tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/nypd-13890/articlesNYPD – The Conversation2024-02-22T13:43:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2179892024-02-22T13:43:49Z2024-02-22T13:43:49ZPhilly mayor might consider these lessons from NYC before expanding stop-and-frisk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572924/original/file-20240201-27-r8f6fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New York City's use of stop-and-frisk was found to be unconstitutional in 2013.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-walk-past-a-police-car-in-the-in-the-brownsville-news-photo/1188492384">Spencer Platt/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/crime/alexander-spencer-philadelphia-police-shooting-fairhill-20240128.html">police killing of 28-year-old Alexander Spencer</a> in a North Philadelphia corner store in January 2024 reignited debate about whether expanding stop-and-frisk in Philly can reduce violence in the city.</p>
<p>As part of her promise to reduce crime, Philadelphia’s newly elected mayor, Cherelle Parker, has <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/stop-and-frisk-philly-mayors-race-2023-20230419.html">indicated her support</a> for the expansion of <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-road-map-for-the-lawful-use-of-stop-and-frisk-in-philadelphia-and-elsewhere-217878">stop-and-frisk policies</a>.</p>
<p>Parker’s approach is not surprising. Historically, when crime increases, American society assumes that lax or lenient crime-control strategies <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Cycle_of_Juvenile_Justice.html?id=8IE8DwAAQBAJ">are to blame</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, since the mid-1990s, data repeatedly shows that tough-on-crime approaches – such as <a href="https://umbc.edu/stories/just-what-are-zero-tolerance-policies-and-are-they-still-common-in-americas-schools">zero-tolerance policies</a>, <a href="https://famm.org/wp-content/uploads/FS-MMs-in-a-Nutshell.pdf">mandatory sentencing</a> and <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/history-mass-incarceration">mass incarceration</a> – cost taxpayers large sums of money, are inefficient and can even <a href="https://www.iirp.edu/news/stop-and-frisk-policies-increase-youth-crime-study-shows">make crime worse</a>, specifically among youth.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yQqgnOUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">professor of sociology, criminology and public policy</a>, I believe that Mayor Parker and the Philadelphia Police Department should heed the lessons learned from other jurisdictions regarding the dangers of stop-and-frisk – most notably New York City. </p>
<p>The greater use of stop-and-frisk in Philadelphia could lead to a myriad of unwanted consequences, such as lawsuits against the city, greater racial disparities in the criminal justice system, citizen unrest and distrust of the police. Meanwhile, there is little evidence that an expanded stop-and-frisk policy will actually reduce crime. </p>
<h2>What is stop-and-frisk?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/constitutional-amendments-amendment-4-right-privacy">Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution</a> ensures an individual’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. But who determines what is reasonable? </p>
<p>A 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision took up that question. In <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/392/1/">Terry v. Ohio</a>, the court ruled that a police officer can stop, question and frisk a person as long as the officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime. Frisking was allowed to protect the police officers only if the individual was suspected to be armed or if during questioning the level of suspicion rose to probable cause. Probable cause, most simply, is a higher standard of evidence that an individual may have committed a crime and is required for a judge to issue a warrant for an arrest or a search.</p>
<p>However, in the decades following Terry v. Ohio, police departments across the country have used stop-and-frisk in ways that stretch the limits of the decision and potentially violate Fourth Amendment rights.</p>
<p>New York City is perhaps the most notorious example.</p>
<h2>A tough-on-crime policy</h2>
<p>In 1993, Rudy Giuliani famously ran his New York City mayoral campaign on a tough-on-crime platform. Upon election, he hired Bill Bratton as police commissioner. Bratton had previously served as Boston’s police commissioner and also as the chief of the NYC Transit Police.</p>
<p>Under this new administration, police began aggressively pursuing minor offenses such as marijuana possession, alcohol use, motor vehicle violations and vagrancy. In addition, officers were encouraged to stop and frisk individuals <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479835881/stop-and-frisk/">who merely looked suspicious</a> based on location, dress, demeanor or other characteristics of the individual.</p>
<p>When Michael Bloomberg replaced Giuliani as mayor in 2002, he expanded on these practices with “<a href="https://www.nyc.gov/html/unccp/gprb/downloads/pdf/NYC_Safety%20and%20Security_Operation%20Impact.pdf">Operation Impact</a>.” </p>
<p>Operation Impact flooded officers into areas that were designated as “impact zones” because of high levels of existing crime. Unsurprisingly, most of these neighborhoods had high poverty rates, high rates of renters compared with homeowners and were communities of color – the three factors that <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2151797">suggest a community will have high levels of crime</a>.</p>
<p>With police officers disproportionately placed in such communities, and encouraged to stop and frisk with low levels of suspicion, it is not surprising that research finds high levels of racial disparity in the decisions to stop and frisk. Minorities were over <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep27210.4">3.5 times more likely</a> than whites to be subject to these policies. Law professor Jeffrey Bellin detailed how the minor impact that stop-and-frisk may have had on illegal gun carrying in New York was <a href="https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/1706">tied to its unconstitutionality</a>.</p>
<h2>Lessons from NYC</h2>
<p>New York City’s experience with stop-and-frisk policies provides, I believe, important lessons for Philadelphia’s mayor to consider. </p>
<p>First and foremost, <a href="https://casetext.com/case/floyd-v-city-of-ny-2">multiple</a> <a href="https://casetext.com/case/davis-v-city-of-new-york-5">lawsuits</a> <a href="https://casetext.com/case/ligon-v-city-of-ny-8">related to stop-and-frisk</a> were filed against the NYPD and the city government during Bloomberg’s third term as mayor. In each of these cases, the city was found liable for unconstitutional practices.</p>
<p>The NYPD and the city itself were rebuked by the courts for the discriminatory nature of stop-and-frisk searches. Perhaps not surprisingly, stop-and-frisk became a central issue in NYC’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/nyregion/bill-de-blasio-kicks-off-campaign-for-mayor.html">2013 mayoral race</a>. In 2013, a federal district court judge found that stop-and-frisk, as implemented in New York City, was <a href="https://casetext.com/case/floyd-v-city-of-ny-2">unconstitutional because of its reliance on racial profiling</a>, and the practice was eventually curtailed.</p>
<p>While some touted stop-and-frisk policies as the cause for the reduction in crime in the city during the early 2000s, the same decreases were happening across the U.S. and Canada – in many areas that did not invoke these policies. This suggests that the drop in crime was part of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2010.01192.x">broader trend</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, much research has indicated that the vast majority of incidents of stop-and-frisk, <a href="https://www.aila.org/files/o-files/view-file/89318407-E4E7-42CD-80F6-A9DDB3E34C33">particularly with individuals of color</a>, do not result in officers finding drugs or guns, or making an arrest. Thus, they waste valuable police time and money. In addition, a report from New York’s state attorney general found that only <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/14/stop-and-frisk-new-york-conviction-rate#:%7E:text=New%20York%27s%20controversial%20stop%2Dand,attorney%20general%20released%20on%20Thursday">about 3% of stop-and-frisks</a> in New York City from 2009 to 2012 led to a conviction.</p>
<p>Even when it does not lead to a formal conviction, stop-and-frisk can be <a href="https://beforetheblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Walking-While-Black.pdf">humiliating and traumatic</a> for the individual. They can also lead to further <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611117708791">police brutality</a> and <a href="https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/stop-and-frisk-summary-report-v2.pdf">greater mistrust of the police</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, I would like to point out that as stop-and-frisk policies drew to a close in 2014, the murder rate within the city fell while the number of stops declined. In fact, the biggest drop occurred precisely when the number of stops also <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/fact-sheet-stop-and-frisks-effect-crime-new-york-city">fell dramatically</a>, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.</p>
<h2>Community policing and other alternatives</h2>
<p>Given stop-and-frisk’s controversial nature and questionable results, Parker may want to prioritize other policing policies that have more evidence of success and foster better relationships with communities. These include <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128793039004009">community policing</a>, “hot spot” policing where officers also receive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2118780119">intensive training in procedural justice</a>, and expanded use of specialty courts such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2013.06.005">drug courts</a>, veterans courts and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16619410/">mental health courts</a>. </p>
<p>This is far from a complete list of alternatives. Many crime-reduction strategies are less controversial than stop-and-frisk, put the city at lower risk of lawsuits, lead to better police-citizen interactions and save taxpayer dollars that can be spent on crime prevention and other programs that improve the quality of life of Philadelphians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan Kurlychek 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>Evidence from NYC shows that stop-and-frisk policing leads to greater mistrust of police and more racial disparities in the criminal justice system.Megan Kurlychek, Professor of Sociology, Criminology, and Public Policy, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1512482020-12-14T13:21:54Z2020-12-14T13:21:54ZWhy getting back to ‘normal’ doesn’t have to involve police in schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372607/original/file-20201202-24-w02ua4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5463%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Roughly half of public schools have a police presence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/los-angeles-school-police-officer-henry-anderson-center-on-news-photo/496418636?adppopup=true">Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since COVID-19 forced many of America’s schools to teach kids remotely, parents and elected officials have been rightly concerned about when things will get back to normal.</p>
<p>But there are certain aspects of education where a return to a prepandemic “normal” may not be in the best interests of America’s students.</p>
<p>I believe that stationing large numbers of police officers inside public schools is one reality ripe for reform. I say this not only as a <a href="https://www.stanlitow.com/about">scholar of the politics of education</a>, but as former deputy chancellor of New York City’s public schools. I served right before New York City’s mayor at the time – Rudolph Giuliani – moved to have the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">police department take over school security</a> for the city’s school system.</p>
<p>A look back at that decision – and its consequences – can help inform the ongoing discussion about whether or how police belong in America’s schools.</p>
<h2>Police takeover</h2>
<p>Upon becoming mayor in 1994, Giuliani moved forward with the extraordinary step of shifting the responsibility for school discipline <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">to the New York City Police Department</a>, which he ultimately got the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/n-y-c-mayor-gains-control-over-schools/2002/06">then-independent</a> Board of Education to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">approve in 1998</a>.</p>
<p>Giuliani wanted schools to have a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/09/nyregion/giuliani-sees-role-for-police-in-the-schools.html">more visible police presence</a>, even though there was evidence that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/13/nyregion/violence-is-scarce-in-schools-police-find.html?searchResultPosition=8">violence in the city’s schools was rare</a>.</p>
<p>As the city’s deputy schools chancellor in the early 1990s, I opposed this move, as did <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">then-Chancellor of Schools Ramón Cortines</a>, and his successor, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">Rudy Crew</a>. We all expressed concerns that it would not make schools safer, but would negatively affect the entire school climate and impede educational progress. </p>
<p>At the time, when the Division of School Safety reported to me, it had roughly <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/10/CDF-NY-Report-History-of-Policing-in-NYC-Public-Schools.pdf">2,900 school safety officers</a> – none of whom were police officers – and a budget of about <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/10/CDF-NY-Report-History-of-Policing-in-NYC-Public-Schools.pdf">US$72 million</a>. By 2020 under New York City’s police force, staffing for school safety officers roughly doubled in size, growing to <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/07/02/school-safety-agents-will-stay-under-nypd-this-year-despite-citys-claims-of-1b-cut-1296868">5,511</a>.</p>
<p>And some budget reports now document spending growing to over <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/09/NYPD-School-Safety-Budget-Explainer.pdf">$400 million</a>. But the massive spike in staffing and spending is part of a larger social justice problem known as the “<a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/news/8775">school-to-prison pipeline</a>,” in which exposure to the justice system takes place as a result of even minor infractions at school.</p>
<h2>Disparities in discipline</h2>
<p>Nationally, Black boys get suspended once or more during the school year at more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419844613">three times the rate</a> that white boys do. In one state, Indiana, Black students’ probability of being suspended or expelled in a school year is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419844613">roughly 16% higher</a> than it is for white students.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808307116">Research</a> has shown that Black students are “more likely to be seen as problematic and more likely to be punished than white students are for the same offense.”</p>
<p>In the 2018 school year, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/030419-acluschooldisciplinereport.pdf">roughly half of U.S. schools</a> had some law enforcement officials stationed in them. This is evidence that many U.S. school systems have been following a more visible form of school discipline with closer and deeper connections to policing and law enforcement than in the past.</p>
<h2>Alternatives to police</h2>
<p>I believe there is a different way.</p>
<p>School districts such as <a href="https://edsource.org/2020/oakland-school-board-unanimously-agrees-to-eliminate-its-police-force/634544">Oakland</a>, California, and <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/11/denver-public-schools-police/">Denver</a>, Colorado, have moved to eliminate or phase out police presence in schools.</p>
<p>There are plans to use the savings, at least in the case of Oakland, toward more counselors, social workers and workers who focus on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X12473125">restorative justice</a>, which involves practices such as peer mediation, restitution and community service instead of punitive measures, such as suspension or expulsion.</p>
<p>The results of pilot studies in both Oakland and Denver were quite positive. In Oakland, <a href="https://www.ousd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001176/Centricity/Domain/134/OUSD-RJ%20Report%20revised%20Final.pdf">graduation rates increased 60%</a> in schools that implemented restorative justice practices, and <a href="https://www.ousd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001176/Centricity/Domain/134/OUSD-RJ%20Report%20revised%20Final.pdf">suspensions fell by 56%</a>.</p>
<p>The incoming administration – through the U.S. Department of Education – has an opportunity to focus attention and resources away from having more police in schools. Instead, the administration of President-elect Joe Biden can provide funding incentives that would encourage school districts to increase school safety and school success, by investing more heavily in counselors and other forms of student support.</p>
<p>As I see it, by doing so, America’s schools will be safe, but also <a href="https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/the-high-cost-of-harsh-discipline-and-its-disparate-impact">more students will graduate</a> and fewer young people will be fed into the school-to-prison pipeline.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151248/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stanley S. Litow 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 former deputy chancellor of New York City schools explains why the police don’t need to patrol the nation’s public schools.Stanley S. Litow, Visting Professor of the Pratice, Public Policy, Duke UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/350662014-12-17T10:34:31Z2014-12-17T10:34:31ZDemocratic policing: what it says about America today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67270/original/image-20141215-5257-sl8e8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Citizens and police officers</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickallen/3648592353/sizes/o/">Nick Allen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The use of lethal force by police officers in Ferguson and Staten Island has raised many concerns about the dynamic between police and citizens and underlined the fact that all time favorite fictional policeman, Sheriff Andy Taylor of the Andy Griffith TV show, is very much an out-of-date representation of what law enforcement is in the 21st century. </p>
<p>Today’s ideal is “democratic policing.” This <a href="http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/dempol.html">means</a>, broadly, 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>In order to reach that ideal, policing in America has evolved considerably over the past fifty years – from who becomes an officer to how relations with civilians are managed and what technologies are used. </p>
<p>Demographically, the 20th century has seen a slow but steady integration of minorities and women within police forces. Different managerial models aimed at improving relations with citizens have also influenced policing over the last forty years. The most prominent among these are community-oriented policing (COP), problem-oriented policing (POP), and intelligence-led policing (ILP). Finally, policing strategies and operations have been deeply transformed by the rapid integration of new technologies leading to computerization of police forces, access to a broader range of weapons and the deployment of surveillance technologies. </p>
<p>These changes were initiated in the 20th century. Their outcomes are what we are now witnessing: both positive and negative. </p>
<h2>Not all police forces are equal</h2>
<p>Policing in America is not a standardized profession guided by an established set procedures and policies. There are at least 18,000 local, state, and federal police agencies in the United States. The US police system is one of the most decentralized 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 (prevention or repression of crime), design strategies (police visibility or zero tolerance), and identify the practice to be adopted (rounding up the usual suspects or systematic stop and frisk). Often these police practices are not aligned with public expectations. Citizen review boards - such as those in New York City or San Diego - are the exception rather than the norm. </p>
<p>And then there is the money issue. Police departments that are financially crippled will simply not be able to provide regular training; they will not have the expertise then 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 or public relations than actual crime fighting. </p>
<p>However, in disadvantaged neighborhoods, police presence and activity are often more intense. They are there to target crimes that have been identified as priorities by police leadership and public officials. </p>
<p>In high crime areas, intensive policing can translate into several strategies and tactics. A 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 1980’s</a> and has only intensified since. It was reinforced by public policy rhetoric calling for a “war on crime,” “war on drug,” and “war on terror.” Police forces began to acquire military equipment and implement militarized training but with little or no accountability. For instance, in the wake of September 11, 2001, 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 leading to unnecessary purchase of military equipment including armored cars, bullet proof vests for dogs, and advanced bomb-disarming robots.</p>
<p>As a result we have seen a booming of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams: 80% of cities with 25,000 to 50,000 inhabitant now have a SWAT team (see graph below.) 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 from the Pentagon. All this has only heightened the real and perceived potential for deadly force by police officers. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67272/original/image-20141215-5284-8cwmrq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67272/original/image-20141215-5284-8cwmrq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67272/original/image-20141215-5284-8cwmrq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67272/original/image-20141215-5284-8cwmrq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67272/original/image-20141215-5284-8cwmrq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67272/original/image-20141215-5284-8cwmrq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67272/original/image-20141215-5284-8cwmrq.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">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<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 <a href="http://www.vintechnology.com/journal/uncategorized/top-5-cities-with-the-largest-surveillance-camera-networks/">Chicago PD</a> has access to 17,000 cameras including 4,000 in public schools and 1,000 at O’Hare Airport. Drones, too, are increasingly in use. The US 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 of Los Angeles, Mesa County (AR), Montgomery County (TX) Miami Dade and Seattle. </p>
<p>In addition, some law enforcement agencies such as the Virginia State Police allow members of the public to send text and video files of suspicious activity taken from their smartphones. This combined with the ability to process large amounts of data through specialized software has meant that some police agencies - such as that of <a href="http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR500/RR531/RAND_RR531.pdf">Shreveport</a> – are now capable of predicting the occurrence of crime in time and space. </p>
<p>We may still be far from a “Minority Report” scenario but we have clearly entered into a surveillance society in which risk and harm reduction directly challenge civil rights. This trend has already created problems in the counter-terrorism arena with the creation of erroneous suspect lists and intensive monitoring of <a href="http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/Muslim%20Homegrown%20Terrorism%20in%20the%20United%20States.pdf">Muslim communities </a>. </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, to witness the militarization of the police in a nation 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 of the world. </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>Similarly, encounters between police and citizens take place in the larger social framework of racial, class, and gender expectations. Racism, sexism, and bigotry exist within professional subcultures (such as that of the police) but also across society at large. </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 will have to 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><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35066/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>The use of lethal force by police officers in Ferguson and Staten Island has raised many concerns about the dynamic between police and citizens and underlined the fact that all time favorite fictional…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.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/352372014-12-12T11:32:41Z2014-12-12T11:32:41ZWith identity crisis in police, more Fergusons inevitable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66779/original/image-20141209-32140-6yo2d4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does this look like community policing? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Police_sharpshooter_at_Ferguson_protests.jpg/1024px-Police_sharpshooter_at_Ferguson_protests.jpg">Flikr/Jamelle Bouie </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent social unrest across the country protesting the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson and the police chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York has reopened wounds and revealed deeply rooted tensions between citizens and police, especially in ethnic minority communities. </p>
<p>These incidents of real or perceived police misconduct followed by social unrest and riots are not new. In the 1960s there were the <a href="http://crdl.usg.edu/events/watts_riots/?Welcome">Watts Riots</a>. In the early 1990s there were five days of rioting in reaction to the videotaped <a href="http://www.southcentralhistory.com/la-riots.php">Rodney King beating</a>. </p>
<p>An examination of the history of policing shows that this cyclical pattern can be explained by fundamental changes in policing over the past century. </p>
<h2>The first century: the political era of policing</h2>
<p>In fact, the relationship between police and citizens in the US was not always contentious: it was quite the opposite. </p>
<p>Prior to the mid 19th century in cities like New York and Boston, a rag tag group of loosely formed community members, known as “<a href="http://www.nleomf.org/museum/news/newsletters/online-insider/2012/April-2012/early-days-american-law-enforcement-april-2012.html">night watchmen</a>,” patrolled the streets. These men were very different from the police officers we see today. They were men who had other occupations and volunteered their services – often at night. </p>
<p>With no training or weapons, these watchmen’s primary role was to keep the peace. This mandate was perfectly fine with early Americans, who were wary of a standing army. Moreover, since the watchmen were from the community and relied on community members for backup, they ended up simply enforcing community norms regardless of them being legal or illegal.</p>
<p>By the early 20th century, the night watchman model had been replaced by an independent 24-hour organization that looked to prevent crime - not just react to incidents. But the subsequent intertwining of police and politics, such as the (established in 1845) New York Police Department’s association with <a href="http://mcnyblog.org/2013/11/05/power-corruption-and-tammany-hall-sketches-of-lesser-known-new-york-city-mayors-1869-1913/">Tammany Hall</a>, was being criticized for corruption. This ushered in an era of professionalism by police. </p>
<h2>Professionalization and a change in attitude towards civilians</h2>
<p>A handful of police reformers, who included Berkeley Police Chief <a href="http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/police/history/history.html">August Vollmer</a>, the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover, and an early President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_H._Sylvester">Richard Sylvester</a>, spearheaded the changes designed to establish standards similar to those in prestigious and respected professions like medicine. </p>
<p>According to these police reformers, the new officer was to be highly trained, uniformed, armed, and most importantly, incorruptible. By design, the new officer was guided by bureaucratic policy and procedures. Instead of relying on community members for backup during the night watchman model, the professional officer, aided by the implementation of patrol vehicles, call boxes, and eventually two-way radios, were to rely on each other during emergencies. Their performance was to be based on crime-control measures, such as the arrest rates found in the FBI’s ubiquitous <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr">Uniform Crime Reports</a> that date from the 1930s.</p>
<p>These structural changes had an immediate impact on how police viewed citizens. To the reactive crime fighter who responded to calls for service from patrol cars, citizens were no longer generally considered friends and neighbors but potential liars and criminals who are often out to get the police in trouble. This perspective was documented in particularly vivid fashion by MIT professor John Van Maanen’s 1978 <a href="http://jthomasniu.org/class/377a/Readings/vanmaanen-1978.pdf">article</a> about the meaning of the “asshole” among police officers: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I guess what our job really boils down to is not letting the assholes take over the city. Now I’m not talking about your regular crooks. They’re bound to end up in the joint anyway…What I’m talking about are those shitheads out to prove they can push everybody around…They’re the ones that make it tough on the decent people out there. You take the majority of what we do and it’s nothing more than asshole control.” A veteran patrolman </p>
</blockquote>
<p>An “us versus them” mentality began to develop, where police saw themselves as the moral order that is under constant attack by politicians, criminals, and ungrateful citizens. </p>
<p>Given the ever present potential for danger in their work, police officers drew closer to each other and developed an informal code of conduct that includes the so-called “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/nyregion/new-york-police-officers-face-retaliation-for-reporting-corruption.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">blue wall of silence</a>,” whereby police misconduct is tacitly accepted. It is never acceptable to snitch. For example, when a female <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/gone-viral/os-trooper-sues-police-agencies-harassment-20140213-post.html">Florida State Trooper</a> pulled over and arrested a Miami Police Officer (fully uniformed in a police car) for driving approximately 120 mph (193 kmh), she was harassed and threatened by over 100 other officers around the country. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SW1ZDIXiuS4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The beating Rodney King on primetime TV news.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Manifestations of this group mentality and its attendant cover-ups have been documented and revealed through a number of high-profile cases. The 1991 Rodney King case is perhaps the best example. Official reports and recorded audio recordings implicated the involved officers as covering up for each other. One radio transmission from one officer stated, “Oops…I haven’t beaten anyone this bad in a long time”; an admission not indicated in any initial report (See Christopher Commission Report). </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.parc.info/client_files/special%20reports/1%20-%20chistopher%20commision.pdf">Christopher Commission Report</a> that came in the wake of the case cited the police subculture as a major contributing factor to a pattern of brutality and cover ups and also included racial bias, sexism, and homophobia. An examination of Mobile Display Terminals (MDT) data by the Christopher Commission showed patterns of open racism, such as “Sounds like monkey slapping time” (See Christopher Commission Report). </p>
<h2>The call for community policing</h2>
<p>All these factors are part of the urban African-American experience.They have contributed to deep-rooted mistrust of the police. No surprise then that calls for <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Photocopy/134975NCJRS.pdf">reforming the police</a> have been focused on restoring community-police trust and relations. What’s happened over the past few decades have – ironically – focused on reestablishing some version of the early night watchmen model. </p>
<p>Virtually all police departments today claim that they are implementing some form of community policing, an approach based on community-police partnerships that includes open information sharing, community-directed issues, and other proactive collaborations focused on disorder, fear of crime, and crime prevention. More officers in large departments today are placed on walking and bicycle patrols. According to the <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/lpd07.pdf">Bureau of Justice Statistics</a>, over 95% of departments in large populations utilized some form of walking or bike patrol in 2007. </p>
<p>Look at almost any police recruitment brochure in the past few decades and you will see women and minority officers, a move that better reflects increasingly diverse communities. <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=71">In 2007</a> one in eight officers were women compared with 1 in 13 in 1987 and one in four officers were from racial minorities compared to one in six in 1987. Despite these efforts, incidents like the ones in Ferguson and New York remind us that this is not enough. </p>
<h2>A 21st century identity crisis</h2>
<p>Police today have an identity crisis. Despite efforts in community policing and the hiring of a more representative force, the future of policing is one that is based on information gathering. Instead of working with the public to collect and share information, much of the time police are gathering information <em>about</em> the public.</p>
<p>In order to better manage risk and minimize the danger, the police must gather, process, and interpret as much information as possible. One could say that they are like soldiers gathering intelligence about the enemy. </p>
<p>Take this scenario: An officer stops a vehicle based on an automated license plate scanning. Before he or she gets out of his patrol car, the driver’s full history with law enforcement and personal information appears on the car’s computer screen. The officer then approaches the driver based on this information while dash-mounted cameras, body cameras and so on collect more information for future use. </p>
<p>Moreover, police have sought to access information from smartphones and other private data sources. For example, it was recently exposed that <a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/10/virginia-police-secretively-stockpiling-private-phone-records/">Virginia Police</a> have been secretly collecting phone data. In contrast, Apple and Google drew criticism from law enforcement around the country when their latest software updates essentially made it technically impossible to extract user data by law enforcement. </p>
<p>Today’s and tomorrow’s officers have advantages over suspects with the latest crime control technology, often adapted from the military. Officers responding to dangerous situations are dressed in military tactical gear carrying military-grade weapons while riding in military vehicles with helicopters and drones circling overhead, as was evident from the massive response to the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 (minus the drones). </p>
<p>In Texas, one sheriff’s office <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/03/12/want-to-see-the-aerial-drone-police-could-soon-deploy-in-your-town/">purchased </a>the controversial ‘Shadowhawk’ drone, which can perform surveillance but can also be armed with impact rounds, chemical munitions, and tasers. </p>
<p>These tactics and images makes one wonder who the typical policeman of tomorrow will be: the minority officer sensitive to the needs of the community (for the sake of restoring community trust) or the oppressive fully-armed standing army (for the sake of officer safety)? Until the police resolve this bipolar identity, future Fergusons are, I would argue, inevitable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johnny Nhan 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>Recent social unrest across the country protesting the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson and the police chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York has reopened wounds and revealed deeply…Johnny Nhan, Associate Professor, Criminal Justice , Texas Christian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/351342014-12-08T11:01:44Z2014-12-08T11:01:44ZWhy it’s time for pervasive surveillance…of the police<p>Michael Brown’s recent shooting death by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson illustrates the pressing importance of digitally documenting police activity, while Eric Garner’s case illustrates the limits. Had Officer Wilson been wearing a body camera, we would have a far better understanding of just what, exactly, triggered Brown’s death. But the existence of a video capturing Garner’s death-by-chokehold was not enough to persuade a New York grand jury to indict. So what does this tell us about the value of recordings? </p>
<p>We need recordings, and we need them not just to investigate high-profile shootings. There is a growing demand for accurate recording of the entire spectrum of police activity, making greater transparency of policing an urgent priority. However, recordings by themselves are not a magic bullet. </p>
<p>The need for more recording is undeniable. Unless a bystander has a cell-phone camera ready, our knowledge of contested facts too often depends solely on the reports of police officers and the citizens with whom they interact. Although we know that most police officers do make a good faith effort to accurately report the facts, we also know that some officers do not. For instance, according to a recent survey one out of every seventeen Denver police officers has been subject to administrative discipline for “departing from the truth” in matters related to their <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/ci_18448755">official duties</a> That figure counts only those who have been formally sanctioned. </p>
<p>Concerns about police dishonesty extend throughout the evidence-gathering phases of criminal procedure. Police officers have been found lying about observing suspects engaged in illegal activities, where and how contraband was recovered, and whether suspects consented to searches, were given <a href="http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6013&context=law_lawreview">Miranda warnings, or confessed</a>.</p>
<h2>The mind can play tricks on us</h2>
<p>Even when police make good faith efforts to comply with the law, unintentional bias, poor memory, and sloppy procedures can undermine the accuracy of arrest reports, interview reports, and testimony. This leads investigators and courts to make incorrect inferences regarding the reliability or admissibility of evidence or even, in some cases, about a defendant’s substantive guilt. </p>
<p>Problems of this sort arise because the investigatory process occurs in a black box. Absent blind trust in the accuracy and honesty of first person accounts, we cannot be confident that we know what really happened.</p>
<p>While there are limits, digital recording technology presents a promising solution. Although some jurisdictions have begun to experiment with new recording technology, no jurisdiction has implemented a comprehensive digital recording requirement for all police activities. But it could be done. The technology now exists to cheaply and easily document all aspects of a police investigation. </p>
<p>Stationhouse questioning and lineup administration could be easily handled through use of conventional video recording devices. Dashboard cameras already record highway stops in numerous jurisdictions. For encounters in the field, as President Obama recent urged, so-called “body worn video” could cheaply and easily be used to document police-citizen encounters. </p>
<p>There are numerous reasons to use technology to monitor police activity. Visual recordings provide far more complete and accurate evidence of key evidentiary events, such as police-citizen confrontations, confessions and eyewitness identifications. Without recording, prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges, and juries are all left reconstructing the key events of an investigation based on often conflicting hearsay accounts from police, the defendant, and eyewitnesses. Given the ease of making a digital recordings, it is simply crazy to expect juries routinely to accept police officers’ hearsay accounts when they could instead be presented a real-time recording of the event.</p>
<p>Given the obvious advantages, the question is not whether we should routinely record police activity, but why such recording technology hasn’t already been more widely adopted. </p>
<h2>Police have their own reasons for objecting to video</h2>
<p>There are four main reasons. First, police departments believe, rightly or wrongly, that secrecy is vital to their effectiveness, and that courts and the general public will misperceive or misinterpret their conduct if they are caught taking shortcuts. Second, even entirely by-the-book police officers resist pervasive recording because of privacy concerns. Third, figuring out how to handle massive amounts of digital data presents real hurdles, and courts are reluctant to devote the resources needed to sift through the massive amounts of data that would be produced by pervasive recording, nor have they mastered how such data can be presented to jurors cheaply, efficiently, and consistent with traditional rules of evidence. Finally, police departments point to tight budgets as a reason not to invest in digital recording. </p>
<p>While these are real concerns, they are not insurmountable. Jurors are surprisingly sophisticated when it comes to understanding, and tolerating, legitimate but deceptive or devious investigative strategies. The police need for tactical secrecy must, at some point, give way to the need to deter police misconduct and document facts that might be critical to the determination of guilt and innocence. </p>
<p>Likewise, police officers’ potential privacy concerns, while understandable, are overstated. Employers generally are free to surveil their employees as long as they provide adequate notice. Police officers, moreover, are uniquely public actors and are routinely expected to perform their duties in front of spectators. (Of course, privacy concerns are not limited to police, and may be even more acutely felt by citizens who interact with them. Protections would need to be developed for them.) Finally, neither court procedures nor police budgets should stand in the way. The expense of digital cameras is relatively small. If using cameras prevents even one one major civil rights lawsuit, it would more than cover the costs. And whether or not we move toward widespread recording, big data is coming, and lawyers and courts will have to learn to handle it. The justice system will adapt.</p>
<p>Of course, cameras are no panacea. The Eric Garner case is only the latest reminder that people can see an event for themselves and still disagree about what happened. The difference, however, is that with the video, we have a basis for discussion. Like the Rodney King beating before it, the recording is the prerequisite for the conversation that followed. Factual knowledge is needed to figure out how, or whether, things must change. And increased transparency is needed not just in force cases, but at every stage of criminal justice. As both the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases so tragically demonstrate, we need to know the facts. That much is obvious. Figuring out what to do with that knowledge is more difficult, and even more essential.</p>
<p>_</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35134/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Russell Dean Covey 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>Michael Brown’s recent shooting death by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson illustrates the pressing importance of digitally documenting police activity, while Eric Garner’s case illustrates the limits…Russell Dean Covey, Professor of Law, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.