the use of <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/06/11/louisville-metro-council-votes-ban-no-knock-warrants-after-breonna-taylors-death/5342907002/">no-knock warrants</a>. Mayors and city councils nationwide have also pushed reforms emphasizing <a href="https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/police-department/news/2020/updated-policies.html">accountability and transparency</a>, with many working to create <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/07/931806105/across-the-country-voters-approve-more-civilian-oversight-for-police">independent oversight commissions</a>. </p>
<p>From Ferguson, Missouri, to Baltimore, Oakland and Chicago, numerous city police departments have undergone transformation efforts following controversial police killings. </p>
<p>Not all of the reform movements have lived up to their promises. </p>
<p>After the shooting death of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html">unarmed teen Michael Brown</a> in 2014, police in Ferguson <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-missouri-ferguson-plan/ferguson-accepts-u-s-governments-police-reform-plan-idUSKCN0WH30H">agreed to a reform program</a> that included anti-bias training and an agreement to end stop, search and arrest practices that discriminate on the basis of race.</p>
<p>But five years into the process, <a href="https://forwardthroughferguson.org/stateofpolicereform/">a report by the nonprofit Forward Through Ferguson</a> found the reforms had done <a href="https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2019-09-17/ferguson-groups-report-concludes-police-in-st-louis-area-have-not-made-enough-reforms">little to change policing culture or practice</a>. This was backed up by a Ferguson Civilian Review Board <a href="https://www.fergusoncity.com/DocumentCenter/View/4244/2019-FPD-Traffic-Stops-and-Racial-Profiling-Data">report in July 2020</a> that found the “disparity in traffic stops between Black and white residents appears to be growing.” </p>
<p>Similarly, concerns over the <a href="https://theappeal.org/years-after-freddie-grays-death-baltimore-police-misconduct-persists/">quality of Baltimore’s police services persist</a> despite federal oversight and reforms brought on after the <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-freddie-gray-20150419-story.html">death of Freddie Gray</a> in police custody in 2015.</p>
<p>Commentators have pointed to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/baltimore-police-reforms-crime/2020/06/18/7d60e91e-b041-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html">resistance to change</a> among officers and an inability to garner <a href="https://www.marylandmatters.org/2020/12/02/baltimore-city-residents-seek-police-accountability-measures-more-education-funding-in-next-session/">community buy-in</a> as reasons for the slowdown in progress in Baltimore. </p>
<p>Part of the problem, as seen with Baltimore, is that federal intervention does not appear to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1098611114561305">guarantee lasting change</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12295">Research shows</a> that Department of Justice regulations aimed at reform only slightly reduce police misconduct.</p>
<p>There is also no evidence that national efforts targeting the use of force alone <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2020.1733637">mitigate police killings</a>.</p>
<h2>Community-led reform</h2>
<p>One beacon of hope is the Cincinnati Police Department. Twenty years ago, residents in Cincinnati experienced events similar to what many cities have faced in more recent years. An unarmed Black man, <a href="https://www.fox19.com/2021/04/07/april-remembering-timothy-thomas-two-decades-later/">Timothy Thomas</a>, was shot dead by officers in 2001, sparking widespread unrest. It led Cincinnati to enter into a different model of reform: a <a href="https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/department-references/collaborative-agreement/">collaborative agreement</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A protester throws debris at Cincinnati police officers in riot gear in 2001." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After the death of Timothy Thomas in 2001, Cincinnati erupted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protester-throws-debris-april-10-2001-at-cincinnati-police-news-photo/800279?adppopup=true">Mike Simons/Newsmakers via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Touted by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch as <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-lynch-delivers-remarks-community-policing-roundtable-cincinnati">a national model for community-led police reform</a>, the collaborative agreement saw the police department, civic government, police unions and local civil rights groups act in partnership for a reform program backed by court supervision. </p>
<p>The resulting changes to use-of-force policies, a focus on community-based solutions to crime and robust oversight brought about improved policing. A <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG853.html">2009 Rand evaluation</a> of the collaborative agreement found that it resulted in a reduction in crime, positive changes in citizens’ attitudes toward police and fewer racially biased traffic stops. There were also <a href="https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/linkservid/97D9709F-F1C1-4A75-804C07D9873DC70F/showMeta/0/">fewer use-of-force incidents and officer and arrestee injuries</a>.</p>
<p>But it isn’t perfect. Cincinnati’s Black residents continue to be disproportionately arrested – likely owing to the concentration of crime, service calls and police deployments in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Figures from 2018 show Black Cincinnati residents were <a href="https://jacobdkaplan.com/arrest.html#state=Ohio&agency=Cincinnati%20Police%20Department&category=all_arrests_total&subcategory=tot&subsubcategory=Race&rate=true&percent=false&monthly=false&checkbox_1=false&checkbox_2=false&checkbox_3=false&checkbox_4=false&checkbox_1=true">roughly three times</a> as likely to be arrested as their white counterparts.</p>
<p>Cincinnati’s collaborative agreement contained a number of elements that experts say are needed if police reforms are to be successful: strong leadership; flexible, goal-oriented approaches; effective oversight; and externally regulated transparency.</p>
<p>Moreover, it depended on police officials’ ability to cultivate <a href="http://jlsp.law.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2017/03/46-Schatmeier.pdf">community investment</a> and overcome resistance from police officers and police unions.</p>
<p>Community confidence is <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2012.00291.x">critical to police reform and community safety</a>. When citizens view police as legitimate and trustworthy, they are more likely to report crimes, cooperate during police investigations, comply with directives and work with police to find solutions to crime.</p>
<h2>Beyond collaboration</h2>
<p>Efforts like those in Cincinnati that put community engagement at the heart of police reforms undoubtedly are strides in the right direction. But they can go only so far. A noticeable shortcoming in most police reform programs is a focus on what is the right thing to do during confrontations with the public, rather than on trying to avert those situations in the first place. </p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1086/701423">Fatal police shootings</a> often happen during police stops and arrests – situations that carry <a href="https://doi.org/10.3818/JRP.4.1.2002.87">increased risks</a> of citizen resistance and violent police response.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Scaling back low-level enforcement, such as arrests for vagrancy and loitering – much of which has little <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403417725370">public safety advantage</a> – and having police partner with civilian responders for mental health, homelessness and drug-related calls, could mean <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20191028">fewer opportunities for violent police encounters</a>.</p>
<p>Some departments have begun to change their enforcement policies along these lines. The Gwinnett County Police Department in Georgia, for example, stopped making arrests and issuing citations for <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local/gwinnett-won-issue-citations-misdemeanor-marijuana-cases/QpGuMJ8KzHp7Ula8DLVw1M/">misdemeanor marijuana possession</a>. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108553599">2018 study</a> of traffic stops in Fayetteville, North Carolina, found that redirecting enforcement away from minor infractions – such as broken taillights and expired tags – and toward the more serious violations of speeding and running traffic lights resulted in reduced crime and a narrowed racial gap in stops and searches.</p>
<p>Isolated successes suggest that a localized approach emphasizing community buy-in may be key to police reform. That is not to say that the federal government can’t play a role – just that it may be better off looking at ways to help facilitate change at a departmental or citywide level.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: Portions of this article originally appeared in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-cities-have-long-struggled-to-reform-their-police-but-isolated-success-stories-suggest-community-and-officer-buy-in-might-be-key-159618">previous article</a> published on April 30, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168630/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thaddeus L. Johnson is affiliated with the Council on Criminal Justice. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha N. Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Months of bipartisan talks in Congress aimed at reaching consensus over policing reforms have ended with no agreement. Two policing scholars argue that federal efforts are better placed focusing on supporting local measures.Thaddeus L. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State UniversityNatasha N. Johnson, Clinical Instructor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1650392021-07-27T13:17:03Z2021-07-27T13:17:03ZHomeless encampment violence in Toronto betrays any real hope for police reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413173/original/file-20210726-13-n3qvcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3589%2C2398&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police remove encampment supporters as they clear Lamport Stadium Park encampment in Toronto on July 21, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dozens of <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8042568/alexandra-park-toronto-homeless-encampment/">police officers and city officials descended on Alexandra Park</a> in Toronto recently to destroy the shelters of close to 20 homeless people. Video and photo evidence <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshMatlow/status/1418299796394217474?s=20">shows police beating, shoving</a> and pepper-spraying encampment supporters. Legal observers and <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/07/20/longtime-photojournalist-arrested-at-alexandra-park-encampment-clearing.html">journalists were arrested</a>. </p>
<p>The next day, police <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8046320/toronto-homeless-encampment-clearing-lamport-stadium/">took their demolition show to Lamport Stadium Park</a> and guarded city bulldozers while they mowed shelters to the ground. Both of these operations saw an increase in the violence from last month when <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/06/22/homeless-encampment-trinity-bellwoods-park/">Trinity Bellwoods Park</a> was raided for the same destructive purpose. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.toronto.ca/news/city-of-toronto-restoring-alexandra-park-while-continuing-to-help-people-experiencing-homelessness/">Mayor John Tory and the Toronto Police insist</a> that these operations are a way to “ensure the safety of encampment occupants” and the general public. </p>
<p>Neither is true. </p>
<p>These police raids terrorized already traumatized people, and have taken away the last space they have to survive. Most of the displaced residents remain unhoused and are likely to be exposed to even more dangerous circumstances away from the support that the encampments offered. </p>
<p>The widespread criticism of these evictions focus on the <a href="https://tdin.ca/ann_documents/Encampments%20to%20Homes%20-%20A%20Path%20Forward.pdf">human rights breaches</a> that have occurred. But what is equally troubling is that <a href="https://tpsb.ca/mmedia/news-release-archive/listid-2/mailid-226-missing-persons-review-statement">promises made by the police</a> to be more accountable to marginalized communities have been exposed as a fraud.</p>
<p>More than a year after the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/us/george-floyd-protests-police-reform.html">death of George Floyd in the United States and historic protests for police reform</a>, it’s clear that the Toronto Police are insincere about changing how they treat historically over-policed and criminalized communities. </p>
<h2>Repairing the damaged trust</h2>
<p>Just three months ago, both the Toronto police chief and mayor accepted the recommendations of <em><a href="https://www.missingpersonsreview.ca/report-missing-and-missed">Missing and Missed: Report of The Independent Civilian Review into Missing Person Investigations</a></em>. The report came after an inquiry that was established in response to criticism that the police did not take missing persons reports seriously about six of the eight gay and bisexual people who were murdered by <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/bruce-mcarthur.html">serial killer Bruce McArthur between 2010 and 2017</a>. </p>
<p>In her meticulous analysis, Justice Gloria J. Epstein, an independent reviewer of the report, found that while some dedicated officers did excellent work, the overall investigation had “serious flaws” and was marred by “systematic discrimination.” The report made clear that, while those murdered were part of the LGBTQ2S+ community, “these victims were marginalized and vulnerable in a variety of ways.” </p>
<p>A major theme of <a href="https://8e5a70b5-92aa-40ae-a0bd-e885453ee64c.filesusr.com/ugd/a94b60_65605a078ad543ca936f8daa67ea4772.pdf?index=true">the 151 inquiry recommendations</a> is the absolute necessity of repairing the badly damaged trust between the Toronto Police and marginalized communities, which include racialized and Indigenous people, those experiencing homelessness and people with mental health issues. </p>
<p>In other words, repairing trust with the very people who are most likely to have been forced to take shelter in homeless encampments in Toronto parks in order to survive the pandemic. Those who <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/blog/home-where-heart-homeless-encampments-temporary-solution-housing-crisis">take refuge in encampments</a> tend to be the most vulnerable and victimized of people experiencing homelessness, and are more likely to have <a href="https://www.cmaj.ca/content/192/26/E716">complex needs</a> that are poorly served by the shelter system. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Police arrest people in a homeless encampment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toronto police make arrests as they clear the Lamport Stadium Park encampment in Toronto in July 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In their response three months ago, Tory and Police Chief James Ramer vowed to listen to and build a relationship with the very same people who are now being beaten and pepper-sprayed, and having their shelters bulldozed. </p>
<p>Tory <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnTory/status/1382062152886915075/photo/1">pledged that he was</a> “personally committed” to renewing a relationship with vulnerable communities, including homeless people. He stated, “the safety of all Toronto residents — every single resident in every community — is my number one priority. Maintaining the trust of all of our communities is extremely important to the ongoing success of the Toronto Police Service.” </p>
<p>And Ramer <a href="https://tpsb.ca/mmedia/news-release-archive/listid-2/mailid-226-missing-persons-review-statement">apologized and stated</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We understand, however, that saying ‘sorry’ only means something if it is followed by demonstrated and sustained action, and a commitment to the marginalized and vulnerable communities most impacted by the issues outlined in this report. We vow to listen to you, and to act.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A profound betrayal</h2>
<p>In her report, Epstein was hopeful that that there was a “genuine commitment” to build a “new relationship between the service and marginalized and vulnerable communities.” </p>
<p>The violence used to forcibly evict homeless park users over the past few weeks not only suggests otherwise, but amounts to a profound betrayal of public trust. </p>
<p>The vow of the mayor and police chief to “listen” and “act” in the interests of marginalized people now read as a cynical public relations ploy. </p>
<p>How many “missing persons” did the police create when residents fled the police violence and destruction of their shelters? As an institution the police do not seem capable of caring about vulnerable people. And they are now making their disdain clear for reforms that would make them more accountable. </p>
<p>If the police can so casually ignore a central recommendation resulting from how they failed marginalized people who were targeted by a serial killer, how can we now possibly expect any type of calls for democratic reform to be treated seriously? </p>
<p><em>Elliot Fonarev, Cheryl Cheung, Deanna Pikkov and Ferdouse Asefi are research assistants who provided assistance with this piece.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165039/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joe Hermer receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the University of Toronto COVID-19 Action Fund. He advises not-for-profit groups on policing issues. </span></em></p>A year after historic protests for police reform, it’s clear that the Toronto Police aren’t sincere about changing how they treat historically over-policed and criminalized communities.Joe Hermer, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1619772021-06-29T12:05:54Z2021-06-29T12:05:54ZDefund the police? Actually, police salaries are rising in departments across the United States<p>Police work can be one of the best-paid professions in the United States.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/police-and-detectives.htm">U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics</a>, the 2020 median salary for a police officer was US$67,290 – more than one-third higher than the national median of $48,769 for all occupations. Many officers probably earn much more, because the bureau’s analysis is based on hourly wages for a typical work year of 2,080 hours and does not include overtime – one of the factors that can drive an officer’s yearly income even higher.</p>
<p>Although there is a great deal of variation across the nation’s <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/nsleed.pdf">roughly 18,000 police departments</a>, the agency also reports that salaries for police have largely climbed in the past five years – from an 8.8% increase in Mississippi, the state that overall pays its police the least, to a 21% increase in Hawaii, one of the best-paying states.</p>
<p>While efforts to control police budgets have succeeded in Austin, Denver and Oakland, among others, the Biden administration <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/06/23/1009281690/the-white-house-announces-new-steps-to-try-to-curb-surging-gun-violence">recently announced that</a> COVID-19 relief funds can be used to hire police officers to combat the rise in gun violence. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://as.vanderbilt.edu/sociology/bio/?who=laurie-woods">a former police officer who studies policing in America</a>, I think it is unlikely that police salaries can go anywhere but up. </p>
<h2>Police salaries are inching up</h2>
<p>Just look at the trends across the U.S.</p>
<p>The Bureau of Labor Statistics published <a href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes333051.htm#st">the mean salaries for police officers</a> in all states plus the District of Columbia for the year 2018.</p>
<p>Somewhat predictably due to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/09/13/cheat-sheet-most-expensive-states/15455129/">cost of living</a>, California topped the list at $101,380, followed by Alaska at $88,030, where the cost of living also drives salaries higher. New Jersey, Washington state and Hawaii round out the top five. </p>
<p>All of the 10 departments with the lowest-paid officers are located in the South, where Mississippi police officers earn slightly more than one-third of their California counterparts. </p>
<p>Large cities clearly offer higher wages to their police officers, as do some cities surrounding large metropolitan areas. The Los Angeles Police Department currently advertises a starting salary of <a href="https://www.joinlapd.com/salary">$70,804 a year</a>. That’s up from the 2015 starting <a href="https://per.lacity.org/psb/lapd_salary.htm">annual salary of $59,717</a> – an 18.5% increase over just six years.</p>
<p>Starting salary for police officers in Baltimore is $55,117, with a seasoned officer earning <a href="https://www.baltimorepolice.org/careers/sworn-careers">$95,325, base salary alone</a>. Seattle officers earn $83,600 once they’ve completed their basic academy training and top out at $109,512 after 54 months, not including overtime. <a href="https://crosscut.com/2018/10/details-and-critics-emerge-new-seattle-police-contract">Seattle even agreed to pay</a> its officers an extra 2% for <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/police/police-jobs/salary-and-benefits#income">wearing body cameras</a>. </p>
<p>Larger, better-paying police departments attract officers from smaller departments by offering more pay and better training for experienced officers. This often leaves a void that small agencies struggle to fill with qualified candidates. </p>
<p>There are three main drivers of police take-home pay: overtime, education and competition.</p>
<h2>1. Overtime</h2>
<p>In his recent trial for the murder of George Floyd, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was represented by an attorney paid for by his union, the Minneapolis Police Federation. This benefit is only a small part of <a href="https://www2.minneapolismn.gov/media/content-assets/www2-documents/departments/wcmsp-200131.pdf">the union’s 128-page labor agreement with the city</a>, which details salaries, vacation, sick leave, medical insurance, grievance procedures and, in particular, overtime pay. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408656/original/file-20210628-25-dpnzgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white man wearing a gray suit and a blue mask listens to an unseen speaker" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408656/original/file-20210628-25-dpnzgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408656/original/file-20210628-25-dpnzgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408656/original/file-20210628-25-dpnzgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408656/original/file-20210628-25-dpnzgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408656/original/file-20210628-25-dpnzgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408656/original/file-20210628-25-dpnzgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408656/original/file-20210628-25-dpnzgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 ½ years in prison on June 25, 2021, for the death of George Floyd. His defense was part of his compensation as a Minneapolis police officer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GeorgeFloydOfficerTrial/7bfdcc4f5b974bb2865b5984b771180a/photo?Query=Chauvin&mediaType=photo,graphic&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1617&currentItemNo=39">Court TV via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reportedly, <a href="https://govsalaries.com/chauvin-derek-m-30649148">Derek Chauvin’s 2018 salary was $90,612</a>, more than twice the average Minneapolis <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/minneapoliscityminnesota/INC910219#INC910219">per capita income of $38,808 in 2019</a>. But it is overtime rather than base salaries that drives up officers’ total compensation.</p>
<p>Across the country, police officers typically receive “time and a half” for every hour worked beyond the standard 40-hour week, meaning a pay rate that combines their regular hourly rate plus an additional 50%. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.checkthepolice.org/database">Most union agreements</a> also stipulate higher pay for other work deemed “overtime,” such as off-duty court appearances. They also stipulate other after-hours pay boosts, such as a minimum of four hours’ pay for officers called back to duty for any reason. </p>
<p>In practice, these extra pay arrangements have a huge effect on driving up the size of police budgets. A few examples:</p>
<p>– In Los Angeles, where the second-largest police force in the U.S. boasts salaries of $83,144 after two years of employment plus an annual 1.5% cost-of-living increase, the union recently negotiated $245 million in overtime pay for its officers.</p>
<p>– Boston’s <a href="https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/embed/file/2019-08/bpdbs_cba_july_1_2016_to_june_30_2020.pdf">complex agreement with its police department</a> results in many opportunities for overtime as well as extra payment for special assignments.</p>
<p>City governments typically budget for some police officer overtime, since that extra income does not count toward an officer’s eventual retirement pay and reduces the need to hire additional employees. However, unanticipated events such as national disasters, public demonstrations and political rallies all result in overtime pay for cops that cities must pay whether or not they planned for it:</p>
<p>– Palm Beach, Florida, <a href="https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/national-govt--politics/trump-palm-beach-pbso-overtime-bill-feds-and-growing/FPRZCKSkEU8XjULnNtyE9I/">paid $3.26 million in police overtime</a> for former President Donald Trump’s visits to his Mar-a-Lago resort over a period of just 27 days from late 2017 into early 2018. </p>
<p>– <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2020/07/03/police-departments-have-spent-millions-in-overtime-during-protests/">Demonstrations in the wake of Floyd’s murder</a> cost New York City $115 million in overtime during one two-week period, while Seattle paid $6.3 million during the first 12 days of protests. </p>
<h2>2. Education</h2>
<p>Few local law enforcement agencies require a four-year college degree, but most offer educational incentives that range from a 2% annual salary increase for earning an associate’s degree to 10% for a bachelor’s degree. </p>
<p>For example, since 1970 in Massachusetts, police <a href="https://www.salemstate.edu/academics/college-health-and-human-services/criminal-justice/quinn-bill">receive pay incentives of up to 25%</a> over and above their regular salary for a master’s or law degree. <a href="http://directives.chicagopolice.org/CPDSergeantsExam_2019/directives/data/a7a56e3d-12887ea9-ce512-887e-c625cb562ad2e1d6.html?ownapi=1">The Chicago Police Department</a>, among others, provides tuition reimbursement for college courses, as well as additional incentive pay once a degree is completed.</p>
<p>Such incentives may be a good investment. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611109357325">Research indicates that</a> police officers with college degrees are less likely to use lethal force and are subjects of fewer citizen complaints. Since fewer complaints mean fewer claims to pay and lawsuits to defend, <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-police-officers-should-have-college-degrees-140523">this can ultimately save cities money</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Recruitment</h2>
<p>More police officers are leaving the profession before retirement age, according to <a href="https://www.policeforum.org/assets/WorkforceCrisis.pdf">a 2019 study by the Police Executive Research Forum</a>. The group has also found that the number of applicants for police jobs has steadily declined over the past 10 years. So departments trying to attract new recruits often go beyond tempting salaries by offering incentives like assistance with relocation, housing and childcare, education pay, college tuition reimbursement, health club memberships and employee signing bonuses. </p>
<p>At the New York Police Department, the nation’s largest force, the starting salary is a relatively modest $42,000 a year. But the department highlights on its website that <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/careers/police-officers/po-benefits.page">starting benefits</a> include “holiday pay, longevity pay, uniform allowance, night differential and overtime,” which together with salary can boost annual compensation to more than $100,000. </p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>.]</p>
<p>Even smaller departments are coming up with incentives <a href="https://www.policeforum.org/assets/WorkforceCrisis.pdf">to try and remain competitive</a> with larger agencies that can offer higher salaries, more overtime and more attractive benefits. The police department of Bellmead, Texas, a city of around 10,500 about two hours north of Austin, <a href="https://www.kxxv.com/news/local-news/more-cities-offering-incentives-to-get-best-police-officers">has begun offering experienced officers a $5,000 bonus</a> for signing on to the force.</p>
<p>Another trend to watch: Not only are police salaries rising, but the size of police forces also continues to grow. <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/police-and-detectives.htm">The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts</a> a 5% growth in police jobs from 2019 to 2029, from 813,500 to an estimated 854,200, which is faster on average than other occupations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161977/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurie Woods does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite growing public criticism over how much counties, cities and towns spend on policing, many are increasing officer pay.Laurie Woods, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1613312021-06-10T14:55:01Z2021-06-10T14:55:01ZCop shows: Should they be cancelled or rebooted?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404354/original/file-20210603-25-erks1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C0%2C5521%2C3669&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A group of policemen in Marseille, France, pass in front of a bus shelter featuring a poster from the television series 'Paris Police 1900'.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The murder of George Floyd <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/how-george-floyds-death-reignited-a-worldwide-movement/a-56781938">reignited a global outpouring of grief and advocacy</a> on behalf of victims of police brutality. </p>
<p>In the year since, there have been many pieces written about the past, present and future of police on television. Some call for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/04/shut-down-all-police-movies-tv-shows-now/">police shows to be cancelled</a>, but most instead <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/police-shows-in-2020-anonymous-in-hollywood.html">reflect</a> on how to <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/6/11/21284719/cop-shows-canceled-the-wire-babylon-berlin">reinvent them</a>. </p>
<p>A lot of these pieces cite a <a href="https://hollywood.colorofchange.org/crime-tv-report/%22%22">2020 report</a>, which asserts that the scripted crime genre normalizes injustice. This suggests that it might not be possible to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/24/tv-police-cop-shows-hollywood-legacy">reform these shows</a>. But as television plays a large role in not just reflecting, but <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42579442?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">constructing our reality</a>, writers and producers can’t afford not to try.</p>
<p>The classic cop show is now a problematic genre, but if it can change, then perhaps real world policing can too.</p>
<h2>Informing our understanding of justice</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/22/how-to-write-a-tv-police-procedural-in-thirteen-easy-steps?">police procedural or “cop show</a>” has been a prime-time staple — informing our understanding of justice and the role of law enforcement in attaining it — since the days of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043194/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3"><em>Dragnet</em></a>. </p>
<p>These <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/network-tv">broadcast network</a> television programs remain compelling because they are predictably consistent with episodic ripped-from-the-headlines plots.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Billboard of TV show 'The Boys'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404353/original/file-20210603-25-4eowse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404353/original/file-20210603-25-4eowse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404353/original/file-20210603-25-4eowse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404353/original/file-20210603-25-4eowse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404353/original/file-20210603-25-4eowse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404353/original/file-20210603-25-4eowse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404353/original/file-20210603-25-4eowse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>The Boys</em> follows a team of vigilantes as they combat superpowered individuals who abuse their abilities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Brecht Bug/flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I love the <a href="https://www.flowjournal.org/2011/10/watching-while-depressed/">comforting</a> problem/solution storytelling that the police procedural offers. Boredom and anxiety have played a role in drawing me to these programs during the pandemic.</p>
<p>However, lately I find myself increasingly troubled by the implications of watching countless hours of problematic characterizations and behaviours. I research and lecture on structures of power and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtYU87QNjPw">the violence inherent in the system</a>, so I should know better. But the more I watch, the more I internalize the ideological work these programs are doing. </p>
<p>Shows like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098844/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>Law & Order</em></a> (and <a href="https://lawandorder.fandom.com/wiki/Law_%26_Order_franchise">its many iterations</a>), <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2805096/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2"><em>Chicago PD</em></a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1595859/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>Blue Bloods</em></a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6111130/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0"><em>S.W.A.T.</em></a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7587890/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>The Rookie</em></a> teach us many things about policing. They reinforce how we are supposed to treat, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/06/08/cop-tv-shows-race/">feel about</a> and behave around police officers in our communities. </p>
<h2>Problems rooted in disparity between training and practice</h2>
<p>The current state of law enforcement is arguably a logical outcome of <a href="https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2020/06/commentary--racist-cop-shows-and-biased-news-fuel-public-fears-of-crime-and-love-for-the-police.html">news and entertainment media</a> having spent decades equating cops with superheroes <em>who can do no wrong</em>. </p>
<p>A recent program that makes this connection abundantly clear is the irreverent (and graphically violent) Amazon Prime series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190634/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>The Boys</em></a>. </p>
<p>It depicts a world in which most superheroes embody capitalist excess as law enforcement celebrities with licensing deals, political aspirations and manifest destiny origin stories. In this world the sole purpose of these avatars of justice is to elevate and enrich their “brands,” only dabbling in service and protection when it suits their interests.</p>
<p>The critique of power and law enforcement offered by <em>The Boys</em> reminds us that the problems we are now facing are not about individual cops. They are systemic problems, rooted in a disparity between <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/31/21334190/what-police-do-defund-abolish-police-reform-training">how police officers are trained</a> and what they are expected to actually do. But this disparity is only exacerbated by the way the profession is represented in popular culture, particularly on television.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">In this scene from The Wire, character Howard Colvin (played by actor Robert Wisdom) describes to a young police sergeant the problem with America’s Drug war.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One notable critique of police culture comes from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>The Wire</em></a>, which first aired on HBO nearly 20 years ago. As a cable show it was able to transcend the limitations of the formulaic procedural. </p>
<p>It situated its Baltimore police stories within a complex exploration of systemic power as it operated in organized labour, education, politics and the newsroom. It provided compelling commentary on the increasing militarization of the police in both mindset and behaviour. But this critique has hardly been taken to heart in either the procedural series or real world policing.</p>
<h2>Cops shows will survive, but should they?</h2>
<p>Cop shows can undoubtedly survive as they are. Many people will be happy to keep watching police-valorizing narratives where the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-mov-crime-tv-reinforces-misperceptions-0214-20200213-wbq7utgtnjcujaispinx4hl2qu-story.html">ends justify the means</a> as long as law-abiding citizens are saved from bad guys. </p>
<p>Altering these narratives to truly address what some are calling a <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/07/13/state-violence-a-crisis-of-legitimacy-and-the-path-to-true-public-safety/">crisis of legitimacy in policing</a> will be difficult. There is reason to worry that <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2021/01/22/cop-shows-racial-justice-how-series-adapt-after-protests/6541175002/">timely acknowledgement of issues</a> may not last. </p>
<p><em>Law & Order</em> launched its most recent iteration <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12677870/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0"><em>Organized Crime</em></a>, in April, returning the old school “gladiator” cop Elliot Stabler to the NYPD after a 10-year absence. In the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203259/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0"><em>Special Victims Unit</em></a> crossover episode that reintroduces him, his former partner admonishes him that “we don’t do it that way anymore” when he threatens to assault a suspect in interrogation. </p>
<p>Is this the <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/989781898">kind of cop we need on TV right now</a>? </p>
<p>After George Floyd’s death, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2467372/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>Brooklyn Nine-Nine</em></a> writers decided to <a href="https://tvline.com/2020/06/23/brooklyn-nine-nine-spoilers-season-8-episodes-police-violence-protests/">discard four episodes</a> they had already written for a forthcoming eighth season and start over. </p>
<p>They have discussed taking the show in <a href="https://collider.com/brooklyn-99-season-8-alternate-ideas/">an entirely new direction</a>. As the workplace sitcom is primarily about character relationships, they’re better positioned to pivot from this “situation,” while the police procedural cannot. The upcoming season will be <em>Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s</em> final one, so writers may take more risks with storytelling since they needn’t worry about alienating viewers or advertisers.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Inclusion Rider aims to make Hollywood entertainment more representative of our society by providing practical steps to get us there.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The police procedural could undergo a lasting transformation that reflects current social concerns in thoughtful and nuanced ways. But for this to happen, content creators need to view this historical moment as a challenge to <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/features/cop-shows-under-microscope-1234635929/">incorporate the perspectives</a> of various real-world stakeholders. </p>
<p>It needs to become an <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2020/06/05/law-order-svu-producer-george-floyd-has-come-up-show/3158480001/">inflection point</a>, and not just an exercise in performative “wokeness.”</p>
<p>There is a call for a radical reimagining of the function of the police. Writers and producers of cops shows have an opportunity to bring <a href="https://www.fims.uwo.ca/news/2016/discovering_the_importance_of_dreams.html">a dream</a> of more humane justice to our small screens. </p>
<p>This could then help us to better <a href="https://defundthepolice.org/alternatives-to-police-services/">imagine</a> how to transform the <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/police-brutality-cop-free-world-protest-199465/">role</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/24/21296881/unbundle-defund-the-police-george-floyd-rayshard-brooks-violence-european-policing">structure</a> of law enforcement agencies in the real world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161331/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiara Sukhan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The classic cop show is now a problematic genre, but if it can change, then perhaps real world policing can too.Tiara Sukhan, Assistant Professor, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1619632021-06-09T14:34:55Z2021-06-09T14:34:55ZWhy Colombians are taking to the streets to protest state violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404934/original/file-20210607-21-yz1gi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6720%2C4476&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters attend an anti-government march at Plaza Bolivar in Bogota, Colombia, where citizens have taken to the streets for weeks after proposed tax increases and to decry police brutality.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A wide range of social organizations in Colombia recently called for <a href="https://colombiareports.com/tensions-rise-in-colombia-ahead-of-national-strike/">a general strike</a> after President Iván Duque’s government proposed tax increases on public services, fuel, wages and pensions. The government intended to increase revenue and reduce debt, but the changes disproportionately affected middle- and working-class Colombians.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/5/22/the-colombian-protests-reflect-a-deep-legitimacy-crisis">Colombians heeded the call</a>, and following massive demonstrations across the country, the government eventually withdrew the reforms <a href="https://apnews.com/article/latin-america-colombia-tax-reform-health-coronavirus-f94793eca2d8fd7d1dfe484ad9e60346">and the finance minister resigned</a>. However, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/video/colombia-protests-cali-police-video.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes">the use of lethal force by police</a> against mostly peaceful protesters fuelled demands for better social and economic policies. </p>
<p>These demands include the dissolution of the Colombian anti-riot police (known as ESMAD), an improved health-care system, a basic income, more educational and employment opportunities for youth, guaranteed protection of social leaders and activists and the implementation of the 2016 peace accord between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known as FARC). </p>
<h2>Calls to reform Colombia’s security forces</h2>
<p>The state’s violent response to the general strike has received global attention. According to Temblores, a non-governmental organization that monitors police violence in Colombia, <a href="https://www.temblores.org/comunicados">there have been 3,789 acts of police violence</a> during the nationwide strike. These acts include physical violence, arbitrary arrests, gun misuse, homicides and gender-based and sexual violence.</p>
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<p>In Colombia, as in the United States and Canada, the calls for police reform have grown louder over recent years. Last year, <a href="https://www.elespectador.com/judicial/los-detalles-del-historico-fallo-que-ordena-frenar-abuso-policial-en-la-protesta-article/">Colombia’s Supreme Court ordered the government</a> to guarantee the right to peaceful protest and to end abuses of police power. The court’s ruling stemmed from excessive police violence during a 2019 national strike.</p>
<p>The government has begun talks with the national strike committee, a coalition of labour and student unions and Indigenous organizations, ostensibly to make this happen. However, there’s skepticism that the government will implement the outcomes of the negotiations. The strike committee <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20210607-colombia-s-duque-announces-police-reforms-as-protest-leaders-call-off-talks">recently suspended</a> negotiations even though a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7890116/colombia-protests-pre-agreements/">tentative pre-agreement</a> has been drafted. </p>
<p>Government officials have attempted to minimize the demands of protesters. For example, in an interview with <em>Vice News</em>, Justice Minister Wilson Ruiz accused international crime groups of using the protests to destabilize the state’s authority while also denying the police’s use of lethal force. Similarly, the defense minister <a href="https://www.radionacional.co/actualidad/popayan-gobernacion-afirma-que-jovenes-senalados-por-mindefensa-son-lideres-sociales">accused three well-known</a> human rights defenders of terrorism, and offered a reward for their capture.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WB2isJA1JdU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A look at the Colombian unrest by Vice News, including Ruiz’s accusations.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Overseen by defence ministry</h2>
<p>Unlike other countries in Latin America, Colombian police forces <a href="https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-54112641">are controlled</a> by the Ministry of National Defence and not the Ministry of Interior. State violence and the stigmatization of protesters, youth in particular, are the legacy of national security policies that were used to rationalize and justify massive human rights violations during <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/colombias-civil-conflict">the decades-long armed civil conflict in Colombia</a>. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, a special peace tribunal found that between 2002 and 2008, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/19/colombia-farc-tribunal-false-positives">at least 6,402 people</a> were murdered and falsely declared killed in combat during the presidency of Álvaro Uribe Velez, many of them young men from low-income backgrounds. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404850/original/file-20210607-13-qeb07r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man gestures while speaking into a microphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404850/original/file-20210607-13-qeb07r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404850/original/file-20210607-13-qeb07r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404850/original/file-20210607-13-qeb07r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404850/original/file-20210607-13-qeb07r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404850/original/file-20210607-13-qeb07r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404850/original/file-20210607-13-qeb07r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404850/original/file-20210607-13-qeb07r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ivan Duque, then a presidential candidate with the Democratic Center party and now president of Colombia, campaigns in Bogota in May 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the implementation of the peace agreement with FARC provided <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/22/urgent-need-reform-colombias-security-policies">an opportunity to reconsider the role and structure</a> of state security forces, Duque’s Centro Democrático party has fiercely opposed its implementation.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/violence-climbs-in-colombia-as-president-chips-away-at-landmark-peace-deal-with-farc-guerrillas-115112">Violence climbs in Colombia as president chips away at landmark peace deal with FARC guerrillas</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Violence rooted in structural racism</h2>
<p>During the ongoing protests, the city of Cali has become the epicentre of police brutality and repression, exposing the deep-seated structural racism against Afro-Colombian and Indigenous peoples. </p>
<p>The city has the second-largest urban Afro-descendant population in Latin America. A <a href="https://codhes.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/cali-informe-preliminar-expone-practicas-racistas-de-la-policia-de-colombia-durante-el-paro-nacional-y-advierte-frente-al-riesgo-de-genocidio/">preliminary analysis</a> by the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement shows that police brutality has been highest in low-income, marginalized neighbourhoods with a significant Afro-Colombian population. These neighbourhoods also have a higher concentration of “<a href="https://lasillavacia.com/resistencia-desde-abajo-cali-81775">resistance points</a>,” where barricades and roadblocks have been set up during the demonstrations. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Soldiers patrol downtown Cali." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405101/original/file-20210608-136167-1lrgckk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405101/original/file-20210608-136167-1lrgckk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405101/original/file-20210608-136167-1lrgckk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405101/original/file-20210608-136167-1lrgckk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405101/original/file-20210608-136167-1lrgckk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405101/original/file-20210608-136167-1lrgckk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405101/original/file-20210608-136167-1lrgckk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Soldiers patrol in downtown Cali after the Colombian government deployed military forces to the city.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andres Gonzalez)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indigenous peoples have also been the target of racist violence in Cali. </p>
<p>When a coalition of Indigenous groups, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/world/americas/colombia-violence-indigenous-protest.html">referred to as “minga Indígena” in Colombia</a>, marched into the city, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/colombia-controversy-and-violence-greet-indigenous-protesters/a-57588268">armed civilians</a> blocked their entrance and shot at them. Twelve Indigenous people were injured, including Daniela Soto, a well-known Indigenous leader.</p>
<p>Instead of condemning the attack, Duque requested that the Indigenous minga leave the city and return to their territory to avoid “unnecessary confrontations.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Indigenous demonstrators at an anti-government march." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404971/original/file-20210608-142679-1urjn6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404971/original/file-20210608-142679-1urjn6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404971/original/file-20210608-142679-1urjn6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404971/original/file-20210608-142679-1urjn6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404971/original/file-20210608-142679-1urjn6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404971/original/file-20210608-142679-1urjn6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404971/original/file-20210608-142679-1urjn6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous demonstrators attend an anti-government march in Cali, Colombia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andres Gonzalez)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The media plays an important role in shaping public opinion on important issues. The <a href="https://www.las2orillas.co/con-esta-portada-el-espectador-da-clase-de-periodismo-a-el-tiempo/">coverage of the protests</a> over the past month has demonstrated the extent of political polarization in Colombia. </p>
<p>For example, conversations on social media earlier this spring hinged on drastically different representations of the first day of protests in two of the country’s largest newspapers: <em>El Espectador</em> and <em>El Tiempo</em>. <em>El Espectador</em>’s headline highlighted the determination of Colombians to speak up against the tax proposals amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while <em>El Tiempo</em>’s focus was almost solely on vandalism, delegitimizing the actions of thousands who had marched peacefully.</p>
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<p>The demonstrations have also shed a light on <a href="https://www.france24.com/es/am%C3%A9rica-latina/20210515-abuso-sexual-policia-colombiana-popayan">the use of gender-based and sexual violence</a> by police.</p>
<p>Temblores has recorded 25 cases of gender-based violence and six cases of sexual violence over the course of the protests. The death by suicide of a minor who was sexually assaulted while in police custody sparked outrage and <a href="https://www.telesurtv.net/news/colombia-convocan-planton-violencia-sexual-policial-20210514-0002.html">the mobilization</a> of feminist organizations such as Articulación Feminista Popayán and Juventud Rebelde.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/el-grito-violence-in-colombia-continues-to-kill-activists-120725">El Grito: Violence in Colombia continues to kill activists</a>
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</em>
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<h2>What is Canada’s role?</h2>
<p>Colombians living <a href="https://www.rcinet.ca/es/2021/05/06/solidaridad-con-el-paro-nacional-colombiano-en-todas-las-grandes-ciudades-canadienses/">in Canada</a> have also taken to the streets in support of the protests back home. </p>
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<p>They’ve organized gatherings in solidarity with protesters in various cities. They’ve also <a href="https://www.commonfrontiers.ca/canada-must-condemn-government-violence-and-defend-democracy-in-colombia/">circulated petitions</a> asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to denounce the violence of the Colombian state against its own citizens. </p>
<p>While Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2021/05/canada-concerned-about-persistent-violence-in-colombia.html">released a statement</a> denouncing the violence, Canada, one of Colombia’s key trading and <a href="https://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/colombia-colombie/bilateral_relations_bilaterales/index.aspx?lang=eng">economic partners</a>, can do much more. </p>
<p>Canada exports military equipment and provides training and financial support to the Colombian national police and the army.</p>
<p>In 2013, the Colombian Ministry of Defense awarded a <a href="https://pbicanada.org/2021/05/19/canada-should-conduct-a-human-rights-review-its-export-of-military-goods-to-the-colombian-police-and-army/">Canadian company</a> a $65.3 million contract for light armoured vehicles to be used by the national army. In 2017, the two countries launched a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3833881/trudeau-police-initiative-colombia/">bilateral police initiative</a> in which Canadian police “provide training, capacity building, and strategic advice” to the National Police of Colombia. </p>
<p>Canada should discontinue its support of Colombia’s police and army, and conduct a human rights review of its military exports to Colombia, as <a href="https://pbicanada.org/2021/05/19/canada-should-conduct-a-human-rights-review-its-export-of-military-goods-to-the-colombian-police-and-army/">suggested</a> by the organization International Peace Brigades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161963/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diana M. Barrero Jaramillo receives funding from Ontario Graduate Scholarship. She is a volunteer with the Ontario group supporting the work of the Colombian Truth Commission in Canada.</span></em></p>The Colombian government responded violently to a general strike over tax reforms that primarily affected working-class citizens. It has fueled calls for police reform.Diana M. Barrero Jaramillo, PhD Student, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1598812021-06-01T12:50:00Z2021-06-01T12:50:00ZTyre Nichols’ death prompts calls for federal legislation to promote police reform – but Congress can’t do much about fixing local police<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507169/original/file-20230130-7092-ci21pk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C3479%2C2326&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A sign held at a protest against police brutality on Jan. 28, 2023, in New York City. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-gather-to-protest-against-police-brutality-on-news-photo/1460361547?phrase=Tyre%20Memphis%20police&adppopup=true">Leonardo Munoz/VIEWpress</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/28/1151504967/tyre-nichols-memphis-police-body-cam-video">severe beating of Tyre Nichols</a>, a 29-year-old Black man, by five Memphis police officers – leading to his death three days later – <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/29/tyre-nichols-police-reform-congress/11145354002/">has sparked renewed calls for federal measures to combat police violence</a> and racism.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1280">George Floyd Justice in Policing Act</a>, a package of reform initiatives aimed at local police departments, passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/policing-george-floyd-congress-legislation/2021/09/22/36324a34-1bc9-11ec-a99a-5fea2b2da34b_story.html">did not make it through the Senate</a>. On Jan. 29, 2023, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/01/29/tyre-nichols-memphis/">Ben Crump, the lawyer for Nichols’ family</a>, told CNN: “Shame on us if we don’t use [Nichols’] tragic death to finally get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed.”</p>
<p>Since the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html">rise of the Black Lives Matter movement</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd-protests-timeline.html">massive protests in 2020 in response to the murder of George Floyd</a>, the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=george+floyd+kileld&oq=george+floyd+kileld&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i13i131i433i512j0i5i13i30.4104j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#:%7E:text=The%20murder%20of%20George,killing%2Dof%2Dgeorge%2Dfloyd">Black man killed that year by a police officer in Minneapolis</a>, there has been widespread interest in the problems of racism in American policing. Now, there appears to be renewed appetite for change, including from President Joe Biden, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/01/26/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-tyre-nichols-case/">who mentioned the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act</a> in his statement on Nichols’ death. People are looking to the federal government to address this issue of national importance.</p>
<p>But as a <a href="https://law.rutgers.edu/directory/view/ak1444">law professor who studies policing and constitutional law</a>, I have seen how essential local and state reform efforts are, because the federal government has limited power to regulate policing. </p>
<p>With few notable exceptions, the Constitution <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/state-local-government/">does not allow the federal government to control</a> state or local government agencies. In accordance with <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-i/section/8712">federalism, a core principle</a> that underlies the organization of American government, <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CONAN-1992/pdf/GPO-CONAN-1992-10-11.pdf">the federal government has only the powers</a> expressly provided to it in the Constitution. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/legislative-branch">Congress has authority</a> to oversee the federal government, levy taxes and spend money, and declare war. Other powers not listed in the Constitution are “<a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-x">reserved to the States</a>,” giving them broader responsibility for governance. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1280">George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021</a> offered the possibility of significant policing reforms. But for those looking to the federal government to solve what’s wrong with policing in America, federal legislation can’t ensure that every police department will make meaningful changes.</p>
<p>That’s because the bill reflects the hard reality that <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/IF10572.pdf">the federal government has almost no control</a> over state and local police departments.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402919/original/file-20210526-15-1mqq7y5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man holding up a sign 'RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS' as two police officers stand near him and approaching marchers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402919/original/file-20210526-15-1mqq7y5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402919/original/file-20210526-15-1mqq7y5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402919/original/file-20210526-15-1mqq7y5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402919/original/file-20210526-15-1mqq7y5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402919/original/file-20210526-15-1mqq7y5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402919/original/file-20210526-15-1mqq7y5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402919/original/file-20210526-15-1mqq7y5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Racial profiling and police brutality are not new issues – this protest march began on Staten Island, New York, on April 13, 2015, after the death of Eric Garner while in New York Police Department custody.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/crowd-sets-off-on-the-march-2-justice-april-13-2015-in-the-news-photo/469610708?adppopup=true">Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Dollars and change</h2>
<p>Although <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/03/10-things-we-know-about-race-and-policing-in-the-u-s/">race discrimination is widely regarded as a major problem in American policing</a>, the federal government’s ability to address it is limited. </p>
<p><a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xiv">The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment</a> promises equal treatment of all racial groups by local and state government agencies and officials. <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/amendment-xiv/clauses/703">Congress has the power to pass legislation</a> in response to violations of the Equal Protection Clause, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.</p>
<p>But the Supreme Court has held that the equal protection guarantee bans only intentional race discrimination by governmental bodies and officials. Policies and practices that have a disproportionate effect on a racial group do not necessarily violate the Constitution. So the Supreme Court would likely conclude that the Constitution does not allow the federal government to bar state and local police policies and practices simply because they have a disproportionate racial impact.</p>
<p>That means that the federal government’s primary tool for influencing American policing is its spending power. Congress has wide latitude <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40638.pdf">to use money to provide incentives</a> for policy changes at the state and local levels by attaching conditions to federal grants. For example, Congress <a href="https://www.capjournal.com/news/fight-over-drinking-age-back-after-20-years/article_051ba049-f02e-5226-b635-ebe5b917130d.html">spurred some states to raise the drinking age to 21 by making the greater age a condition of federal highway funding</a>.</p>
<p>Congress can make the adoption of certain policies and practices a condition for getting federal grants – <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40638.pdf">as long as it does not coerce acceptance of the conditions</a>. States and localities must remain free to decline federal funds. So, if a state or locality declines a federal grant, it doesn’t have to comply with the grant program’s conditions.</p>
<h2>Seeking influence</h2>
<p>Within the limits that the Constitution sets, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act aims to assert some federal influence on local and state policing practices. </p>
<p>The bill’s most significant direct regulation of state and local police departments would be <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/george_floyd_jpa_2021_fact_sheet_.pdf">a ban on racial profiling by all law enforcement agencies</a>. Although federal courts have repeatedly concluded that <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/criminal_justice/publications/criminal-justice-magazine/2020/winter/racial-profiling-past-present-and-future/">the 14th Amendment bars racial profiling</a>, the bill would make the prohibition explicit and expand its definition. </p>
<p>The bill would also indirectly regulate state and local police departments by <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=14924">eliminating “qualified immunity” in civil lawsuits</a> where a plaintiff alleges that a law enforcement officer violated their constitutional rights. </p>
<p>Under the qualified immunity doctrine, courts dismiss claims when there is no prior case with a highly similar set of facts where a government official’s conduct was ruled unconstitutional. Government officials, including police officers, therefore sometimes escape liability <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-qualified-immunity-protects-police-officers-accused-of-wrongdoing-159617">even if they have engaged in egregious misconduct</a>. </p>
<p>If qualified immunity is unavailable, police officers will arguably be less likely to violate someone’s rights because they will expect to be liable for their misconduct. </p>
<p>Further, the bill would expand the U.S. Department of Justice’s <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/pattern-or-practice-investigations-and-police-reform">authority to investigate unconstitutional conduct by police departments</a>, and would make it easier to prosecute police officers for federal civil rights violations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402951/original/file-20210526-19-1tnwjim.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two lawmakers, Democrat Rep. Karen Bass and GOP Sen. Tim Scott, talking with reporters after meeting on Capitol Hill to discuss police reform legislation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402951/original/file-20210526-19-1tnwjim.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402951/original/file-20210526-19-1tnwjim.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402951/original/file-20210526-19-1tnwjim.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402951/original/file-20210526-19-1tnwjim.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402951/original/file-20210526-19-1tnwjim.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402951/original/file-20210526-19-1tnwjim.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402951/original/file-20210526-19-1tnwjim.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speak briefly to reporters following a meeting about police reform legislation on Capitol Hill May 18, 2021, in Washington, D.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rep-karen-bass-and-sen-tim-scott-speak-briefly-to-reporters-news-photo/1232964913?adppopup=true">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Conditions on grants</h2>
<p>Most significantly, if enacted, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would attach stringent new conditions to two programs that together funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to local and state police departments every year, the <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/aboutcops">COPS program</a> and the <a href="https://bja.ojp.gov/program/jag/overview">Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program</a>. </p>
<p>To take just a few examples, both <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/george_floyd_jpa_2021_fact_sheet_.pdf">Byrne and COPS grantees would be required to ban the use of chokeholds</a>. <a href="https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr1280/BILLS-117hr1280eh.pdf">Byrne grants would be available only</a> to states and localities whose use-of-force policies bar the use of deadly force unless it is necessary. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr1280/BILLS-117hr1280eh.pdf">COPS grants would be available only</a> to states and localities that ban the use of no-knock warrants in drug cases. Recipients of COPS grants would be required to certify that they will use at least 10% of their grants to support efforts to end racial and religious profiling. </p>
<p>These provisions divide activists who decry the current state of policing. Some <a href="https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-issues-statement-on-house-passage-of-the-george-floyd-justice-in-policing-act/">laud them as bold reforms</a>, while <a href="https://m4bl.org/statements/bidens-address-to-congress/">others argue that less money should be directed to police departments, not more</a>. </p>
<p>If the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is enacted, some of America’s <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/lpd16p.pdf">15,000 state and local police departments</a> would readily accept its conditions and the federal dollars they unlock. Others would likely sue, arguing that the federal government is attempting to coerce them into adopting policy reforms they do not need or want. </p>
<p>Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in 2021 that the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act “<a href="https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/3321-4">fundamentally transforms the culture of policing</a>.” But states and localities have to want to change and accept federal grants, with strings attached, for that vision to become reality.</p>
<p><em>This is an update <a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-cant-do-much-about-fixing-local-police-but-it-can-tie-strings-to-federal-grants-159881">of a story originally published on June 1, 2021</a>, and reflects the death of Tyre Nichols.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexis Karteron does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Since Tyre Nichols’ death there are renewed calls for Congress to pass police reform legislation. But the federal government has almost no control over state and local police departments.Alexis Karteron, Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1573012021-05-18T12:25:32Z2021-05-18T12:25:32ZRacial groups suffer disparate consequences after unfair police treatment – but not the groups you might think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400070/original/file-20210511-15-kszi1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C61%2C3046%2C1892&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seattle police officers deploy pepper spray as they clash with protesters in Seattle, Washington, on July 25, 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/seattle-police-officers-deploy-pepper-spray-as-they-clash-news-photo/1227781527?adppopup=true">Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>George Floyd’s high-profile death has become synonymous with unfair police treatment.</p>
<p>His death has sparked discussions surrounding <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/george-floyds-killing-sparks-calls-police-reform-unions/story?id=71172743">police reform</a> and the long-term consequences for people who experience <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hpb20210412.997570/full/">violent contact with police</a>.</p>
<p>But what does research say more generally about unfair treatment by police?</p>
<p>One of the biggest questions that researchers like my <a href="https://www.fredonia.edu/academics/colleges-schools/college-liberal-arts-sciences/sociocultural-justice-sciences/faculty/Jessica-Finkeldey">colleague</a> and <a href="https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/sociology/faculty/faculty-directory/dennison-christopher.html">I</a> examine is whether different groups of individuals – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0734016810379904">young people</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2015.1023821">racial and ethnic minorities</a> and those from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2002.tb00962.x">poorer socioeconomic backgrounds</a> – are more likely than their respective counterparts to report police treatment that they perceive to be unfair. </p>
<p>We focus on perceptions of police interaction because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2002.tb00962.x">research has long contended</a> that “citizens’ perceptions of police stops may be considered just as important as the objective reality of such stops.”</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12269">January 2021 study</a> of roughly 12,000 U.S. adults, we found that 62.9% of Black men, 36.5% of Latino men and 21.8% of white men reported experiencing unfair treatment by police.</p>
<p>Our findings also expand current research in two important ways. </p>
<p>We found that experiencing unfair treatment was psychologically detrimental. And some of these consequences were significantly worse for certain racial and ethnic groups, but maybe not the ones you might think.</p>
<h2>The consequences of unfair police treatment</h2>
<p>Research shows that when someone reports experiencing police contact that they perceive to be unfair, it can lead to a range of negative outcomes. They include <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304012">suicidal ideation</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796019000015">post-traumatic stress disorder</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.07.002">diminished physical health</a>. </p>
<p>Our study aligns with these findings.</p>
<p>It also shows that experiencing unfair police treatment leads to the increased use of illegal drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy and heroin. </p>
<p>For instance, 7.2% of those who experienced unfair police treatment reported subsequent illegal drug use compared with just 3% of those with no history of unfair experiences. We also found that experiencing unfair treatment decreases people’s self-efficacy – the general belief in their ability to succeed in life.</p>
<h2>Unequal consequences</h2>
<p>Our research also focused on whether the consequences of unfair police treatment differed among racial and ethnic groups. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611104271085">Some studies show</a> that minorities’ preexisting fears that police contact will be unfair may amplify the consequences if they experience unfair police treatment.</p>
<p>As researchers noted in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146518811144">2018 study</a> of unfair police treatment, “the high-profile incidents of police beating or killing Black men (e.g., Rodney King, Eric Garner and Walter Scott, among many others) may be [emotionally] relived as trauma after experiencing unfair treatment by police.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Police officers in front of LA City Hall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Los Angeles police officers hold a line during a July 25, 2020, protest demanding justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-officers-hold-a-line-in-front-of-la-city-hall-during-news-photo/1227781660?adppopup=true">Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The study shows that unfair police treatment leads to worse physical outcomes among Black people compared with white people, such as premature cellular aging that indicates exposure to stress. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2156869320923095">recent study</a>, published in 2020, found that intrusive police stops – such as those that involve a frisk or search – lead to increased depressive symptoms among Black adolescents but not white adolescents.</p>
<h2>Expecting future police interactions</h2>
<p>On the other hand, the preconceived expectation of unfair police treatment among Black communities might normalize these experiences to the point where the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12174">consequences are less pronounced</a>, according to studies.</p>
<p>Our study, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2153368712459273">like some others</a>, found evidence of this phenomenon. </p>
<p>We found that some of the consequences of unfair police treatment were weaker among Black Americans compared with white Americans. Although experiencing unfair police treatment resulted in depressive symptoms and lower self-efficacy among Black and white people, these consequences were more pronounced among white people. </p>
<p>Black people’s expectation of unfair treatment may explain these results. Another explanation for the weaker effects for Black people might stem from the increasing prevalence of Black families <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241611409038">socializing their children</a> to be better prepared for navigating future interactions with law enforcement. </p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>That is, Black families teach their children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243219828340">strategies</a> to interact with police safely, such as following officers’ instructions and not fighting with police.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>One suggestion to offset some of the consequences of unfair treatment is to encourage officers to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-015-9263-8">explain the reasoning</a> for their actions to those <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110316-113318">who are being stopped</a>.</p>
<p>While research on this <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-121416-011426">topic is emerging</a>, it is plausible that legitimizing the interaction in the eyes of those who are stopped may make the entire process be seen as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jels.12086">procedurally just</a>. </p>
<p>Other research suggests that the use of proactive policing strategies that involve heavy police presence should be minimized.</p>
<p>For example, the use of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1198/016214506000001040">stop-and-frisk</a> policies, wherein officers question and search individuals if they have reasonable suspicion that the individual is involved in a crime, disproportionately targets people of color. Thus, reducing the use of stop-and-frisk procedures may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403415610166">improve public opinions and perceptions of police</a>.</p>
<p>Regardless of the approach, the overarching goal of these suggestions is to move the U.S. closer to a fairer and more equitable criminal justice system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research confirms that unfair police treatment is psychologically damaging and that the consequences are decidedly worse for certain racial and ethnic groups.Christopher R. Dennison, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University at BuffaloJessica Finkeldey, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at FredoniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1598772021-05-07T12:42:54Z2021-05-07T12:42:54ZPolice academies dedicate 3.21% of training hours to ethics and other public service topics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399015/original/file-20210505-13-vs9xky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C4874%2C3290&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Los Angeles County police graduation ceremony, Aug. 21, 2020 in Monterey Park, Calif.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/graduates-of-los-angeles-county-sheriffs-department-academy-news-photo/1267562794?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Police academies provide little training in the kinds of skills necessary to meet officers’ growing public service role, according to my <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0275074021999872">research</a>. </p>
<p>Highly publicized cases of police violence – such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-this-trial-was-different-experts-react-to-guilty-verdict-for-derek-chauvin-159420">2020 murder of George Floyd</a> in Minneapolis and 2014 shooting of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53603923">Michael Brown</a> in Ferguson, Missouri – often raise questions about police training, and whether officers are prepared to do the job that is expected of them. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=G2DSDDgAAAAJ&hl=en">public administration researcher</a> who conducts leadership training for law enforcement supervisors across the country, I set out to investigate what future police officers learn in basic training – specifically, whether they are taught the kind of public service skills that many people expect them to display on the job.</p>
<h2>How police are trained</h2>
<p>Police officers, like their counterparts in other government agencies, are public servants. Unlike most public servants, however, officers have the legal power to deprive citizens of their freedom in a split-second decision, at their own discretion, possibly while pointing a gun.</p>
<p>Given their extraordinary powers, it would be reasonable to expect that officers are thoroughly trained on the values of public service – especially, how to make ethical and unbiased decisions when dealing with civilians.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0275074021999872">My recent study</a> compared state-mandated basic police training curricula across the 50 U.S. states. I found that police recruits in the U.S. spend an average of 633 hours completing the basic academy, a training program that certifies them as licensed police officers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399242/original/file-20210506-17-1s3lqjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Police car from Honolulu police parked in a parking lot near the beach with an officer standing in front of it; in the backgroundn a couple looks out at the ocean" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399242/original/file-20210506-17-1s3lqjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399242/original/file-20210506-17-1s3lqjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399242/original/file-20210506-17-1s3lqjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399242/original/file-20210506-17-1s3lqjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399242/original/file-20210506-17-1s3lqjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399242/original/file-20210506-17-1s3lqjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399242/original/file-20210506-17-1s3lqjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hawaii is the only U.S. state that has no statewide legally required minimum police training standards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-wait-for-people-to-return-to-their-cars-before-news-photo/1227793315?adppopup=true">Ronen Zilberman/AFP via Getty Image</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of those 633 hours, only 20 hours are dedicated to what is defined in my study as “public administration training” – knowledge and skills that are not law enforcement-specific but rather relevant to all public service professions such as city administrators, educators and social workers. That means 3.21% of the basic academy curricula is dedicated to public administration training.</p>
<p>Specifically, I found that the average police recruit in the U.S. receives 5.5 hours of ethics and boundaries training, 7.3 hours of human relations and interpersonal communications training, 6.1 hours of cultural competency training, 5.6 hours of procedural justice training and another 4.3 hours of training on other public service core values, such as effective problem solving and the use of discretionary powers. </p>
<p>The sample size for each topic area was different, as each state’s police training differs.</p>
<p>The remaining 613 hours, on average, focus on tasks and knowledge relevant only to the profession of law enforcement. These topics include, but are not limited to, report writing, driving skills, patrol procedures, defensive tactics, criminal and constitutional law, traffic stops and firearms training.</p>
<p>That means that most U.S. police cadets spend about 20 hours of their entire basic training learning the kind of knowledge and skills that are <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/972349">considered foundational</a> for all other public service professions.</p>
<h2>States train police differently</h2>
<p>States varied widely in both the length of basic police training and the public service content of their training curricula.</p>
<p><iframe id="5ZJEm" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/5ZJEm/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Georgia ranks the lowest nationwide in compulsory minimum training hours for police recruits, with only 408 hours compared to the national average of 633 hours. Only 10 of those 408 hours of training are dedicated to public administration, and just one hour of that focuses on ethics. </p>
<p>Rhode Island requires the highest minimum training for its police of any other state: 953 hours. However, the state requires below-average public administration training for future police – 2.3% of its curriculum, or 22 hours. </p>
<p>With 640 compulsory minimum training hours, Oregon is right at the national average for total training time but requires the most extensive public administration training for police recruits: 46.5 hours of Oregon’s curriculum, or 7.26%, are dedicated to teaching public service values, with specific emphasis on human relations and interpersonal communications.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/07/hawaii-ignores-deadline-to-create-new-standards-for-cops/">Hawaii</a> is the only U.S. state that does not have any legally required minimum standards for basic police training.</p>
<h2>Prepared for battle, not building trust</h2>
<p>The data reported in my study shed new light on the misalignment between how police officers are trained to work and what the American public expects of them on the job. </p>
<p>The role of the modern-day police officer has changed. Research on community expectations of police show that the U.S. public expects officers to be honest, respectful – and even to <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mazck5oAAAAJ&hl=en">provide emotional comfort when needed</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399025/original/file-20210505-23-xiwcxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Group of uniformed police stand with a sign welcoming back students in front of the school, on a sunny day" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399025/original/file-20210505-23-xiwcxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399025/original/file-20210505-23-xiwcxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399025/original/file-20210505-23-xiwcxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399025/original/file-20210505-23-xiwcxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399025/original/file-20210505-23-xiwcxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399025/original/file-20210505-23-xiwcxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399025/original/file-20210505-23-xiwcxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police personnel greet students returning to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida after a 2018 shooting there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-personnel-are-seen-as-students-return-to-marjory-news-photo/925730870?adppopup=true">Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In other words, the public expects police officers to demonstrate principles of “<a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/prodceduraljustice">procedural justice</a>” – a big concept in policing that basically means citizens should have a voice when interacting with police, that officers are transparent and resolve conflicts in a fair and impartial way.</p>
<p>One police training official I interviewed said “most rookies fresh out of the academy” have “no idea” what procedural justice is. They think procedural justice is “about white cops [not] shooting black people.” It is not, he said – it is about “building partnerships with the community [and] about trust.”</p>
<p>Yet police academies still use the traditional, <a href="https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ijpbl/vol10/iss1/2/">para-military training model</a> that trains officers to be soldiers ready for combat with “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10999922.2004.11051270?casa_token=yj3IUvcKiTcAAAAA:UTt8e-UhwvvqkTJhGFKkOrLWd17WWsFUItYNPlG_axxZch5q9zFl_DZ4wBg4lFxhcLe1Z3A71C8Zrg">the enemy</a>” – not culturally competent public servants ready to engage civilians in difficult dialogues. </p>
<p>Even officers themselves know this is a problem. When I conduct police training, police supervisors often tell me that the first thing they say to a rookie on their first day on the job is “forget everything you learned in the academy, this is real police now.” </p>
<p>These seasoned cops know that the training recruits get in the academy is largely irrelevant to the reality of day-to-day police work. As my study shows, police recruits leave the academy armed with plenty of tactical skills but relatively few communications and cultural competency skills – the skills, veterans of the force know, officers most need to use throughout their day. </p>
<p>Some people in the U.S. may not be happy with the police they have – but they are getting the police they train.</p>
<p><em>A mathematical error in this story has been corrected to accurately convey the total number of hours dedicated to training police in law enforcement-related topics.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Galia Cohen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Police are sworn to protect the public, but cadets are still trained for battle – not public service – according to a new study examining all 50 US state police academy curricula.Galia Cohen, Assistant Professor, Director of the Division of Public Administration, Tarleton State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596182021-04-30T12:16:16Z2021-04-30T12:16:16ZAmerican cities have long struggled to reform their police – but isolated success stories suggest community and officer buy-in might be key<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397951/original/file-20210429-19-p9sccl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5375%2C3769&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Getting police and community on board with reforms is crucial for success.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-carrying-a-portrait-of-george-floyd-looks-on-at-a-news-photo/1231586015?adppopup=true">Stephen Maturen/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/trial-over-killing-of-george-floyd/2021/04/20/987777911/court-says-jury-has-reached-verdict-in-derek-chauvins-murder-trial">guilty verdicts delivered against Derek Chauvin</a> on April 20, 2021, represented a landmark moment – but courtroom justice cannot deliver the sweeping changes <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/315962/americans-say-policing-needs-major-changes.aspx">most Americans feel are needed</a> to improve policing in the U.S. </p>
<p>As America continues to grapple with racism and police killings, federal action over police reform has <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/29/congress-to-hold-police-reform-legislation-talk-as-george-floyd-act-stalls.html">stalled</a> in Congress. But at the state level <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/legislative-responses-for-policing.aspx">there is movement</a> and steps toward reform are underway in many U.S. cities, including <a href="https://www.davisvanguard.org/2021/04/philadelphia-da-throws-weight-behind-police-reform/">Philadelphia</a>; <a href="https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/02/24/proposed-defunding-reforms-of-oakland-police-department-draw-mixed-reactions/">Oakland, California</a>; and <a href="https://www.kgw.com/article/news/politics/oregon-police-reform-bills-passed-activists-reaction/283-d1fea772-7ea5-4165-99b0-eacc7c79e995">Portland, Oregon</a>.</p>
<p>Many of <a href="https://www.axios.com/police-reform-george-floyd-protest-2150b2dd-a6dc-4a0c-a1fb-62c2e999a03a.html">these efforts</a> are geared toward ending specific practices, such as the granting of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/20/george-floyd-derek-chauvin-killer-mike-police">qualified immunity</a>, through which officers are shielded from civil lawsuits, and the use of certain <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/police-use-of-force-chokehold-carotid-ban/">police neck holds</a> and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/06/11/louisville-metro-council-votes-ban-no-knock-warrants-after-breonna-taylors-death/5342907002/">no-knock warrants</a>. Mayors and city councils nationwide have also pushed reforms emphasizing <a href="https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/police-department/news/2020/updated-policies.html">accountability and transparency</a>, with many working to create <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/07/931806105/across-the-country-voters-approve-more-civilian-oversight-for-police">independent oversight commissions</a>. </p>
<p>It’s too soon to expect substantial improvement from these recently proposed remedies. </p>
<p>But as <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/natasha-johnson/">scholars of criminal justice</a> – one <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/thaddeus-johnson/">a former police officer of 10 years</a> – we know America has been here before. From Ferguson to Baltimore and Oakland to Chicago, numerous city police departments have undergone transformation efforts following controversial police killings. But these and other reform movements haven’t lived up to their promises. </p>
<h2>Resisting change</h2>
<p>After the shooting death in Missouri of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html">unarmed teen Michael Brown</a> in 2014, police in Ferguson <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-missouri-ferguson-plan/ferguson-accepts-u-s-governments-police-reform-plan-idUSKCN0WH30H">agreed to a reform program</a> that included anti-bias training and an agreement to end stop, search and arrest practices that discriminate on the basis of race.</p>
<p>But five years into the process, <a href="https://forwardthroughferguson.org/stateofpolicereform/">a report by the nonprofit Forward Through Ferguson</a> found the reforms had done <a href="https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2019-09-17/ferguson-groups-report-concludes-police-in-st-louis-area-have-not-made-enough-reforms">little to change policing culture or practice</a>. This was backed up by a Ferguson Civilian Review Board <a href="https://www.fergusoncity.com/DocumentCenter/View/4244/2019-FPD-Traffic-Stops-and-Racial-Profiling-Data">report in July 2020</a> that found the “disparity in traffic stops between black and white residents appears to be growing.” </p>
<p>Similarly, concerns over the <a href="https://theappeal.org/years-after-freddie-grays-death-baltimore-police-misconduct-persists/">quality of Baltimore’s police services persist</a> despite federal oversight and reforms brought in after the <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-freddie-gray-20150419-story.html">death of Freddie Gray</a> in police custody in 2015.</p>
<p>Commentators have pointed to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/baltimore-police-reforms-crime/2020/06/18/7d60e91e-b041-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html">resistance to change</a> among officers and an inability to garner <a href="https://www.marylandmatters.org/2020/12/02/baltimore-city-residents-seek-police-accountability-measures-more-education-funding-in-next-session/">community buy-in</a> as reasons for the slowdown in progress in Baltimore. </p>
<p>Part of the problem, as seen with Baltimore, is that federal intervention does not appear to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1098611114561305">guarantee lasting change</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12295">Research shows</a> that Department of Justice regulations aimed at reform only slightly reduce police misconduct. There is also no evidence that national efforts targeting the use of force alone <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2020.1733637">mitigate police killings</a>.</p>
<h2>Community-led reform</h2>
<p>One beacon of hope is the Cincinnati Police Department. Twenty years ago, residents in Cincinnati experienced events similar to what many cities have faced in more recent years. An unarmed Black man, <a href="https://www.fox19.com/2021/04/07/april-remembering-timothy-thomas-two-decades-later/">Timothy Thomas</a>, was shot dead by officers in 2001, sparking widespread unrest. It led Cincinnati to enter into a different model of reform: a <a href="https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/department-references/collaborative-agreement/">collaborative agreement</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A protester throws debris at Cincinnati police officers in riot gear in 2001." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After the death of Timothy Thomas in 2001, Cincinnati erupted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protester-throws-debris-april-10-2001-at-cincinnati-police-news-photo/800279?adppopup=true">Mike Simons/Newsmakers via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Touted by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch as <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-lynch-delivers-remarks-community-policing-roundtable-cincinnati">a national model for community-led police reform</a>, the collaborative agreement saw the police department, civic government, police unions and local civil rights groups act in partnership for a reform program backed by court supervision. </p>
<p>The resulting changes to use-of-force policies, a focus on community-based solutions to crime, and robust oversight brought about improved policing. A <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG853.html">2009 Rand evaluation</a> of the collaborative agreement found it resulted in a reduction in crime, positive changes in citizens’ attitudes toward police and fewer racially biased traffic stops. There were also <a href="https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/linkservid/97D9709F-F1C1-4A75-804C07D9873DC70F/showMeta/0/">fewer use-of-force incidents and officer and arrestee injuries</a> under the collaborative agreement.</p>
<p>But it isn’t perfect. Cincinnati’s Black residents continue to be disproportionately arrested – likely owing to the concentration of crime, service calls and police deployments in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Figures from 2018 show Black Cincinnati residents were <a href="https://jacobdkaplan.com/arrest.html#state=Ohio&agency=Cincinnati%20Police%20Department&category=all_arrests_total&subcategory=tot&subsubcategory=Race&rate=true&percent=false&monthly=false&checkbox_1=false&checkbox_2=false&checkbox_3=false&checkbox_4=false&checkbox_1=true">roughly three times</a> as likely to be arrested as their white counterparts.</p>
<p>Cincinnati’s collaborative agreement contained a number of elements that experts say are needed if police reforms are to be successful: strong leadership, flexible, goal-oriented approaches, effective oversight and externally regulated transparency.</p>
<p>Moreover, it depended on police officials’ ability to cultivate <a href="http://jlsp.law.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2017/03/46-Schatmeier.pdf">community investment</a> and overcome resistance from police officers and police unions.</p>
<p>Community confidence is <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2012.00291.x">critical to police reform and community safety</a>. When citizens view police as legitimate and trustworthy, they are more likely to report crimes, cooperate during police investigations, comply with directives and work with police to find solutions to crime.</p>
<h2>Beyond collaboration</h2>
<p>Efforts like that in Cincinnati that put community engagement at the heart of police reforms undoubtedly are strides in the right direction. But they can go only so far. A noticeable shortcoming in most police reform programs is a focus on what is the right thing to do during confrontations with the public, rather than on trying to avert those situations in the first place. </p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1086/701423">Fatal police shootings</a> often happen during police stops and arrests – situations that carry <a href="https://doi.org/10.3818/JRP.4.1.2002.87">increased risks</a> of citizen resistance and violent police response.</p>
<p>Scaling back low-level enforcement, such as arrests for vagrancy and loitering – much of which has little <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403417725370">public safety advantage</a> – and having police partner with civilian responders for mental health, homelessness and drug-related calls, could mean <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20191028">fewer opportunities for violent police encounters</a>.</p>
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<p>Some departments have begun to change their enforcement policies along these lines. The Gwinnett County Police Department in Georgia, for example, stopped making arrests and issuing citations for <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local/gwinnett-won-issue-citations-misdemeanor-marijuana-cases/QpGuMJ8KzHp7Ula8DLVw1M/">misdemeanor marijuana possession</a>. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108553599">2018 study</a> of traffic stops in Fayetteville, North Carolina, found that redirecting enforcement away from minor infractions – such as broken taillights and expired tags – toward the more serious violations of speeding and running traffic lights resulted in reduced crime and a narrowed racial gap in stops and searches.</p>
<h2>Removing the trigger</h2>
<p>Low-level infractions have often been the <a href="https://www.joincampaignzero.org/brokenwindows">triggers for police interventions that end in citizen deaths</a>. Eric Garner – who died in 2014 after a New York police officer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/nyregion/daniel-pantaleo-fired.html">put him in a banned chokehold</a> – was stopped for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/loose-cigarette-arrests-in-nyc-drop-in-year-after-eric-garners-death-1436992014">selling loose cigarettes</a>.</p>
<p>Devoting less time to policing such activity would also free up officers’ time to devote to such endeavors as analyzing crime trends, conducting wellness checks on elderly residents and mentoring community youth. I (Thaddeus Johnson) felt this as a police officer on the street, and I see it as a criminal justice scholar now.</p>
<p>The examples of Cincinnati, Ferguson and Baltimore show that getting community buy-in is crucial if attempts to improve policing are to be successful. We believe that evaluating officers’ performance and rewarding them based on community-oriented activities – rather than just the number of stops and arrests – could foster the support necessary for lasting reform.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thaddeus L. Johnson is affiliated with the Council on Criminal Justice (Senior Research Fellow). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha N. Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Attempts to reform US police departments fail when they are unable to get community support. Perhaps it is time to take a different tack, argue two criminal justice scholars – one a former cop.Thaddeus L. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State UniversityNatasha N. Johnson, Clinical Instructor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1581942021-04-20T22:00:00Z2021-04-20T22:00:00ZGeorge Floyd’s legacy: Derek Chauvin guilty verdicts could spell the end of police immunity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396172/original/file-20210420-17-lrh39n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5660%2C3770&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Morry Gash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The police killing of George Floyd begs for effective remedies that respond both to past harms while also preventing future harm. </p>
<p>Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/20/derek-chauvin-trial-verdict/">was found guilty of three counts in the killing</a> of Floyd after he kneeled on the Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes as he pleaded for his life in May 2020. But what will be done now to ensure no one else dies a similar death at the hands of police, especially given there have been several police killings following Floyd’s murder?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396176/original/file-20210420-13-152xrio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a pink mask holds up a poster of George Floyd." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396176/original/file-20210420-13-152xrio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396176/original/file-20210420-13-152xrio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396176/original/file-20210420-13-152xrio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396176/original/file-20210420-13-152xrio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396176/original/file-20210420-13-152xrio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396176/original/file-20210420-13-152xrio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396176/original/file-20210420-13-152xrio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A woman holds up a George Floyd poster in Minneapolis after jurors found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. (</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jim Mone)</span></span>
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<p>As legal theorist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Blackstone/Legacy">William Blackstone</a> famously wrote, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511815485.004">every right when withheld must have a remedy</a>.”</p>
<p>But American federal courts have never recognized Blackstone’s truism because of a legal doctrine known as <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-qualified-immunity-and-what-does-it-have-do-police-reform">qualified immunity</a>, which protects police or government officials from lawsuits by requiring plaintiffs to establish not only that their rights have been violated, but that state officials did so with a high level of fault. </p>
<p>Given the egregious nature of Floyd’s killing, qualified immunity was not an issue in Floyd’s case. This helps explain why Minneapolis City Council agreed to pay the family <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/12/us/george-floyd-minneapolis-settlement.html?searchResultPosition=2">US$27 million in damages</a>. </p>
<p>But courts and legislatures are increasingly finding fault with qualified immunity.</p>
<h2>Decision overturned</h2>
<p>The U.S. Supreme Court recently held that lower courts had erred when they dismissed damage claims by a Texas prisoner on qualified immunity grounds. It ruled that he can sue six prison officers who allegedly forced him to <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/11/02/texas-inmate-trent-michael-taylor/">sleep naked in a cell covered with feces and sewage</a> for days.</p>
<p>The court indicated that some violations are so egregious that they might merit damages even in the absence of clearly established law. Only Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.</p>
<p>The court also recently decided that damages can be sought for free speech violations even when the violation <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/uzuegbunam-v-preczewski/">does not cause calculable harm</a>. And in another recent case, the court ruled that a woman shot by the police when fleeing was subject to <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/torres-v-madrid/">an unreasonable seizure</a>. </p>
<p>City councils and legislatures are also chipping away at qualified immunity measures that often prevent damages from being awarded to plaintiffs. New York City Council <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/nyregion/nyc-qualified-immunity-police-reform.html?searchResultPosition=2">recently repealed qualified immunity</a> provisions that have sheltered police officers from lawsuits. </p>
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<img alt="A handcuffed Derek Chauvin is escorted from the courtroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396173/original/file-20210420-21-h1qw4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396173/original/file-20210420-21-h1qw4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396173/original/file-20210420-21-h1qw4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396173/original/file-20210420-21-h1qw4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396173/original/file-20210420-21-h1qw4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396173/original/file-20210420-21-h1qw4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396173/original/file-20210420-21-h1qw4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A handcuffed Derek Chauvin is escorted from the courtroom in Minneapolis after being convicted on three counts in the death of George Floyd.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Via Pool</span></span>
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<p>The U.S. House of Representatives has also passed the <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2021/4/12/22380284/george-floyd-justice-policing-act-national-standards-jesse-jackson">George Floyd Justice in Policing Act</a>. If enacted, it would repeal qualified immunity. That means damages could be awarded even if the police acted in good faith <a href="https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr1280/BILLS-117hr1280eh.pdf">or violated rights that were not clearly established</a>. </p>
<p>Damages are important. They serve as a visible and reportable symbol that the state has violated rights. But they are not enough. Effective remedies must also prevent future violations. </p>
<h2>Consent decrees</h2>
<p>How? <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/records/888-consent-decree">Consent decrees</a> require some police departments to collect data about police practices that harm racialized people. Some require police to intervene when <a href="https://www.justice.gov/crt/page/file/922456/download">there are warning signs</a> of officers abusing their powers. </p>
<p>The Minneapolis Police Department <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/justice-department-has-a-tool-to-make-police-forces-better-its-not-using-it/2020/06/02/96caf940-a451-11ea-8681-7d471bf20207_story.html">was not under such a consent decree</a>. It should have been. </p>
<p>U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has indicated that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/16/politics/justice-department-consent-decrees-police-departments/index.html">it will seek more</a> consent decrees to monitor police departments.</p>
<p>But more ambitious systemic remedies won’t necessarily prevent police killings and brutality. There’s no way of knowing whether a consent decree would have stopped Chauvin from killing Floyd. </p>
<p>In recent weeks there have been two fatal police shootings of unarmed Black young men in the United States, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7762261/daunte-wright-death-kim-potter-court/">20-year-old Daunte Wright in Minnesota</a> and <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/adam-toledo-little-village-protest-chicago-sunday/10526179/">13-year-old Adam Toledo</a> in Chicago, <a href="http://chicagopoliceconsentdecree.org/">where a consent decree is in place</a>. </p>
<p>More substantial systemic reform could be achieved by a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moz056">two-track approach</a> that combines individual remedies for the past and systemic remedies for the future.</p>
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<img alt="A woman holds a weeping baby" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395838/original/file-20210419-19-d255ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395838/original/file-20210419-19-d255ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395838/original/file-20210419-19-d255ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395838/original/file-20210419-19-d255ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395838/original/file-20210419-19-d255ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395838/original/file-20210419-19-d255ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395838/original/file-20210419-19-d255ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A crying Daunte Wright Jr., son of the deceased Daunte Wright, is held by his mother Chyna Whitaker, left, alongside his grandmother Erica Whitaker during a news conference on April 16, 2021. Wright, 20, was shot and killed by police after a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/John Minchillo)</span></span>
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<h2>Signs of change afoot?</h2>
<p>The ultimate remedy for a police department that cannot or will not respect rights would be to disband it. Failing that, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions are promising. They may allow courts to compensate the victims of the most egregious forms of police abuse. </p>
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<img alt="A man raises his fist in front of a Black Lives Matter banner." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396165/original/file-20210420-21-1bm76mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3305%2C2202&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396165/original/file-20210420-21-1bm76mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396165/original/file-20210420-21-1bm76mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396165/original/file-20210420-21-1bm76mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396165/original/file-20210420-21-1bm76mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396165/original/file-20210420-21-1bm76mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396165/original/file-20210420-21-1bm76mq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A person reacts on April 20, 2021, in Washington, D.C., at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty in the death of George Floyd.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alex Brandon</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>But that alone will be inadequate. </p>
<p>The courts and, if not the courts, the people must demand governments take reasonable and measurable steps to prevent future rights violations. The damages paid to Floyd’s family are an important step in remedying a searing injustice. But much more needs to be done to prevent similar violations in the future. </p>
<p>There are no easy or guaranteed victories when it comes to legal remedies. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t important or should not be vigorously pursued.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158194/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kent Roach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the wake of the conviction of the police officer who killed George Floyd, recent court decisions against what’s known as “qualified immunity” are promising.Kent Roach, Professor & Prichard Wilson Chair in Law and Public Policy, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1526572021-04-18T10:23:40Z2021-04-18T10:23:40ZA culture of silence and stigma around emotions dominates policing, officer diaries reveal<p>When you are a police officer, your emotions have to be hidden or pushed down. Officers work hard to detach themselves from their emotions as a way to cope in a culture that has an expectation of silence in the face of trauma. This culture directly contributes to the <a href="https://www.policecare.org.uk/one-in-five-suffer-with-a-form-of-ptsd-research-finds/">increase</a> in mental health issues in police officers and staff. </p>
<p>I should know. Policing is in my blood. I was a police officer for 18 years. I am a child of two police officers and my husband is a police officer. My dream was to become a Detective Chief Inspector, running murder enquiries. I made it to Detective Inspector. But then my world – and my mental health – came crashing down around me. </p>
<p>I found that I was constantly reliving my investigations in intense detail. I was reviewing every death, every shooting, every kidnapping that I had investigated. Over and over, and over. I was terrified. I didn’t sleep because I was flooded with adrenalin and a physically crushing anxiety. That adrenaline coursing through my body had me on high alert 24/7 and I saw risk and danger everywhere I looked.</p>
<p>I struggled to leave work as there was always more that I could do, more that could be done to protect others and reduce the risk. But my mind was fragmenting as my brain tried to cope with all of the detail I was scrutinising in an attempt to keep myself and everyone else safe. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em> </p>
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<p>When I was home I wasn’t present because I was reliving the nightmares of the day. There wasn’t a single moment as a police officer that I experienced any respite from that fear. Finally, I had to make a choice: my mental health or my career. It broke my heart to step away from the job I loved. I kept my sanity, but the dream <a href="https://thereflectivedetective.wordpress.com/2015/11/17/the-reflective-detective-1/">was over</a>.</p>
<p>I didn’t let my investigative skills go to waste and I turned to academia to see if I could find out what the deep rooted problem was at the heart of policing. My <a href="https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/626264/1/Doctoral%20Thesis%20SJ%20Lennie.pdf">doctorate</a> examined the emotional culture of the police in England and Wales and its contribution to PTSD in officers. I am now a chartered psychologist and academic researcher. I have been working to capture the emotional lives of police officers, to reveal how much pressure they are under to hide their true feelings and the ultimate consequences this has on their mental health. </p>
<p>At a time when police officers are also having to deal with <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56394344">public anger</a>, I believe it is worth thinking about the challenges they face as individuals on a daily basis and how that affects the kind of police service the public gets.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Photo of a female police officer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390120/original/file-20210317-19-el5jtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390120/original/file-20210317-19-el5jtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390120/original/file-20210317-19-el5jtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390120/original/file-20210317-19-el5jtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390120/original/file-20210317-19-el5jtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390120/original/file-20210317-19-el5jtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390120/original/file-20210317-19-el5jtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sarah-Jane Lennie in 2001, shortly after she was officially sworn in as a police officer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah-Jane Lennie</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>This “emotional silencing” was something I experienced as a serving officer and my <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1756061619302836">subsequent study</a> revealed I was not alone. What is far more troubling is that this emotionally stifling environment is directly contributing to PTSD in police officers, as it forces officers to dissociate from their emotions – a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-017-1445-2">key contributor</a> to PTSD.</p>
<p>I wanted to give police officers a voice and highlight the role of police service when it comes to the mental health of their officers and staff. I used audio diaries to capture stories from individual officers so I could assess the factors which were contributing to <a href="https://www.policecare.org.uk/one-in-five-suffer-with-a-form-of-ptsd-research-finds/">increasing levels</a> of mental ill health within the police service. </p>
<p>The diaries allowed officers to speak frankly about their emotional experiences and speak up on issues which they felt were unjust. They recorded their diaries on a smartphone app, following a prompt sheet. Participants could talk about whatever they wanted to, but the prompt sheet reminded them to describe how they felt, if they could express this emotion to anyone and if they displayed an emotion contrary to the one they experienced. These are stories that would otherwise have gone untold or unheard. </p>
<p>I spoke to officers from 16 different forces who provided me with over 25 hours of material in 137 diary entries. The sample group was composed of 11 uniformed constables, three detective constables, seven uniformed sergeants, three detective sergeants and three detective inspectors. They came from a range of specialist units including offender management, counter terrorism, tactical, firearms, CID, sexual offences, major investigations and roads policing.</p>
<p>The volunteers who bravely agreed to take part discussed experiences and feelings that they had never spoken of before. Some of the incidents they talked about occurred many years ago, but were clearly still at the front of their minds. Together, they revealed a culture of silence and stigma around emotional expression within the UK’s police forces.</p>
<h2>Emotional suppression is the rule</h2>
<p>A major theme emerged from these diaries: emotions are seen as a weakness and an indicator of incompetence, operating as unofficial performance measures. If you are caught displaying an emotional reaction, then you are considered unreliable and unfit for the job. Emotional suppression is the rule. This was communicated through training, policy and procedure and by observing colleagues and the behaviour of senior leaders. </p>
<p>Officers said that these “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2778583?seq=1">feeling rules</a>” (unwritten standards that govern emotional experience and response) are enforced through career limiting sanctions where officers are removed from their team, post or specialism as they are perceived as presenting a risk to the organisation. In particular, fear cannot be expressed. One detective constable told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t think that you can be openly emotional as an officer, you might be seen as a bit of a wimp. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This feeling rule appears to apply to most areas within an officer’s life, whether it be with colleagues, supervisors, back at the station or with family. </p>
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<img alt="Closeup of the back of the head of a female police officer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390195/original/file-20210317-13-gl63yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390195/original/file-20210317-13-gl63yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390195/original/file-20210317-13-gl63yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390195/original/file-20210317-13-gl63yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390195/original/file-20210317-13-gl63yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390195/original/file-20210317-13-gl63yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390195/original/file-20210317-13-gl63yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Female police officer on patrol in Edinburgh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-back-head-female-officer-police-665167795">Shutterstock/Skully</a></span>
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<p>A female child protection officer described how emotions were something she hoped to deal with at some later point – after the job was done. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think that compartmentalising and squashing down of your immediate reaction is a kind of unwritten rule as a police officer, it is certainly one practice that I have adopted to deal with traumatic incidents […] because you have got to perform.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She went on to say that everyone finds their own way. Some “squash it down”, some don’t acknowledge it and are perhaps not aware of how they are feeling until later. She said this was the case for her. She would tell herself not to panic, take a breath and carry on with her job. “I would just cry later”, she said.</p>
<p>Officers felt that they were considered to be emotionally different to other members of the public and that they should not be affected in the same way by traumatic events. One male detective said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You are a cop and you deal with this kind of thing, day in and day out, and you should just crack on. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This encourages officers to dissociate, suppress or detach themselves from their emotions. There is a lot of crying in patrol cars away from the eyes of the public, or colleagues. One female response sergeant told me about how she had to deal with a sudden death of an elderly male, shortly after the death of her own mother. She got back into her patrol car and drove off, before stopping to “choke back the tears” and somehow managing to keep them in check. She added:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You do what you have to do, you go out to the car … I sit there at times and think, ‘oh dear lord’. And then the radio goes and you are off on your next job again. So you file that away and you get on with it … </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although police forces do have certain health and wellbeing procedures in place, the reality on the ground is that officers feel abandoned. Perhaps one of the most shocking things, according to my participants, is the lack of specialist mental health awareness training or proper counselling to help officers deal with their emotions. This lack of support is something that the officers I spoke to struggled with.</p>
<p>One Detective Sergeant lamented the waiting times for in house occupational support, and felt he was “fobbed” off by supervisors when directed to the Employee Assistance Programme (also known as CIC – Confidential Care). He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They just go “ring CIC” but it takes me six weeks to get to see someone, I can’t go to occy health because there isn’t any spots, and I have got to go through an assessment process.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The counselling services most forces do provide are essentially the same as for any organisation, which is an outsourced Employee Assistance Programme of six sessions of cognitive behaviour therapy (or <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-cognitive-behaviour-therapy-37351">CBT</a>). Clearly, for such a highly stressed profession, this is <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228154601.pdf">not adequate</a>.</p>
<h2>Robots, fear and danger</h2>
<p>Society expects police officers to behave in certain ways and that is informed by the representation of police in the media. This expectation bleeds into every area of a police officer’s life – it can even inform the expectations of family and friends. Some of my volunteers told me how they were expected to be more able to cope with deaths or tragedies in their families.</p>
<p>They told me how friends expected them to provide protection and guidance in social settings. If there was a fight in a bar, or someone was becoming aggressive in public, friends and family would look to the police officer to step in. </p>
<p>This was an important point for me to explore. It led me to understand how isolated officers are. There is no space in their lives to process their experiences.</p>
<p>One response officer said that this had led them to be viewed as subhuman, or robotic. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You are expected to be the robot that comes in and deals with horrific incidents and supports the family and supports whoever is involved, picks up the pieces and goes away again.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One female offender management officer told a revealing story about fear and danger. She was working an evening shift and visiting a registered sex offender. She was alone with no support and the visit did not go well. The woman found herself in the house of a convicted criminal who was becoming increasingly aggressive and threatening.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought that I was going to get my head kicked in when I came out of there I was physically shaking […] I had nobody, there was nobody on our division in our unit, there was no supervision.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The officer ended up having to draw her CS gas to control the man. But this leads to another issue: the worry over procedure and complaints. These are the dual threats in an officer’s working life: are they going to be assaulted and are they going to be investigated for protecting themselves?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Guns in the hands of armed police." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390194/original/file-20210317-21-xiufnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390194/original/file-20210317-21-xiufnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390194/original/file-20210317-21-xiufnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390194/original/file-20210317-21-xiufnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390194/original/file-20210317-21-xiufnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390194/original/file-20210317-21-xiufnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390194/original/file-20210317-21-xiufnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Armed police on patrol in London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-police-officer-machinegun-london-close-444743512">Shutterstock/JacekWojnarowski</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>That last question is a particular concern for firearms officers who are constantly operating in high risk, high stress situations. The public may think, then, that a massive amount of resources are put into maintaining their mental health. But while firearms officers are made aware of the need to be “mentally healthy” by their force as part of their training, this does not lead to a greater openness and support within the firearms units. According to the officers I spoke to, there is instead a higher expectation of emotional regulation. </p>
<p>One officer said that “there is always the fear that if you say anything [emotional] then they will pull your ticket” and “that could put your future in jeopardy”. They said it would be beneficial if they could speak but “the back to front nature of it” is that most officers feel that they can’t speak.</p>
<p>Another firearms officer went further and said that it would be “completely alien if you even spoke to a supervisor for advice or support or help”. He added:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you are struggling, it is like ‘they have lost the plot, get rid of them … they can’t be on this department’ […] Y'know, damaged goods type of thing. You feel like you are going to have a black mark against your name and that people won’t know how to deal with you […] You can’t be honest here, because it will just wreck your career.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>But anger <em>is</em> acceptable</h2>
<p>Worryingly the police officers I spoke to told me that one emotion that was deemed to be OK was anger – despite this being specifically identified as unacceptable behaviour in the police <a href="https://www.college.police.uk/ethics/code-of-ethics">Code of Ethics</a>. This exception was expressed a number of times by officers and was explained by one detective who said aggression between colleagues was a regular occurrence. </p>
<p>They described one “bust up” between three officers over an arrest, adding: “It caused quite a lot of conflict for a long time where, I couldn’t speak to them […] it was absolutely disgusting and out of order but this sort of thing goes on all of the time.”</p>
<p>Such permissible negative behaviour between colleagues breaks down relationships and isolates officers, further reducing the potential for officers to open up about their emotional experiences with one another, effectively removing a main source of social support.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most telling diary entry about emotional support came from a response officer. He said emotion essentially equalled weakness. You simply cannot express how you feel. “Emotions and mental health and wellbeing within my force is just disgusting,” he said, “nobody cares. I am just a number, I have acknowledged that. It is only a job and it pays the bills and I have sort of embraced that in a way and let things go a little bit”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Back of police officer who listening to his in-ear radio." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393105/original/file-20210401-19-1gk4uvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393105/original/file-20210401-19-1gk4uvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393105/original/file-20210401-19-1gk4uvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393105/original/file-20210401-19-1gk4uvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393105/original/file-20210401-19-1gk4uvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393105/original/file-20210401-19-1gk4uvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393105/original/file-20210401-19-1gk4uvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A policeman listening to his in-ear police radio at a public event.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.alamy.com/police-officers-on-duty-at-a-public-event-in-hampshire-with-a-policeman-listening-to-his-police-radio-in-his-ear-image187880064.html?pv=1&stamp=2&imageid=B768A12B-3EF5-4C07-B650-A98EAA40D74E&p=250002&n=149&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&IsFromSearch=1&srch=foo%3Dbar%26st%3D0%26sortby%3D3%26qt%3Duk%2520police%2520officer%26qt_raw%3Duk%2520police%2520officer%26qn%3D%26lic%3D3%26edrf%3D0%26mr%3D0%26pr%3D0%26aoa%3D1%26creative%3D%26videos%3D%26nu%3D%26ccc%3D%26bespoke%3D%26apalib%3D%26ag%3D0%26hc%3D0%26et%3D0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3D0%26loc%3D0%26ot%3D0%26imgt%3D0%26dtfr%3D%26dtto%3D%26size%3D0xFF%26blackwhite%3D%26cutout%3D%26archive%3D1%26name%3D%26groupid%3D%26pseudoid%3D%26userid%3D%26id%3D%26a%3D%26xstx%3D0%26cbstore%3D0%26resultview%3DsortbyRelevant%26lightbox%3D%26gname%3D%26gtype%3D%26apalic%3D%26tbar%3D1%26pc%3D%26simid%3D%26cap%3D1%26customgeoip%3DGB%26vd%3D0%26cid%3D%26pe%3D%26so%3D%26lb%3D%26pl%3D0%26plno%3D%26fi%3D0%26langcode%3Den%26upl%3D0%26cufr%3D%26cuto%3D%26howler%3D%26cvrem%3D0%26cvtype%3D0%26cvloc%3D0%26cl%3D0%26upfr%3D%26upto%3D%26primcat%3D%26seccat%3D%26cvcategory%3D*%26restriction%3D%26random%3D%26ispremium%3D1%26flip%3D0%26contributorqt%3D%26plgalleryno%3D%26plpublic%3D0%26viewaspublic%3D0%26isplcurate%3D0%26imageurl%3D%26saveQry%3D%26editorial%3D%26t%3D0%26filters%3D0">Britpix/Alamy Stock Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Others agreed with statements like: “No one ever tells you that actually … it is completely normal to be scared … it is a kind of pride thing.”</p>
<p>Again, participants spoke of the need to hide their feelings at home so as not to burden family with worries. One Detective Inspector said he did this because “it was easier to just put it in a box at the end of the day”. Some of the things that he “put in box” were from 30 years ago and are still there. But he said they remained “stuck in my mind”.</p>
<p>Another detective told me a story from early in his career. He was with an elderly couple. The man had just died and the woman was saying goodbye to him.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I felt as though I should be showing a sort of quiet, detached, emotionless state of professionalism. I felt so sad, but I didn’t feel as though I could show that to her, so I showed her nothing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But he was unable to keep suppressing what he was feeling and eventually he broke down in front of her.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I couldn’t hide my emotions anymore … I was now crying, and I will always remember that she looked at me and said, ‘you look like you need a hug’. I just felt that by not keeping my emotions in check … that I had somehow failed her.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In many ways this officer had a perfectly normal reaction to a traumatic experience. He empathised with a bereaved woman, felt her pain and wept. The bottled up emotion was released. Yet, he felt a failure because of it. </p>
<h2>Numb</h2>
<p>What this all leads to is officers actively trying to dissociate from their feelings. Or as one officer put it, “trying to turn myself into that numb person”. And not just when they are at work with the public but back in the station with their colleagues and back at home with family and friends. </p>
<p>It turns out that a social expectation of how officers behave, or more to the point, how their brains work, means they feel unable to express their emotions. This is a key contributor to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1023/A%3A1007789409330">PTSD</a>. It also isn’t a great way to police our communities and can have wide reaching consequences.</p>
<p>The police service and the public all ask for officers to be <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/can-empathy-improve-polic_b_12735234">empathetic</a> but this expectation that they suppress their own emotions means they are less emotionally aware and less emotionally intelligent and compassionate <strong>as a result</strong> – both with themselves and others. One particular quote from the diaries hit home on this point. It was from an inspector who said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You can’t be yourself […] it is a lonely place to be. It is a very lonely place to be. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Police officers need to be able to express emotions, other than anger, if we are to have a police service capable of dealing with the kinds of crimes and social problems seen today.</p>
<p>The police service has the ability to prevent the high numbers of PTSD through a change in culture – but needs the support of the public.</p>
<p>Officers need permission to be fully functioning, empathetic people. People who chose to join the police to protect others because they care about the community in which they live. Yes, care. That’s an emotional response too, and there’s no shame in that either.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/durex-condoms-how-their-teenage-immigrant-inventor-was-forgotten-by-history-152497?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Durex condoms: how their teenage immigrant inventor was forgotten by history</a></em></p></li>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah-Jane Lennie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A lack of emotional support within the police is leading to PTSD and burnout.Sarah-Jane Lennie, Research associate, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1564512021-03-11T20:11:09Z2021-03-11T20:11:09ZNew Jersey State Police’s first 100 years characterized by racial prejudice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388107/original/file-20210305-13-1cs4y68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C49%2C4679%2C3089&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New Jersey state troopers salute before an NFL football game.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PatriotsJetsFootball/cc98fa0f078b4edeaeb9810fdad04f46/photo">AP Photo/Adam Hunger</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The New Jersey State Police, founded 100 years ago, was created to counter the influence of the state’s <a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/working-papers/2002/demo/POP-twps0056.pdf">rising populations</a> of <a href="https://nj.gov/state/historical/assets/pdf/topical/afro-americans-in-nj-short-history.pdf">African Americans</a> and <a href="https://www.nj.gov/nj/about/history/short_history.html">immigrants</a>, whom <a href="https://dspace.njstatelib.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10929/24561/h6731994.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">white residents feared</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/c028fdb791653edc6fe42c4081350e8f/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y">My research</a> into the <a href="https://www.state.nj.us/acps/home/hearings/pdf/061121_wbuckman.pdf">agency’s culture</a> found that the agency emerged as the result of a seven-year campaign by the state’s Chamber of Commerce to <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/crime-and-the-state-police/oclc/1079354989&referer=brief_results">replace rural police and county sheriffs</a> with a statewide professional force.</p>
<p>A key element of the chamber’s effort was a 225-page report, issued in 1917, written by <a href="https://www.whitmanarchives.org/omeka/exhibits/show/notables/garrett">Paul Garrett, a well-known businessman</a>, whose reputation <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/influence-of-paul-garrett-on-general-motors-public-relations-and-the-development-of-corporate-pr/oclc/29335412">helped boost the idea</a> for a state police agency.</p>
<p>Garrett’s writing focused on what he called the “foreign problem” in 13 of the state’s 21 counties, which was how he described crimes allegedly committed by African American and foreign-born residents in these communities. The report <a href="https://dspace.njstatelib.org/handle/10929/33525">contained stark racial and ethnic epithets</a> and stereotypes, including claims that “negroes come from the South to this place for the summer and give much annoyance,” and “foreigners should be given full freedom so long as they are law abiding. But the many instances of rape and robbery and assault and battery due to them would indicate that the problem has not yet been adequately solved.”</p>
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<p>Garrett also praised the nation’s first modern state police force, in Pennsylvania, for its “military and physical prowess” at controlling the nonwhite population, including their ability to “shoot down a n—r a mile off.”</p>
<h2>Military origins</h2>
<p>When the New Jersey legislature created the state police in 1921, it did not replace other law enforcement agencies, but was clearly intended to be a model for other New Jersey police departments. From the beginning, the agency’s superintendent, a <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4079/herbert-norman-schwarzkopf">career military officer named H. Norman Schwarzkopf Sr.</a>, took pains to promote the new agency to the public. </p>
<p>In radio speeches, newspaper interviews and <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=qOIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA929&dq=new+jersey+state+police&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilsYT-hY7vAhWCiK0KHeKvD_wQ6AEwBHoECAEQAg">eye-catching photo spreads</a> in magazines, he promised the state police would have “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report/E4NCAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0%20p.%2016">a steady and impartial line of conduct</a> in the discharge of its duty … cleanly, sober and orderly habits and … a respectful bearing to all classes.”</p>
<p>But the police force’s internal publication, The Triangle, told a different story. In a 1924 dispatch called “We Must Have a Little Fun,” an unnamed trooper wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It has been found out that some of the men stationed at Haddon Heights are carrying shotguns with # 2 Buck, hunting for ‘colored gentlemen.’ Corporal Wilson has asked that we make application for some rubber sling shots.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Racist tendencies</h2>
<p>A year later, The Triangle reported on an encounter in which a Black man had shot at a trooper, injuring the policeman’s hand, before being shot dead himself:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“A call came in that Trooper Simpson had killed a man in a pistol duel. … Corporal Sperling, talking to Sergeant Hoch with all seriousness, said ‘Can you beat that, I wish the men would pick some other day outside of Saturday afternoon to a kill a n—r.’”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The public, however, was told something else. Schwarzkopf honored Trooper Simpson for his heroism, noting in messages published <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/70285817/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">in</a> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/212673754/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">newspapers</a> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/79519368/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">across</a> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/651146620/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">the</a> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/51488211/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">United</a> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/659505364/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">States</a> that the trooper worked the rest of his shift despite his injury.</p>
<p>There were other racially controversial incidents, including a trooper in 1937 <a href="https://hup.medium.com/the-long-history-of-police-abuse-on-the-road-ba11d9928deb">shooting and nearly killing a Black teenager for joyriding</a> – something not then viewed as a real crime. In the 1950s, documents show, troopers paid particular attention to conducting traffic stops on migrant workers, who were <a href="https://nj.gov/state/historical/assets/pdf/topical/afro-americans-in-nj-short-history.pdf">often African Americans</a> or <a href="https://trentonlib.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Historical-Report-about-Puerto-Ricans-in-New-Jersey-from-1955.pdf">Puerto Ricans</a>. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paul McLemore, right, graduated in 1961 as the first Black trooper in the New Jersey State Police.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/NJSP/status/1356799455962435585">New Jersey State Police</a></span>
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<h2>A toxic work environment</h2>
<p>The first African American trooper didn’t join the New Jersey State Police until 1961. That man, Paul Dean McLemore, years later told legislators his white colleagues had hung flyers around the workplace referring to African Americans as “<a href="https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/reports/police.pdf">porch monkeys, coons, and saucer lips</a>.”</p>
<p>Another African American trooper, Isiah Cherry, who started in 1967, told the author of a <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/troopers-behind-the-badge/oclc/30398308">history of the state police</a> about when another trooper brought his son to the police barracks. The son looked at Cherry and said, “Daddy, there goes a n—r.” Rather than calling out the racist slur, the father replied, “Yeah, but he’s a good one.” </p>
<p>In July 1967, <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11966375">police beat up and arrested a Black taxi driver</a>, sparking a race riot in the state’s most populous city, Newark, in a year when <a href="https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/blog/long-hot-summer-riots-1967">race riots spread across the country</a>. A Newark police officer, a city firefighter and 24 citizens were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/nyregion/newark-riots-50-years.html">killed in the violence</a>.</p>
<p>The following year, a state commission seeking to prevent future unrest reported that during the Newark riots, state police troopers had <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/69748NCJRS.pdf">singled out African Americans for violence</a> and purposely vandalized businesses with window signs indicating they were owned by African Americans.</p>
<p>In more recent years, McLemore has recalled how excited the white troopers were to go to Newark, in one interview recounting that “<a href="https://www.insidernj.com/mlk-day-2021-racism-problem-we-all-still-live-with/">The guys with me were just ecstatic, like they were going off to war</a>.” He has described how witnessing “<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/144229720/">the atrocities bestowed on our people</a>” – meaning Black Americans – by the state police, made him realize that he “was on the wrong team.” </p>
<p>Yet, when McLemore spoke out about racism immediately in the wake of the riots, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/144229720">the state police demoted him</a> from detective to clerical worker, and relegated him to an overnight shift filing paperwork. In 1976, he resigned and – after graduating from college and law school – became a <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/144229720/">civil rights attorney and a judge</a>.</p>
<p>As McLemore was leaving the force, the state entered into a federal consent decree alleging the agency had <a href="https://dspace.njstatelib.org/xmlui/handle/10929/25073">engaged in racially discriminatory hiring practices</a>. Federal supervision of state police hiring in New Jersey lasted 17 years, until 1992.</p>
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<h2>Countering racism</h2>
<p>In 1989, the Middlesex County Public Defender’s Office identified “a <a href="https://www.nj.com/politics/2014/01/timeline_of_nj_state_police_struggles_with_racial_discrimination.html">high percentage of black, out-of-state motorists</a> … being stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike by the State Police.” At that time, the <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/146564NCJRS.pdf">New Jersey State Police were involved</a> in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/29/nyregion/new-jersey-argues-that-the-us-wrote-the-book-on-race-profiling.html">Operation Pipeline</a>, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency program intended to reduce drug trafficking.</p>
<p>The prosecutor’s scrutiny began a years-long series of investigations and lawsuits <a href="https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2657/">alleging various racist practices</a> in New Jersey State Police operations. A state court in 1996 concluded that the state police had a “<a href="https://casetext.com/case/state-v-soto-36">de facto policy … of targeting blacks for investigation and arrest</a>, violating people’s constitutional rights.</p>
<p>In 1998, two troopers shot at a van <a href="https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2020/06/12/nj-police-deaths-over-past-30-years/5339129002/">carrying three Black men and a Hispanic man</a>, wounding three. The officers claimed their shooting was justified in self-defense, later pleaded guilty to official misconduct and providing false information about the encounter.</p>
<p>That shooting, along with other incidents and allegations, sparked a <a href="https://www.nj.com/politics/2014/01/timeline_of_nj_state_police_struggles_with_racial_discrimination.html">federal civil rights investigation</a>. One of the revelations from that inquiry was that internal police documents declared that motorists who appeared to be Black or Hispanic could be considered suspicious if they were staring ”<a href="https://www.drcnet.org/njprofiling/OAG/oag1288-1312.pdf">straight ahead while driving</a>,“ or carrying "maps, newspapers and toll tickets,” or had sleeping “passengers in the back seat” – or even if they engaged troopers in “friendly dialogue” during traffic stops. </p>
<p>In 1999, the police agreed to another federal consent decree <a href="https://www.njpublicsafety.com/jointapp.htm">alleging racist policing practices</a>, especially with traffic stops. When the decree was announced, the state’s attorney general publicly acknowledged that racial profiling “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/22/opinion/racial-profiling-in-new-jersey.html">is real – not imagined</a>.” Originally intended to last five years, the order stayed in effect until 2009.</p>
<p>But eight years later, in 2017, the state police made President Donald Trump – who <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/trump-racism-comments/588067/">espoused white supremacist views</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12270880/donald-trump-racist-racism-history">beliefs</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/29/nyregion/trump-police-too-nice.html">encouraged police to treat citizens violently</a> – an honorary trooper, <a href="https://www.nj.com/politics/2017/09/trooper_trump_state_police_give_the_president_badg.html">complete with an actual badge number, 45</a>. A badge number is normally restricted only to officers who have <a href="https://www.southjersey.com/article/5755/NJ-State-Police-Head-Has-Own-Rules">completed the state’s police academy</a> – and was not given to any other presidents or politicians. </p>
<p>And in June 2020, amid national outcry about racist police violence, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/08/maurice-gordon-shooting-video/">white trooper shot and killed an unarmed Black motorist</a>. The trooper’s actions are <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/nj-state-trooper-fatal-shooting-maurice-gordon">still under investigation</a>.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>From 1999-2001, W. Carsten Andresen received funding from the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General to research the New Jersey State Police for the following two projects: (1) an evaluation of their MVR video units in fall 1999 and spring 2000 and (2) an evaluation of troopers on patrol and the New Jersey State Police (Dr. George L. Kelling, my dissertation advisor, received a larger grant from New Jersey to study the state police).
As of the summer of 2020, W. Carsten Andresen has shared research with various legislators and LGBTQ+ organizations throughout the United States: these individuals and organizations are trying to pass legislation to outlaw the gay and trans panic defense. This does not impact his current article, but he thought he would disclose it just to be on the safe side. </span></em></p>Racism was an early hallmark of the New Jersey State Police, and remains challenging for police agencies in the 21st century.W. Carsten Andresen, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, St. Edward's UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.