tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/dallas-shooting-29156/articlesDallas Shooting – The Conversation2016-09-21T20:32:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/658472016-09-21T20:32:46Z2016-09-21T20:32:46ZPolice shootings and race in America: Five essential reads<p><em>Editor’s note: The following is a roundup of stories related to policing and the Black Lives Matter movement.</em></p>
<p>Police and protesters clashed last night in Charlotte after Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old African-American man, was <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/keith-lamont-scott-protests-erupt-police-killing-160921045737483.html">shot and killed</a> by a police officer.</p>
<p>Lamont’s death followed a shooting last week in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where another African-American man, Terrence Crutcher, 40, was <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/20/us/oklahoma-tulsa-police-shooting/index.html">also killed</a> by a police officer.</p>
<p>Police brutality, and the response of groups such as Black Lives Matter, have drawn renewed national attention to issues of race and policing in America. Here are highlights of The Conversation’s coverage of these issues.</p>
<h2>Violence takes a toll</h2>
<p>Through social media, millions of Americans witness images of the death of African-Americans. For African-Americans, the repeated experience of watching these events can have profound impact on their well-being. As pediatrician <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nia-heard-garris-283549">Nea Heard-Garris</a>, researcher at the University of Michigan, writes about <a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-our-children-after-the-wounds-of-racism-divide-us-even-more-62471">the impact on black children</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Children can be impacted by traumatic events if they identify with the victim regardless of geography. Think of how youth of color everywhere may identify with these events, based on the ages and races of the victims… we need to protect our children from being the indirect victims of these events as well.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Addressing the problem of anti-black police violence also requires taking into account <a href="https://theconversation.com/slow-death-is-the-trauma-of-police-violence-killing-black-women-62264">the traumatic and long-term deadly effects on the living,</a> who are often women. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/christen-a-smith-282479">Christen Smith</a>, professor of Anthropology and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We know from the stories of black mothers who have lost their children to state violence that the lingering anguish of living in the aftermath of police violence kills black women gradually. Depression, suicide, PTSD, heart attacks, strokes and other debilitating mental and physical illnesses are just some of the diseases black women develop as they try to put their lives back together after they lose a child.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nor are police immune from the effects of violence. A study by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/john-violanti-282415">John Violanti</a> of the University of Buffalo, State University of New York found that police have a 69 percent greater risk of committing suicide <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-tragic-reminder-that-policing-takes-a-toll-on-officers-too-62256">than other working populations</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The top five most stressful events that police reported were, in this order: exposure to battered or dead children, killing someone in the line of duty, fellow officer killed in the line of duty, situations requiring the use of force and physical attack on one’s person.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Searching for solutions</h2>
<p>Those seeking solutions have scrutinized police departments for their training, practices and culture. Addressing the masculine, aggressive disposition promoted in many departments may be key to reducing police violence, <a href="https://theconversation.com/training-to-reduce-cop-macho-and-contempt-of-cop-could-reduce-police-violence-51983">according to research</a> from <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/frank-rudy-cooper-211706">Frank Roody Cooper</a>, a professor of law at Suffolk University.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“An awareness of the way cop macho leads to "contempt of cop” punishments will not prevent all police uses of force. Training machismo out of police officers’ habits would be worth the effort, though, because it would allow the deescalation of many potential police-civilian conflicts.“</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Police brutality against blacks in the civil rights era, as is the case today, is effective in <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-black-lives-matter-means-beyond-policing-reform-62332">galvanizing minorities around other core issues</a> facing their communities, writes <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/garrett-felber-282957">Garrett Felber</a>, a scholar of 20th-century African-American history and social movements at the University of Michigan:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"The issue at stake, then, is how to take this opening and not only begin to secure justice for the lives lost to police violence, but also to expand on questions about what it means to value black life.”</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65847/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Protests erupted against the killing of black men by police in Tulsa and Charlotte. This roundup looks at research on racial violence and explains where there might be potential solutions.Danielle Douez, Associate Editor, Politics + SocietyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/647232016-09-07T02:43:21Z2016-09-07T02:43:21ZWhy are police inside public schools?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136797/original/image-20160906-25266-1jqb2oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are police being asked to do too much?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/northcharleston/19559553200/in/photolist-vNpPHS-r2cV3W-6P5J26-asg91N-riCnbz-bofTdN-bBaLr6-4HQQyr-r2cTzq-asg5mQ-pEWWY-6Vyn3X-bBcmSB-6VCqSu-qmKEU9-3jBZWz-qmXZZi-bofTnh-bBaLuF-6Vym5T-riJuWM-74z7hv-6P9S9S-4oMAgu-74yhR4-74D6NC-6P5EhV-eC4XQw-6P9JX5-6P9QEw-74D455-6P9Kbd-h5XxTv-avnQyK-6Vsy2f-74z5nB-6Votog-6P5CDM-6Vsyv9-6Vot1e-6Vsyxy-6VszbW-6P9HsL-74ysg4-6Y2iik-6P9Fz9-6P5FcK-7fCsfa-6VosVn-6Vouex">North Charleston</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Children across the U.S. have now returned to school. Many of these children are going to schools with sworn police officers patrolling the hallways. These officers, usually called school resource officers, are placed in schools across the country to help <a href="https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43126.pdf">maintain school safety</a>. </p>
<p>According to the most recent data reported by the Department of Education, police or security guards <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/iscs15.pdf">were present in 76.4 percent</a> of U.S. public high schools in the 2009-2010 school year.</p>
<p>In many of these schools, police officers are being asked to deal with a range of issues that are very different from traditional policing duties, such as being a mental health counselor for a traumatized child. This is an unfair request.</p>
<p>Days after the recent tragedy in Dallas, for example, as he grieved for the five slain officers, Dallas Police Chief David Brown referred to this problem <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/25/the-dallas-police-chief-told-protesters-to-apply-for-police-jobs-now-job-applications-are-up-344-percent/">when he said</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We’re asking cops to do too much in this country… Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. Not enough mental health funding, let the cops handle it. … Schools fail, let’s give it to the cops. … ” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>For the past decade I have been studying how we police schools and punish students. My recent book, <a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520284203">“The Real School Safety Problem,”</a> and a <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/police-in-the-hallways">growing body</a> <a href="http://www.nyclu.org/pdfs/criminalizing_the_classroom_report.pdf">of other studies</a> point to the fact that, indeed, schools ask police to do too much in schools. </p>
<p>Not only is it unfair to the police, it can be harmful for children.</p>
<h2>Policing schools</h2>
<p>Though there are no national data collected on exactly how many police officers are in schools, <a href="https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43126.pdf">estimates suggest</a> that the practice became popular in the early 1990s, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/governing-through-crime-9780195181081?cc=us&lang=en&">as society began to rethink</a> policing and punishment in the community outside of schools. That resulted in more rigorous policing practices and expansion of our prison system. </p>
<p>In 1999, following the <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/columbine-high-school-shootings">Columbine school shooting</a>, when two teens went on a shooting spree, policing practices grew further: <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/iscs15.pdf">Federal funding was increased</a> to have more police officers in schools. </p>
<p>However, for over 20 years, school crime has been plummeting. Between 1993 and 2010 the number of students who reportedly became victims of a violent crime at school <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/iscs15.pdf">decreased by 82 percent</a>. Since most schools are now safe places, officers in them aren’t needed to respond to many crimes. </p>
<p>So they are being asked to do many other tasks. </p>
<p>There are no national data on what officers do while at schools. But <a href="http://nyupress.org/books/9780814748206/;%20https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/police-in-the-hallways">studies in specific schools</a> find that officers are being asked to deal with mental health problems, family crises, self-injurious behavior and manifestation of childhood trauma. They also mentor students and teach law-related courses.</p>
<p>Every jurisdiction makes its own decision about what officers should do in schools, and the training that they should receive to work in schools. The National Association of School Resource Officers does offer <a href="https://nasro.org/training/nasro-training-courses/">a week-long basic training course</a>. That training does include a component on counseling and mentoring youth, but it is not clear how comprehensive the sessions are. Moreover, not all officers are required to take the course. </p>
<p>But students’ mental health and other problems are, not surprisingly, often beyond the <a href="http://nyupress.org/books/9780814748206/">skills gained from a week-long course</a>. Even if they are trained, police officers are not mental health professionals whose years of training and practice teach them how to calm youth down, assess mental health needs and address the <a href="http://nyupress.org/books/9780814748206/">underlying causes of student misbehavior</a>.</p>
<h2>What are the consequences?</h2>
<p>I have found in my prior research that the presence of officers can change the school environment in subtle ways – from one that focuses on children’s social, emotional and academic needs to one <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/police-in-the-hallways">focusing</a> on <a href="http://nyupress.org/books/9780814776384/">policing potential</a> <a href="http://nyupress.org/books/9780814748206/">criminals</a>. </p>
<p>For example, in one school I observed what happened when a student overdosed on multiple bottles of cough syrup. Rather than the school seeing this as a mental health issue or suicide attempt, the school turned to its “go to” person for handling difficult student issues: the officer.</p>
<p>After dealing with the initial emergency and ensuring the child went to the hospital, the officer’s (and thus the school’s) only response was to investigate what crime the <a href="http://nyupress.org/books/9780814748206/">child could be charged with</a>, not what help he needed. </p>
<p>Other research, too, shows that the presence of police in schools can result in increased arrests of students for minor behaviors. For example, a 2013 study by criminologists <a href="http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/faculty/chongmin-na">Chongmin Na</a> and <a href="https://ccjs.umd.edu/facultyprofile/Gottfredson/Denise">Denise C. Gottfredson</a> found that schools that added police officers subsequently <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2011.615754">saw more weapons and drug crimes</a>, and a larger number of minor offenses reported to the police. </p>
<p>A 2016 study by University of Florida law professor <a href="https://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/jason-p-nance">Jason P. Nance</a> found that the presence of a police officer predicted greater likelihood that student misbehaviors <a href="http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol93/iss4/6/">would result in an arrest</a>.</p>
<h2>Who gets hurt?</h2>
<p>Childhood trauma is often a cause of <a href="http://www.naspcenter.org/safe_schools/safeschools.htm">serious childhood misconduct</a>. Black and Latino students are <a href="https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/BMOC_Exclusionary_School_Discipline_Final.pdf">at a greater risk</a> than white students of having experienced childhood trauma. Youth of color are also more likely than white youth to <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/iscs15.pdf">attend schools with police officers</a>. This means that students of color, who may have greater need for mental health care than white youth, are instead dealt with by police officers who are untrained or insufficiently trained in responding to trauma.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136786/original/image-20160906-25237-1ddya5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136786/original/image-20160906-25237-1ddya5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136786/original/image-20160906-25237-1ddya5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136786/original/image-20160906-25237-1ddya5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136786/original/image-20160906-25237-1ddya5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136786/original/image-20160906-25237-1ddya5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136786/original/image-20160906-25237-1ddya5l.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">African-American boys are arrested at school more often than other students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/northcharleston/14122936415/in/photolist-nvZJXH-6VCrWS-6Z3kia-74DceJ-6VCs2f-6Vymzn-74zfG2-6P5y84-6VCrPJ-74zdGr-6P5xSR-6P9Kvf-6VymGT-6Z7qvb-vihbt-74D7v9-6P5BdB-6Z7kUy-7BQvog-4rRDxE-6VotRR-92JAE-6Vszdd-9jYeSt-bntZTX-6Z7qHb-6Vym6T-74z4Lr-74ysyz-6Z3j7t-6Z3quc-74CXK5-6Z7mdj-74zfL6-R2KJ-74zefx-6VCrzf-6Z3j1Z-6VCs5o-6P5xm6-6Z7jpY-6VCrJ1-6P5AxM-6VynsH-6Z3ka2-6VCrDy-6Z3kg2-74ymC4-6P9Lzu-6PbsBJ">North Charleston</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is therefore not surprising that recent research from the <a href="https://consortium.uchicago.edu/">University of Chicago Consortium</a> found that the arrest rate in Chicago for African-American boys was <a href="https://consortium.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Discipline%20Report.pdf">twice as high</a> as that for students in the school district, overall. </p>
<h2>Policing can be counterproductive</h2>
<p>Police officers in schools often serve as mentors and role models. For example, the officer I described above – who looked to charge a potentially suicidal student with a crime – had volunteered to work in a school because of his desire to help kids. He took time to advise youth and be a positive influence in the lives of many. Often students would come to his office to ask for advice, and just “check in.” He would respond with care and compassion. </p>
<p>Though there is no sound evidence that <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1368292">police officers in schools</a> prevent crime, it would be reasonable in my view to place officers in those few schools where there is violence. Despite steep declines in school violence, nationally, there are some schools where teachers and students <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/offices/OUS/PES/studies-school-violence/school-crime-pattern.pdf">face frequent threats of violence</a>. </p>
<p>Having said that, the cost of the daily presence of police outweighs the benefit in the majority of schools. For example, the officer I describe above as a caring counselor and role model switched roles dramatically when he thought a crime might have been committed. </p>
<p>Then he would act like any traditional officer focused only on law and order. In those moments, he failed to address the underlying cause of the problem. By relying on him as the primary responder to student problems, the school replaced a focus on social issues and mental health with a focus on law enforcement. </p>
<p>The result is that children do not receive the help they need, and officers are placed in a no-win position by being asked to respond to students’ needs as if they had the same training as a mental health professional.</p>
<p>The fact is, policing alone cannot solve all societal problems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64723/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aaron Kupchik has received funding from the National Science Foundation (2006-2008, #SES-550208) for his prior work. </span></em></p>Police in schools are being asked to deal with a range of issues, such as being a mental health counselor for a traumatized child. It is unfair to the police and can be harmful for children.Aaron Kupchik, Professor of Sociology & Criminal Justice, University of DelawareLicensed 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/623772016-07-13T13:09:28Z2016-07-13T13:09:28ZI was a white police officer in the US – I know how deep the crisis of racism is<p>I served as an police officer and a detective for more than 12 years, and I have felt a particular connection to the the tragic events of recent weeks. There is clearly a massive gap between black Americans and the police departments that are supposed to serve them.</p>
<p>As a white American, I do not know what it’s like to be <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf">three times more likely to be suspended in school</a> because of my skin colour, or to stand out in a crowd as a minority because of my skin colour. I do not know what it’s like to be <a href="http://cepr.net/documents/black-coll-grads-2014-05.pdf">twice as unlikely</a> than other Americans on average to get a job I apply for because of my skin colour. </p>
<p>I also don’t know what it’s like to be significantly more likely to be <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/18/ferguson-black-arrest-rates/19043207/">arrested</a> than people of other racial groups, or to be three times more likely than average to be <a href="http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/">killed by the police</a> because of my skin colour. I don’t know what it feels like to know that if found guilty of a crime, I could be given a <a href="http://sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Race-and-Justice-Shadow-Report-ICCPR.pdf">20% longer prison sentence</a> based on the colour of my skin. </p>
<p>This is, of course, the reality for 13% of the US’s population – the black population.</p>
<p>Yet I do know something about the strained relationship between black communities and American police officers, and I know it firsthand.</p>
<p>I know what it’s like when a community you serve declines to co-operate with you during a criminal investigation because of the uniform you wear. I know what it’s like to try your hardest to earn the trust of (understandably) untrusting communities to only see another member of the police community murder a black teen on national news. </p>
<p>I know what it feels like to respond to a 911 call only to have the caller request a black officer because “you can’t trust white cops”. I know what it is to be constantly told that I am a racist just because I am white and I wore a uniform. I know what it’s like to be hated because of the combination of my profession and the colour of my skin.</p>
<p>You see, no non-police member of a black community knows what it’s like to put on the most hated uniform in the country, just as a white police officer doesn’t know what it is to have the skin of an oppressed community. </p>
<p>This is the tragedy of our differences – but it also shows the immeasurable value of each personal experience when trying to bridge fractured relationships.</p>
<p>Americans need to know about and acknowledge these very observable gaps between themselves and their police. They need to openly discuss any intentional or unconscious discrimination that plagues all walks of society. Americans need to understand just how difficult policing is in a country where you are <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/research-and-journals/gun-deaths-in-u.s.-remain-highest-among-high-income-nations">ten times more likely to be killed by a gun</a> than you would be in any other developed country. </p>
<p>But the implications of overlooking and denying racism needs to be openly examined and discussed too – and American police departments have specifically avoided doing that for far too long.</p>
<h2>Owning up</h2>
<p>To improve the lethally distrustful relationships between the black community and policing, there are several things that must be done. </p>
<p>First, the policing community has an obligation to be transparent with all communities regarding use of force and the impact that racism has upon it. The police must acknowledge that racism exists in American policing, just as with other professions. If a police force is aware that a shooting is unjust or an incident is tainted with bias, it must immediately acknowledge and denounce it, and see that those responsible are brought to justice. </p>
<p>This is a critical social obligation. This would entail effective prosecution in a swift manner for any criminal charges that might have occurred after a criminal investigation has been conducted. Police communities should focus more attention on community policing tactics so further personal attachments can be built to neighbourhood beat cops.</p>
<p>The policing community cannot lead this effort alone. Black communities will have a part to play in opening up better communication and reaching understanding with the forces they so distrust.</p>
<p>But there’s something more fundamental that needs to change too: white Americans must acknowledge that their country was built on the backs of subordinated black and Native American identities. We must acknowledge the mass of laws and practices that’s been called “<a href="http://newjimcrow.com/">the new Jim Crow</a>”, a system that perpetuates white social and political dominance while incarcerating black Americans in their hundreds of thousands. We must acknowledge and confront the effects of systemic and personal bias on real people and their communities.</p>
<p>After all, the first step towards overcoming structural racism within society and policing alike is to acknowledge that it exists. It’s long past time that all Americans did so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Panter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The gap between American police departments and the black communities they’re meant to protect is huge – but it can be closed.Heather Panter, Senior lecturer, Liverpool John Moores UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/621482016-07-13T00:56:39Z2016-07-13T00:56:39ZQuantifying the social cost of firearms: a new approach to gun control<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130292/original/image-20160712-9274-hku5u7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Guns have another kind of price tag.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jim Young/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Another week in America, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-shootings-in-dallas-baton-rouge-and-minnesota-are-tragedies-beyond-color/2016/07/08/15701910-4547-11e6-88d0-6adee48be8bc_story.html">another week of sadness and hand-wringing</a> prompted by gun violence. </p>
<p>While the most recent incidents are tinged by race, they also point to a country <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-horrific-predictable-result-of-a-widely-armed-citizenry">awash in guns</a> and the too many deaths that result from their use (or abuse). But are these shootings any more likely to lead to some kind of meaningful action to address the problem?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, probably not. As long as the debate continues to be one of constitutionality (the right to bear arms) and control (regulation), little meaningful change is likely to address the <a href="https://www.atf.gov/about/docs/report/2015-report-firearms-commerce-us/download">16 million new guns entering the U.S. market</a> each year or the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf">nearly 34,000 annual gun deaths</a>. </p>
<p>A new dialogue is desperately needed among policymakers and the public. And it could begin by shifting our focus away from the regulation of guns toward understanding (and mitigating) the social costs of firearm fatalities.</p>
<p><a href="http://environment.umn.edu/discovery/nise/publications/">My research</a> examines ways to assess the social, environmental and health effects of new technologies to inform policymakers and companies. Though my focus at the University of Minnesota is on sustainability, similar analyses may also be useful for the political debate over gun control. </p>
<h2>Firearm fatalities</h2>
<p>The current congressional debate focuses on the most violent actors (terrorists or those whose background check may not check out) and the most lethal guns (military-style rifles) – not necessarily the deadliest guns or those creating the greatest risks to society. </p>
<p>Despite the headlines, most guns never kill anyone, and military-style rifles are some of the least frequently used guns in firearm deaths. Each year, fewer than <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm">one firearm-related death</a> occurs in the U.S. for every 10,000 guns in circulation, or 33,636 fatalities for an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/05/guns-in-the-united-states-one-for-every-man-woman-and-child-and-then-some/">estimated 357 million guns</a>. And about two-thirds of those deaths <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/suicide.htm">are suicides</a>. </p>
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<p>Gun deaths associated with mass shootings have surged dramatically in recent years, but are still rare compared with other gun violence. In just the first four months of 2016, 70 mass shootings have been reported (more than all of 2015), with 129 victim fatalities, according to <a href="https://library.stanford.edu/projects/mass-shootings-america">Stanford University’s Mass Shootings in America</a>. Adding in Orlando and Dallas, mass shooting deaths in the first half of 2016 equal those of 2015 and are four times the annual average in recent years.</p>
<p>While this is alarming, such deaths represent just a fraction of the number of firearm-related homicides, about 1.6 percent. And military-style rifles were used in just 10 of the 136 mass shootings reported since January 2015.</p>
<p>Any policy to reduce the likelihood of these events should, therefore, reflect the very small probability of a military-style rifle being used in a mass shooting that targets the public – just one in 575,000 (about 50 deaths out of <a href="http://goal.org/newspages/AWB-truth.html">about 29 million rifles</a>).</p>
<p>New regulation would need to be very restrictive. Millions of these guns would have to be removed from circulation to see any measurable effect on public safety, a politically impossible lift. </p>
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<h2>Price tag of saving a life</h2>
<p>A potential reframing of the issue might be to estimate the social cost of gun deaths, establish the burden borne by each weapon and seek policies that reflect it in the market for firearms.</p>
<p>Across many different areas of government, this kind of analysis is applied all the time when examining the benefits and costs of potential policies. When considering food handling or tracking systems, benefits of reducing the risk of illness and premature death are compared with the costs of implementing the policy. Policies to reduce harmful pollution, improve the safety of automobiles or add bicycle lanes to roads are evaluated in similar ways. </p>
<p>To get at a social cost of mortality, measures have been developed to assess how much people are willing to pay for small reductions in their risks of dying. In aggregate, these values are referred to as the “<a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w9487.pdf">value of a statistical life</a>” (VSL). </p>
<p>This is not how much an actual individual life is worth, but it is an estimate of how much, in total, a large group of people would be willing to pay to save one statistical life. For example, if the average response from a sample of 100,000 people indicated a willingness to pay US$100 to reduce their risk of dying by 0.001 percent, than the VSL would be $10,000,000. So, the total economic cost of mortality in a particular year equals the VSL times the number of premature deaths. Similarly, the economic benefit of a mitigating action becomes the same VSL multiplied by the number of lives saved. </p>
<p>That said, different federal agencies use various valuation methods and assumption. <a href="https://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eerm.nsf/vwAN/EE-0563-1.pdf/$file/EE-0563-1.pdf">The Environmental Protection Agency’s adjusted VSL</a> for 2013 is $9.4 million, the <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/VSL2015_0.pdf">Department of Transportation</a> set its 2013 base year value at $9.1 million and the <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/cost-estimates-of-foodborne-illnesses/how-to-read-a-worksheet.aspx">Department of Agriculture</a> provides a midpoint estimate of $8.66 million. </p>
<p>From a purely economic perspective, the social costs of gun deaths likely exceed $300 billion annually. This is a staggering number, more than what the federal government <a href="https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid-chip-program-information/by-topics/financing-and-reimbursement/downloads/medicaid-actuarial-report-2013.pdf">spent on Medicaid</a> in the same year. And that’s not including the <a href="http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/nfirates2001.html">more than 80,000 nonfatal firearm injuries</a> each year.</p>
<h2>A gun’s burden</h2>
<p>Identifying guns’ overall mortality risk burden doesn’t exactly help inform legislation targeting certain types of guns used in certain types of homicides. </p>
<p>But, based on the previous analysis of military-style rifles used in mass shootings, these guns (in these situations) are some of the least costly from a VSL perspective. In fact, the social burden of a single military-style rifle is likely to be as little as $15.77 a year (or $455 million for all rifles based on 50 deaths and a $9.1 million VSL).</p>
<p>It is hard to see how this valuation could deter gun sales enough, or support the implementation of a robust screening and background check system, to make a difference. By comparison, handguns – which are implicated in <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf">nearly 70 percent</a> of gun-related homicides – bear a disproportionate burden on society of $401 annually per handgun in circulation. </p>
<p>Policies reducing the burden of gun deaths (e.g., by reducing the number of guns or improving their safety) need to be compared against the additional costs of implementing them. These costs could come as regulations, increased taxes/fees or price increases. </p>
<p>In other words, applying a mortality risk valuation to handguns might cost as much every year as the initial cost to the gun owner. In the current climate, any form of tax or fee approaching this valuation would be a political nonstarter.</p>
<h2>A way forward</h2>
<p>So, if this analysis leads to societal burdens that are both so low (the case of rifles) and so high (the case of handguns) that neither are politically viable, one can easily understand the paralysis in Congress. </p>
<p>The automobile insurance market, where risks are pooled across geographies, types of vehicles and driving behavior, may provide some insights and a way forward. </p>
<p>Similar to guns, nearly 250 million personal vehicles (or their drivers) were associated with <a href="https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812139">27,507 deaths in 2013</a>. These premature fatalities tally social costs of $250 billion. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130470/original/image-20160713-12372-1a2tsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130470/original/image-20160713-12372-1a2tsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130470/original/image-20160713-12372-1a2tsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130470/original/image-20160713-12372-1a2tsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130470/original/image-20160713-12372-1a2tsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130470/original/image-20160713-12372-1a2tsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130470/original/image-20160713-12372-1a2tsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130470/original/image-20160713-12372-1a2tsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A closer look at translating a social burden into a liability premium.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CDC, FBI</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For illustrative purposes, if we assume that half of these damages are associated with no-fault third parties, the social burden for non-policy-holder deaths might be about $502 per vehicle, on average.</p>
<p>Unlike with guns, a robust system of vehicle registration and mandatory insurance requirements exists in this market. If we also assume that about half of each auto’s liability policy (<a href="http://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/auto-insurance">estimated at $519 in 2013</a>) covers bodily injuries (not property), these insurance premiums represent about half of each vehicle’s societal burden.</p>
<p>I’m not suggesting that these premiums are effective deterrents to poor driving or cover all an accident’s damages to society. Rather, incorporating the external costs of mortality risks into the cost of ownership alters the number of cars on the road and how they are used. </p>
<p>Applying this relationship to firearms, an annual social price tag of $140 per gun might go a long way toward mitigating the mortality costs of gun-related homicide. This estimate is a weighted average of different types of guns, ranging from $15/year for rifles to $200/year for handguns. </p>
<p>Nobody likes new taxes or additional fees, and the gun lobby will certainly oppose even the hint of a disincentive on gun ownership. But there may be enough Republican and Democrat lawmakers open to the idea of market-based policies that don’t directly restrict gun access, progressively impose higher costs to more dangerous guns and generate resources to improve the safety and security associated with guns in America.</p>
<h2>Gun reform doesn’t have to be gun control</h2>
<p>This back-of-the-napkin analysis may be crude, but it does highlight the need and potential for shifting current arguments away from regulating guns to mitigating the social costs of gun-related deaths.</p>
<p>The devil is always in the details, and important debates will be needed around the imposition of new taxes, registration fees or mandatory insurance. It is unclear who should be affected (owners, retailers, manufacturers) or how to include all of the estimated 357 million guns in the U.S., not just the registered ones. </p>
<p>Policymakers should even consider the impact of these types of economic mechanisms on equity of gun ownership – maybe gun subsidies would be needed for low-income or first-time gun buyers. Most importantly, policymakers should have much-needed arguments about how to reduce gun deaths. </p>
<p>An $140 annual registration fee, applied only to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/05/gun-sales-hit-new-record-ahead-of-new-obama-gun-restrictions/">23.1 million guns transacted each year</a>, could generate over $3.2 billion in revenues annually. If nothing else, these resources could bolster local police and security budgets, improve access to gun safety training and education, incentivize new technologies that make guns less dangerous and compensate victims’ families.</p>
<p>Anything to break the logjam and actually address the real costs of gun violence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62148/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy M. Smith 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 current debate over the right to bear arms versus regulation is at a stalemate, but a new dialogue that focuses on the social burden of firearms might provide a new way forward.Timothy M. Smith, Professor of Sustainable Systems Management & International Business, University of MinnesotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/623622016-07-12T16:26:48Z2016-07-12T16:26:48ZChester Himes’ unfinished crime novel is an unsettling portent of Dallas shootings<p>A sniper, a black man, situates himself by an upper-floor window overlooking a street filled with white police officers busy overseeing a protest march. He proceeds to shoot and kill as many of them as possible from his vantage point with a high-powered rifle, before the police deploy an even more powerful weapon to retaliate and end his killing spree. </p>
<p>This may sound like a description of recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-tragic-reminder-that-policing-takes-a-toll-on-officers-too-62256">events in Dallas, Texas</a>, during which Micah Johnson, an Afro-American US Army reserve veteran, enraged by the stream of recent police killings of black people, shot at white police officers from the Dallas Police Department, killing five and wounding seven.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130223/original/image-20160712-9289-1n07zq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130223/original/image-20160712-9289-1n07zq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130223/original/image-20160712-9289-1n07zq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130223/original/image-20160712-9289-1n07zq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130223/original/image-20160712-9289-1n07zq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130223/original/image-20160712-9289-1n07zq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130223/original/image-20160712-9289-1n07zq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chester Himes’s nihilistic novel Plan B.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PlanB.jpg">University Press of Mississippi</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in fact these events are taken from Chester Himes’s novel <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/chester-himes/plan-b.htm">Plan B</a>, which he started writing in the late 1960s and which was finally published posthumously, unfinished, in France in 1983, and not in the US until 1993. What the novel and the events in Dallas force us to face is the fact that race relations in the US are as much a flashpoint today as decades ago, and that if police keep killing black people then they will be likely to face more organised resistance, and the state’s monopoly on legitimate violence will be lost.</p>
<p>Himes began his career as a protest novelist but turned to crime fiction following his move to Paris in the mid-1950s. There he wrote his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/01/03/18/reviews/010318.18politot.html">Harlem Domestic series</a>, about black police detectives “Coffin” Ed Johnson and “Grave Digger” Jones and their struggles, in vain, to bring order to Harlem.</p>
<p>By the time Himes began Plan B he had grown tired of depicting scenes of disorganised violence, and increasingly struggled with the task of reconciling his detectives to the demands of upholding racist laws. </p>
<p>With Plan B, he envisages what a violent black uprising might look like and what its consequences would be. In the novel the knockabout brutalities of his two detectives are replaced with acts of straightforward political intent. “If there must be violence,” Himes declared, “I believe it should be organised violence”.</p>
<p>Even in its own time – an era marked by race riots <a href="https://www.highbeam.com/topics/race-riots-of-the-1960s-t10642">throughout the US</a> – there was something uncomfortable about the dead-eyed precision of Himes’s depiction of black organised violence.</p>
<p>Today, 50 years later, the violence unleashed upon young black men and women by the police that has lead to <a href="http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/dallas-shooting-mapping-us-police-violence-against-black-people/news-story/22de1b95fc9b30422c727babcf12a965">deaths in Missouri, New York, Maryland and Louisiana</a> to name but a few, would doubtless not have surprised Himes. Nor perhaps would the actions of Johnson.</p>
<p>Indeed, what Himes’s prescient novel shows us is that race relations and racial antipathies have not changed much and that racially entrenched violence has a long history – one subplot takes us back to the era of slavery. Here though, we should pay special attention to the consequences of the sniper’s act.</p>
<p>In Himes’s novel, the felling of white policemen is met by a disproportionately aggressive response on the part of the authorities, and many more black men and women are killed. This in turn compels new instances of black violence and the situation soon descends into all-out civil war: black men “running amok and shooting white people right, left, and center” and demands from the white population that “all blacks be locked up in [prison]”.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130222/original/image-20160712-9307-a8tcpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130222/original/image-20160712-9307-a8tcpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130222/original/image-20160712-9307-a8tcpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130222/original/image-20160712-9307-a8tcpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130222/original/image-20160712-9307-a8tcpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130222/original/image-20160712-9307-a8tcpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130222/original/image-20160712-9307-a8tcpf.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">Memorial to author Chester Himes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/luisoyo/5164469785/in/photolist-83n4yg-8SnfWv-83qc9q-83qdQU-4mTE6K-cxGFuA-6xFLyi-4o3P5F-ngxHan-7dWyYb">Luis PF/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Now and then</h2>
<p>It would be scaremongering to suggest that this scenario is even a remote possibility in 2016. But what if we situate the Dallas sniper’s actions, as Himes would, within a long continuum of racially-inflected violence – a continuum that includes the <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-combat-ferguson-and-the-militarisation-of-police-30568">police killings</a> of black men like <a href="https://theconversation.com/michael-brown-ferguson-and-the-nature-of-unrest-30501">Michael Brown in Ferguson</a>? What if we also pay attention to responses to the Dallas shootings by (white) men like former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh who <a href="http://theweek.com/speedreads/634753/former-gop-congressman-warns-black-lives-matter-punks-that-real-america-coming-after">tweeted</a>: “This is now war … Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you”? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130197/original/image-20160712-9292-1wsl0r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130197/original/image-20160712-9292-1wsl0r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130197/original/image-20160712-9292-1wsl0r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130197/original/image-20160712-9292-1wsl0r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130197/original/image-20160712-9292-1wsl0r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130197/original/image-20160712-9292-1wsl0r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130197/original/image-20160712-9292-1wsl0r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Congressman Joe Walsh tweets about the Dallas shooting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Twitter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For Himes, who believed in the political potential of writing “to be a force in the world” but who worried that literature “couldn’t change anything”, the logical end point of his terrifying vision is racial Armageddon. It’s hard to know how literally we are meant to take this vision, but Himes was so uncomfortable about his conclusions that he couldn’t finish the novel.</p>
<p>The consequences for Himes’s writing career would be far-reaching – once Pandora’s box is opened, not even his detectives could put things back together. In the unfinished part of the manuscript he set out plans for Grave Digger to kill Coffin Ed, an act Himes described as “literary suicide”. </p>
<p>It is worth thinking about the nihilism of Himes’s novel and what it suggests for our present. If Plan B tells us anything, it’s that we shouldn’t be surprised by what happened in Dallas. Also, by paying closer attention to figures such as Himes and confronting the terrible conclusions he reaches, we can endeavour to actually understand the nature of entrenched racial divisions, then and now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Pepper does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An unfinished crime novel was a strange portent of recent events in Dallas.Andrew Pepper, Senior Lecturer in English, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622622016-07-12T13:50:35Z2016-07-12T13:50:35ZWhat troubled US police forces can learn from the civil rights era<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130220/original/image-20160712-9267-66it2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Martin Luther King Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson, 1966.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMartin_Luther_King%2C_Jr._and_Lyndon_Johnson_2.jpg">Yoichi Robert Okamoto/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Effective law enforcement requires the support of the community. Such support will not be present when a substantial segment of the community feels threatened by the police and regards the police as an occupying force.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These words could be read as a comment on the recent <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/11/us/dallas-shooting-investigation/">shootings in Dallas, Texas</a>. Or on the deaths of <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/officer-involved-shootings-castile-sterling/490349/">Alton Sterling</a>, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-live-streamed-police-killing-revealed-the-power-of-representation-62238">Philando Castile</a> in St Paul, Minnesota, who last week became the latest casualties on the tragically long and ever-growing list of African-Americans killed by white police officers.</p>
<p>But they actually come from the late 1960s, and specifically from the <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10730.html">Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders</a>. The Kerner Commission, as it is better known, was set up by President Lyndon Johnson, who tasked it with identifying the causes of the race riots that took place across the US in the five “Long Hot Summers” of 1964-68. </p>
<p>The report found a history of poor police practices was a common factor in many riots. And five decades on, it seems not much has changed. </p>
<p>In 2015, the report of President Obama’s <a href="http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/policingtaskforce">Task Force on 21st Century Policing</a> made the same point: “Law enforcement cannot build community trust if it is seen as an occupying force coming in from outside to impose control on the community.”</p>
<p>Among other things, the task force looked to new technology to provide a solution for old problems. It recommended that police officers wear body cameras to help with training and improve public trust. They should also carry <a href="https://theconversation.com/gun-or-taser-london-attacks-show-choice-is-tough-for-police-31430">tasers</a> as well as guns.</p>
<p>It sounds like common sense. If officers are filmed while they are on duty then they will think twice before stepping out of line; and using tasers to stop violent suspects will lead to fewer fatal shootings. But it’s not that simple.</p>
<h2>Unintended consequences</h2>
<p>Body cameras don’t come cheap. The Dallas Police Department has <a href="http://www.dallascitynews.net/city-council-approves-body-cameras-for-police">spent millions of dollars</a> on new cameras, but so far has only been able to kit out about 400 of its 2,500 officers.</p>
<p>And that’s just the start. Scrutinising the thousands of hours of footage generated every week means that many officers spend most of their time at the desk rather than out on patrol.</p>
<p>Cameras could also make things worse, not better. Some people stopped by the police will not like being filmed, making a difficult situation more tense. There is also a question of civil liberties. In August last year, the police union in New York sparked controversy by calling on officers to take photos of the 75,000 homeless people in the city to draw attention to “quality of life” offences. </p>
<p>Then there are tasers, which the 2015 task force report refers to as “Conductive Energy Devices” – a nice technical term that makes them sound harmless.</p>
<p>If only. A 2014 US Department of Justice <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2014/12/04/cleveland_division_of_police_findings_letter.pdf">report on the police department in Cleveland, Ohio</a> described the use of tasers. The electric current “instantly overrides the central nervous system, paralyzing the muscles throughout the body, rendering the target limp and helpless” and inflicting “excruciating pain”.</p>
<p>And that’s just in healthy adults. For the very young, the elderly or infirm it could be even worse; anyone tasered falls straight to the ground, so there is a risk of serious injury or even death. </p>
<p>The Cleveland Report also found widespread evidence of police abuse in the use of tasers. This included tasering a “suicidal deaf man who committed no crime, posed minimal risk to officers and may not have understood officers’ commands”. Another suspect was tasered while strapped to a stretcher in the back of an ambulance.</p>
<p>Most police officers do not abuse the trust placed in them in this way. They risk their lives on a daily basis for the public good, as was shown all too clearly in Dallas. It is important that police officers are given the support they need to do their job. State-of-the-art resources are a part of that – but they’re not a quick fix for deep seated policing problems.</p>
<h2>Long past time</h2>
<p>Back in 1968, the Kerner Commission called for changes of a different kind. They included better training and clearer policy guidelines for police officers, simpler and more effective complaints procedures for ordinary citizens, and more community policing. The commission also highlighted the need to recruit more black police officers to work in African-American communities. </p>
<p>A lot has changed since the 1960s, but some things remain the same. Good policing is about people. Police officers working with the communities they serve to make a better and safer society for everyone.</p>
<p>Today, police forces across America <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/21/police-redoubling-efforts-to-recruit-diverse-officers/21574081/">still fail to recruit from minority groups</a>. In too many towns and cities, police patrols are seen as nothing short of an occupying force. </p>
<p>In its day, the Kerner Commission’s recommendations were largely ignored. 50 years on, it’s high time they were finally put into practice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevern Verney received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as Co-Investigator for the Barack Obama Research Network, 2010-2013. </span></em></p>The reforms today’s police departments desperately need were set out five decades ago.Kevern Verney, Associate Dean (Research), Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/623362016-07-12T12:05:28Z2016-07-12T12:05:28ZCan policing by consent involve remote control bombs and pre-emptive strikes?<p>Technology makes us capable of things that were previously impossible, such as rapid travel by car or aircraft, or sending messages around the world in an instant. But often technology also changes the way we do those things we’re already capable of. The use of remotely controlled aerial drones to launch strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan, for example. </p>
<p>It is argued that delivering destruction by remote control changes the rules of the game. And the same argument is now directed at police following the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36742835">events in Dallas</a>, Texas. When Micah Johnson holed himself up in a building having shot and killed several police officers, Dallas Police Department officers ended the stand-off by killing Johnson with an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/08/police-bomb-robot-explosive-killed-suspect-dallas">explosive delivered by a remote-controlled robot</a>, something more often used to detonate suspect packages or bombs. </p>
<p>Both of these uses of bomb-by-remote-control are controversial and raises the question of <a href="http://definitions.uslegal.com/i/imminent-danger/">imminent threat</a>. </p>
<p>Critics of drone strikes argue that their surveillance capability leads to many more deaths than would be justified by a strict interpretation of those that are “imminent threats”. This is especially true where “<a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2015/07/01/drone-war-report-january-june-2015-controversial-signature-strikes-hit-yemen-and-pakistan/">signature strikes</a>” are carried out – those based on the target’s “pattern of life activity”, rather than clear knowledge of the target’s identity, actions or even motivations. Critics argue that this technology makes “targeted killing” a method that is chosen too easily: the lack of accountability of the machine algorithms chewing through surveillance data and recommending action means there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/use-of-drones-should-be-a-matter-of-life-not-just-death-19362">no impediment to their escalating use</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130210/original/image-20160712-9271-1jg9df7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130210/original/image-20160712-9271-1jg9df7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130210/original/image-20160712-9271-1jg9df7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130210/original/image-20160712-9271-1jg9df7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130210/original/image-20160712-9271-1jg9df7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130210/original/image-20160712-9271-1jg9df7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130210/original/image-20160712-9271-1jg9df7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bomb disposal robot, of the sort used to carry an explosive towards Johnson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Explosieven_Opruimingsdienst.jpg">JePe</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For police officers in Dallas, it was clear from his communications that Johnson had <a href="http://abc7chicago.com/news/dallas-shooting-suspect-taunted-police-during-2-hours-of-negotiation/1421122/">no intention of surrender</a>. He had shot 12 of their colleagues, killing five and was adopting “shoot and move” tactics learned from his time in the US army to confuse and evade capture. Under such circumstances, police concluded that any means to take out Johnson was justified. But to other observers, the fact that Johnson was hiding behind a wall when the bomb-disposal robot detonated its explosives – not shooting or directly threatening police – meant the police’s decision looked a lot like summary justice. This raises three issues.</p>
<p>First, did Johnson pose an imminent threat to others when attacked? As far as the police were concerned, it was better to target him while inactive than to wait to engage him when he started a fresh volley of shots. Given the scale of the wounding and killing Johnson had already accomplished, this is a powerful argument. </p>
<p>Second, if they were able to get close to him with a robot, could they not have tried to incapacitate him with a taser, chemical spray or gas, or tranquilliser dart? Using a robot to do so would make this as risk-free to officers as was killing him with explosives. The possibility of using robots in this way to avoid killing armed suspects is another potential solution other than the use of lethal force in situations like these.</p>
<p>Third, is the question of what precedent the police’s actions set for the future. Although the killing was carried out using the fairly old technology of a tracked bomb-disposal robot in a novel way, there is a much larger issue as to the rules of engagement that should govern the use of armed drones or other remote control weapons by police. </p>
<p>Firefighters are already <a href="http://www.popsci.com/manchester-firemen-use-drones-with-infrared-cameras">experimenting with small drones</a> that can search burning buildings for bodies to rescue using infrared cameras. It’s only a short step from here to police using the same to search buildings for persons of interest to them. In the UK, drones are <a href="http://statewatch.org/observatories_files/drones/uk/bftb.html">already used by the National Crime Agency</a> to see behind buildings and walls and to carry out surveillance on suspects. In these cases, if the suspects were planning to plant a bomb or launch an attack, would the police be justified in using an armed drone to pre-emptively stop such an attack – delivering death by remote control? At what point do we relinquish the idea that the police are there to bring suspects to justice in a court of their peers, and move instead towards a military-style approach of defence through use of force – if necessary, pre-emptive force. </p>
<p>The potential use of drones, particularly as they become smaller, for crime or terrorist purposes is of great concern. How we are to counter these potential threats, and to respond in general to these early iterations of the robotic revolution are up for debate. The events in Dallas are but the first chapter of a controversy that has only just begun.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62336/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Hastings Dunn is supported in his work on various aspects of drone technology by the ESRC, the Open Society Foundation, and the Gerta Henkel Foundation.</span></em></p>Technology poses a challenge to how we treat suspects and police society.David Hastings Dunn, Professor of International Politics and Head of Department, Political Science and International Studies, University of BirminghamLicensed 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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<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.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622562016-07-08T19:52:46Z2016-07-08T19:52:46ZA tragic reminder that policing takes a toll on officers, too<p>The recent police shootings and the murder Thursday of five police officers put a spotlight on the troubled occupation of policing. Recent public perception of police has reached a 22-year <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/183704/confidence-police-lowest-years.aspx">low</a> in the United States, with a 2015 poll showing that about only 52 percent have a “great deal” of confidence in the institution. Among those who do not share that confidence, the view of the police seems to have shifted from from those who “serve and protect” to those who “unnecessarily kill.” </p>
<p>What are the circumstances that got us to this point? People come into police work with the goal of public service but often leave in state of <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=252927">cynicism</a>.</p>
<p>Contrary to public opinion that police work is “routine,” their job is very often filled with traumatic, dangerous and stressful occurrences. Suicide is a leading killer of police officers, with <a href="http://www.officer.com/article/12156622/2015-police-suicide-statistics">102 officers</a> taking their lives in 2015. That is in addition to the 51 officers killed while a felony was underway and 45 officers who were accidentally killed. Our recent study found that the police had a 69 percent greater risk for suicide than other working populations. </p>
<p>As a former police officer and now a professor of epidemiology and public health, I look at the toll that policing takes on mental and physical health. Police officers pay a high price for their work. </p>
<h2>A scary and sometimes sad job</h2>
<p>There are many facets of police work of which the general population is not aware. It is hard for non-officers to understand what officers experience on a daily basis and what the outcomes of these experiences might be. </p>
<p>With little or no warning, officers may find themselves responding to events ranging from domestic disturbances to involvement in complex, evolving natural disasters or acts of terrorism. Police officers experience these stressful incidents and conditions repeatedly over the course of careers that can span decades.</p>
<p>Events at the more challenging end of the critical incident spectrum (e.g., terrorist acts, shootings, assaults) result in officers encountering, over periods of several days or weeks, unpredictable, evolving and escalating demands. One may surmise, therefore, that police officers are often in a state of psychological overload, faced with a multitude of difficult and challenging work demands. </p>
<p>In one recent <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25830066">study</a> we did, the top five most <a href="http://www.academia.edu/2485669/Chouliara_Z._Hutchison_C._and_Karatzias_T._2009_Vicarious_traumatisation_in_practitioners_who_work_with_adult_survivors_of_sexual_violence_and_child_sexual_abuse_Literature_review_and_directions_for_future_research_Counselling_and_Psychotherapy_Research_9_1_47-56">stressful events</a> that police reported were, in this order: exposure to battered or dead children, killing someone in the line of duty, fellow officer killed in the line of duty, situations requiring the use of force and physical attack on one’s person. </p>
<p>Involvement with child crimes is an especially difficult task for police officers, and it requires a special ability and social support in order to avoid traumatization. Prior research regarding police investigations of children-related crimes such as neglect, homicide or sexual abuse suggests that officers are often at greater risk for developing secondary traumatic stress. Officers working these cases may also be at <a href="http://www.cap-press.com/pdf/9781611631111.pdf">risk for depression</a> and anxiety. </p>
<p>Police shootings are also very stressful events for officers. What you see on television, social media or the movies is not accurate. Shootings generally involve scrutiny by both the department and the judicial system concerning the legality of the shooting and the proper use of justifiable deadly physical force by the officer. Additionally, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may result from involvement in shooting incidents as a direct result of investigation and social media coverage for both officer and family. </p>
<p>In a pilot study, we found that officers with <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23528305">higher levels of PTSD</a> had difficulty in making decisions, which could affect decision-making on the streets.</p>
<h2>Physical health suffers, too</h2>
<p>Psychological health often affects physical health among officers as well. In our studies, we have found that the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4734369/">average age of death </a>among police is 66 years of age, some 10 years sooner than the general U.S. population. Many police deaths attributed to causes such as cardiovascular disease are associated with stress. </p>
<p>About 30 percent of our police population had <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4734369/">metabolic syndrome</a>, an indicator of risk for future cardiovascular events. We have found associations of PTSD with impaired artery health and hormonal balance in police officers as well as with significantly higher rates of suicide among officers as compared to the general population. </p>
<p>Although policing is primarily a male occupation, gender does not prevent tragic outcomes. A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on occupational suicides found that females who work in protective services had the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index2015.html">highest rate of suicide</a> compared to 30 other occupations. </p>
<h2>Solutions needed</h2>
<p>When considering the current level of mistrust of police, I am reminded of the experience of many post-Vietnam veterans of that war when they came home. Many were laden with <a href="http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/research-bio/research/vietnam-vets-study.asp">post-traumatic stress disorder</a>, and they felt unappreciated for risking their lives in order to preserve our freedom. Many, too, had physical wounds. At that time, much of the country was anti-war, and soldiers were sometimes cast as “<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/25/50-years-later-vietnam-veterans-still-live-with-wa/">killers</a>.” </p>
<p>Some years later, depression and suicide skyrocketed among <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8932223">Vietnam veterans</a>. In context, although not at war, police officers feel the same way. The effect of an unappreciated, negative perception of police by society is in many ways similar to the Vietnam experience. This only adds to the stress of the job. </p>
<p>A solution to this societal problem is not close at hand. In my experience as an academic researcher who studies police health and stress, I can say that there is a paucity of work on the effect of present-day negative stereotyping of police officers. Thus, it is hard to know how current negative thinking about officers affects them and their ability to do their jobs.</p>
<p>We do know some things, however. Intervention needs to start at the police academy level, where education and training in how to deal with adverse traumatic situations is emphasized but should be emphasized more. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8932223">Inoculation</a> is a proven method to prepare for future stress. Psychological support and timely interventions also are important to help officers deal with stress and possible biological consequences in the occupation of policing.</p>
<p>My thought is that police organizations had better start to pay more attention to the psychological health of these men and women who serve. Negative public image, chronic stress, trauma and physical health outcomes can only exacerbate this situation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62256/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Violanti 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 shooting deaths of five police officers in Dallas are a tragic reminder of the dangers that police face. They pay a price in mental and physical health.John Violanti, Professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.