tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/philando-castile-29157/articlesPhilando Castile – The Conversation2023-02-03T13:30:10Ztag: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>
<figure class="align-center ">
<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">
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<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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</figure>
<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/1951462022-11-30T13:36:15Z2022-11-30T13:36:15ZBlack Twitter’s expected demise would make it harder to publicize police brutality and discuss racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497763/original/file-20221128-4995-7scacf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4147%2C9%2C588%2C28&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"> #blacktwitter helped mobilize social protests against police brutality across the country, like this one in New York City in July 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protester-wearing-a-mask-holds-a-sign-that-says-get-in-good-news-photo/1259608511?phrase=black%20lives%20matter%20floyd%202020&adppopup=true">Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before the deaths of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/17/books/review/his-name-is-george-floyd-robert-samuels-toluse-olorunnipa.html">George Floyd</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html">Breonna Taylor</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/20/us/philando-castile-shooting-dashcam">Philando Castile</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/07/sandra-bland-video-footage-arrest-death-police-custody-latest-news">Sandra Bland</a> were propelled into the media spotlight, their names were Twitter #hashtags. </p>
<p>In 2020, Twitter was essential to the <a href="https://dot.la/george-floyd-video-2646171522.html?utm_campaign=post-teaser&utm_content=i87yytb3">spread of historic Black Lives Matter</a> protests against police brutality across the world. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/27/tech/elon-musk-one-month-twitter/index.html">Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter</a> has thrown the future of <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23blacktwitter">Black Twitter</a> into question. Social media users argue that the takeover has already had an impact on the Black social media community. </p>
<p>For instance, not only do <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2022/11/23/why-is-elon-musks-twitter-takeover-increasing-hate-speech/">multiple sources</a> report an <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgpkqb/elon-musk-twitter-neo-nazis">almost immediate spike in the use of the N-word</a>, but Musk <a href="https://www.theroot.com/elon-musk-belittles-black-twitter-and-his-black-employe-1849818697">has also allegedly mocked</a> Black Lives Matter in general and the group’s apparel found at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco, California.</p>
<p>The impact of Musk’s takeover is so abundantly clear that Black Twitter <a href="https://www.bet.com/article/bbxq6o/black-twitter-holds-the-ultimate-homegoing-celebration-for-the-fallen-social-media-platform">held its own satire-infused funeral</a>. </p>
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<p>User tweets clearly take <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2020.1774449">a humorous approach</a>, a well-documented <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221107631">coping technique</a> for the <a href="https://whyy.org/segments/nothings-wrong-if-its-funny-black-comedy-taps-a-longstanding-coping-tool/">Black community</a>. But as <a href="https://emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/deion-hawkins">a Black professor</a> who studies <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33902344/">communication and police brutality</a>, I am petrified when I envision the implications of Black Twitter’s demise. </p>
<h2>It starts with a hashtag</h2>
<p>A world without Black Twitter is a world void of robust, rapid and authentic information sharing on police brutality within the Black community. As a result, it is my belief that the community will be systemically silenced and exposed to increased levels of police-related violence. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/black-twitter-oral-history-part-i-coming-together/">Black Twitter</a> refers to the digital community within Twitter that embraces and celebrates Blackness all while <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476413480247">circulating topics, stories and images</a> that directly relate to and affect the Black community. Black Twitter is not defined by geography or membership. </p>
<p>Instead, it refers to a culture and community co-created by Black Twitter members. Black Twitter is used to offer cultural critiques, and to discuss significant historical moments.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/12/11/social-media-continue-to-be-important-political-outlets-for-black-americans/">Pew Research</a> has found African Americans who use Twitter are twice as likely (68%) to discuss issues of race online compared with their white counterparts (31%). In addition, 85% of those Black users believe social media to be an important tool in creating sustained social movements.</p>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2018/nielsen-examines-the-digital-habits-and-impact-of-black-consumers/">according to Nielsen</a>, 19 million, or 28%, of Twitter’s 67 million users are African American. And about one in five African Americans are on Black Twitter.</p>
<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2747066">A 2016 study</a> found that education, amplifying marginalized voices and pushing for structural changes to policing were the main goals for Black Twitter users dedicated to BLM. <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/b5d73fcfd75ceffb2a6af7aedad1634e/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750">My dissertation</a> clearly shows that the Black community, especially <a href="https://www.phillytrib.com/news/who-are-black-millennials/article_40dea0a2-fa10-5acc-ba72-c59c219a9136.html">Black millennials</a> and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/01/17/generation-z-looks-a-lot-like-millennials-on-key-social-and-political-issues/">Gen Zers</a>, use Black Twitter as a primary source of information about police brutality. </p>
<p>I discuss this in greater detail on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QUa7C-qm64">Opinion Science Podcast</a> and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/campusonthecommon/trauma-and-communication-police-brutality-in-the-black-community-deion-hawkins">Emerson College’s Campus On The Common Podcast.</a></p>
<p>Without Black Twitter, one of the Black community’s main information channels would not exist. </p>
<h2>First with breaking news</h2>
<p>For many social media users, Black Twitter is the first way they hear of stories involving police brutality. </p>
<p>In fact, I have found that hashtags have replaced breaking news headlines for some Black Twitter users.</p>
<p>“Honestly, I hear about most cases on Twitter,” one interviewee told me during <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33902344/">my research</a>. “It’s always on Twitter before it becomes main headline news. News will pick it up like a day or two after I’ve already seen it on Twitter.”</p>
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<p>On Twitter, a hashtag is no longer just a name. Instead, it often blossoms into awareness campaigns that seek police reform. Hashtags are often the catalysts for mobilization, and this mobilization would be significantly slower in a world without Twitter.</p>
<p>Twitter is often used to document and upload videos of police brutality. For instance, the video of George Floyd’s death in police custody was first publicized on Twitter, and then mainstream news circulated the footage.</p>
<p>I like to think of Black Twitter as the fuel, while mainstream media are the wheels on the information highway. </p>
<h2>Real images in real time</h2>
<p>In my research, several interviewees indicated Twitter is the preferred message channel on police brutality because of its authenticity.</p>
<p>For many, Black Twitter avoids perceived racial biases of mainstream media outlets that rely on police sources for information. Instead, users are exposed to firsthand accounts often filmed by other Black users.</p>
<p>“I find Twitter to be most credible, especially the firsthand accounts and videos,” one interviewee told me. “There is something about seeing videos that makes it more real. There is less time for someone to flip a story.” </p>
<p>Another interviewee echoed similar ideas, stating, “I definitely prefer videos on Twitter over hearsay or the news. I don’t trust the news. But videos serve as solid evidence. I think that’s important because there are lots of cases where people are killed by police and we wouldn’t have any evidence if it weren’t for videos on Twitter.” </p>
<p>For some, like Elon Musk, Twitter may be a digital playground to boost their wealth and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2022/11/19/elon-musk-shows-how-a-business-leaders-ego-can-create-a-crisis/?sh=27b6ef5c586b">magnify their egos</a>. But Black Twitter and the information it provides is literally a matter of life and death. </p>
<p>From <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/local/oklahoma-city/2018/02/19/paid-175000-taxpayer-funds-settle-claims-oklahoma-troopers-used-excessive-force-during-traffic-stop/60542392007/">Pearl Pearson</a> to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/13/breonna-taylor-death-one-year-anniversary-marked-events-rallies/4679918001/">Breonna Taylor</a> to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/29/us/tamir-rice-shooting-no-federal-charges/index.html">Tamir Rice</a> to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/20/us/philando-castile-shooting-dashcam">Philando Castile</a>, the use of Twitter was essential in gathering evidence, gaining public attention and pushing for reforms. </p>
<p>In a world where cameras are always on and information is constantly being shared, police brutality still exists. Imagine what may happen when there are fewer places to make public those images and unvarnished stories.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195146/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>Black Twitter is often the preferred forum for candid and authentic Black-centered discussions on police brutality. Without it, holding police accountable may become even more difficult.Deion Scott Hawkins, Assistant Professor of Argumentation & Advocacy, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1443212020-08-28T12:23:18Z2020-08-28T12:23:18ZWhen police stop Black men, the effects reach into their homes and families<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355159/original/file-20200827-18-124vkis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C40%2C5332%2C3555&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black men are stopped by police in disproportionate numbers. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-on-cheering-on-the-protesters-as-they-make-their-way-news-photo/1242649140?adppopup=true">Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While much of the world was sheltering in place in the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans’ undivided attention was focused squarely on Minneapolis, Minnesota, where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html">George Floyd was killed at the hands – and knees – of the police</a>. </p>
<p>Floyd’s murder evoked memories of other murders by the police, including those of Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Philando Castile and Samuel DuBose. Most recently, another unarmed Black man, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/23/kenosha-police-shooting-video-wisconsin/">Jacob Blake, was shot seven times in the back in Kenosha, Wisconsin</a>. </p>
<p>We are a <a href="https://sociology.utk.edu/faculty/williams.php">sociologist</a> and a <a href="https://louisville.edu/kent/about/faculty-1/bios/dr.-armon-perry">social worker</a> who study racism, inequality and families, including a focus on Black men and their interactions with law enforcement. Each of these killings serves as confirmation that concerns about those interactions are warranted. </p>
<p>The problem isn’t just that Black men get killed – it’s that Black families are stressed and strained by Black men’s daily encounters with police.</p>
<p>Studies show Black and Hispanic drivers, compared to white drivers, experience a disproportionate number of <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo17322831.html">police stops</a> and that officers show <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/25/6521">less respect</a> to Black drivers. </p>
<p>Racial inequality in contact with the police may influence the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/03/10-things-we-know-about-race-and-policing-in-the-u-s/">lack of trust in police</a> among Black Americans. In a recent <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/163523/one-four-young-black-men-say-police-dealings-unfair.aspx">Gallup survey</a>, one in four Black men ages 18 to 34 reported they have been treated unfairly by police within the last month.</p>
<p>In our research on these interactions, we found that they have far-reaching implications for Black families. Law enforcement encounters for Black Americans stretch beyond the streets of our cities and into Black Americans’ homes, where they have a negative effect on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0002716216633447">family life</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man helping a woman during a street protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.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">The shooting of another Black man, Jacob Blake, by police on August 23 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, led to days of street protests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-helps-a-woman-during-a-clash-with-law-enforcement-in-news-photo/1228208322?adppopup=true">Brandon Bell/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Families suffer</h2>
<p>Studies show that <a href="https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/media/publications/Parents%20Behind%20Bars%20-%20What%20Happens%20to%20Their%20Children%2C%20Murohey%20%26%20Cooper%2C%202015.pdf">one in nine</a> Black children has had a parent in prison. Having an incarcerated parent is <a href="https://sociologicalscience.com/download/volume%201/april/unintended-consequences-effects-of-paternal-incarceration.pdf">associated with a host of social problems</a> for children, including behavioral problems and academic failure. </p>
<p>Former inmates have to navigate many barriers to reintegrate and reconnect with their communities and families. A recent <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jomf.12174">study</a> shows that if fathers were previously incarcerated, they were more likely to report having a strained and unsupportive relationship with their child’s mother, a major factor which negatively impacts fathers’ involvement and harms their connection and relationship with their children. </p>
<p>Although a growing number of studies focus on incarceration and families, there is less empirical research that includes whether police stops experienced by Black fathers affect family life.</p>
<p>In our research, we have found the obstacles that come with <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2156869315616258">economic hardship</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/fare.12308">mental illness</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pere.12301">parenting stress</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19371918.2011.629856?casa_token=6lDgv0oMiYkAAAAA%3AT3lOWktmXPdV8SJxDstX6s5jNbVoCPREOnhItbCZiFZW7Klm8k4YsEgWY6gfKYW9XwzJ0IUfju20">incarceration</a> can hurt how well parents work together and the well-being of their children. </p>
<p>We wanted to extend our work by examining whether experiencing a traffic stop for Black fathers affected their relationship with their child’s mother. This is important because the mother-father relationship plays a large role in fathers’ involvement with their children. </p>
<p>In 2019, we co-authored a <a href="https://ucincinnatipress.manifoldapp.org/system/actioncallout/1c94db82-0fd5-4eb8-b8e1-8edc494ce22d/attachment/original-4520e76d4bb77e5bf041670673ac1588.pdf#page=86">study</a> that examined how Black fathers’ contacts with police affects their relationships with their children’s mother. </p>
<p>We analyzed data from the <a href="https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/about">Fragile Families and Child Well-being study</a>, a study surveying nearly 5,000 families from urban cities. In conducting our analysis, we focused on 967 Black families that included both fathers’ and mothers’ reports of relationship quality and cooperative parenting.</p>
<p>We found that fathers who reported experiencing a police stop were more likely to report conflict or lack of cooperation in their relationships with their children’s mother. They also reported the same relationship problem if they had been previously incarcerated.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man and a boy sitting on the stairs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355161/original/file-20200827-14-t8yfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355161/original/file-20200827-14-t8yfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355161/original/file-20200827-14-t8yfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355161/original/file-20200827-14-t8yfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355161/original/file-20200827-14-t8yfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355161/original/file-20200827-14-t8yfii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355161/original/file-20200827-14-t8yfii.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">Being stopped by police can hurt a Black man’s relationship with his family.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/father-sitting-with-son-on-the-stairs-royalty-free-image/85756520?adppopup=true">Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Anger and frustration</h2>
<p>Encountering law enforcement can affect family relationships in a number of ways. </p>
<p>In many cities, the <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/how-do-people-high-crime-low-income-communities-view-police">police presence is heaviest in low-income communities where Black men are more likely to live</a>. These communities and their residents are often economically disadvantaged with very few viable prospects for gainful employment. </p>
<p>For the Black fathers in these communities, not being able to fulfill the financial provider role can contribute to relationship tension with their children’s mother. </p>
<p>Family researchers suggest that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167203255984">stressful events</a> such as law enforcement contact may also reduce individuals’ ability to manage family problems. </p>
<p>Family members are <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.48.1.243">inextricably linked</a>, so when Black fathers experience a police stop, it may generate feelings of uncertainty and agitation on the part of the mother and affect the way that she views the relationship, leading to <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo17322831.html">anger and frustration</a> that negatively impacts the relationship.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Reinforcing racial oppression</h2>
<p>The disproportionate number of Black men who have contact with law enforcement does not happen within a vacuum. Some <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11524-015-0005-x.pdf">researchers</a> underscore the historical origins of policing and criminalizing of Black males since the Civil War that continues into the present. This includes negative stereotypes of Black men as dangerous, which led to <a href="https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/report/">more than 150 years of lynchings</a>, <a href="https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/color-of-justice-racial-and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons/">mass incarceration of Black men</a> and more recent <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/08/the-human-impact-report.pdf">stop-and-frisk policies that disproportionately target Blacks</a>. </p>
<p>Given the prevalence of both incarceration and police stops for Black men, law enforcement contact of any kind can become a source of additional stress and may <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo17322831.html">reinforce racial oppression</a>.</p>
<p>As the results of our study indicate, these experiences may carry over into their day-to-day lives, including harming their family relationships.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144321/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>As the country reels from a series of killings of Black men by the police, two scholars report that their research shows that stops by police of Black men can hurt their families.Deadric T. Williams, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of TennesseeArmon Perry, Professor of Social Work, University of LouisvilleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/627692016-07-20T05:58:42Z2016-07-20T05:58:42ZDeath on smartphones: in a world of live streamed tragedy, what do we gain?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131185/original/image-20160720-8005-10tuvlh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The death in Nice on Bastille Day was live streamed in sickening detail.</span> </figcaption></figure><p><em>The videos in this article contain graphic violence that may be disturbing to some viewers.</em></p>
<p><br></p>
<p>A series of horrendous global events in the past few weeks have highlighted the use of <a href="https://live.fb.com/">Facebook Live</a> to stream footage via smart phones, as they unfold.</p>
<p>For the 1.5 billion Facebook subscribers, and other users on live streaming services Periscope and Meerkat, these video streams are the first drafts of history.</p>
<p>Diamond Reynolds’ live stream of the July 6 <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/13/us/police-shootings-investigations/">death of her partner, Philando Castile</a>, who was shot by police in Baton Rouge, was dramatic, emotional and unequivocal. </p>
<p>It was followed, just days later, by images streamed live by Michael Bautista of the <a href="http://www.cnet.com/au/news/shooting-at-texas-rally-streamed-live-on-facebook/">revenge attack on police at a Black Lives Matter rally Dallas</a>, just metres from Dealey Plaza where Abraham Zapruder recorded the <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-does-the-zapruder-film-really-tell-us-14194/?no-ist">most famous 8 mm film footage ever shot</a>. </p>
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<p>Meanwhile, US Late Show host Stephen Colbert used a live stream of his hijacking of the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/tv-comedy/stephen-colbert-mocks-donald-trump-at-the-republican-national-convention-during-tv-stunt-20160719-gq8pm9.html">Republican National Convention in Cleveland</a> to mock Donald Trump. </p>
<p>The Black Lives Matter movement, created in 2012, has welcomed live streaming as a way of providing proof that police target black people in the USA. But what of Antonio Perkins, who in June <a href="http://heavy.com/news/2016/06/antonio-perkins-chicago-man-shot-dead-killed-facebook-live-video-youtube-watch-shooting-murder-suspect/">accidentally live streamed his own murder</a> in a park in Chicago?</p>
<p>Are some of these moments too intimate to invite the world to share? How would you feel if your last moments on earth – all your “priceless things” – became what Irish poet WB Yeats called “but a post the passing dogs defile”?</p>
<p>Is watching these unmediated moments mere voyeurism? Or is there something to be learned from them? Security specialist Gavin de Becker argued in the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56465.The_Gift_of_Fear">Gift of Fear</a> (1997):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We watch attentively because our survival requires us to to learn about things that may hurt us. That’s why we slow down at the scene of a terrible car accident. It isn’t out of some unnatural perversion; it is to to learn. </p>
<p>Most times, we draw a lesson: ‘He was probably drunk;’ ‘They must have tried to pass;’ ‘Those little sports-cars are sure dangerous;’ ‘That intersection is blind.’ Our theory is stored away, perhaps to save our lives another day.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But, sometimes, little is to be learned. The live streams from Nice show little of the carnage, but do say running for your life and filming doesn’t work.</p>
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<p>The live streaming of events on smartphones does not just throw up one more challenge to traditional journalism: it may also change the way a significant minority of the world’s population understands the substantial issues of the day.</p>
<p>Live streaming may even help break down the division between the information-rich first world, and the information-poor third world. But it may also see social media become even more awash with trash and trivia.</p>
<p>This information overload may encourage the resurgence of traditional journalism, with journalists employing their expertise as filters and fact-checkers. (Mind you, filtering live stream footage is labour and cost intensive.) This would, one hopes, see the role of the journalist return to that of a crap-trap and a seeker of truth in a world beset by a blizzard of information. </p>
<p>The availability of live video streams has the potential to undermine the traditional roles of journalism. Breaking stories, being rushed to air by competitive media organisations, are particularly prone to errors. </p>
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<p>The first reports from the Dallas police shootings had up to five snipers: there was just a lone gunman. In Nice, confusion abounded for some hours on the scope of the massacre, the number of persons in the murder truck and gunfire from the truck. The live streams gave us few clues, giving only a sense of immediacy rather than insight to the reports.</p>
<p>While live streaming may better inform the public, it also has the potential to entrench prejudices among the viewers. Selective viewing and rejection of contrary viewpoints could see the <a href="http://example.com/https://www.google.com.au/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=Communication+and+New+Media%3A+From+Broadcast+to+Narrowcast">atomisation</a> of audiences become a wider reality. </p>
<p>Communities that no longer share common values and understandings about the functioning of society are communities ready for schism and destruction</p>
<p>The next half decade will see these issues around live streaming played out in our media as its real social use is assessed. </p>
<p>At its best, live streaming can extend the understanding of events, indeed, even instil more compassion in our community for the woes of others. </p>
<p>At its worst, it may not just weaken journalism but contribute to the dissolution of the social contract.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent O'Donnell hold shares in Fairfax Media.</span></em></p>Tragic and violent events are increasingly being live streamed to the world. Are we learning something from these graphic visuals – or are we wallowing in voyeurism and confirming our prejudices?Vincent O'Donnell, Honorary Research Associate of the School of Media and Communication, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/626662016-07-19T10:07:04Z2016-07-19T10:07:04ZAmerica’s police culture has a masculinity problem<p><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/baton-rouge-police-officers-shot-wounded-airline-highway/">Three police officers</a> were killed and three wounded in a shooting early on Sunday, July 17 in Baton Rouge. Ten days earlier – on July 7 – a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/09/us/dallas-police-shooting.html">sniper gunned down</a> five police officers in Dallas. </p>
<p>I know many strong critics of the police. Many of them are affiliated with the
<a href="http://blacklivesmatter.com/">Black Lives Matter movement</a>. None of them stand for ambushing police officers. I also know a few police officers and many prosecutors. Most of them are against racial profiling.</p>
<p>Now, it would be a false equivalence to say that Black Lives Matter activists and defenders of the police are in the same position. </p>
<p>Black Lives Matter activists are seeking changes in an institution – the criminal justice system – that has <a href="http://www.civilrights.org/publications/justice-on-trial/race.html">disproportionately targeted</a> and killed people of color. These activists are disproportionately drawn from communities that <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/black-lives-matter-queer-trans-issues/">have been marginalized</a> based on their race, gender identity, sexual orientation and related issues. </p>
<p>In contrast, police officers are sworn to protect the public, even when they are the subject of criticism and protest. Police officers are also disproportionately drawn from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/03/us/the-race-gap-in-americas-police-departments.html?_r=0">relatively privileged</a> segments of society: men and whites. </p>
<p>The recent controversy over policing has often been traced to racial bias, but it may stem in equal part from gender. I have spent a decade researching ways that race and gender intersect in policing and found that hidden police officer machismo is exacerbating the more commonly noticed problem of racial profiling. </p>
<h2>Issues around masculinity</h2>
<p>To bring about peace, we must first acknowledge that we have a problem. </p>
<p>The evidence that police officers target racial minority men for stops on suspicion of crime is overwhelming. This has been statistically proven in New York City <a href="http://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/assets/files/Floyd-Liability-Opinion-8-12-13.pdf">racial profiling litigation</a>. In a recent study, <a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/fryer/home">Harvard professor Roland G. Fryer Jr.</a> also found <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/upshot/surprising-new-evidence-shows-bias-in-police-use-of-force-but-not-in-shootings.html">racial bias</a> in police uses of force. Additionally, in New York, as elsewhere, <a href="http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/osjcl/files/2015/01/11-Richardson-and-Goff.pdf">racial profiling</a> of these types mostly happens to men. </p>
<p>Having seen such gender patterns before, my colleague <a href="https://law.unlv.edu/faculty/ann-mcginley">Ann C. McGinley</a>, a professor of law at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and I have <a href="https://law.unlv.edu/event/monday-law-talk-whats-masculinity-got-do-it-gender-pop-culture-and-law">often asked</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“What’s masculinity got to do with it?” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>By masculinity, I simply mean popular assumptions about what is manly behavior. For instance, men do not wear dresses, do not ask for directions and do not dance. Or so we are told. </p>
<p>If one is a man, or just wants to perform masculinity, one will be drawn toward the behaviors that are popularly understood to be manly. An important tendency of masculine behavior in the United States is to <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1257183">confront disrespect</a> with violence. </p>
<p>In policing, this has meant punishing the “noncrime” of “contempt of cop” (offending a police officer) with trumped up charges of law-breaking or physical violence. </p>
<p>The killing of Philando Castile serves as one example of the way racial bias and police officer machismo work together. </p>
<p>Racial profiling was evident in the fact that police officers had stopped Castile at the borders between black and white neighborhoods in and around St. Paul, Minnesota. Castile was stopped <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/stopped-52-times-by-police-was-it-racial-profiling/2016/07/09/81fe882a-4595-11e6-a76d-3550dba926ac_story.html">at least 52 times</a> over the course of a few years. Yet at least half of his citations were dismissed. That is an extraordinary number of stops, and an even more surprising number of dismissals.</p>
<p>Implicit in these excessive race-based stops is a macho stance that is <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/19/us/oakland-police-scandals/">especially prevalent</a> amongst those who go into policing. First, perhaps because police forces <a href="http://www.militarytimes.com/story/veterans/2014/12/08/enlisted-police-officer/20102901/">often give preference</a> to former members of the military, police officers are prone to <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1257183">bullying the suspects.</a> It should be no surprise that more masculine men thrown into police forces patterned on the military are more prone to aggressive behavior.</p>
<h2>Here are the consequences of this culture</h2>
<p>To maintain face in the culture that prevails in many police departments, officers must meet any physical threat or even disobedience with violence. As the “<a href="http://www.aapf.org/sayhername/">Say Her Name” movement</a> has pointed out, when police officers get macho, women of color may also become victims of their violence. </p>
<p>Police bullying of women can come in the forms of false charges, physical violence, or sexual assaults. For instance, former Oklahoma City police officer <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/10/us/oklahoma-daniel-holtzclaw-trial/">Daniel Holtzclaw</a> was convicted of 18 counts of sexual offenses against African-American women.</p>
<p>Second, masculinity exacerbates racial profiling because young men of color are the boogeyman. They are the personification of danger in the eyes of much of the public and the police. That status stems from the U.S.’ long history of white supremacy and apartheid. Police officers may be both seeking to maintain their place in the male pecking order and genuinely afraid of men of color.</p>
<p>That is why the mention of a gun by a black man can lead a police officer to shoot first and question later. In the case of Castile, as an audio recording of the events later revealed, Castile’s <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/philando-castile-police-scanner-audio_us_5783a3a2e4b0c590f7ea0d4d">“wide-set nose”</a> got him pulled over. And being the subject of heightened fear – a black man with a gun – got him killed.</p>
<p>Of course, police officers are not a monolithic group. White police officers are not all explicitly, or even implicitly, biased against men of color. Many police officers are racial minorities themselves. Moreover, <a href="http://womenandpolicing.com/PDF/2002_Excessive_Force.pdf">increasing percentages</a> of police officers are women, whose presence has been connected to lessened police brutality. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, acknowledging that racial profiling and police officer machismo travel together is important, as it will require a different approach to fixing policing. </p>
<h2>Way forward: deescalate</h2>
<p>We cannot just observe the police through body cameras, for that will not stop police officers from feeling more threatened by men of color in the first place. Instead, we need to train police officers to acknowledge both that many of them have implicit biases against racial minorities and that they may feel more fearful of men of color than any other group.</p>
<p>As I think about how this proposal might become reality, I have the same advice for each side of the policing divide: deescalate.</p>
<p>To protesters against the police I say this: After Baton Rouge, rightly or wrongly, you will have to go first. Do not stop criticizing racial profiling and police officer machismo, but do unequivocally disavow shooting police officers. </p>
<p>To police officers I say this: You rightfully feel vulnerable, but do not ratchet up this conflict. Do not condone the idea <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/author/heather-mac-donald">advanced in some conservative quarters</a> that the slaying of police officers means you must allow crime to rise. Honor your fallen comrades by doing your job even better. </p>
<p>In the day-to-day job, that means using deescalation techniques to turn potential conflicts into peaceful resolutions. Deescalating the overall conflict between police officers and protesters will not be easy, but it will be worth the effort.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Rudy Cooper 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>A macho culture prevails in police departments in America. The recent killing of Philando Castile serves as one example of the way racial bias and police officer machismo work together.Frank Rudy Cooper, Professor of Law, Suffolk UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/621052016-07-13T02:16:31Z2016-07-13T02:16:31ZHow apps and other online tools are challenging racist attacks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130169/original/image-20160712-9289-zgug4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Online and offline activism are merging, as recognised by this protest against the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/THESOURCE/status/500653210114490368/photo/1">Twitter</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the aftermath of <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/brexit">Brexit in the UK</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/defiant-hanson-will-test-a-coalition-government-61985">success of Pauline Hanson</a> in the Australian Senate elections, racism seems to be a more present threat than ever. </p>
<p>As First Nations people and people of colour in Australia well know, racial violence never went away. But, for others, recent events may serve as a needed reminder that racist attacks and abuses of police power also happen outside the US. </p>
<p>The Brexit fallout has included <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/06/27/facebook-brexit-incidents-hate-crime-london-britain/#ufAyyr7biOqL">a sharp rise in racist attacks</a> on people of colour and migrants, including eastern Europeans. Anti-racists in the UK have quickly responded. The <a href="http://www.istreetwatch.co.uk/">iStreetWatch</a> website now allows users to report and map racist incidents across the UK. </p>
<p>People are increasingly using online spaces and digital tools such as anti-racism apps to strategise, challenge racist views and strengthen anti-racist solidarity. </p>
<p>The post-Brexit Twitter handle <a href="https://twitter.com/postrefracism">@PostRefRacism</a> has nearly 10,000 followers. It encourages users “to document the increase in racism in the UK following the vote for Brexit”.</p>
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<p>But as <a href="https://twitter.com/prerefracism">@PreRefRacism</a> observes, far from being new, racism has merely become more visible to white people since Brexit.</p>
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<h2>Defining, discussing and countering racism</h2>
<p>Activists and scholars have always argued race is a complex formation that needs to be set in historical context. However, the popular view is racism is a matter of bad attitudes that anyone can hold.</p>
<p>In online discussions, reductive approaches to racism can be challenged in real time. It is due to the prominence of many black feminists on Twitter, for example, that the term <a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/01/why-our-feminism-must-be-intersectional/">intersectionality</a> has become more widely understood.</p>
<p>Social media provide an important space in which racism is being defined, discussed and countered. These are <a href="http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/scholarly-musings-indigenous-activism-and-social-media-spaces">key sites</a> for observing how discussions of race take shape.</p>
<p>However, as media scholar Gavan Titley notes, this has also led to racism becoming “<a href="https://raster.fi/2016/02/17/the-debatability-of-racism-networked-participative-media-and-postracialism/">debatable</a>” – to the detriment of a clear delineation of what racism is and is not. </p>
<p>While “cyber-racism” is important to challenge, the persistence of street violence and the intertwining of “offline” and “online” worlds call for new methods for opposing racism in public. </p>
<p>Mobile apps for anti-racism interventions and education have been around for a number of years and several more are in development. As <a href="http://www.uws.edu.au/ics/research/projects/anti-racism_apps">our research on apps</a> in Australia, the UK and France has shown, they have diverse functions: to report racist incidents; to educate; and as news sources for racialised communities. </p>
<p>The “phone in your pocket”, with its built-in geolocative and image-capturing capabilities, can be a powerful anti-racism tool, enabling immediate reactions to racist events. As with the recent <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36732908">police shooting of Philando Castile</a>, mobile video live-streamed online can generate almost immediate widespread condemnation and reaction.</p>
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<h2>Tracking Islamophobic abuse</h2>
<p>The Australian <a href="http://islamophobiawatch.com.au/">Islamophobia Watch</a> is a reporting app modelled on one developed by the French anti-Islamophobia association, the <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collectif_contre_l%27islamophobie_en_France">CCIF</a>. The app was launched in reaction to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mosques-muslims-and-myths-overcoming-fear-in-our-suburbs-31822">2014 police raids on Muslim homes</a> and subsequent <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/dozens-of-antimuslim-attacks-as-islamic-leaders-warn-of-community-fear-20141009-113tmk.html">attacks on Muslim people in public</a>, women in particular. </p>
<p>Like iStreet Watch, the app allows users to report incidents of Islamophobic abuse. A <a href="http://islamophobiawatch.com.au/map/main">map is created</a> to visualise these incidents by category such as physical or verbal aggression, discrimination and vandalism. This representation of racial violence is itself a primary purpose of these apps.</p>
<p>The CCIF spokespeople in Paris told us that, in addition to enabling the reporting of racist events, the app-generated data draw attention to the existence of Islamophobia as a category of racism, which is highly contested in France. By cataloguing abusive events, CCIF makes the point that Islamophobia cannot go ignored. </p>
<p>The app includes a feed that provides an alternative news source for an embattled community. Against a backdrop of increased state-sanctioned Islamophobia – bans on hijabs and burqas, the imposition of pork on school canteen menus and heightened policing of Muslims in a hyper-securitised landscape – the resource generates community solidarity. </p>
<p>In this way, users may experience the app as a more concrete response to racism than fleeting online hashtag campaigns.</p>
<h2>What are the risks of these apps?</h2>
<p>Our research will now turn to the US and Canada where app development has focused on <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/shootings-police-race-america-1.3670654">police violence against the black community</a>. Tools such as the <a href="http://www.nyclu.org/app">NYCLU Stop and Frisk app</a> allow users to film police violence, report incidents and alert users when others are being stopped and frisked in their area. </p>
<p>While such apps purport to put the power in the hands of those on the receiving end, the rise of formalised digital platforms that capture and store data and evidence of racism also raises legitimate concerns: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>As our research shows, the conduit between the reporting of incidents, the police and the courts necessarily appeals to the same systems in which institutionalised racism so often plays out. </p></li>
<li><p>Despite the apps we studied providing confidential and anonymised reporting, the real and perceived risks of the technology being used (in the wrong hands) to profile and literally locate and track individual reporters and activists is a genuine concern. This may act as a barrier to take-up and use. </p></li>
<li><p>The ease with which incidents can be filmed and uploaded online, while certainly raising awareness, runs the risk of causing people to switch off. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Digital technology can have the dual effect of informing about and banalising racism. As comic <a href="https://twitter.com/harikondabolu">Hari Kondabolu</a> tweeted following the US police <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-live-streamed-police-killing-revealed-the-power-of-representation-62238">shootings on successive days</a> of two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile:</p>
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<p>As more apps are developed, more questions will emerge. What is clear is that these will be a main player in the fight against racism as it morphs and spreads into online and mobile-mediated everyday spaces.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62105/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 organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Racial abuse and violence and the intertwining of ‘offline’ and ‘online’ worlds call for new methods for opposing racism in public.Alana Lentin, Associate Professor in Cultural and Social Analysis, Western Sydney UniversityJustine Humphry, Lecturer in Cultural and Social Analysis, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622592016-07-08T22:46:03Z2016-07-08T22:46:03ZWhy is it so hard to improve American policing?<p>The use of lethal force by police officers in Minnesota and Baton Rouge has once again sparked protests over the violent dynamic between citizens and the police.</p>
<p>The ideal today is “democratic policing,” a concept developed by scholars like Gary T. Marx at MIT. Broadly, this <a href="http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/dempol.html">refers to</a> a police force that is publicly accountable, subject to the rule of law, respectful of human dignity and that intrudes into citizens’ lives only under certain limited circumstances. </p>
<p>Partly in response to this ideal, policing in America has evolved considerably over the past 50 years. There have been changes in hiring, how relations with civilians are managed and what technologies are used. </p>
<p>The 20th century has seen a slow but <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/racial-makeup-police-departments-331130">steady integration</a> of minorities and women within police forces. Different managerial models aimed at improving relations with citizens have also influenced policing over the last 40 years. The most prominent among these are <a href="http://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/litreviews/Community_and_Problem_Oriented_Policing.pdf">community-oriented policing</a>, <a href="http://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/litreviews/Community_and_Problem_Oriented_Policing.pdf">problem-oriented policing</a> and <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/210681.pdf">intelligence-led policing</a>. </p>
<p>Policing has also been deeply transformed by the rapid integration of new technologies leading to computerization of police forces such as the profiling of crime hotspots, access to a broader range of weapons like tasers and the deployment of surveillance technologies like drones and closed circuit TV. </p>
<p>Some of these changes have been positive, but as recent events show, many problems remain. Why hasn’t more progress been made?</p>
<h2>Not all police forces are equal</h2>
<p>One problem is the inequality inherent in the system. For example, Washington, D.C. has <a href="http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/police-officers-per-capita-rates-employment-for-city-departments.html">61.2 police officers</a> per 10,000 residents, while Baton Rouge has just 28.7.</p>
<p>Policing in America is not a standardized profession guided by an established set of procedures and policies. There are at least <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=71">12,000 local</a> police agencies in the United States, making it one of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/police/Decentralized-police-organizations">most decentralized</a> police organizations in the world. </p>
<p>There are more than 600 state and local police academies across the country delivering training programs that vary <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/slleta06.pdf">tremendously</a> in content, quality and intensity. This, inevitably, has an impact on the <a href="http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=828673">skills</a> of their graduates. </p>
<p>Differences in policing also reflect the quality of leadership and the availability of resources. </p>
<p>Police chiefs and commanders represent a critical source of influence. They provide the doctrine by deciding whether to focus on prevention or repression of crime. They design strategies like police visibility or zero tolerance. And they identify the practice to be adopted – rounding up the usual suspects or systematic stop-and-frisk.</p>
<p>Often, however, these police practices are not aligned with public expectations. Citizen review boards – such as those in <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/ccrb/html/home/home.shtml">New York City</a> or <a href="https://www.sandiego.gov/city-clerk/boards-commissions/crb">San Diego</a> – are the exception rather than the norm. </p>
<p>And then there is the money issue. Police departments that are financially crippled are simply not able to provide regular training and therefore don’t have the expertise to pursue certain kinds of crime. The policing of fraud, for example, requires financial expertise and specialized units. </p>
<h2>From public relations policing to intensive policing</h2>
<p>Policing styles in America vary according to the targeted audience.</p>
<p>Police work in an affluent neighborhoods is often characterized by “soft” policing strategies. In other words, policing in those areas is more a question of making people feel secure than actual crime fighting. </p>
<p>However, in disadvantaged, multi-ethnic neighborhoods, police presence and activity are often <a href="http://amstat.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1198/016214506000001040#/doi/abs/10.1198/016214506000001040">more intense</a>. They are there to target crimes that have been identified as priorities by police leadership and elected officials. </p>
<p>In fact, one policing model, <a href="http://www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/strategies/predictive-policing/Pages/welcome.aspx">predictive policing</a>, can <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2050001">exacerbate racial tension</a> between law enforcement and African-American communities. </p>
<p>Predictive policing is based on crime analysis and computerization. This model helps law enforcement mobilize their resources in places where crime tends to concentrate. These crime clusters tend to be located in poor and disadvantaged communities. However, trying to prevent crime by focusing police forces on some addresses, street corners and blocks increases police-citizens encounters. Some of these encounters – even between police and law-abiding citizens caught up in the dragnet – can turn violent.</p>
<p>Another noticeable trend that is front and center in the media today is the “militarization” of police. </p>
<p>This blurring of the distinction between the police and military institutions, between law enforcement and war, <a href="http://cjmasters.eku.edu/sites/cjmasters.eku.edu/files/21stmilitarization.pdf">began in the 1980s</a> and has only intensified since. It was reinforced by public policy rhetoric calling for a “war on crime,” “war on drugs” and “war on terror.” Police forces began to acquire military equipment and implement militarized training with little or no accountability. For instance, in the wake of 9/11, several local police departments received funding from the Department of <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/20/local-cops-ready-for-war-with-homeland-security-funded-military-weapons.html">Homeland Security </a>and Department of Defense with little or no guidance on how to spend the money. This led to the unnecessary purchase of military equipment including armored cars, bulletproof vests for dogs and advanced bomb-disarming robots.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129899/original/image-20160708-24087-1ss62cv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129899/original/image-20160708-24087-1ss62cv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129899/original/image-20160708-24087-1ss62cv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129899/original/image-20160708-24087-1ss62cv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129899/original/image-20160708-24087-1ss62cv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129899/original/image-20160708-24087-1ss62cv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129899/original/image-20160708-24087-1ss62cv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129899/original/image-20160708-24087-1ss62cv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&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="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>As a result, we have seen a booming of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams: 80 percent of cities with 25,000 to 50,000 inhabitants now have a SWAT team. From the late 1990s, through the <a href="http://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R43701.pdf">1033 Program</a>, the Department of Defense has authorized the transfer of military equipment to police departments across the country. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/us/war-gear-flows-to-police-departments.html?_r=0">Since 2006</a> the police have bought 93,763 machine guns and 435 armored cars from the Pentagon. All this has only heightened the real and perceived potential for deadly force by police officers. </p>
<h2>Now I see you</h2>
<p>Another significant change in modern policing is the increasing capacity to monitor criminal activity and the population in general.</p>
<p>Police agencies now have access to a vast network of closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitors, allowing the surveillance of public and private spaces. Just to give a few numbers, the Chicago Police Department has access to 17,000 cameras, including <a href="http://vintechnology.com/2011/05/04/top-5-cities-with-the-largest-surveillance-camera-networks/">4,000 in public schools and 1,000 at O’Hare Airport</a>.</p>
<p>Drones, too, are increasingly in use. The U.S. Border Patrol deploys them to monitor smuggling activities. They have been purchased by <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/eff-and-muckrock-have-filed-over-200-public-records-requests-surveillance-drones">a number</a> of local police departments, including those in Los Angeles; Mesa County, Arizona; Montgomery County, Texas; Miami Dade; and Seattle. </p>
<h2>A mirror of society</h2>
<p>In many regards, police agencies are a mirror of our beliefs and values as a society. </p>
<p>When applying this assumption to the phenomenon of intensive policing, it is not surprising, I would argue, that a country that has the highest rate of gun ownership among Western countries, the highest <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list">murder rate</a> by guns among advanced democracies and the largest military apparatus in the world would see a militarization of its police. </p>
<p>The same reflection can be made about the use of police surveillance technologies in a society where information technology increasingly defines our interactions. </p>
<p>Ultimately, policing is inseparable from politics. Police organizations are constantly influenced by political pressure, such as the nomination of a new chief of police or new laws that police must enforce. The state of our police system, in other words, for good or for ill, is an accurate proxy measure of the state of our democracy.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s Note: This story updates <a href="https://theconversation.com/democratic-policing-what-it-says-about-america-today-35066">Democratic policing: what it says about America today</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frederic Lemieux 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>For 50 years, we have worked to make U.S. police more diverse and less intrusive. Why haven’t we made more progress?Frederic Lemieux, Professor and Program Director of Bachelor in Police and Security Studies; Master’s in Security and Safety Leadership; Master’s in Strategic Cyber Operations and Information Management, George Washington UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.