tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/police-violence-22394/articlesPolice violence – The Conversation2023-07-06T08:02:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2090602023-07-06T08:02:02Z2023-07-06T08:02:02ZHow the death of Nahel M. inflamed an already embattled France<p>The events that have shaken France since the June 27 <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/06/29/hour-by-hour-from-a-deadly-traffic-stop-to-the-march-in-memory-of-nahel-m_6039689_7.html">death of young Nahel M.</a>, shot by the police during a traffic stop, come during the <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/french-pension-reform/article/2023/04/18/amidst-political-impasse-emmanuel-macron-gives-himself-100-days-to-move-on-from-pension-reform_6023297_234.html">“100 days” of appeasement announced on April 17</a> by President Emmanual Macron after his government forced through his controversial pension-reform law.</p>
<p>In view of current events, the announced “appeasement” seems to be no more than a word. As long as it doesn’t take concrete form, political discourse remains disappointing and fuels mistrust toward political leaders. For example, the 2012 vow of then socialist presidential candidate François Hollande to oppose the forces of finance (in his words: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE8pE2t__pc">“My adversary is the world of finance”</a>) is remembered by the country’s left-wing electorate as a defining proof of his failure.</p>
<p>These words are supposed to be <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illocutionary">illocutionary</a></em> – “when saying is doing”. But words are not always followed by deeds, and as a new Cevipof poll shows, in France, <a href="https://www.sciencespo.fr/cevipof/fr/content/le-barometre-de-la-confiance-politique.html">mistrust of politicians is growing</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, it’s a delicate balancing act to be in favour of ‘appeasement’ while at the same time – and for months now – pursuing a policy that is seen by a number of French citizens as rather confrontational, as shown by the <a href="https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/reforme-des-retraites-emmanuel-macron-au-defi-d-une-crise-qui-se-durcit-20230323">pensions-reform process</a>. Even before the May demonstrations, at the end of April, 65% of French people considered <a href="https://www.publicsenat.fr/actualites/politique/sondage-65-des-francais-jugent-emmanuel-macron-brutal-selon-notre-barometre-odoxa">Emmanuel Macron to be “brutal”</a>.</p>
<p>This context was also marred by another event: the <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230614-french-politician-in-hot-seat-over-allegations-her-foundation-embezzled-public-money">‘Marianne’ fund affair</a>. Named after an association set up to honour the memory of the teacher Samuel Paty, who was <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/04/07/judges-to-trial-14-over-french-teacher-s-beheading_6022030_7.html">brutally murdered in 2020</a>, this scandal alone contains several explosive elements fuelling discredit toward the Macron government and for good reason – secularism, misappropriated public subsidies and the name of a minister, <a href="https://www.humanite.fr/politique/fonds-marianne/fonds-marianne-oui-madame-schiappa-vous-etes-responsable-799143">Marlène Schiappa</a>, still in office despite the scandal.</p>
<p>These events have led to an unprecedented drop in the polls: while Macron is still perceived by some as a skilful technocrat, perceptions of his competence are dropping fast. According to the Odoxa poll cited above, only 36% of French people consider him competent – down 13% since May 2022.</p>
<h2>The “little phrases” that spark the flame</h2>
<p>While French neighborhoods burn, Macron’s presidency seems to be continuing along a line that remains relatively indifferent to the perceptions and emotions of the public. Despite <a href="https://www.tf1info.fr/politique/emmanuel-macron-sur-tf1-et-lci-dit-regretter-certaines-de-ses-petites-phrases-terriblement-blessantes-pendant-sa-presidence-2204700.html">a few apologies</a> between his two terms in office, he continues to pepper his speechs with <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-communication-et-langages1-2011-2-page-17.htm">‘little phrases’</a> – off-the-cuff remarks that spark mistrust and anger among regular citizens. These have included references to “people who are nothing” to “crazy money”, “crossing the street”, “factionalists”, “the mob”, “rebellious Gauls”, <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/06/19/parler-de-decivilisation-comme-le-fait-emmanuel-macron-releve-du-contresens_6178328_3232.html">“decivilisation”</a> and most recently, that he was able to “find ten jobs in the Old Port” of Marseilles in a single visit.</p>
<p>These little phrases nurture negative perceptions of Macron’s character. Rather than empathy, the president of the Republic is seen as showing class contempt. Beyond the policies pursued, these catchphrases reflect his image and are part of a way of doing things that is full of paradox between the emotion felt and the regular desire to appease.</p>
<p>During his visit to Marseille, on the death of Nahel, the president declared:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I want to express the emotion of the entire nation and tell his family of all the affection of the nation […] we have a teenager who has been killed, it is inexplicable, inexcusable.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A day later riots broke out, and Macron immediately blamed them on video games, social networks and parents. He strongly supported the country’s police and security forces, backing up Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. There were no words of support or compassion for the working-class neighbourhoods, even those suffering most from the riots.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Emmanuel Macron’s reaction to Nahel’s death.</span></figcaption>
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<p>It is against this already fraught backdrop that the death of Nahel M. comes as the latest decisive marker in a general policy that is already much maligned, and even more so in the context of urban policy.</p>
<h2>City policy</h2>
<p>In 2017, Emmanuel Macron promised an <a href="https://en-marche.fr/articles/actualites/emplois-francs-lutter-contre-l-assignation-a-residence">end to house arrest</a> for difficult neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>However, in 2018, he himself torpedoed the <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/banlieues/article/2018/04/26/ce-qu-il-faut-retenir-du-rapport-borloo-sur-les-quartiers-prioritaires_5291093_1653530.html">Borloo plan</a>. In this plan, the former urban minister presented him with measures such as the launch of educational estates, the “reconquest of the Republic”, the reactivation of the National Agency for Urban Renewal (ANRU), support toward employment for young residents in neighbourhoods covered by the Urban Policy (QPV)…</p>
<p>This ambitious €5 billion report was nevertheless <a href="https://www.publicsenat.fr/actualites/non-classe/rapport-borloo-macron-l-a-enterre-de-la-maniere-la-plus-brutale-qui-soit-fustige">quickly buried</a> by Macron during his first term. But what was perhaps most shocking were his blunt remarks when the plan was presented:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“That two white males [Julien Denormandie, Minister for Urban Affairs, and Jean-Louis Borloo] who do not live in these neighbourhoods should exchange a report, with the other saying ‘I’ve been given a plan’, I discovered… It’s not true. It doesn’t work like that any more.”</p>
<p>“The people who live in these neighbourhoods are the actors in these issues. They want to do things, they have many of the solutions […] These people need to be given status […] to be helped to succeed.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The harshness of the comments, particularly toward Jean-Louis Borloo, is clear, and Macron is clumsily trying to say – perhaps – that it is up to the people concerned to take their future into their own hands, to express their needs…</p>
<p>While a large part of Borloo’s programme has since been put in place, the link between neighbourhoods and the executive doesn’t seem to have been established, nor are we seeing any “start-up suburbs”. Even in November 2020, in a delicate context of confinement, <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2020/11/13/quartiers-populaires-110-maires-interpellent-emmanuel-macron-sur-la-crise-sanitaire-et-economique_6059695_3234.html">110 mayors questioned the president</a> about the situation of working-class neighbourhoods, difficult even then.</p>
<p>The 2022 plan called <a href="https://www.ville-et-banlieue.org/quartiers-2030-nouveau-fil-directeur-politique-ville-33179.html">‘Quartiers 2030’</a> shows signs of a desire to (re)take these areas and their residents into consideration. As the presidential campaign did not really take place, these issues were not addressed. Emmanuel Macron then tried to make up for this shortcoming and stated, during this sequence, “that working-class neighbourhoods are an opportunity for our Republic”.</p>
<p>On 24 May 2023, however, Macron was yet again alerted by some 30 elected representatives who wanted an <a href="https://rmc.bfmtv.com/actualites/societe/plan-d-urgence-pour-les-banlieues-une-trentaine-de-maires-interpellent-l-executif_AD-202305240497.html">emergency plan for the suburbs</a>.</p>
<p>The president’s trip to Marseille to visit some difficult housing estates <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2023/06/27/a-marseille-emmanuel-macron-face-a-la-colere-des-quartiers-nord_6179337_823448.html">did nothing to change the situation or bring lasting peace</a>. He did say that he wanted to “transform anger into a project”, but his words fell a flat when faced with the extent of drug trafficking, a mother mourning her son and the decline of public services on the ground. </p>
<p>Nahel’s death turned anger into riots.</p>
<h2>The left-right divide</h2>
<p>Another factor is the left-right divide. By trying to <a href="https://theconversation.com/trianguler-ou-lart-de-sapproprier-les-idees-des-autres-en-politique-161326">triangulate</a> – taking ideas from the opposing camp <a href="https://www.cairn.info/la-sociologie-de-anthony-giddens--9782707151902.htm">while minimising the ideological dimension</a> – Emmanuel Macron has introduced confusion into the policies and objectives to be achieved.</p>
<p>What was the executive’s line on working-class neighbourhoods in reality? A more public-service line in the French tradition of a welfare state? A more start-up-Uber line, present in Macron’s book <em>Revolution</em>, or a more authoritarian line embodied by his Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin?</p>
<p>Remember that Darmanin’s view is that Marine Le Pen is <a href="https://www.leparisien.fr/politique/debat-a-front-renverse-entre-marine-le-pen-et-gerald-darmanin-11-02-2021-8424502.php">too soft</a> on immigration issues. We also remember – on societal issues – Jean-Michel Blanquer, then Minister for Education, <a href="https://etudiant.lefigaro.fr/article/a-la-sorbonne-jean-michel-blanquer-participe-a-un-colloque-contre-l-ideologie-woke_8928e404-6ee5-11ec-bcfb-2ff4eb85ac20/">holding a conference at the Sorbonne against ‘wokism’</a>? Aren’t these chin wagging, these political symbols creating too much confusion?</p>
<p>This ‘at the same time’ – one of Macron’s <a href="https://berlinpolicyjournal.com/words-dont-come-easy-en-meme-temps/">favourite turns of phrase</a> – is muddying the waters. A blurring that has contributed to the weakening of the divide, a weakening that suffocates democracy and automatically radicalises opposition – to oppose the president, it’s mechanically necessary to go further to the right and further to the left.</p>
<p>With Macron siphoning off the left and the traditional right, the hope of a party or candidate that can win power is destroyed, and citizens feel handcuffed in an untenable situation.</p>
<p>It should be noted that all these elements were already apparent during the 2017 presidential election. We could see two France very clearly. Today, they still exist. Like a fault line, and with a challenge to reconcile and make ‘common’ that seems a long way off.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Virginie Martin ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>On the issue of working-class neighbourhoods, as on others, Emmanuel Macron has failed to find the path to a common project.Virginie Martin, Docteure sciences politiques, HDR sciences de gestion, Kedge Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2089682023-07-03T16:16:07Z2023-07-03T16:16:07ZFrench riots follow decades-old pattern of rage, with no resolution in sight<p>Although they never fail to take us aback, French riots have followed the same distinct pattern ever since protests broke out in the Eastern suburbs of Lyon in 1981, an episode known as the <a href="https://metropolitics.org/The-March-for-Equality-and-Against.html">“summer of Minguettes”</a>: a young person is killed or seriously injured by the police, triggering an outpouring of violence in the affected neighbourhood and nearby. Sometimes, as in the case of the 2005 riots and of today’s, it is every rough neighbourhood that flares up.</p>
<p>Throughout the past 40 years in France, urban revolts have been dominated by the rage of young people who attack the symbols of order and the state: town halls, social centres, schools, and shops.</p>
<h2>An institutional and political vacuum</h2>
<p>That rage is the kind that leads one to destroy one’s own neighbourhood, for all to see. Residents condemn these acts, but can also understand the motivation. Elected representatives, associations, churches and mosques, social workers and teachers admit their powerlessness, revealing an institutional and political vacuum.</p>
<p>Of all the revolts, the summer of the Minguettes was the only one to pave the way to a social movement: the <a href="https://metropolitics.org/The-March-for-Equality-and-Against.html">March for Equality and Against Racism</a> in December 1983. Numbering more than 100,000 people and prominently covered by the media, it was France’s first demonstration of its kind. Left-leaning paper <em>Libération</em> nicknamed it “La Marche des Beurs”, a colloquial term that refers to Europeans whose parents or grandparents are from the Maghreb. In the demonstrations that followed, no similar movement appears to have emerged from the ashes.</p>
<p>At each riot, <a href="https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-radio/le-brief-politique/mort-de-nahel-la-choregraphie-tres-classique-des-reactions-politiques_5888596.html">politicians are quick to play well-worn roles</a>: the right denounces the violence and goes on to stigmatise neighbourhoods and police victims; the left denounces injustice and promises social policies in the neighbourhoods. In 2005, then interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy <a href="https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/emeutes-urbaines-quatre-questions-sur-le-precedent-de-2005-qui-est-dans-toutes-les-tetes-8489821">sided with the police</a>. France’s current president, Emmanuel Macron, has expressed <a href="https://www.ladepeche.fr/2023/06/28/jeune-tue-a-nanterre-rien-ne-justifie-la-mort-dun-jeune-declare-emmanuel-macron-11306938.php">compassion</a> for the young man killed by the police in Nanterre, but politicians and presidents are hardly heard in the neighbourhoods concerned.</p>
<p>We then wait for silence to set in until the next time the problems of the <em>banlieues</em> (French suburbs) and its police are rediscovered by society at large.</p>
<h2>Lessons to be learned</h2>
<p>The recurrence of urban riots in France and their scenarios yield some relatively simple lessons.</p>
<p>First, the country’s urban policies miss their targets. Over the last 40 years, considerable efforts have been made to <a href="https://www.capital.fr/immobilier/emeute-les-vraies-raisons-de-lechec-de-politique-de-la-ville-1473031">improve housing and facilities</a>. Apartments are of better quality, there are social centres, schools, colleges and public transportation. It would be wrong to say that these neighbourhoods have been abandoned.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the social and cultural diversity of disadvantaged suburbs has deteriorated. More often than not, the residents are poor or financially insecure, and are either descendants of immigrants or immigrants themselves.</p>
<p>Above all, when given the opportunity and the resources, those who can leave the <em>banlieues</em> soon do, only to be replaced by even poorer residents from further afield. Thus while the built environment is improving, the social environment is unravelling.</p>
<p>However reluctant people may be to talk about France’s disadvantaged neighbourhoods, the social process at work here is indeed one of <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-economique-2016-3-page-415.htm">ghettoisation</a> – i.e., a growing divide between neighbourhoods and their environment, a self-containment reinforced from within. You go to the same school, the same social centre, you socialise with the same individuals, and you participate in the same more or less legal economy.</p>
<p>In spite of the cash and local representatives’ goodwill, people still feel excluded from society because of their origins, culture or religion. In spite of social policies and councillors’ work, the neighbourhoods have no institutional or political resources of their own.</p>
<p>Whereas the often communist-led <a href="http://e-cours.univ-paris1.fr/modules/uoh/paris-banlieues/u4/co/-module_1.html">“banlieues rouges”</a> (“red suburbs”) benefited from the strong support of left-leaning political parties, trade unions and popular education movements, today’s banlieues hardly have any spokespeople. Social workers and teachers are full of goodwill, but many don’t live in the neighbourhoods where they work.</p>
<p>This disconnect works both ways, and the past days’ riots revealed that elected representatives and associations don’t have any hold on neighbourhoods where residents feel ignored and abandoned. Appeals for calm are going unheeded. The rift is not just social, it’s also political.</p>
<h2>A constant face-off</h2>
<p>With this in mind, we are increasingly seeing <a href="https://www.bfmtv.com/police-justice/nanterre-on-assiste-depuis-une-trentaine-d-annees-a-ce-face-a-face-entre-la-police-et-une-ultra-minorite-de-jeunes-qui-abiment-nos-quartiers-deplore-mokrane-kessi-france-des-banlieues_VN-202306290630.html">young people face off with the police</a>. The two groups function like “gangs”, complete with their own hatreds and territories.</p>
<p>In this landscape, the state is reduced to legal violence and young people to their actual or potential delinquency. The police are judged to be “mechanically” racist on the grounds that any young person is <em>a priori</em> a suspect. Young people feel hatred for the police, fuelling further police racism and youth violence. Older residents would like to see more police officers to uphold order, but also support their own children and the frustrations and anger they feel.</p>
<p>This “war” is usually played out at a low level. When a young person dies, however, everything explodes and it’s back to the drawing board until the next uprising, which will surprise us just as much as the previous ones.</p>
<p>But there is something new in this tragic repetition. The first element is the rise of the far right – and not just on that side of the political spectrum. Racist accounts of the uprisings are taking hold, one that speaks of “barbarians” and <a href="https://www.bfmtv.com/politique/jordan-bardella-si-monsieur-darmanin-veut-lutter-contre-l-islamisme-alors-il-faut-maitriser-l-immigration_VN-202306280290.html">immigration</a>, and there’s fear that this could lead to success at the ballot box.</p>
<p>The second is the political and intellectual paralysis of the political left. While it denounces injustice and sometimes supports the riots, it does not appear to have put forward any political solution other than police reform.</p>
<p>So long as the process of ghettoisation continues, as France’s young people and security forces face off time and time again, it is hard to see how the next police blunder and the riots that follow won’t be just around the corner.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>François Dubet ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Efforts have been made to improve housing in working-class neighbourhoods, yet the social and cultural mix has deteriorated. What remains is a face-off between young people and the police.François Dubet, Professeur des universités émérite, Université de BordeauxLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073792023-06-23T14:52:54Z2023-06-23T14:52:54ZWhy a Banksy exhibition in Glasgow makes perfect sense<p>A new solo exhibition by Banksy, the UK’s most famous anonymous artist, has opened at the <a href="https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/venues/gallery-of-modern-art-goma">Gallery of Modern Art</a> (GoMA) in Glasgow – his first in 14 years.</p>
<p>The graffiti artist was drawn to exhibit in Glasgow ostensibly because of his interest in the symbolism of “Coneheid” – the red traffic cone permanently adorning the head of the Duke of Wellington statue that stands on a plinth outside GoMA. It is, Banksy says, his “favourite work of art in the UK”.</p>
<p>The show, <a href="https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/2/banksy-cut-and-run">Cut and Run</a>, spans the career of the artist who has been <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307594732_Bansky_What%27s_the_fuss_and_why_does_it_matter">described</a> as “notoriously cryptic, darkly humorous … a global phenomenon, a personality without a persona, a criminal without a record, and a paradox within the world of art.” </p>
<p>Originally influenced by the work of Xavier Pru – AKA father of stencil graffiti <a href="https://www.instagram.com/blekleratoriginal/">Blek le Rat</a> – Banksy has become a major player in the urban and contemporary art world, generating controversy and publicity through his distinctive and creative approach.</p>
<p>Popular with the public and highly valued by the art world, Banksy’s works convey powerful messages via simple but arresting images. His early transgressive artwork was seen by some as <a href="https://fitzrovianews.com/2015/06/24/banksy-is-not-a-disgrace-it-is-westminster-council-that-is-a-disgrace/">vandalism</a>, but for many others, Banksy is an <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/articles/why-is-banksy-so-popular-what-makes-him-a-national-treasure-weve-found-out">important counter voice</a> subverting the dominant narrative of capitalism.</p>
<p>The Bristol-based artist is a <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/articles/banksy-anti-war-activism">humanitarian and peace activist</a>, using his wealth to benefit many charitable causes. His artworks raise awareness of political iniquities and challenge social injustices, such as the <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/articles/new-banksy-mural-for-ukraine-2022">war in Ukraine</a>, <a href="https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/banksy-refugees/">refugee crises</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-50728590">homelessness</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/dec/21/banksy-copenhagen-regents-canal">global warming</a>, <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/articles/fk-the-police-the-theme-of-disorder-authority-in-banksys-prints">police violence</a>, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art/banksy-in-palestine-a-look-at-the-street-artist-s-work-in-gaza-and-the-west-bank-1.1031618">apartheid</a>, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-banksy-mural-valentines-day-mascara-domestic-violence-180981644/">misogyny</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/01/banksy-mural-clacton-racist">racism</a>. These are invariably set within a satirical, witty and humorous style that often confronts those in power. </p>
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<h2>The Glasgow-Banksy connection</h2>
<p>The red traffic cone has historically been placed on Wellington’s head by revellers to signify a great night out in the city and is now an iconic part of Glasgow’s heritage and marketing. It holds great meaning for Glaswegians in its anti-elitist and anti-establishment message, contributing to their social and cultural capital.</p>
<p>It’s also a reminder of the extent to which the expression of all forms of culture have been central to Glasgow’s regeneration over recent decades. First came the <a href="https://burrellcollection.com/the-collection-the-gift-to-glasgow-and-the-charity-that-cares-for-it/">Burrell Collection</a> in 1983, followed by the <a href="https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/glasgow-clydeside-garden-festival-history-14578391">International Garden Festival</a> in 1988, which built momentum towards a successful bid for the <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/what-impact-has-the-1990-city-of-culture-had-on-glasgow-30-years-on-3000426">European City of Culture</a> in 1990 – a life-changing accolade for a city notorious for its poverty, violence and the lowest life expectancy in Europe. </p>
<p>But the connection between Banksy and the city goes much deeper. Both have a history of actively supporting humanitarian causes. Glasgow was the first anti-apartheid city to support Nelson Mandela with a street near the South African consulate renamed to honour him while he was still in prison. It also has a proud reputation for <a href="https://www.refuweegee.co.uk/">welcoming and defending refugees</a>, and <a href="https://www.refugeefestivalscotland.co.uk/organiser/glasgow-afghan-united/">supporting them</a> throughout the city.</p>
<p>Glasgow City Council has promoted street art by <a href="https://www.citycentremuraltrail.co.uk">commissioning and funding murals</a> around the city which have become an urban attraction. Glasgow also hosts the annual <a href="https://swg3.tv/events/2023/may/yardworks-festival-2023-6-may/">Yardworks Festival</a> which is an internationally renowned celebration of urban art.</p>
<p>Glaswegians are known for their friendliness and irreverent humour which resonates with Banksy’s works. The city has actively resourced artists as part of its cultural policy and has been <a href="https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/news/glasgow-named-uk-s-top-cultural-and-creative-city">named</a> the UK’s top cultural and creative city in a landmark report by the European Commission. The Banksy exhibition will undoubtedly boost Glasgow’s reputation as a centre of creative dynamism.</p>
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<h2>What to expect</h2>
<p>The exhibition starts with a re-creation of his studio space, featuring for the first time the stencils used to create many of his most famous works. Banksy has used these original stencils to create new versions of these works, including <a href="https://banksyexplained.com/kissing-coppers-2004/">Kissing Coppers</a>, which first appeared on a wall of the Prince Albert pub in Brighton in 2004.</p>
<p>It will also feature <a href="https://www.phillips.com/detail/banksy/NY010323/13">Banksquiat: Boy and Dog in Stop and Search</a>, Banksy’s homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat which was displayed on a wall near the Barbican in London as an unofficial collaboration with the art centre’s 2017 Basquiat show. A critique of the often-racist nature of police stop-and-search powers, it sold in May 2023 for an astonishing $9,724,500 (£7,646,277).</p>
<p>The infamous shredding mechanism of Banksy’s <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/series-girl-with-balloon/artwork-girl-with-balloon-signed-print">Girl with Balloon</a> is also showcased in the exhibition. In 2018, just after it was purchased at auction for £1 million, the canvas was passed through a secret shredder hidden inside the frame, leaving the bottom half in tatters with only the solitary red balloon untouched.</p>
<p>Three years later this iconic artwork was renamed <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/articles/banksys-love-is-in-the-bin-the-greatest-pr-stunt-of-all-time">Love in the Bin</a> and auctioned at Sotheby’s for a mind-bending £18,852,000.</p>
<p>A more recent work from his <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/banksy-created-seven-new-works-on-bombed-out-buildings-throughout-ukraine-see-them-here-2209409">Borodyanka Ukraine</a> series, a stencil of a young female gymnast performing a handstand, balancing on a damaged building in Ukraine, is also on show. While creating this work on a bombed-out building, a local resident remonstrated with Banksy and threatened to call the police.</p>
<p>Banksy has been in the vanguard a new art form that was birthed in street art but has matured to include a strategic use of different kinds of media – graffiti, film, performance, digital and social media – all of which have the capacity to maximise the impact of his message in real time with a global reach. </p>
<p>It feels significant that Banksy has chosen a once-blighted Scottish city that redeemed itself through the arts for his first show in more than a decade. A shared sense of humour, humanitarian values and a disregard for the establishment mean Banksy’s show will be well-received in Glasgow.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207379/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blane Savage 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>Glasgow welcomes the world’s most famous graffiti artist, drawn to the city by the much-loved ‘Coneheid’ Duke of Wellington statue outside his exhibition.Blane Savage, Lecturer in MA Creative Media Practice and BA(Hons) New Media Art, University of the West of ScotlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059882023-05-19T07:38:45Z2023-05-19T07:38:45ZWhen someone living with dementia is distressed or violent, ‘de-escalation’ is vital<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527160/original/file-20230519-15-e904y9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C4000%2C2664&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/worried-senior-woman-home-felling-very-520348207">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-18/cooma-aged-care-home-police-woman-in-hospital-taser/102361018">reporting</a> about the alleged tasering of a 95-year-old woman living at the Yallambee Lodge aged care home in New South Wales has brought the issue of behaviours and psychological symptoms of dementia into <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-19/advocates-say-taser-clare-nowland-shows-aged-system-failure-/102365442">sharp focus</a>. </p>
<p>Over half of those living in residential care <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dementia/dementia-in-aus/contents/aged-care-and-support-services-used-by-people-with-dementia/residential-aged-care">have a dementia diagnosis</a> and up to 95% of those living with dementia will <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551552/#:%7E:text=Behavioral%20and%20psychological%20symptoms%20of,%2C%20and%20caregiver%20well%2Dbeing.">experience such behaviours</a> at some point during their passage through the illness. Common behaviours that might be shown by those living with advanced dementia include agitation, anxiety, attempts to leave care, aggression, apathy, sleep disturbance, aimless pacing, psychosis and aggression.</p>
<p>The full circumstances surrounding Wednesday’s events are unclear and they are subject to an <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-19/advocates-say-taser-clare-nowland-shows-aged-system-failure-/102365442">investigation</a> by police. That may take some time. What is clear, however, is that there is much room for improvement in the way behaviours and psychological symptoms of dementia are managed in residential care. Situations that end with police involvement should be avoided. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/needless-treatments-antipsychotic-drugs-are-rarely-effective-in-calming-dementia-patients-103103">Needless treatments: antipsychotic drugs are rarely effective in 'calming' dementia patients</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Calling for help</h2>
<p>In its final report in March 2021, the <a href="https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/">Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety</a> <a href="https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-03/final-report-recommendations.pdf">recommended</a> “all workers engaged by providers who are
involved in direct contact with people seeking or receiving services in the aged
care system undertake regular training about dementia care and palliative care”. </p>
<p>Currently, it is not infrequent for police to be called to respond to incidents in care homes. While programs have been implemented to better equip police to respond to the specific need of those <a href="https://www.nationaltribune.com.au/police-and-psos-better-equipped-to-support-people-living-with-dementia/">living with dementia</a> this work is still in its infancy.</p>
<p>Aggression and agitation are two of the most common behavioural symptoms that lead to referral to specialist support services. </p>
<p>Dementia Support Australia is a Commonwealth-funded service that has supported aged care homes and home-based carers in managing behaviours and psychological symptoms of dementia since 2016. There were <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dementia/dementia-in-aus/contents/aged-care-and-support-services-used-by-people-with-dementia/dementia-support-australia">8,702 referrals</a> to the service between January and June 2022. The number of referrals has increased in recent years.</p>
<p>As an organisation at the frontline of dementia support, we extend our deepest sympathies to the 95-year-old aged care resident, her family, Yallambee Lodge staff and everyone else touched by this devastating incident.</p>
<p>One of the advantages of having a national service such as this is that it has enabled the development of a national database that documents not only the nature and severity of the behaviours prompting the referral, but those factors that are most commonly identified as triggers for these behaviours. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527147/original/file-20230519-25-939te3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="carer puts hand on older person's hand, which is hold a walking stick" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527147/original/file-20230519-25-939te3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527147/original/file-20230519-25-939te3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527147/original/file-20230519-25-939te3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527147/original/file-20230519-25-939te3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527147/original/file-20230519-25-939te3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527147/original/file-20230519-25-939te3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527147/original/file-20230519-25-939te3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When people with dementia show behaviours of concern they have unmet needs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/senior-woman-her-caregiver-home-146517545">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-my-loved-one-with-dementia-sometimes-there-and-sometimes-not-200439">Why is my loved one with dementia sometimes 'there' and sometimes not?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3 leading causes</h2>
<p>Aggression and agitation are not diagnoses in themselves, but symptoms. Symptoms have causes, and these must be identified in order to adequately address behaviour.</p>
<p>The leading contributing factors we have identified in relation to behaviours are:</p>
<p><strong>1. Unidentified or under-treated pain</strong> </p>
<p>This is relevant in over 50% of the cases we see. Earlier research on pain management in the setting of advanced dementia has shown those with a dementia diagnosis who are admitted to hospital with hip fractures tend to be prescribed only a fraction of the analgesia given to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10799790/">those without dementia</a>.</p>
<p><strong>2. Carer approach</strong> </p>
<p>Care staff receive only minimal levels of training in dementia care as part of their basic qualification and are often unfamiliar with communication strategies tailored towards those with cognitive impairment. </p>
<p>Currently, the minimum qualification for a personal care worker involves no compulsory units in <a href="https://www.dementia.org.au/about-us/news-and-stories/news/are-aged-care-workers-required-have-dementia-training">dementia competency</a>. While we do not know the full circumstances from the events this week, the Royal Commission has made recommendations to improve care for those living with dementia. Carer approach is an issue in about a third of the cases we see.</p>
<p><strong>3. Over- and under-stimulation</strong> </p>
<p>In about one quarter of Dementia Support Australia cases boredom and loneliness and/or an environment that does not take into account the specific needs of those living with dementia are an issue.</p>
<p>Other common causes of changed behaviour include mood and anxiety disorders, communication difficulties, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-delirium-194631">delirium</a>, sleep problems and poor carer knowledge of the specific likes/dislikes of the individuals they are caring for.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WE65yrnsrPk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">People with dementia may react to uncertainty in unexpected ways.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-move-our-loved-one-with-dementia-into-a-nursing-home-6-things-to-consider-when-making-this-tough-decision-189770">Should we move our loved one with dementia into a nursing home? 6 things to consider when making this tough decision</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Prevention and calming things down</h2>
<p>The best way to manage most behavioural changes is to prevent the circumstances that lead to their development in the first place. Prevention is always better than cure. </p>
<p>Once behaviours are occurring, there is no single correct way to <a href="https://www.dementia.org.au/national/support-and-services/carers/behaviour-changes/aggressive-behaviours">de-escalate</a> them. The appropriate de-escalation strategies will always be specific to what has caused the altered behaviour in the first place.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, when behaviours have escalated to the point where police attendance is required, the responding officers are unlikely to be equipped with the necessary information about the person and their circumstances. That means they won’t be equipped to respond with effective and specific de-escalation strategies. </p>
<p>One case in the United States from 2020 involved the arrest of a 73-year-old woman living with dementia, who had left a local store without paying for items <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/27/us/loveland-police-officers-video-use-of-force/index.html">worth a small amount</a>. A <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/16/us/loveland-lawsuit-use-of-force-arrest/index.html">lawsuit</a> filed following the arrest alleged it resulted in a fractured arm and a dislocated shoulder, and raised national concerns about the way first responders interact with those experiencing cognitive disabilities.</p>
<p>Australia needs to learn from yesterday’s events and respond.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>If you are caring for someone with dementia there is help available. <a href="https://www.dementia.com.au/">Dementia Support Australia</a> is a free service, fully funded by the Australian government. Referrals can be made 24-hours a day by calling 1800 699 799.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205988/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Macfarlane works for Dementia Support Australia. He receives funding from various pharmaceutical companies. He is affiliated with the RANZCP. </span></em></p>When a person with dementia is in distress, they need calm and caring treatment to protect themselves and others – but prevention should be the goal.Steve Macfarlane, Head of Clinical Services, dementia Support Australia, & Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2048602023-05-03T16:36:13Z2023-05-03T16:36:13ZFrench police forces are among Europe’s most brutal: is de-escalation possible?<p>From the first protests against pension reform in January 2023 up till May 1, 2023, the relationship between the French forces of law and order and protesters has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/la-militarisation-du-maintien-de-lordre-en-france-vers-une-derive-autoritaire-203432">characterised</a> by frequent reports of strong-arm responses and confrontations. This was also seen during the 2010s, particularly during the “gilets jaunes” movement. </p>
<p>That a <a href="https://theconversation.com/violence-et-police-un-probleme-dencadrement-juridique-185097">shift</a> has occurred is evident from the work of varied specialists, who have based their research on interviews conducted with police officers, gendarmes, or members of the prefectural institutions; on internal documents and the archives of security forces; and on international perspectives. Thus, the negotiated management of social conflicts that is based on bargaining with unions and a <a href="https://www.cairn.info/strategies-de-la-rue--9782724607074.htm">certain tolerance</a> for trouble caused by protesters, has been replaced by a far harsher model of maintaining public order. The aim of this seems to be preventing protests, rather than facilitating their smooth running.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/maintien-de-lordre-qui-decide-de-quoi-119128">The maintenance of public order</a> has in effect been characterised in the last few years by a certain <a href="https://www.seuil.com/ouvrage/politiques-du-desordre-olivier-fillieule/9782021433968">brutality</a> and a <a href="https://www.cairn.info/police-et-societe-en-france--9782724640007-page-325.htm">tougher attitude</a>, including an increased use of penal and administrational tools against protesters.</p>
<h2>A failing change in doctrine</h2>
<p>Yet, when the protests against pension reform began in January, any difficulty regarding the policing of protest seemed to be ancient history. Since the <a href="https://www.lejdd.fr/Politique/laurent-nunez-devrait-remplacer-didier-lallement-a-la-tete-de-la-prefecture-de-police-de-paris-4124120">replacement</a> of Didier Lallement by Laurent Nuñez as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1477370817749497">Paris’ police commissioner</a>, there has been a preference for a different approach to managing protests in Paris. Police and gendarmes no longer flank protesters at close quarters but now place themselves at a distance in adjacent streets. And unions and their security forces oversee the organisation of protests, <a href="https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-radio/le-choix-franceinfo/manifestation-contre-la-reforme-des-retraites-comment-le-maintien-de-l-ordre-est-il-assure-dans-les-corteges_5605253.html">in concert</a> with officials and forces of law and order.</p>
<p>But this narrative of a “softening” does not stand up to analysis, masking police excess when faced with protesters. A freelance journalist was injured thus and had a <a href="https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/manifestation-un-homme-emascule-apres-un-coup-de-matraque-d-un-policier-20230122">testicle removed</a> after being struck with a baton by a policeman during a protest on January 19 in Paris. Moreover, the apparent change in strategy after the appointment of Laurent Nuñez did not stop the <a href="https://actu.fr/societe/coups-injustifies-usage-d-armes-les-violences-policieres-c-est-quoi-exactement_58340413.html">unjustified beatings</a> of a few dozen people protesting peacefully during police charges (January 19, January 31, and February 11).</p>
<p>In particular, from March 16 on, and after the government forced through its pension reform without a vote by using Article 49.3 of the Constitution, journalists and observers have documented widely how police forces have used physical violence against protesters. They have employed arbitrary arrest, and tactics of <a href="https://www.bfmtv.com/paris/violences-de-policiers-de-la-brav-m-deux-manifestants-vont-porter-plainte_AN-202303260314.html">humiliation</a> during the night-time marches (which unions didn’t declare) after the recourse to Article 49.3. </p>
<h2>Interrogative police squads and legal mechanisms</h2>
<p>Criticisms have mostly focused on the <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2023/03/24/je-peux-te-dire-qu-on-en-a-casse-des-coudes-et-des-gueules-quand-la-brav-m-derape-au-cours-d-une-interpellation_6166857_3224.html">activity of BRAV-M</a>, a police unit created in 2019 to crack down on the unpredictable and unruly marches of the “gilets jaunes”. Videos circulating on social media, showed members of BRAV-M driving over a protester on the ground with a motorbike, knocking protesters out with a blow to their back, or clubbing protesters or people crossing their path at random.</p>
<p>But other images attest just as much to violences committed by members of units specialised in riots and crowd control, like the Compagnies républicaines de sécurité (CRS) or the Compagnie d’Intervention (CI).</p>
<p>In total, since the start of the protests, the oversight body of the national police force (IGPN) has had <a href="https://www.bfmtv.com/police-justice/reforme-des-retraites-53-enquetes-judiciaires-confiees-a-l-igpn-depuis-le-debut-du-mouvement_AN-202304140038.html">53 legal investigations</a>, mostly regarding the protest on May 1, whilst the country’s human rights watchdog (i.e, in French <em>défenseur des droits</em>) has had <a href="https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/retraites-115-saisines-de-la-defenseure-des-droits-depuis-le-debut-de-la-mobilisation-20230417">115 investigations</a>(figures date from April 17) regarding alleged police violence.</p>
<p>Arrests, if they can be described thus, are often arbitrary as few result, at the end of the process, in a charge. And so, the evening of 16 March, although 292 people were placed in custody, the police only charged nine people, handing out <a href="https://www.bfmtv.com/paris/neuf-personnes-deferees-sur-les-292-interpellations-lors-de-la-manifestation-place-de-la-concorde-j">very mild penalties</a>.</p>
<p>The following day, 64 people were placed in custody and six of them <a href="https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/200323/violences-interpellations-abusives-le-retour-d-un-maintien-de-l-ordre-qui-seme-l">were charged</a>. This backs up the idea that the aim of custody is not so much to put a suspect in front of a officer of the judicial police (OPJ) but simply either to punish an individual for participating in a protest or to “empty the streets”. </p>
<h2>A gradual crackdown</h2>
<p>How can we explain this shift towards repression since mid-May? The security forces, backed by the government and police unions, explain it three ways. These arguments were already current during the “gilets jaunes” protests in December 2018.</p>
<p>The first explanation relates to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/le-vertige-de-lemeute-108449">riot-like quality</a> of the most recent protests. Routine methods of controlling protests organised by several unions are deemed insufficient for maintaining order. The second explanation points to the fact police are exhausted and weary due to the frequency of these protests and overworked forces are liable to overreactions and blunders.</p>
<p>The third explanation relates to the violence which police forces are subjected to, as numerous images have shown, like this policeman who collapsed after a blow to the head during the <a href="https://www.bfmtv.com/paris/greve-du-23-mars-a-paris-laurent-nunez-annonce-saisir-la-justice-apres-la-blessure-d-un-policier-a-la-tete_AN-202303240410.html">protest in Paris on 23 March</a>. Figures released by the Ministry of the Interior revealed 441 police officers were injured during only one day in Paris.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1638924339482443778"}"></div></p>
<p>Violence employed by police forces are therefore presented as a state response to this surge. These explanations cannot be brushed aside given the <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-politix-2008-1-page-181.htm">transforming repertory of protestors</a>, and the violence of certain minority actors. This is facilitated in Paris by the urban environment, notably the piles of rubbish in the streets.</p>
<h2>A lack of interest in de-escalation techniques</h2>
<p>There is a persistent lack of interest from the different authorities (interior ministry, Paris’s prefecture of police, the national police and the national gendarmerie) in the concept of de-escalation.</p>
<p>This approach aims to delay or even avoid resorting to force, by prioritising other strategies (delays, dialogue, withdrawal of police forces) as much as possible. To ignore these strategies, drives security forces to adopt brutal tactics as soon as there is any sign of difficulty. <a href="https://juridique.defenseurdesdroits.fr/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=41982">This marks France apart</a> from a great number of European countries.</p>
<p>Aside harming the reputation of France <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/04/14/le-maintien-de-l-ordre-a-la-francaise-une-agressivite-a-rebours-des-voisins-europeens_6169477_3232.html">internationally</a>, backing a confrontational strategy has two major adverse effects.</p>
<p>First there are human consequences for individual victims which range from attacks on their freedom to protest to serious physical harm. Then it also tends <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-francaise-de-science-politique-2011-6-page-1047.htm#s2n7">to heighten</a> hostility on the part of protesters, even those who were peaceful at the start.</p>
<p>This type of strategy leads to more antagonism generally between protesters and security forces, human rights advocates, and professional bodies charged with protecting police officers. Here lies the risk of the “hard power trap”: worsening relations mean that compliance is only reached through constraint, as <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/good-policing">international research on police work</a> has shown for many years.</p>
<h2>What the history of police work teaches us</h2>
<p>The history of the police shows that certain periods are more favourable to a collective examination of the conditions that grant police legitimacy. In France, between the 1970s and 1990s, a package of practices was developed based on three principles (<a href="https://www.pressesdesciencespo.fr/fr/book/?gcoi=27246100688560">“foresight, negotiation, control</a>). This was an outlook based on a growing acceptance that conflict could be calmed through protest movements. Security forces specialised in maintaining order (mobile gendarmerie squads, and the CRS) have interiorised these less aggressive practices that are based on collective method of oversight.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.pressesdesciencespo.fr/fr/book/?gcoi=27246100546260">In a recent work</a>, we argued that France’s model of policing that once drew its legitimacy from preserving the political order, must henceforth adapt to the need to ensure peace and strengthen the authority of its agents in the eyes of a more varied and unequal French society.</p>
<p>This question becomes more important in the context of maintaining public order. At a time when the functioning of representative democracy is <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-65-ans-la-v-republique-devrait-elle-partir-a-la-retraite-203431">being structurally called into question</a>, and where new forms of protest will surely emerge, it seems essential to take the time to rethink how order is maintained, by balancing the legitimate and proportional use of force with the respect of individual liberties.</p>
<hr>
<p>Translation by <a href="https://www.fleurmacdonald.co.uk/">Fleur Macdonald</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204860/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The brutal methods employed by the French police to maintain order during protests contrast with those of its European neighbours.Jacques de Maillard, Professeur des Universités, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) – Université Paris-Saclay Aurélien Restelli, Doctorant, sociologie, CESDIP, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) – Université Paris-Saclay Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2033892023-04-30T13:12:12Z2023-04-30T13:12:12ZPolice violations of Charter rights highlight the need for accountability and transparency<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523254/original/file-20230427-22-gdqqpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3435%2C2287&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If police are serious about respecting our fundamental rights and ensuring public safety, they should take action.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2021 and 2022, the <a href="https://alumni.westernu.ca/alumni-gazette/fall-2020/making-the-invisible-visible.html">Hidden Racial Profiling Project (HRPP)</a> at Western University’s Faculty of Law helped the <em>Toronto Star</em> identify more than <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2022/06/09/how-torstar-found-600-cases-of-police-violating-fundamental-rights-when-no-one-is-tracking-this-national-problem.html">600 court decisions</a> from the past decade that found Canadian police violated the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/how-rights-protected/guide-canadian-charter-rights-freedoms.html">Charter of Rights and Freedoms</a> when dealing with the public. </p>
<p>Violations included excessive force, unreasonable searches and not being told of your right to a lawyer without delay. The decisions reveal <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/police-charter-rights-violations.html">pervasive and systemic failures</a> by many police services with respect to our fundamental rights. Few police services told the <em>Star</em> whether they were aware of the cases. Most refused to say.</p>
<p>The 600 cases are a huge underestimation of just how frequently police are violating Canadians’ Charter rights. They do not include cases where evidence that was gathered in violation of the Charter was not excluded, the proceedings were not stopped by judges or sentences were not reduced.</p>
<p>They also do not include incidents that we will never see in criminal case law — Charter-infringing conduct, like arbitrary detentions, unreasonable searches and racial profiling, that do not result in charges or cases that were withdrawn by the Crown. </p>
<p>Race is often <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/commentary/doc/2006CanLIIDocs492#!fragment//BQCwhgziBcwMYgK4DsDWszIQewE4BUBTADwBdoByCgSgBpltTCIBFRQ3AT0otokLC4EbDtyp8BQkAGU8pAELcASgFEAMioBqAQQByAYRW1SYAEbRS2ONWpA">not mentioned</a> in criminal cases when judges found officers violated the Charter rights of accused. Our project seeks to identify the race of victims in Charter-violating cases and expose racial profiling.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523066/original/file-20230426-402-e1oh4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C0%2C5961%2C4007&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The back of a man in handcuffs being placed in a car by a police officer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523066/original/file-20230426-402-e1oh4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C0%2C5961%2C4007&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523066/original/file-20230426-402-e1oh4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523066/original/file-20230426-402-e1oh4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523066/original/file-20230426-402-e1oh4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523066/original/file-20230426-402-e1oh4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523066/original/file-20230426-402-e1oh4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523066/original/file-20230426-402-e1oh4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Hidden Racial Profiling Project helped the <em>Toronto Star</em> identify over 600 court decisions that found police violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Identifying Charter violations</h2>
<p>Since the <em>Toronto Star</em> series was published, our project has completed its case-law research and flagged problematic trends. We are now beginning the process of identifying the race of victims of Charter violations.</p>
<p>Police violations of the Charter matter. They negatively impact the physical and mental health of victims and undermine public trust and safety. <a href="http://mr.crossref.org/iPage?doi=10.18574%2Fnyu%2F9780814776155.003.0004">They discourage co-operation with police</a>, and we know that relationships between police and Indigenous and Black communities are already strained because of <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/432/SECU/Reports/RP11434998/securp06/securp06-e.pdf">systemic racism in policing</a>. Charter violations can also result in <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2019/2019scc34/2019scc34.html?autocompleteStr=r%20v%20le&autocompletePos=1">evidence being excluded</a> from trials and in the accused walking free. </p>
<p>Police forces <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2022/06/13/police-must-be-told-when-courts-condemn-their-violations-of-rights.html">should be told</a> when courts find that officers violate the Charter, but there is no need to wait for governments to set up formal notification systems. Charter violations can be found with a few keystrokes and some sifting and sorting.</p>
<p>The HRPP searched for cases that were decided between 2015 and 2019 and involved the <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2020001/article/00015/tbl/tbl05-eng.htm">10 largest city police services in Canada</a>. We were struck by the sheer volume of cases with Charter violations. We felt there was a public interest in getting this information into the public eye so we provided our case-law research to the <em>Star</em>, which did a broader search. </p>
<p>If the HRPP could find these cases, police services can too. They have the resources and know-how to find them themselves. And the decisions must lead to police transparency and accountability. </p>
<p>Large police services, like those in <a href="https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/COMMISSIONS_PERM_V2_FR/MEDIA/DOCUMENTS/PRES_SPVM_20201118.PDF">Montréal</a>, <a href="https://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/who-we-are/resources/Documents/Reports-and-Publications/Budget-2023/2023-Budget-Book-online-version.pdf">Ottawa</a> and <a href="http://www.calgarypolicecommission.ca/proposed-police-budget/">Calgary</a>, have budgets in the hundreds of millions, or, in the case of <a href="https://www.tps.ca/media/filer_public/51/0a/510ae2fe-d188-40f1-8c2d-1e3e0b7f3de5/734e38ee-0298-495e-b72b-fdfcbbe198b0.pdf">Toronto</a>, the <a href="https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/royal-canadian-mounted-police-2022-2023-departmental-plan">RCMP</a> and the <a href="https://opp.ca/index.php?id=115&entryid=619547b8522f655e245bba83">Ontario Provincial Police</a>, over a billion. Smaller services, like <a href="https://vicpd.ca/portfolio-items/vicpd-2021-provisional-budget-presentation-victoria-council/">Victoria</a> and <a href="https://www.fredericton.ca/sites/default/files/2023_annual_budget_book_-_final.pdf">Fredericton</a>, have budgets in the tens of millions. And all of them have lawyers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two black men lead a march down a street. One of them chants into a megaphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522720/original/file-20230424-24-gphaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522720/original/file-20230424-24-gphaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522720/original/file-20230424-24-gphaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522720/original/file-20230424-24-gphaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522720/original/file-20230424-24-gphaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522720/original/file-20230424-24-gphaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522720/original/file-20230424-24-gphaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A protest against police brutality in Montréal in June 2020. Many police services already have the resources and know-how to identify court decisions with violations of the Charter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Police transparency and accountability</h2>
<p>Court decisions with Charter violations should be part of an <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/PIJPSM-02-2020-0027/full/html">early intervention system</a> to alert supervisors and police leadership about problematic officers, units and divisions. </p>
<p>Canadian police services would not be the first to do so. Cases where evidence was excluded due to constitutional violations are part of early intervention systems for the <a href="https://www.fergusoncity.com/531/Consent-Decree">Ferguson, Mo.</a> and <a href="https://consentdecree.baltimorecity.gov">Baltimore, Md.</a> police forces. </p>
<p>Court decisions with Charter violations should also trigger investigations into officer misconduct and lead to training or discipline where appropriate. Where there are systemic issues, policies and training should be changed — not in secret, but publicly, and not in a way that’s colour-blind, but through an anti-racism lens. </p>
<p>One of the cases the HRRP found was <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2017/2017onca543/2017onca543.html?resultIndex=1"><em>R v. Gonzales</em></a>. In 2009, a York Regional Police officer pulled over two Hispanic men in a rental van. The officer was investigating break-and-enters in the area, but had no reason to link the men or the van to the crimes. The officer also had no suspect description. Five days earlier, the officer had seen the van in the same area and its occupants enter a home. The officer even thought that one of the men may have lived there. </p>
<p>The officer smelled marijuana coming from the van and called for backup. Searches of the van and home uncovered a gun, ammunition, hundreds of pounds of marijuana and more than $100,000 in cash. The men were arrested.</p>
<p>In a 2017 appeal, Ontario’s highest court concluded the traffic stop was an arbitrary detention and one of the men was unlawfully strip-searched at the station — both violations of the Charter. </p>
<p>Consequently, the evidence police found was tossed out. One of the men was acquitted and would not serve the original five-year prison term. </p>
<p>The judge found the officer’s misconduct was not an isolated incident but part of a “pattern of abuse.” The court stated “evidence emerged from the officers at trial that this stop was part of a larger pattern of pulling over ‘suspicious’ persons and asking them what they were doing in the neighbourhood.” </p>
<p>Worse still, the same pattern was noted in two other cases involving the same police service the next year: <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/on/oncj/doc/2018/2018oncj44/2018oncj44.html?resultIndex=1"><em>R v. Bhagiratti</em></a> and <em>R v. Noseworthy</em>. </p>
<p>York Regional Police <a href="https://www.yorkregion.com/news/crime/good-policing-or-profiling-courts-reprimand-york-police-for-illegal-arrests/article_406f44d3-e29c-5211-b910-86c86fbb88b3.html">appear to be aware</a> of the <em>R v. Gonzales</em> and <em>R v. Bhagiratti</em> decisions and respect them. But what steps did the York Regional Police or its board take to address the “pattern of abuse,” including any disproportionate impact on Indigenous, Black or other racialized people? Were the officers investigated, disciplined or retrained? </p>
<p>Were policies or training reviewed or changed? It may take legislative change for there to be transparency about individual officer discipline, but these other questions need to be asked and answered publicly. </p>
<p>If police are serious about respecting our fundamental rights and ensuring public safety, they should take action. And we deserve to see it. Justice depends on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sunil Gurmukh received funding from the Law Foundation of Ontario via Western University's Faculty of Law for the Hidden Racial Profiling Project, which he is leading. His views do not represent the Ontario Human Rights Commission or Ontario Public Service.</span></em></p>The Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibits Canadian police from using excessive force and conducting unreasonable searches. But research has found many cases of police violating the Charter.Sunil Gurmukh, Visiting Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2014432023-04-18T19:37:41Z2023-04-18T19:37:41ZData shows that police-involved deaths in Canada are on the rise<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520307/original/file-20230411-16-wv178s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C8%2C5964%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman holds a sign during a demonstration calling for police accountability in Vancouver in May 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fatal encounters with police <a href="https://trackinginjustice.ca/analysis-increase-in-deaths-and-racial-disparities/">are on the rise in Canada</a>. The number of civilians dying in incidents with police when force is used has steadily increased since 2000. This is leaving families and communities with little support or recourse for accountability. </p>
<p>We are members of the <a href="https://trackinginjustice.ca/">Tracking (In)Justice project</a> documenting and analyzing police-involved deaths when force is used in Canada. Tracking (In)Justice is a partnership of academics and advocates who aim to shed light on police violence to help inform calls for accountability, transparency and changes to policing. </p>
<p>Gathering this information gives us the ability to ask new questions, such as why some police forces kill people more frequently than others. It also allows us to inform policy designed to address issues of police accountability.</p>
<p>There have been <a href="https://www.ccja-acjp.ca/pub/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/08/Full-Report-PUF.pdf">longstanding calls for police and governments to collect and share data</a> about incidents where the use of force caused civilian injury and death. Journalists, academics, civil society groups and victims’ families have been engaged in this work for a long time. </p>
<p>However, no centralized, updated data set exists that tracks deaths and provides information about the person, location, implicated police service, type of force used and many other contextual details. Much of what we rely on to understand these cases are “official” documents like <a href="https://wayback.archive-it.org/16312/20210402050708/http:/www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/about/pubs/police_oversight_review/">police or oversight body media releases</a>, that contain limited details and only tell a one-sided police narrative.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519093/original/file-20230403-18-obe9t8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C40%2C2968%2C2142&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A police officer wearing a protective vest with RCMP written on their shirt sleeve." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519093/original/file-20230403-18-obe9t8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C40%2C2968%2C2142&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519093/original/file-20230403-18-obe9t8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519093/original/file-20230403-18-obe9t8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519093/original/file-20230403-18-obe9t8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519093/original/file-20230403-18-obe9t8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519093/original/file-20230403-18-obe9t8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519093/original/file-20230403-18-obe9t8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There have been longstanding calls for police and governments to collect and share data about incidents where the use of force caused injury and death to civilians.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tracking fatalities</h2>
<p><a href="https://trackinginjustice.ca/analysis-increase-in-deaths-and-racial-disparities/">Our preliminary findings</a> indicate that use-of-force incidents are on the rise, with the highest number occurring in 2022. Some of this long-term trend may be due to increased access to information about police-involved killings and deaths. But access to information alone does not explain the striking increase in recent years.</p>
<p>According to Tracking (In)Justice data, there was an average of 22.7 police-involved deaths between 2000-2010. In comparison, an average of 37.8 people died every year between 2011-2022. That represents a 66.5 per cent increase.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521709/original/file-20230418-26-45xpwq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chart showing police-involved deaths between 2000-2022 increasing from around 20 in 2000 to around 70 in 2022." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521709/original/file-20230418-26-45xpwq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521709/original/file-20230418-26-45xpwq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521709/original/file-20230418-26-45xpwq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521709/original/file-20230418-26-45xpwq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521709/original/file-20230418-26-45xpwq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521709/original/file-20230418-26-45xpwq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521709/original/file-20230418-26-45xpwq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A chart from Tracking (In)Justice showing the number of police-involved deaths when force was used per year between 2000-2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://trackinginjustice.ca/analysis-increase-in-deaths-and-racial-disparities/">(Tracking (In)Justice)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shooting deaths also appear to be occurring with greater frequency. Tracking (In)Justice documented 704 deaths in Canada from 2000 to 2022 where police force was used. The data includes deaths from police shootings and instances where a person died after being subjected to other types of police weapons (e.g. tasers) or physical interventions (e.g. restraints). </p>
<p>This data was compiled by accessing publicly available information from media and official reports. The data includes information related to the victim, including name, age and race when known. It also documents the location of death, involved police and the highest level of force used.</p>
<h2>Tracking racial data and shooting deaths</h2>
<p>Following <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/sites/default/files/TPS%20Inquiry_Interim%20Report%20EN%20FINAL%20DESIGNED%20for%20remed_3_0.pdf#overlay-context=en/news_centre/ohrc-interim-report-toronto-police-service-inquiry-shows-disturbing-results">longstanding patterns of inequity</a>, there are persistent racial disparities within the overall increase in police-involved deaths when force is used. </p>
<p>According to the data we’ve collected, Black and Indigenous people are killed at disproportionate numbers relative to their population size. According to the <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/221026/dq221026b-eng.htm">most recent Statistics Canada census data</a>, Indigenous people make up 6.1 per cent of Canada’s population and Black people comprise 4.3 per cent.</p>
<p>Tracking (In)Justice data shows that 112 of the deceased were identified by police or other authorities as Indigenous, and 54 were identified as Black since 2000. These numbers represent 16.2 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively. More than 240 people were identified as white. However, it should be noted that a significant number of unknowns exist, as race is often not reported on public documents. </p>
<p>Racial disparities are further reflected in the numbers specific to police-involved shooting deaths. People identified by police or other authorities as Black represent 8.7 per cent of the total number, while people identified as Indigenous represent 18.5 per cent. </p>
<p>Together, Black and Indigenous people comprise around 10 per cent of the population in Canada, yet account for 27.2 per cent of police-involved shooting deaths when the race of the victim has been identified.</p>
<h2>Deaths by jurisdiction and police service</h2>
<p><a href="https://trackinginjustice.ca/analysis-jurisdiction-and-force/">Most provinces and territories</a> have seen increases of 30 per cent or higher in police-related deaths since 2010. </p>
<p>Overall, Ontario has the most deaths at 224, followed by British Columbia at 141, Alberta at 121, Québec at 115, Manitoba at 38 and Saskatchewan at 29. The remaining provinces and territories have experienced nine or fewer deaths since 2000. New Brunswick and Nunavut experienced one death each between 2000 and 2010, followed by a spike of seven deaths each between 2011 and 2022. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520601/original/file-20230412-26-s79oqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Toronto police cruiser parked on a roadside" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520601/original/file-20230412-26-s79oqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520601/original/file-20230412-26-s79oqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520601/original/file-20230412-26-s79oqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520601/original/file-20230412-26-s79oqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520601/original/file-20230412-26-s79oqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520601/original/file-20230412-26-s79oqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520601/original/file-20230412-26-s79oqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At the municipal level, the Toronto Police Service is implicated in the greatest number of deaths.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ives</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Three police services — Toronto, Peel and Montréal — were implicated in two-thirds of the deaths of Black-identified people. The RCMP is implicated in more than half of Indigenous deaths, at 57 out of 112. Some of this long-term trend may be due to increased access to information about police-involved killings and deaths. But access to information alone does not explain the striking increase in the past three years. </p>
<h2>Calls for accountability</h2>
<p>Tracking (In)Justice is a living data set and a work-in-progress. We are actively working to expand the data, including identifying whether the person killed was labelled by police as a “<a href="https://www.ciddd.ca/documents/phasetwo/police_encounters_with_people_in_crisis.pdf">person in crisis</a>.” This is a problematic and ableist category, which may give us insight into the ways people labelled with disabilities are impacted by police violence. </p>
<p>The data also does not include incidents where police were present, but force was not necessarily used, such as during falls, vehicle crashes or deaths in custody. </p>
<p>What is also missing is the impact on families when their loved one is killed by police. When someone has a family member killed, they cannot access <a href="https://www.victimsfirst.gc.ca/serv/vsc-svc.html">victim services</a>, as the loved one is not considered a victim. They may never know the name of the person responsible for killing their loved one and may have to pay out-of-pocket legal fees in their efforts to seek justice. </p>
<p>Family members may also never get access to coroner’s reports, oversight investigation reports or even their deceased family member’s belongings. They are often unjustly provided little assistance to navigate systems in their pursuit of justice. </p>
<p>There is increasing attention being brought to bear on police violence and racial injustice in the Canadian criminal justice system. Our project’s findings support long-standing calls for accountability, transparency and scrutiny of police conduct in Canada. Much more work still needs to be done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201443/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Crosby receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander McClelland receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya L. Sharpe receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Anti-Racism Directorate, Ministry of the Solicitor General.</span></em></p>There have been longstanding calls for police and governments to collect and share data about incidents where the use of force caused injury and death to civilians.Andrew Crosby, Postdoctoral fellow, School of Planning, University of WaterlooAlexander McClelland, Assistant Professor, Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Carleton UniversityTanya L. Sharpe, Associate Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, Founder & Director of The Centre for Research & Innovation for Black Survivors of Homicide Victims, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1990782023-02-07T13:34:09Z2023-02-07T13:34:09ZMemphis police numbers dropped by nearly a quarter in recent years – were staffing shortages a factor in the killing of Tyre Nichols?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508464/original/file-20230206-15-5bqd42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C88%2C4876%2C3177&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dwindling numbers means more inexperienced officers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MemphisPoliceReform/4f92c57fa8604c258a8ae2a81288ed30/photo?Query=memphis%20police&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=743&currentItemNo=191">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the years running up to the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, the Memphis Police Department faced an increasingly dire <a href="https://www.actionnews5.com/2022/06/17/mpd-makes-adjustment-handle-staff-shortages/">staffing crisis</a>. Indeed, <a href="https://tennesseelookout.com/2022/02/15/memphis-police-seek-to-add-300-officers/">shortages on the force</a> have led to questions over whether, given their relative lack of experience, the five officers now charged with Nichols’ murder <a href="https://www.nj.com/opinion/2023/01/tyre-nichols-tragic-death-happened-despite-police-reforms-enacted-to-prevent-it-opinion.html">would have been assigned to the now-disbanded SCORPION unit</a> – or <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/01/30/could-lower-standards-for-police-recruits-breed-future-misconduct/">even hired in the first place</a>.</p>
<p>Memphis <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/19/us/police-staffing-shortages-recruitment/index.html">isn’t alone in confronting the issue</a> of dwindling officer numbers. In January 2023, the federal judge monitoring the Baltimore Police Department said <a href="https://www.wbaltv.com/article/judge-baltimore-police-consent-decree-officer-recruitment/42672197%5D(https://www.wbaltv.com/article/judge-baltimore-police-consent-decree-officer-recruitment/42672197">a severe staffing shortage there is causing slow reform progress</a> as the agency attempts to comply with a <a href="https://consentdecree.baltimorecity.gov/">federal consent decree</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ypvpo1gAAAAJ&hl=en">We are</a> <a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-public-affairs-and-community-service/criminology-and-criminal-justice/about-us/justin-nix.php">criminologists</a>, two with <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/criminology_and_criminal_justice/our_people/directory/adams_ian.php">experience as police officers</a>, who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12556">study police turnover</a> and its effects on agencies and communities. In jurisdictions across the U.S., we’ve seen how police departments are experiencing significant changes to the three main variables in police staffing: recruitment, resignations and retirements.</p>
<p>We’ve also seen that these changes are likely to <a href="https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/linking-the-workforce-crisis-crime-and-response-time/">deteriorate the quality of policing</a> and may give rise to more incidents of officer misconduct, increased violent crime, decreased policing services and a failure to meet community and professional standards. The investigation into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/tyre-nichols-memphis-police-dead.html">what happened in Memphis, Tennessee, on Jan. 7</a> is still ongoing, but we believe the effect of staff shortages and the experience levels of the officers involved in Nichols’ death should form part of the inquiry.</p>
<h2>Turnover in Memphis</h2>
<p>Since 2011, the earliest year of staffing data available on the <a href="https://data.memphistn.gov/Public-Safety/Police-Headcount/iwk8-fxnz">Memphis Data Hub</a>, the Memphis Police Department’s number of sworn officers has dropped by 22.6% – from a high of 2,449 officers in September 2011 to a low of 1,895 officers in December 2022.</p>
<p>When an agency loses this many officers, one consequence can be that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/memphis-police-scorpion-unit-tyre-nichols-rcna67711">more inexperienced officers</a> end up in <a href="http://theconversation.com/tyre-nichols-death-underscores-the-troubled-history-of-specialized-police-units-198851">specialized details like SCORPION</a>, as agencies struggle to fill gaps in their operations. </p>
<p>In response to staffing shortfalls and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/memphis-violence-reduction-murder-crime-rate-policing/671877/">rising crime</a>, the Memphis Police Department <a href="https://www.actionnews5.com/story/38513242/mpd-makes-changes-to-college-requirements-for-recruits">relaxed its hiring standards</a> in 2018, such as by no longer requiring a college degree to begin working as a police officer.</p>
<p>However, this approach only temporarily improved staffing levels. After <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html">mass racial justice protests</a> in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the trend reversed as the agency began losing officers again. This downward trend surpassed the lows that previously led to lowered hiring standards in 2018.</p>
<p><iframe id="4fWvf" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/4fWvf/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Turnover takes different forms, and in our analysis, the Memphis Police Department has seen a distinct increase in the number of officers leaving the agency voluntarily, prior to retirement. The department experienced a significant spike in resignations since the summer of 2020, losing an additional 75 officers to resignations compared with what would have been expected based on trends in years past. This increase in resignations equates to an additional 3.3% of the Memphis Police Department leaving in just two years.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507706/original/file-20230201-17282-m0ncyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507706/original/file-20230201-17282-m0ncyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507706/original/file-20230201-17282-m0ncyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507706/original/file-20230201-17282-m0ncyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507706/original/file-20230201-17282-m0ncyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507706/original/file-20230201-17282-m0ncyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507706/original/file-20230201-17282-m0ncyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The monthly count of officers resigning from the Memphis Police Department, from January 2011 to January 2023. The blue line shows a change in the trend from May 1, 2020. The yellow line represents the expected level of resignations in the post-period.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://data.memphistn.gov/Public-Safety/Police-Headcount/iwk8-fxnz">Adams/Mourtgos/Nix</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A national trend</h2>
<p>Concern about staffing shortages is not confined to Memphis and Baltimore. Over the past three years, police recruitment and retention have been <a href="https://www.policeforum.org/workforcesurveyjune2021">key concerns</a> for jurisdictions across the country.</p>
<p>We monitor police staffing levels in several agencies across the U.S. In one large, Western police department, we found that in the seven months following the Floyd protests, voluntary resignations of sworn officers were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12556">nearly three times (279%) higher than baseline expectations</a>.</p>
<p>In some places, extreme staffing pressure has led to <a href="https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/linking-the-workforce-crisis-crime-and-response-time/">rapid increases in police response times</a> to emergencies. For example, in Salt Lake City, the police staffing crisis <a href="https://www.slcpd.com/open-data/response-times/">led to response times nearly doubling</a> for priority calls in 2020 and 2021. </p>
<p>In conversations with police chiefs and other leaders at smaller and suburban agencies, we hear that they have faced a lower-intensity staffing challenge for <a href="https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2010/RAND_MG959.pdf">more than a decade</a>.</p>
<p>However, those at larger, metropolitan agencies nationwide say the crisis has boiled over, and they fear they are losing the ability to provide baseline levels of service. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/11/us/police-retirements-resignations-recruits.html">Both groups of police executives</a> directly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/25/us/police-officer-recruits.html">link the staffing crisis to fallout from the 2020 George Floyd protests</a>.</p>
<h2>Transfers, retirements and $30,000 bonuses</h2>
<p>Although our studies do not follow individual officers, <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/01/21/police-hiring-government-jobs-decline">recent reporting by The Marshall Project</a> uses yearly federal economic data to show that nationally the police profession experienced a small decline in total employees – including both sworn officers and civilian staff – between March 2020 and August 2022.</p>
<p>This may reflect agencies offering highly lucrative bonuses for officers willing to transfer agencies, rather than swarms of officers leaving the profession altogether. </p>
<p>When speaking with police chiefs in large agencies, a consistent story emerges: They say officers are not leaving the profession, but instead are leaving for other nearby agencies that offer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/nyregion/new-york-police-department-attrition.html">better pay and a more positive work environment</a>.</p>
<p>This phenomenon, known as “lateral transfers,” is rapidly shifting officers away from large, urban departments and toward smaller police agencies and sheriff’s departments.</p>
<p>In an ongoing study, we analyze turnover data from 14 large agencies over the last decade and observe that one suburban agency and one sheriff’s department actually experienced decreases in resignations and retirements during the period. Meanwhile, the large urban departments in our sample generally experienced surges in resignations and retirements since the summer of 2020, indicating there are turnover patterns that benefit some agencies, while harming others.</p>
<p>It makes economic sense for agencies to compete for already trained officers. Turnover is expensive. Hiring and training a new officer can cost <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/recruitment-retention-and-turnover-police-personnel-reliable">one to five times the annual salary</a> of an individual officer.</p>
<p>Agencies can save on these costs by competing for already trained officers, as they have already passed background checks and committed to the profession to some degree. Severe labor shortages have resulted in agencies turning to lateral bonuses, offering large financial benefits to attract already certified officers from other agencies. The Seattle and New Orleans police departments now offer <a href="https://krcrtv.com/news/nation-world/police-departments-staffing-shortage-rising-crime-rates-solution-united-states-hiring-bonus-hollywood-thin-blue-line-cops-recruits-training-los-angeles-officers-americans-first-responders-law-enforcement">$30,000 bonuses to attract trained officers</a>.</p>
<p>The police staffing crisis has been exacerbated by the ongoing retirement wave of officers hired through <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/18/weekinreview/the-nation-new-cops-need-help-the-perils-of-police-hiring.html">funding from the 1994 crime bill</a>. The bill, led by then-Senator Joe Biden, directed over $8 billion to hiring an additional 100,000 police officers nationwide in order to combat crime. However, officers hired with that federal money are now retiring, adding additional staffing pressure as the most experienced officers leave the profession in the same wave that brought them in. </p>
<h2>Focus on public safety</h2>
<p>The International Association of Chiefs of Police <a href="https://www.theiacp.org/sites/default/files/239416_IACP_RecruitmentBR_HR_0.pdf">surveyed its members in 2019</a> and found that 75% were experiencing greater recruitment challenges, with 25% reducing or eliminating some services as a result.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tyre-nichols-death-underscores-the-troubled-history-of-specialized-police-units-198851">Tyre Nichols' death underscores the troubled history of specialized police units</a>
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<p>Good policing requires good police officers. To live up to community expectations and fulfill the general policing mission of improving public safety, we believe local leaders need to <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/performance-based-approach-police-staffing-and-allocation">adequately staff their police agencies</a> so that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/ajle_a_00030">under-policing does not continue</a> to <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aeri.20200792">negatively impact the communities they serve</a>.</p>
<p>Because staffing shortages involve agencies across the nation, and in many cases pit agencies against one another in competition for ever-decreasing pools of talent, it will likely require federal and state action to address effectively. President Biden has <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/01/fact-sheet-president-bidens-safer-america-plan-2/#:%7E:text=The%20Plan%20will%3A,over%20the%20next%20five%20years.">proposed $10.9 billion to help hire an additional 100,000 police officers</a> over the next five years. Adding more officers will help, but so too will keeping officers in the profession, especially in the <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/new-orleans-murder-surge-puts-young-black-men-at-high-risk/article_7a875126-a0ce-11ed-ac2b-f73126bb8b2a.html">communities most impacted</a> by <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/violent-crime-in-cities-on-the-rise">historic increases in violent crime</a>. </p>
<p>Addressing this issue will require the collaboration of police leaders and their communities to determine what level of police services they require, as well as financial support from state and federal levels to ensure police agencies can improve, rather than degrade, their workforces.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Police departments have faced recruitment and retention problems since the 2020 George Floyd protests. It has meant some agencies have had to lower standards to attract new officers.Ian T. Adams, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South CarolinaJustin Nix, Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska OmahaScott M. Mourtgos, Ph.D. candidate in Political Science, University of UtahLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1984872023-01-31T18:48:02Z2023-01-31T18:48:02ZThe ‘blue wall’ of silence allows bullying, sexual abuse and violence to infect police forces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507163/original/file-20230130-9120-27yp4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1791&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Officers gather for a funeral service for a constable who'd been in a coma for 30 years in Victoria in April 2018.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the--blue-wall--of-silence-allows-bullying--sexual-abuse-and-violence-to-infect-police-forces" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>After an alleged targeted campaign of bullying and sexual harassment by fellow members of the Vancouver Police Department, <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/coroners-inquest-nicole-chan-suicide-vpd">Const. Nicole Chan died by suicide in January 2019</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022PSSG0071-001765">A coroner’s inquest</a> is now underway, examining the circumstances leading to her senseless, preventable death — despite the fact that key witnesses, including the officers at the centre of the British Columbia <em>Police Act</em> investigation, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9430320/nicole-chan-inquest-day-1/">aren’t on the witness list.</a></p>
<p>Police violence and misconduct are once again in the global spotlight after <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/29/us/tyre-nichols-protests-sunday/index.html">unarmed Black man Tyre Nichols</a> died following a severe police beating in Memphis, Tenn.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman holds up a sign that says Stop Cops. Two Black people are in the foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507197/original/file-20230130-26-mmkn3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507197/original/file-20230130-26-mmkn3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507197/original/file-20230130-26-mmkn3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507197/original/file-20230130-26-mmkn3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507197/original/file-20230130-26-mmkn3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507197/original/file-20230130-26-mmkn3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507197/original/file-20230130-26-mmkn3y.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">Protesters march on Jan. 28, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn., over the death of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pain-of-police-killings-ripples-outward-to-traumatize-black-people-and-communities-across-us-159624">Pain of police killings ripples outward to traumatize Black people and communities across US</a>
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<p>A pervasive history of bullying and sexual misconduct plagues law enforcement agencies and illustrates the failure of police forces to police themselves. Perhaps this culture might also explain the acts of violence police officers perpetrate on civilians.</p>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/rcmp-class-action-tiller-civilian-women-final-report-1.6491165">sexual harassment lawsuits</a> involving the RCMP and targeted bullying, discrimination and sexualized violence <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/female-police-officers-come-forward-with-allegations-of-sexual-harassment-discrimination-1.4821765">in many police departments</a> demonstrate how law enforcement leadership is unable to keep its members safe from one another.</p>
<h2>Workplace bullying on the rise</h2>
<p>At any given time, <a href="https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/purduetoday/releases/2022/Q1/workplace-bullying-takes-an-emotional,-physical-toll-support-is-in-place-to-help.html">20 to 30 per cent of workers in North America have experienced workplace bullying</a>, and that number <a href="https://escipub.com/Articles/IJPRR/IJPRR-2020-01-1205.pdf">soars to 60 per cent for first responders</a>.</p>
<p>According to multiple studies, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2984">80 per cent of women and 30 per cent of men have experienced</a> sexual harassment in the workplace. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/workplace-harassment-and-violence-impacts-over-70-of-employees-in-canada-study-shows-1.6401673">In nearly three-quarters of all cases</a>, the perpetrators hold positions of power.</p>
<p>The impact on those subjected to the abuse includes <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4382139/">severe psychological harm</a>, such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide. </p>
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<h2>The impenetrable ‘blue wall’</h2>
<p>Similar to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-taking-canadas-armed-forces-so-long-to-tackle-sexual-misconduct-196869">insular nature of the Canadian Armed Forces</a>, also confronting a culture of bullying and sexualized violence within its ranks, the phenomenon of “cop culture” is equally problematic.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/misogyny-in-police-forces-understanding-and-fixing-cop-culture-176303">Misogyny in police forces: understanding and fixing 'cop culture'</a>
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<p>The shared set of beliefs, traditions and values in police forces often create a strong sense of cohesion, loyalty and camaraderie among its members. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/how-police-brutality-gets-made/613030/">cop culture has been widely criticized</a> for creating an “us versus them” mentality among police officers, resulting in a lack of transparency and accountability surrounding their actions. </p>
<p>A pervasive <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/officer-claims-she-was-target-of-bullying-and-hazing-1.818950">code of silence exists in cop culture</a> where targets are discouraged from reporting misconduct. Those who do are often shamed, isolated, gaslit and branded “rats.” </p>
<p>This is a failure of leadership — at all levels.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Toronto police cruiser parked on a city street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507164/original/file-20230130-22-77tvti.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507164/original/file-20230130-22-77tvti.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507164/original/file-20230130-22-77tvti.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507164/original/file-20230130-22-77tvti.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507164/original/file-20230130-22-77tvti.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507164/original/file-20230130-22-77tvti.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507164/original/file-20230130-22-77tvti.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Toronto police vehicle is shown parked on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto in January 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ives</span></span>
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<h2>Human resources can’t get it right</h2>
<p>Addressing the culture of workplace bullying and sexual harassment falls squarely on the shoulders of human resources departments and organizational leadership, including oversight boards. Unfortunately, <a href="https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2020/07/07/the-dangers-of-mishandling-harassment-complaints/">the mismanagement of these issues are commonplace</a> and have adverse outcomes.</p>
<p>Many organizations are ill-equipped and unwilling to address these type of issues. Many also lack HR professionals trained in these types of investigations. But this is no longer an acceptable excuse. </p>
<p>Despite zero-tolerance policies when it comes to bullying and sexual harassment, in practice, they don’t typically work in favour of those being targeted and are often unenforced — especially when the perpetrator is a boss.</p>
<p>There are federal and provincial <a href="https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/bullying.html">occupational health and safety legislation</a> to address workplace bullying and sexual harassment. But despite the prevalence and adverse impact on employees being targeted, these laws don’t sufficiently support the complainant, are difficult to navigate, are often misinterpreted and remain relatively toothless.</p>
<p>In fact, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner <a href="https://theprovince.com/news/local-news/no-public-hearing-will-be-held-into-vancouver-police-officers-dismissal/wcm/2e36d1ad-e935-4c50-a33f-e849c7cf4063">decided against holding an inquiry</a> into Chan’s case because it was deemed “not in the best interest of the public” — when in reality, the systemic issues of sexual harassment and bullying on police forces is the very definition of the public interest.</p>
<p>Chan <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/nicole-chan-inquest-1.6727111">filed a WorkSafeBC complaint</a> against the Vancouver Police Department, but it appeared to focus on process rather than on her safety.</p>
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<img alt="Three Asian women dressed in black winter coats leave a courthouse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507148/original/file-20230130-12322-9ng6vm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507148/original/file-20230130-12322-9ng6vm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507148/original/file-20230130-12322-9ng6vm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507148/original/file-20230130-12322-9ng6vm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507148/original/file-20230130-12322-9ng6vm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507148/original/file-20230130-12322-9ng6vm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507148/original/file-20230130-12322-9ng6vm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Jennifer Chan, second left, the sister of late Vancouver Police Const. Nicole Chan, leaves a coroner’s inquest in January 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
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<p>But she did everything right. </p>
<p>She went to her supervisors for help — they allegedly failed to provide assistance. She complained to HR and the situation worsened. When in crisis, she was taken to hospital by police under the <em>Mental Health Act</em> and despite this was discharged two hours before she took her own life. </p>
<p>At every turn, the system failed her. Why? Because when the bully is the boss, the power imbalance is severe. And when organizations just pay lip service to keeping employees protected from bullying and sexual harassment, people get hurt.</p>
<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>Most police officers and administrators who choose to serve our communities are honourable people. </p>
<p>Problems occur when those in positions of authority abuse their status, exploit their power, violate law and policy and turn a blind eye to misconduct.</p>
<p>Chan’s story is a classic example of how the system, oversight bodies, the Vancouver Police Department, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, the City of Vancouver, WorkSafeBC, Vancouver General Hospital and her colleagues in blue failed her at every turn. </p>
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<p>At this moment, <a href="https://www.straight.com/news/dana-larsen-vpd-exploitation-preceded-officers-suicide">countless others are living similar stories</a> — yet nothing is done, and those in leadership positions offer up very little by way of explanation. </p>
<p>In Canada, immediate changes to provincial <a href="https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96367_01">police acts</a> are required to include charges for any officers who witness or are aware of bullying or sexual harassment and fail to report. Canada’s <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/ccc/index.html">Criminal Code</a> also requires amendments that would make workplace violence, bullying and sexual harassment criminal offences. </p>
<p>In British Columbia, creating new powers for the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner to independently investigate and address complaints of bullying and sexual harassment outside the department chain of command is a logical next step. </p>
<p>Thinking bigger, perhaps it’s time to create provincial workplace conduct commissioners who have the power and authority to intervene on issues of bullying and sexual harassment. </p>
<p>Chan’s death is a stark reminder that workplace bullying and sexual harassment is deadly. Society and her employer failed her.</p>
<p>And until police forces deal with the multitude of systemic issues that encourage and cover up workplace violence, it’s difficult not to wonder who’s next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Walker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A pervasive history of bullying and sexual misconduct plagues law enforcement agencies and illustrates the failure of police forces to police themselves.Jason Walker, Associate Professor, Graduate Studies, Leadership and People Management, University Canada WestLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1959202022-12-22T03:35:53Z2022-12-22T03:35:53ZPolice gun violence is glorified on screen. But more armed and aggressive policing doesn’t actually make us safer<p>American popular culture dominates international markets. Among its most enduringly successful products are police dramas and movies. Many of these feature frequent and overwhelmingly positive depictions of police gun violence – a popular example, and a favourite at this time of year, is Die Hard.</p>
<p>These works are, of course, fictions. But popular fictional depictions of policing can have real-world consequences for police and communities.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13013-7_13">new book chapter</a>, published in November, argues that continued exposure to frequently repeated media tropes and narratives can affect public perceptions and expectations of policing.</p>
<p>In many parts of the world, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1805161115">policing is becoming more militarised</a>. Even in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/22/one-in-three-uk-officers-want-all-police-to-carry-guns-survey-finds">Great Britain</a> and <a href="https://www.policeassn.org.nz/news/we-need-general-arming#/">New Zealand</a>, two of the small number of jurisdictions where police do not routinely carry firearms, the appetite for armed policing has increased. This shift is justified by police in the name of ensuring safety.</p>
<p>But there’s <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-15-9526-4">no clear empirical evidence</a> that routinely armed police are less likely to be killed or injured in the line of duty, or that communities whose police routinely carry firearms are safer.</p>
<p>On the contrary: <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/vio.2019.0020">our research</a> indicates that a more armed and aggressive style of policing is associated with lower levels of safety.</p>
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<h2>Weapon product placement</h2>
<p>Most of us are familiar with product placement – the use of identifiable products and brands in media. When the products are relatively harmless, such as sunglasses or luggage, the practice is arguably relatively innocuous.</p>
<p>But there’s greater concern when the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10641734.1997.10505056">products are inherently more risky</a>, such as alcohol and tobacco, where their use can be harmful in the real world.</p>
<p>On-screen depictions of smoking have become steadily more restricted. </p>
<p>But less attention has been given to the sponsored use of recognisable branded firearms, particularly in United States’ police procedural dramas and movies. We call this “<a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-9526-4_7">weapon product placement</a>”.</p>
<p>Firearms company Glock has its weapons <a href="https://features.hollywoodreporter.com/the-gun-industrys-lucrative-relationship-with-hollywood/">prominently</a> <a href="https://productplacementblog.com/tag/glock/">featured</a> in many US TV dramas and movies, so much so that in 2010, a branding website gave Glock <a href="https://theconversation.com/hollywoods-love-of-guns-increases-the-risk-of-shootings-both-on-and-off-the-set-170489">a</a> “lifetime achievement award for product placement”.</p>
<p>Product placement can have a significant and long-lasting influence on behaviours, expectations, and popular understandings. Prior to the <a href="https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/topics/commercial-tobacco-control/master-settlement-agreement">restrictions</a> introduced during the 1990s, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pcn.12365">smoking on TV and in movies</a> was often synonymous with glamour, sophistication and success. US police-based dramas and movies now present firearms as essential for successful policing. </p>
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<h2>On-screen police gun violence is often revered</h2>
<p>A study of US TV programming between 2000 and 2018 found the rate of gun violence has <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33730080/">increased in popular TV dramas</a> – both in absolute terms, and as a proportion of the violence in these programs.</p>
<p>Depictions of police gun violence in US movies and TV dramas typically reflect the well-worn <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-20817967">US National Rifle Association mantra</a>: “the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun”. </p>
<p>Viewers of US police-focused dramas and movies are exposed to frequent and extreme gun violence by police officers. Much of it is presented as essential, positive and heroic.</p>
<p>But such valorisation risks eroding the public’s understanding of the crucial <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003047117-4/doctrine-minimum-force-policing-richard-evans-clare-farmer">doctrine of minimum-force policing</a>. This requires police officers to use the minimum force necessary to bring a situation under control.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/police-are-more-likely-to-kill-men-and-women-of-color-121158">Police are more likely to kill men and women of color</a>
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<p>On-screen glorification of police gun violence can create unrealistic and undesirable public expectations of how police go about their work, and how critical incidents should be resolved.</p>
<p>Police-focused movies and TV shows rarely include realistic depictions of the consequences of a shooting, such as wounded people screaming. There’s typically little consideration of the potential for police shooting the wrong person, or a <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13013-7_12">person who has a mental illness</a>, or a person assumed to be an offender because of <a href="https://mappingpoliceviolence.us">racial or other stereotyping</a>. </p>
<p>The human consequences of gun violence – pain, suffering, loss – are usually acknowledged only when one of the “good guys” is hurt or killed. The overall effect is to dehumanise those depicted as “bad guys” and to present their deaths as being of <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/blog/47894/the-normalization-of-fatal-police-shootings/">little consequence</a>.</p>
<h2>Excessive force</h2>
<p>Too often, this dangerous perception plays out in real-world policing.</p>
<p>In the US, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01846-z">excessive force is commonplace</a>, and <a href="https://mappingpoliceviolence.us/">roughly 1,000 people are killed each year</a> by police officers, many of them needlessly, and some unlawfully.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-13/breonna-taylor-boyfriend-kenneth-walker-2m-settlement-louisville/101767160">Breonna Taylor</a> and <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-minneapolis-police-officer-derek-chauvin-sentenced-more-20-years-prison-depriving">George Floyd</a> are recent high-profile examples.</p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13013-7_16">research</a> examining public perceptions of US police gun violence has found respondents typically support the use of deadly force.</p>
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<h2>Media priming</h2>
<p>Do these media tropes contribute to a belief that firearms are central to effective policing? And do they contribute to instances of police aggression in the real world?</p>
<p>There’s no simple causal link between the fictional presentation of police gun violence and specific actions in the real world. Indeed, the effects of <a href="https://fusion-journal.com/issue/007-fusion-mask-performance-performativity-and-communication/police-as-television-viewers-and-policing-practitioners/">screen depictions</a> of police gun violence are complex, nuanced and multidimensional.</p>
<p>However, the associations between <a href="https://oxfordre.com/criminology/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264079-e-33?TB_iframe=true&width=921.6&height=921.6">media priming and copycat behaviours</a> are well documented. That is, people can perceive what they view (such as how police behave in a TV drama) as being indicative of real life, and some may even act out what they see on screen.</p>
<p>Imitation is a key learning tool. We derive such learning from many sources, including family and friends, and also broader social and cultural influences.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-kumanjayi-walker-murder-case-echoes-a-long-history-of-police-violence-against-first-nations-people-179289">The Kumanjayi Walker murder case echoes a long history of police violence against First Nations people</a>
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<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13013-7_13">Our research</a> suggests that the prominent use of firearms by police within US TV and movies, and the particular ways in which their use is depicted, can affect public perceptions and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093854815604180?journalCode=cjbb">expectations of policing</a>. For example, it might lead to a belief that it’s appropriate for police, in almost any scenario, to arrive with their firearms drawn and ready to discharge. </p>
<p>Despite the publicity surrounding high-profile unlawful killings, one <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093854815604180?journalCode=cjbb">study</a> found respondents who watched US crime shows were more likely (than those who do not view such shows) to believe that force is only used by police officers when necessary.</p>
<p>Serving and potential future police officers are also viewers of TV and movies. Our contention is that the widespread and positive depictions of a firearms-focused, aggressive yet heroic style of fictional policing has the capacity to influence the way in which police officers themselves behave.</p>
<p>Ultimately, <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/vio.2019.0020">real-world evidence</a> confirms that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13642987.2020.1811694">minimum-force policing is safer</a> and often more effective than the style of policing so colourfully depicted in US police dramas and movies such as Die Hard.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Evidence confirms that minimum-force policing is safer and more effective than the style of policing so colourfully depicted in US crime shows and movies like Die Hard.Clare Farmer, Senior Lecturer, Criminology, Deakin UniversityRichard William Evans, Honorary Fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1964492022-12-15T06:34:40Z2022-12-15T06:34:40ZMany Kenyans have embraced vigilante cops – an ineffective police force is to blame<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501002/original/file-20221214-3721-hnc795.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Studies show that people belonging to marginalised groups are disproportionately affected by police brutality.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neil Thomas/Corbis via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In <a href="https://nairobinews.nation.africa/officer-filmed-killing-teenager/">March 2017</a>, Ahmed Rashid, a Kenyan police officer, shot and killed two unarmed teenagers accused of theft. They had surrendered and were lying on the ground in a Nairobi neighbourhood. Rashid executed them in full view of the public. This was caught on camera.</p>
<p>On <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/ahmed-rashid-kenya-s-untouchable-police-officer-falls-4032108">23 November 2022</a>, Kenya’s policing oversight body announced that Rashid would face murder charges over this incident. This drew mixed reactions. Some saw it as positive and long overdue; others opposed it strongly. Those who welcomed the news of Rashid’s impending prosecution find the support he received befuddling. </p>
<p>I have <a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article-abstract/121/482/61/6523040">studied</a> this phenomenon of popular support for brutal policing. I examined three-day protests held by residents of Githurai, a poor neighbourhood in Nairobi, against the arrest of constable Titus Musili, popularly known as Katitu, in September 2014. Katitu had been arrested for the murder of a young man, Kenneth Kimani. Before this arrest, he is said to have <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000140486/how-passion-for-work-is-landing-police-officers-in-the-dock">shot and killed</a> a criminal, Oscar Muchoki, Kimani’s elder brother. </p>
<p>I found that the support for brutal policing has its roots in the under-protection of communities by state police and the criminal justice system. When an officer that a community has come to depend on for safety is arrested by the very state that people feel has failed to protect them, they see it as interference in local security arrangements that they consider effective and efficient.</p>
<h2>Police failures</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/12/interview-how-policing-one-us-city-hurts-black-and-poor-communities">Studies</a> from around the world show that the urban poor are disproportionately affected by police brutality, so how could the residents of Githurai express public support for it? </p>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article-abstract/121/482/61/6523040">My study</a> included interviews with Githurai residents, from pastors to self-identified reformed armed robbers. Everyone I interviewed said the level of crime in the area was high. They were concerned about their safety and security. They complained that the police had failed to offer them protection. I use the term under-protection to refer to this failure of the police to provide a satisfactory level of protection to people who are or are likely to become victims of a crime. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-police-killings-point-to-systemic-rot-and-a-failed-justice-system-193468">Kenya: police killings point to systemic rot and a failed justice system</a>
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<p>In contexts marked by insecurity and under-protection, people find innovative ways of responding to crime. Some rely on private security and others, especially the poor, rely on community vigilantism. That is, they take security matters into their own hands.</p>
<p>Community vigilantism takes two main forms: mob justice, where rowdy crowds pursue and attack people accused of crimes; or vigilante groups. However, community vigilantism has its limits. People may not participate in mob justice because of a fear of possible legal repercussions. Additionally, vigilante groups can – and often are – <a href="https://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/publications/police/kenya_country_report_2006.pdf">brutally crushed</a> by the state, as happened in the early 2000s in Kenya. Thus, people in Githurai felt that they had no effective mechanisms for dealing with crime. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the people I spoke to directed their frustrations with insecurity towards the police. The police are the closest institution to them and they are understood to be responsible for dealing with crime. </p>
<p>In turn, the police blame the community for not providing them with information that would help them catch criminals, and the courts for releasing those they arrest and prosecute. Many criminal cases in Kenya fail because of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-nairobi-police-failures-let-people-get-away-with-murder-185447">police failure</a> to provide adequate evidence in court.</p>
<h2>The rise of ‘super cops’</h2>
<p>Insecurity persists as people blame each other, creating spaces for various interventions. These spaces come to be occupied by police officers who are willing to short circuit the system and deliver justice in the way it’s demanded on the streets: quickly and brutally. That is, they take a violent approach to policing that goes beyond the limits of their legal power. </p>
<p>These police officers, like Katitu and Rashid, come to be known as “super cops”. Essentially, they are police vigilantes and <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/dn2/investigating-patrick-shaw-kenya-s-most-dreaded-cop-853650">become popular</a> because they are seen as being willing to do what their colleagues and the police institution are unwilling to do to deal with crime. Additionally, since they remain a symbolic representation of the state, even when they operate outside the law, they don’t face the limitations that constrain community vigilantism. </p>
<p>The more such officers deploy violence against suspected criminals, the more their legitimacy grows as they are contrasted to their colleagues, the police institution and the entire criminal justice system. People come to believe that such officers are the solution to crime and insecurity. </p>
<p>Thus, the arrest of a police officer like Katitu triggers a moral panic, leading to expressions of support from the community. </p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>The arrest and prosecution of “police vigilantes” is aimed at delivering the promise of police accountability. However, for people like the residents of Githurai, it is seen as an affront to their “home-grown” solution for crime and insecurity – a solution they had to find because the state failed to offer adequate legal protection. </p>
<p>This is not to say that residents support all forms of police brutality, or brutality by all police officers. In fact, many residents of Githurai opposed the violence deployed by police officers against protesters. Those who support officers like Katitu and Rashid may be on the streets again to protest police brutality by other officers. </p>
<p>Therefore, the support expressed for officers like Katitu and Rashid should not be read as a blanket endorsement of police brutality and impunity, or as a rejection of police accountability. It is a signal that, in some of these cases of police excesses, the state and human rights advocates are failing to acknowledge residents’ lived realities.</p>
<p>The conversation about police accountability – and police reforms more broadly – must be had at the grassroots, and take the views and perspective of community members seriously. Even as the government and human rights practitioners advocate for police accountability, they must demonstrate that they care about the safety of communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196449/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study was supported by St. Antony’s College and the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford and IFRA-Nairobi.</span></em></p>When communities face security challenges and lack legal protection, they find innovative ways to respond.Kamau Wairuri, Lecturer in criminology, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1852622022-06-19T12:50:49Z2022-06-19T12:50:49ZThe Toronto police apology for its treatment of racialized people is meaningless without action<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469545/original/file-20220617-23-os3su.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2670&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chief James Ramer of the Toronto Police Service speaks during a press conference releasing the 2020 race-based data, at police headquarters in Toronto on June 15, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-toronto-police-apology-for-its-treatment-of-racialized-people-is-meaningless-without-action" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The newly released findings on race-based data of the Toronto Police Service offers another grim reminder of the realities of law enforcement in Canada. <a href="https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/22060566-98ccfdad-fe36-4ea5-a54c-d610a1c5a5a1/?embed=1">The 119-page document</a>, titled <em>Race & Identity Based Data Collection Strategy
Understanding: Use of Force & Strip Searches in 2020</em>, explores 7,114 strip searches and 949 incidents involving use of force. </p>
<p>The report finds that Black, Indigenous and racialized people were over-represented in “enforcement actions” by police. For example, although Black people made up 10 per cent of Toronto’s population, they comprised 22.6 per cent of law enforcement actions such as arrests, tickets and cautions. </p>
<p>There is a disproportionate impact of use of force on various minority groups — <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-police-race-based-data-use-force-strip-searches-1.6489151">Black, Latino, East/Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern people were reportedly over-represented by factors of 1.6 times, 1.5 times, 1.2 times and 1.2 times, respectively</a>. Minorities were also more likely to have weapons drawn against them by police.</p>
<p>These findings are familiar, yet deeply troubling. There have been years of <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/03/23/toronto-police-diversity-transgender-inclusion/">community consultations</a>, “<a href="https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/get-involved/community/policing-reform/">reforms</a>,” cultural sensitivity, anti-bias training and <a href="https://cacp.ca/index.html?asst_id=3012">diversity and inclusivity policies</a> and programs. But the problem of police using disproportional force has refused to go away. </p>
<p>These findings are not organizational accidents — they reflect conscious and unconscious decisions to use force when dealing with certain sectors of the population.</p>
<h2>Insults and apologies</h2>
<p>James Ramer, the interim Toronto Police chief, offered an apology on June 15: “As an organization, we have not done enough to ensure that every person in our city receives fair and unbiased policing.… As chief of police and on behalf of the police, I am sorry and I apologize unreservedly.” </p>
<p>However, activists and Toronto minority leaders are understandably frustrated. Beverly Bain, from the <a href="https://www.noprideinpolicing.ca/">No Pride in Policing Coalition</a>, refused to accept the chief’s apology: “<a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/06/16/newly-released-race-based-data-renews-calls-to-defund-toronto-police.html">What we have asked for you to do is stop. To stop brutalizing us. To stop killing us.</a>” Bain called Ramer’s apology a “public relations stunt,” which she considered “insulting” to those affected. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I5s_CYdbeyQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Scholar-activist Beverly Bain responds to Toronto Police Service chief’s apology.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The apology and its refusal demonstrate the growing gulf between the police and the communities they are sworn to protect. There is no need for them to apologize if they are going to continue to do the exact thing. Apologizing becomes an empty, performative act designed to save face and get though a news conference with limited damage.</p>
<h2>Police force</h2>
<p>My research team and I began studying police use of force, particularly using conducted energy weapons (CEWs) like Tasers, in the late 2000s. We found that men belonging to ethnic minority groups with a recent immigration history, who suffered from mental health problems or had a history of substance abuse, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2012.629514">were over-represented among those who died during or shortly after CEWs were used</a>.</p>
<p>In 2021, I served as the <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/university-of-alberta-associate-professor-assigned-as-special-adviser-for-albertas-police-act-review">special adviser to the Government of Alberta its Police Act Review</a>. I saw first-hand the frustrations of under-served and over-policed populations during public engagement sessions. Many citizens were tired of being maltreated by those paid to protect them.</p>
<p>Bain’s refusal to accept the chief’s apology also underscores the fact that accountability and responsibility are missing from the report. Who are the officers responsible for these incidents? What disciplinary actions did they face? Are the annual deaths, injuries and psychological damage an acceptable price some segments of society must prepare to bear perpetually? Is there no alternative to this approach to law enforcement? </p>
<p>It is one thing to acknowledge that the police service has a problem, it is another to ensure accountability to ease out perpetrators. Without that, the next report will be identical to the current one. For communities being targeted, that means more traumatized victims, families and friendship circles.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="people sitting in the street with a BLACK LIVES MATTER sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469558/original/file-20220617-23-h9kjbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thousands of people protest to defund the police in support of Black Lives Matter and all social injustice against racism in Toronto in June 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Policing issues</h2>
<p>American sociologist Harvey Sacks has argued that, as occupational specialists, police use the “<a href="http://tucnak.fsv.cuni.cz/%7Ehajek/ModerniSgTeorie/texty_seminar/Sacks.pdf">incongruity procedure</a>.” This means they focus on an assessment of who is in place or out of place. </p>
<p>Therefore, being “noticeable” or “visible” is construed as potentially deviant and worthy of attention. This has translated into treating the mere presence of Black or Indigenous people as a problem in and of itself, even when they are merely <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003084860-4/driving-black-paul-gilroy">driving</a>, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/lake-merritt-bbq-barbecue-video-oakland-racist-charcoal-east-bay-black-family-919355">barbecuing</a> or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/racial-profiling-report-1.4097377">shopping</a>, among other activities. </p>
<p>Being young is no panacea. </p>
<p>In Canada, children younger than seven years of age have been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/human-rights-tribunal-peel-police-black-girl-handcuffed-1.5865322">handcuffed and arrested for throwing tantrums at school</a>. As recently as November of last year, a Kitchener school <a href="https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2022/02/23/family-and-community-outraged-after-kitchener-school-calls-police-on-four-year-old.html">called police on a four-year-old Black girl</a>.</p>
<h2>Recruitment issues</h2>
<p>Beyond the police-citizen interactions contributing to these statistics, the persistence of this issue is a manifestation of generations of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12344">limited recruitment exercises</a> and an organizational and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611103257074">occupational culture</a> of impunity. </p>
<p>These issues have been the subject of several sociological studies. Research shows that officers who use excessive force make up less than 10 per cent of uniformed police service personnel, and yet the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/us/police-unions-minneapolis-kroll.html">protectionist ring</a> around incorrigible officers is a key problem that remains unaddressed.</p>
<p>Officer misconduct does serious damage to the efforts of the officers who do their jobs fairly and conscientiously.</p>
<p>When incidents of police misconduct are revealed, officers are defended or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ioan-florin-floria-disciplinary-sentencing-1.4685978">placed on paid leave</a>. The role of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017019863653">police unions</a>, employment contracts, <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=1810012">the famed wall of silence</a> and <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/sociology_masrp/7/">a hyper-masculinist organizational context</a> is well-documented.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a crowd of people protest against police brutality with a sign reading SAMMY'S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469555/original/file-20220617-23-xm2ilf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A crowd marches on Dundas Street in Toronto on July 29, 2013, where Sammy Yatim, 18, was shot nine times and killed by police.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michelle Siu</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From reports to recommendations</h2>
<p>The Toronto Police Service is a leader in producing reports and commissions of inquiries regarding officer misconduct. For example, Justice Frank Iacobucci submitted a report with <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/full-list-of-frank-iacobucci-s-recommendations-for-toronto-police-1.1929926">84 recommendations</a> in 2014 following <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/full-parole-for-toronto-cop-who-shot-teen-sammy-yatim-on-empty-streetcar">the killing of Sammy Yatim on a streetcar by a police officer</a>.</p>
<p>The recommendations include prioritizing the hiring of people with university degrees from disciplines like nursing and social work. Research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2015.04.007">officers who are overly reliant on force and are prone to deploying excessive force usually have a Grade 12 level education or less</a>.</p>
<p>This is common across scores of police jurisdictions. Such officers also tend to be male. There is a need to dismantle the high school diploma and old boys network core of the police, and hire more women, minorities and people with university degrees. </p>
<p>In addition to leadership committed to change and the elimination of unreasonable contract terms that make accountability improbable, these steps have the potential to improve the organizational culture of police forces.</p>
<p>The use of force report also shows that legislative changes do have an impact. The <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/17a15">2017 Ontario Anti-Racism Act</a> made the collection and release of the report possible. While this is no comfort to those affected, it is a central part of the sober reality regarding police use of force. </p>
<p>The public deserves better, given the share of the common purse spent on policing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Temitope Oriola received grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to study the school resource officer program and police use of force in Canada. He is member-at-large of the Alberta Police Misconduct Database Association. </span></em></p>The Toronto Police Service chief apologized to the public for the findings of an investigation that demonstrated the Toronto police’s excessive use of force on racialized residents.Temitope Oriola, Professor, Sociology, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1835142022-05-24T22:41:22Z2022-05-24T22:41:22ZPublic police are a greedy institution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465130/original/file-20220524-20-s2rnf4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C62%2C5955%2C3880&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A photo from a demonstration calling for police accountability and an end to police brutality in Vancouver, in May 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The ongoing <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/defund-the-police-canada-1.5605430">calls from communities to defund public police, that grew louder</a> following the police killings of <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/crime-law-and-justice/killing-of-george-floyd">George Floyd</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html">Breonna Taylor</a> in 2020, have raised several crucial questions. </p>
<p>As researchers of police work, we looked at some of the critical issues surrounding these calls in our new <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003167914">book on police, greed and dark money</a>. We examined the push by public police to accumulate more resources despite these calls and the rise of secretive or “dark money” in public policing.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305791.001.0001">criminologists have shown that social development leads to less street crime and healthier communities</a>, police departments seem unperturbed when social programs for housing, mental health and health care get cut to <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/defund-the-police-this-is-how-much-canadian-cities-spend-1.5018506">fund growing police budgets</a>. It is also <a href="https://prospect.org/justice/police-foundations-scrub-corporate-partners-board-members/">unclear whether a well-funded police institution leads to less transgression</a> or safer communities.</p>
<p>The greedy tendencies of police departments help illustrate the major problems with public police funding in Canada and the United States today. </p>
<h2>What is a greedy institution?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.asanet.org/about/governance-and-leadership/council/presidents/lewis-alfred-coser">American sociologist Lewis Coser</a> first spoke of greedy institutions in 1974. A greedy institution <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241608330092">demands loyalty and conformity to its culture</a>, worldview and politics. For example, the military is a greedy institution since it demands full loyalty to branches of the armed forces. </p>
<p>We are not the first scholars <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X8601300101">to apply the greedy institution concept</a> to public police and to suggest its officers must be loyal and not cross the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7392282/rcmp-directive-thin-blue-line/">“blue line.”</a> Our book extends this concept to show how the police institution seeks loyalty and conformity not just internally, it does so externally as well. </p>
<p>While the public police demands loyalty to its institution and conformity to its worldview, its challengers, within and outside the institution, tend to be shunned or neutralized.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465120/original/file-20220524-22-6pk0jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A new book, Police Funding, Dark Money and the Greedy Institution outline how public police departments demand loyalty and funds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Routledge)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The other meaning of greedy institution is literal. </p>
<p>Police greediness is evident in the quest for private sponsorship of police, especially through private police foundations. These foundations exemplify the attempt of police departments to extend their networks and social connections while accruing more financial resources.</p>
<p>Another example is paid duty policing, which we argue reveals the police managerial desire to control officers’ off-duty activities, while ensuring they receive significant extra money beyond their salaries.</p>
<p>In both instances, dark money is something that often involves secret or anonymous donations or income. The murky exchanges of dark money are mostly hidden to the public.</p>
<h2>Police foundations: a funnel for private capital</h2>
<p>Police foundations have emerged as entities that allow private corporations and individuals to donate to police. In our book, we show how foundations are <a href="https://policefoundations.org">being established at record pace</a>. In the U.S., there are hundreds of police foundations. In Canada, police foundations in Vancouver, Delta and Calgary, as well as a few others, have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azx055">funnelling corporate money to police for decades</a>.</p>
<p>Not many people know how prominent the police foundation has become, nor about the sources and levels of dark money it funnels into public police or the related conflicts of interest that arise. For example, Axon (makers of tasers and body-worn cameras) and other weapons companies <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10439463.2016.1251431?journalCode=gpas20">are major funders of police across North America</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of the Mobile Command Centre - a black van." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2156%2C1193&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465108/original/file-20220524-17-98ktl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Vancouver Police Department’s SWAT Mobile Command Centre costs $500,000 and is funded by the donors of Vancouver Police Foundation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5dzqnNFk0k">(Vancouver Police Department YouTube channel)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It usually works like this: Private entities give dark money to the foundation. <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/08/24/Private-Firms-Pour-Millions-Militarizing-Police/">Most foundation money ends up getting distributed to the police</a> rather than <a href="https://thebaffler.com/latest/giving-back-to-themselves-ramakrishna">local charities</a>. The police often spend those dollars on tactical units, surveillance devices and police dog teams, things often associated with <a href="https://theconversation.com/rise-of-the-swat-team-routine-police-work-in-canada-is-now-militarized-90073">militarization of the police</a>. </p>
<p>The foundation is the police institution’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2012.684019">shell corporation</a> through which other corporations and individuals <a href="https://readsludge.com/2020/06/19/corporate-backers-of-the-blue-how-corporations-bankroll-u-s-police-foundations/">can privately donate</a>. These donations continue despite already ample public police budgets and <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/defund-police-dominated-2020-what-happened-n1278506">even after wide public calls to defund public police</a>. </p>
<p>The foundation is also a communication vehicle for police, through which allies <a href="https://canadians.org/analysis/troubling-financial-connections-between-big-oil-and-police">such as powerful corporations</a> or folks from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1748895818794225">local companies and affluent individuals</a> are accrued. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2017.1341509">The foundation can advertise the police worldview</a>, garnering more loyalty and conformity. In this way, police foundations <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/do-cops-serve-the-rich-meet-the-nypds-private-piggy-bank">assemble allies and social and political capital</a> even amid loud calls to defund police. </p>
<h2>Paid detail policing as literal greed</h2>
<p>Paid duty or paid detail is another type of greediness. You may have noticed uniformed and armed police officers standing or strolling about at sporting events: chances are <a href="https://cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/3123/3436">those officers are working paid duty</a>. The sports team or corporation’s venue is paying the officer individually. </p>
<p>If you’ve ever seen police standing around at a construction site, movie shoot or retail outlet or outside a nightclub, chances are those uniformed officers are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23640987">receiving handsome compensation from a private funder</a>.</p>
<p>Paid duty also reflects a greedy institution. </p>
<p>Officers are <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/07/07/high-demand-for-paid-duty-officers-is-putting-a-strain-on-toronto-police-and-event-organizers.html">making big money from these paid duty postings</a>. They receive up to $100 an hour extra from working paid duty and — where not legally required through obscure bylaws — loyal funders are expected to provide “easy gigs” such as standing around at construction sites or sporting events. Yet police administrators often restrict paid duty gigs where cannabis, alcohol, gambling or nudity is involved and that are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0964663918810375">assumed to taint officers’ loyalty</a>. </p>
<p>In Winnipeg, police were <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6277732/winnipeg-police-special-duty-theft-december/">criticized for paid duty guarding of groceries</a> after they <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/winnipeg-superstore-police-racial-profiling-1.5391157">engaged in racial profiling of Indigenous customers</a>. </p>
<p>Paid duty is a problem for professional, accountable policing and its connection with <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/investigations/bs-md-ci-police-foundation-20160827-story.html">police corruption</a> including in Jersey City, Seattle and <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_314863d6-48ca-11ec-a62e-fb326a0266e7.html">New Orleans</a>. In Toronto, officers sometimes miss court dates and exceed limits on paid duty hours worked during lucrative jobs provided by external funders, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/03/04/paid_duty_policing_costs_taxpayers_millions_audit_report.html">as reported by the <em>Toronto Star</em></a>. </p>
<p>Paid duty is also a problem because some funders are public, including government departments that operate road maintenance and construction, utilities and hospitals. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/paid-duty-police-work-does-it-cost-city-too-much-1.2640944">The public already pays for police operations</a>, with huge proportions of government budgets, but then are <a href="https://nationalpost.com/posted-toronto/motion-to-eliminate-65hour-paid-duty-officers-at-work-sites-to-go-to-council">asked by the police institution to pay again for paid duty</a>.</p>
<p>Both private sponsorship through foundations and paid duty channel dark money into police departments. This all suggests that public police need greater scrutiny so that their greedy influence and reach can be reigned in and this institution can be re-envisioned through a lens of the public good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Walby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The greedy tendencies of police departments help illustrate why public police funding is a major problem today in Canada and the United States.Kevin Walby, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, University of WinnipegRandy K. Lippert, Professor of Criminology, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1804762022-04-14T12:13:59Z2022-04-14T12:13:59ZPolice presence on school grounds poses potential risks to kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457989/original/file-20220413-9289-n0v2py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5652%2C3779&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Evidence shows that students are being arrested for minor misbehavior. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/san-bernardino-city-unified-police-officer-clara-mendoza-news-photo/1236144646?adppopup=true">Watchara Phomicinda/MediaNews Group/The Press-Enterprise via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In fall 2020, I got an email from the <a href="https://phxschools.org/">Phoenix Elementary School District #1</a>, a K-8 school district, requesting feedback on whether to continue using school resource officers in seven of the district’s 14 elementary schools. </p>
<p>As a researcher who specializes in the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2T-HxYIAAAAJ&hl=en">policing and development of children and adolescents</a>, I responded by sharing a summary of the research on the subject of police in schools and offering my consultation. The school board president asked me to present research to the board on the effects school resource officers had on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.03.008">overall student well-being</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2016.1263797">school safety</a>
and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1300/J202v04n04_07">school climate</a>. </p>
<p>The school board was under pressure to make a decision about a divisive issue with a pending deadline. Parents and teachers were split on the use of school resource officers. Youth were a small but vocal contingent most often against school resource officers.</p>
<p>The school resource officer debate has many sides. This debate comes at a time when communities and police have increasingly strained relations due to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/27/this-city-led-us-police-shootings-last-year-after-viral-video-tensions-are-boiling-over/">police shootings</a> and other negative encounters. It also comes at a time when cities such as <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/school-resource-officer-sro-program-alexandria-city-public-resurface-during-upcoming-city-budget-talks-violent-fights-shooting-gun-proposal-house-bill-873">Alexandria, Virginia</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/school-districts-offer-different-futures-for-school-resource-officers/2801169/">Washington</a> and <a href="https://publicintegrity.org/education/criminalizing-kids/milwaukee-school-district-defunded-police-but-it-keeps-calling-them-back-in">Milwaukee</a> are wrestling with whether to have school resource officers or regular police officers on campus.</p>
<p>I believe my experience presenting to the school board in Phoenix offers some important lessons for other communities as they try to figure out if putting police on school premises is an effective way to keep students safe.</p>
<h2>A divided community</h2>
<p>At the hearing, community members gave emotional testimony. One person said the school resource officer program is a “positive bridge between students, the community and our local police force.” </p>
<p>A teachers’ union representative asked the board to take more time to research and allow more time for a parent survey, which had a low response rate due to the short time parents had to complete the survey. She was also concerned that school resource officers would lead to a disproportionate arrest rates for Black and Latino children. </p>
<p>A teacher spoke of how a school resource officer pepper-sprayed a crowd of students at her school and the next week handcuffed a sixth grade girl.</p>
<p>“Co-workers justified the response by saying ‘we lack the resources’ and ‘children need to be taught a lesson,’” the teacher said at the hearing. “I was told by the principal that the officer could act in this way in order to protect school property.”</p>
<p>The teacher expressed worry that the school district could not hold school resource officers accountable because the officers report to the City of Phoenix.</p>
<p>“How can you allow <a href="https://www.abc15.com/news/in-depth/phoenix-police-ranks-1-in-deadly-use-of-force-compared-to-other-major-departments">the most violent police force</a> to be in our schools?” the teacher asked in reference to the Phoenix police department, which is <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-investigation-city-phoenix-and-phoenix-police-department">under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for its use of deadly force</a>.</p>
<p>A parent said he had a hard time understanding how the school district could commit itself to Black Lives Matter and fighting racism, then weeks later consider bringing police into its schools.</p>
<p>“It isn’t wrong, it is betrayal,” the parent said.</p>
<p>Balancing these divergent perspectives, the superintendent wanted to make his decision based on what research shows. Timing was also an issue since a grant to fund school resource officers required a response within two weeks.</p>
<p>Here are some highlights based on the research I discussed during <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTgRZVBjyqU">my presentation</a> to the school board.</p>
<h2>Students are still developing</h2>
<p>Juveniles may not <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2013.849220">understand their rights</a>, which is important whenever they could potentially be taken into police custody.</p>
<p>Many children have also experienced trauma, such as being subjected to or having witnessed violence. These experiences can in turn <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/cdt007">affect their behavior at school</a>. Trauma is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/cdt007">most effectively treated</a> with social and emotional support, which police may not be equipped to provide. </p>
<h2>Schools counselors are scarce</h2>
<p>Despite <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113429">increased demand</a> for social and emotional support, schools are often short on staff to provide that support. In some states, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/cdy015">ratio of students to counselors is 1,000-to-1</a>, which is four times the ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association. With less counseling and support, students may be more likely to have negative encounters with police rather than positive ones with counselors. This is especially likely given that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2016.1181978">mounting evidence</a> shows students are being arrested for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2011.615754">minor misbehavior</a>.</p>
<h2>Black and Latino youth at greater risk for arrest</h2>
<p>A 2018 study of school resource officers found that Black and Latino students and students with disabilities – especially emotional behavioral disorders – were <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/705290/pdf">at increased risk</a> for referral to juvenile courts.</p>
<p>Increased police monitoring of young people leads to <a href="https://justicepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/School_Resource_Officers_2020.pdf">more school discipline referrals and arrests</a>, typically of Black and Latino youth.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457992/original/file-20220413-18-sqav77.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An Orlando city police officer handcuffs a young Black child." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457992/original/file-20220413-18-sqav77.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457992/original/file-20220413-18-sqav77.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457992/original/file-20220413-18-sqav77.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457992/original/file-20220413-18-sqav77.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457992/original/file-20220413-18-sqav77.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457992/original/file-20220413-18-sqav77.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457992/original/file-20220413-18-sqav77.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The increased monitoring of ‘at-risk’ youth usually leads to more Black and Latino children getting arrested.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Child-Arrested-Florida/9b3990e730b542fdae409707fad16c0b/1/0">Orlando Police Department/Orlando Sentinel via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Difficult decisions</h2>
<p>My recommendation was to take more time to consider the issue and the needs of the community. I had concerns that everyone did not have knowledge of the effects of school resource officers on school safety, student well-being and arrest rates.</p>
<p>The superintendent asked me directly what I would do if pressed to make a decision right now. I told the board I thought the potential for harm outweighed the potential for good. Ultimately, the school board voted unanimously not to keep school resource officers in district schools for the next school year.</p>
<h2>A national problem</h2>
<p>Phoenix’s elementary schools were not the only ones in or near the city struggling with whether to have law enforcement on school grounds. In 2020, <a href="https://coppercourier.com/story/this-school-district-finally-decided-to-not-have-sros-on-campus/">Phoenix Union High School</a> voted to remove school resource officers from campus. Nearby Tempe Union High School also voted in 2021 to <a href="https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/tempe-union-school-board-to-decide-on-keeping-school-resource-officers-on-campus">phase out school resource officers</a> by August 2022.</p>
<p>School board decisions about school safety are difficult. Parents, teachers and students are often <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43030548">at odds</a> about what makes a school safe and welcoming. As school communities continue to wrestle with whether to have police on school grounds, I believe the most important thing to consider is not what people believe, but what the evidence shows.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=weekly&source=inline-weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth K. Anthony 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>School districts across the nation are wrestling with whether to have police officers on school grounds.Elizabeth K. Anthony, Associate Professor of Social Work, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1691332021-10-05T12:25:01Z2021-10-05T12:25:01ZPolice killings of civilians in the US have been undercounted by more than half in official statistics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424296/original/file-20211002-45945-1mk8f2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C4%2C3263%2C2177&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The names of the dead.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/george-flyods-headstone-sits-front-and-center-at-the-say-news-photo/1232363923?adppopup=true">Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>The number of people killed by police officers in the U.S. has been massively underreported in official statistics over the past four decades, with an additional 17,000 deaths over that period, according to our new research. </p>
<p>Our study, which was published on Oct. 2, 2021, in The Lancet, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01609-3">compared statistics</a> from the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/index.htm">National Vital Statistics System</a>, a federal database that looks at death certificates, with data from three nongovernmental organizations that more accurately track police violence: <a href="https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/">Mapping Police Violence</a>, <a href="https://fatalencounters.org/">Fatal Encounters</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database">The Counted</a>.</p>
<p>We found more than 30,000 deaths from police violence between 1980 and 2018. During that time, the National Vital Statistics System underreported fatal police violence by 55.5%.</p>
<p>The figures confirm that fatal police violence in the United States <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821204116">disproportionately affects</a> Black, Indigenous and Hispanic people compared with white Americans. Black Americans were 3.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans over the study period. Indigenous and Hispanic Americans were nearly twice as likely to be killed at the hands of law enforcement as white Americans.</p>
<p>Since 1980, the racial disparities in rates of fatal police violence have remained largely unchanged or worsened in some cases, according to our figures.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Police violence, like all violence, can be prevented.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/opinions/systemic-racism-police-evidence-criminal-justice-system/">systemic racism that drives police violence</a> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02145-0">a threat to public health</a>. We hope that our estimates of the underreporting of police violence will spur improvements to the accurate reporting of police violence in the death investigation system.</p>
<p>This study was one of the longest of its kind and covers all 50 states by race and ethnicity. As such, we also hope the comprehensive estimates as well as the existing nongovernmental data can be used for targeted, meaningful changes to policing and public safety that will prevent loss of life by highlighting areas of concern.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>This paper does not calculate or address <a href="https://thecrimereport.org/2021/01/06/data-lacking-on-non-fatal-shootings-by-police/">non-fatal injuries</a> attributed to police violence, police officers killed by civilians, police violence in overseas U.S. territories like Puerto Rico, or residents who may have been harmed by military police in the United States or abroad.</p>
<p>Because this study relied on death certificates, which only allow for a binary designation of sex, we were unable to estimate fatal police violence against non-cisgender people, potentially masking the disproportionately high rates of <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/6/23/21295432/police-black-trans-people-violence">violence against trans people</a>, particularly Black trans people. </p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Next, our research group is working on a publication on global fatal violence to increase the body of literature on violence as a public health issue.</p>
<p>We also will continue to review police violence estimates produced by the <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/gbd/2019">Global Burden of Disease</a> study for all locations to improve reporting on this cause of death.</p>
<p>Finally, we will work to improve cause of death data quality to make the best information available for public health interventions.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. These sources of funding can be found in the research article</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. These sources of funding can be found in the research article. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The sources of funding can also be found in the published research article.</span></em></p>Research found that police officers killed more than 30,000 people from 1980 to 2018 – 17,000 more than official federal data suggests.Moshen Naghavi, Professor of Health Metric Science at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of WashingtonEve Wool, Research Manager at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of WashingtonFablina Sharara, Researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1560842021-08-05T12:48:12Z2021-08-05T12:48:12ZTracking anniversaries of Black deaths isn’t memorializing victims – it’s objectifying them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407057/original/file-20210617-23-axhj05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=245%2C122%2C5095%2C3202&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A mural depicting Breonna Taylor is seen being painted at Chambers Park on July 5, 2020 in Annapolis, Maryland. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-an-aerial-view-from-a-drone-a-large-scale-ground-mural-news-photo/1254442984?adppopup=true">Patrick Smith/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>National <a href="https://nationaldaycalendar.com/march-13-2020-national-good-samaritan-day-national-blame-someone-else-day-national-k9-veterans-day-national-jewel-day-national-open-an-umbrella-indoors-day/">Good Samaritan Day</a> fell on March 13 and commemorates those who have helped a person in need. This year, March 13 also marked one year since <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html">Louisville police officers killed Breonna Taylor</a> during a botched raid on her apartment. </p>
<p>And in 2020 former Minneapolis police officer <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/trial-over-killing-of-george-floyd/2021/04/20/987777911/court-says-jury-has-reached-verdict-in-derek-chauvins-murder-trial">Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd</a> on Memorial Day, when we honor Americans who died while serving in the U.S. military. </p>
<p>As an aspiring opinion writer, I’ve been taught to track such anniversaries because they are news pegs, an event that can be used as a reason to do a story that capitalizes on public attention. </p>
<p>But as a <a href="https://www.geneseo.edu/communication/lee-pierce">scholar of rhetoric and race</a>, I have a competing perspective. </p>
<p>If the way people write and speak about the world creates a sense of good and bad, right and wrong, then the concept of tracking these tragedies is already complicit with what <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/dark-matters">the writer and educator Simone Brown calls</a> “the surveillance of Blackness” – the disproportionate monitoring and punishing of Black Americans. </p>
<p>Those stories routinize systemic violence through their repetition. It’s what the political philosopher Hannah Arendt <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1963/02/16/eichmann-in-jerusalem-i">called</a> “the banality of evil.”</p>
<h2>Systemic violence made ordinary</h2>
<p>If someone is writing about the best gifts for Mother’s Day, I see no problem with tracking news pegs.</p>
<p>But if they’re writing about the deaths of people at the hands of police, perhaps a different approach is needed.</p>
<p>The pressure is understandable for writers to capitalize on the public attention that swells on the anniversaries of the deaths of Taylor, Floyd and hundreds of others. </p>
<p>One alternative to the news hook approach is just to take the word “new” more seriously. Instead of news hooks, writers could aim for what rapper Kid Cudi calls “dat new new,” something fresh and unanticipated. In the wake of Taylor’s killing, for example, a pro-gun control opinion piece might be reinvented as the idea that <a href="https://www.essence.com/op-ed/black-women-bearing-arms/">gun reform is a double-edged sword for Black America</a>.</p>
<h2>‘Find a dock’</h2>
<p>I admit to perpetuating the news hook, not only in my own attempts at public writing but in my teaching as well. </p>
<p>I was just following the advice that I had received. </p>
<p>“Your story is a ship,” I’ve been told, “and news pegs are potential ports for that ship. Keep sailing your ship until you find a dock.” Translation: Keep pegging your story to an anniversary until you get published. </p>
<p>The ship metaphor operates on the assumption that an idea precedes the occasion that it describes and, therefore, that ideas exist apart from the concrete events that they are supposed to explain.</p>
<p>By that logic, the idea of police reform as a story focus exists before and outside of Taylor’s death. Taylor is the hook, just another example of why police reform is important.</p>
<p>When the specific “hook” that is Taylor’s death doesn’t have a chance to prompt a story on its own, Taylor is objectified on the anniversary of her death just as she was on the day of her death. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407061/original/file-20210617-14-1i2z3gm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Marchers walk by a mural of George Floyd." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407061/original/file-20210617-14-1i2z3gm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407061/original/file-20210617-14-1i2z3gm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407061/original/file-20210617-14-1i2z3gm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407061/original/file-20210617-14-1i2z3gm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407061/original/file-20210617-14-1i2z3gm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407061/original/file-20210617-14-1i2z3gm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407061/original/file-20210617-14-1i2z3gm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marchers walk past a mural of George Floyd painted on a wall along Colfax Avenue on June 7, 2020, in Denver, Colorado.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/marchers-walk-by-a-mural-of-george-floyd-painted-on-a-wall-news-photo/1248065134?adppopup=true">Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Imagining otherwise</h2>
<p>The language of ships also calls to mind the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Middle-Passage-slave-trade">Middle Passage</a>, the leg of the Atlantic voyage through which ships trafficked stolen Africans for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/black-history-american-democracy.html">enslavement</a> in America. During the trip, countless slaves were thrown overboard into the ship’s wake or chose to jump to escape torture. </p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/in-the-wake">In the Wake: On Blackness and Being</a>,” literary scholar Christina Sharpe uses the slave ship as a metaphor for the present-day condition that is being Black in America. </p>
<p>Sharpe describes that condition as “wake work.” Wake work means looking backward to keep vigil for the death lying in the wake and looking forward to the ship’s destination with hope and despair. Hope because the ship might be headed somewhere better, and despair because it almost certainly is not. </p>
<p>Wake work, Sharpe writes, is not only about the hard emotional, physical and mental work of vigilantly tracking and defending the dead. It is also about the equally exhausting work of imagining “otherwise from what we know now in the wake of slavery.” </p>
<p>Imagining otherwise is that new new. It’s a different interpretation about what tragedy means. </p>
<p>So what does imagining otherwise look like in the journalistic context? </p>
<p>There are stories that refused to use a news peg – that produced a new idea about the tragedies befalling Black Americans.</p>
<p>Consider a <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/5/14/1384734/-If-Trayvon-Martin-had-lived-Meet-Monroe-Bird-Shot-paralyzed-by-his-own-neighborhood-security">2015 story about Monroe Bird</a>, a Black man shot in Oklahoma by a white security guard, Ricky Stone, while sitting in a car with a white woman. </p>
<p>To justify the shooting, Stone claimed that Bird had a gun and was having sex in public, and that Bird tried to run him over with his car. No evidence was found to support those claims.</p>
<p>Bird did not become a news peg because he did not die during the incident. But life as Bird knew it did end. <a href="https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/monroe-bird-was-shot-by-a-security-guard-then-he-died-in-silence/">He was paralyzed from the waist down</a> and racked with <a href="https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/20/illegal-activity-fine-print-leaves-some-insured-but-uncovered/">medical debt</a> that health insurance didn’t cover. </p>
<p>A few months later, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/7/8/1400310/-The-devastating-death-of-Monroe-Bird-is-an-indictment-on-all-of-America">Bird died</a> from a blood clot because he was not being moved frequently enough, a simple preventative measure for paralyzed patients that Bird didn’t have access to.</p>
<p>The title of a news report on Bird? “<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/5/14/1384734/-If-Trayvon-Martin-had-lived-Meet-Monroe-Bird-Shot-paralyzed-by-his-own-neighborhood-security">If Trayvon Martin had lived: Meet Monroe Bird</a>.”</p>
<p>The story is one way to imagine otherwise. </p>
<p>The story took the familiar idea of Black Americans who have survived anti-Black violence and turned it on its head. The story shows that to not die is not to live. Then that idea morphs into a different idea: health care inequality.</p>
<p>Another version of imagining otherwise appeared in a self-published <a href="https://www.mninjustice.org/op-ed">op-ed column</a> written by an anonymous Minneapolis public defender. In the piece, the writer considers what would have happened to George Floyd if he had lived. </p>
<p>The answer is an imagined litany of underfunded and failed legal battles, the continued authorization of excessive force in police training manuals and another rotation of the cycle of violence in the American criminal justice system. </p>
<p>Tracking anniversaries is not wake work, it is not keeping vigilant watch, unless every time the next anniversary arrives it becomes an occasion to not only comment on the past but attempt to imagine otherwise, even if that otherwise is still without a happy ending.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand key political developments, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s politics newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee M. Pierce is a volunteer for various liberal and leftist organizations and political candidates.</span></em></p>When there is nothing new to say, pegging news stories to the anniversaries of the deaths of Black Americans objectifies the victims and helps make violence ordinary.Lee M. Pierce, Assistant Professor Rhetoric and Communication, State University of New York, College at GeneseoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1650392021-07-27T13:17:03Z2021-07-27T13:17:03ZHomeless encampment violence in Toronto betrays any real hope for police reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413173/original/file-20210726-13-n3qvcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3589%2C2398&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police remove encampment supporters as they clear Lamport Stadium Park encampment in Toronto on July 21, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dozens of <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8042568/alexandra-park-toronto-homeless-encampment/">police officers and city officials descended on Alexandra Park</a> in Toronto recently to destroy the shelters of close to 20 homeless people. Video and photo evidence <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshMatlow/status/1418299796394217474?s=20">shows police beating, shoving</a> and pepper-spraying encampment supporters. Legal observers and <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/07/20/longtime-photojournalist-arrested-at-alexandra-park-encampment-clearing.html">journalists were arrested</a>. </p>
<p>The next day, police <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8046320/toronto-homeless-encampment-clearing-lamport-stadium/">took their demolition show to Lamport Stadium Park</a> and guarded city bulldozers while they mowed shelters to the ground. Both of these operations saw an increase in the violence from last month when <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/06/22/homeless-encampment-trinity-bellwoods-park/">Trinity Bellwoods Park</a> was raided for the same destructive purpose. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.toronto.ca/news/city-of-toronto-restoring-alexandra-park-while-continuing-to-help-people-experiencing-homelessness/">Mayor John Tory and the Toronto Police insist</a> that these operations are a way to “ensure the safety of encampment occupants” and the general public. </p>
<p>Neither is true. </p>
<p>These police raids terrorized already traumatized people, and have taken away the last space they have to survive. Most of the displaced residents remain unhoused and are likely to be exposed to even more dangerous circumstances away from the support that the encampments offered. </p>
<p>The widespread criticism of these evictions focus on the <a href="https://tdin.ca/ann_documents/Encampments%20to%20Homes%20-%20A%20Path%20Forward.pdf">human rights breaches</a> that have occurred. But what is equally troubling is that <a href="https://tpsb.ca/mmedia/news-release-archive/listid-2/mailid-226-missing-persons-review-statement">promises made by the police</a> to be more accountable to marginalized communities have been exposed as a fraud.</p>
<p>More than a year after the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/us/george-floyd-protests-police-reform.html">death of George Floyd in the United States and historic protests for police reform</a>, it’s clear that the Toronto Police are insincere about changing how they treat historically over-policed and criminalized communities. </p>
<h2>Repairing the damaged trust</h2>
<p>Just three months ago, both the Toronto police chief and mayor accepted the recommendations of <em><a href="https://www.missingpersonsreview.ca/report-missing-and-missed">Missing and Missed: Report of The Independent Civilian Review into Missing Person Investigations</a></em>. The report came after an inquiry that was established in response to criticism that the police did not take missing persons reports seriously about six of the eight gay and bisexual people who were murdered by <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/bruce-mcarthur.html">serial killer Bruce McArthur between 2010 and 2017</a>. </p>
<p>In her meticulous analysis, Justice Gloria J. Epstein, an independent reviewer of the report, found that while some dedicated officers did excellent work, the overall investigation had “serious flaws” and was marred by “systematic discrimination.” The report made clear that, while those murdered were part of the LGBTQ2S+ community, “these victims were marginalized and vulnerable in a variety of ways.” </p>
<p>A major theme of <a href="https://8e5a70b5-92aa-40ae-a0bd-e885453ee64c.filesusr.com/ugd/a94b60_65605a078ad543ca936f8daa67ea4772.pdf?index=true">the 151 inquiry recommendations</a> is the absolute necessity of repairing the badly damaged trust between the Toronto Police and marginalized communities, which include racialized and Indigenous people, those experiencing homelessness and people with mental health issues. </p>
<p>In other words, repairing trust with the very people who are most likely to have been forced to take shelter in homeless encampments in Toronto parks in order to survive the pandemic. Those who <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/blog/home-where-heart-homeless-encampments-temporary-solution-housing-crisis">take refuge in encampments</a> tend to be the most vulnerable and victimized of people experiencing homelessness, and are more likely to have <a href="https://www.cmaj.ca/content/192/26/E716">complex needs</a> that are poorly served by the shelter system. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Police arrest people in a homeless encampment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413176/original/file-20210726-23-157tnyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toronto police make arrests as they clear the Lamport Stadium Park encampment in Toronto in July 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In their response three months ago, Tory and Police Chief James Ramer vowed to listen to and build a relationship with the very same people who are now being beaten and pepper-sprayed, and having their shelters bulldozed. </p>
<p>Tory <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnTory/status/1382062152886915075/photo/1">pledged that he was</a> “personally committed” to renewing a relationship with vulnerable communities, including homeless people. He stated, “the safety of all Toronto residents — every single resident in every community — is my number one priority. Maintaining the trust of all of our communities is extremely important to the ongoing success of the Toronto Police Service.” </p>
<p>And Ramer <a href="https://tpsb.ca/mmedia/news-release-archive/listid-2/mailid-226-missing-persons-review-statement">apologized and stated</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We understand, however, that saying ‘sorry’ only means something if it is followed by demonstrated and sustained action, and a commitment to the marginalized and vulnerable communities most impacted by the issues outlined in this report. We vow to listen to you, and to act.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A profound betrayal</h2>
<p>In her report, Epstein was hopeful that that there was a “genuine commitment” to build a “new relationship between the service and marginalized and vulnerable communities.” </p>
<p>The violence used to forcibly evict homeless park users over the past few weeks not only suggests otherwise, but amounts to a profound betrayal of public trust. </p>
<p>The vow of the mayor and police chief to “listen” and “act” in the interests of marginalized people now read as a cynical public relations ploy. </p>
<p>How many “missing persons” did the police create when residents fled the police violence and destruction of their shelters? As an institution the police do not seem capable of caring about vulnerable people. And they are now making their disdain clear for reforms that would make them more accountable. </p>
<p>If the police can so casually ignore a central recommendation resulting from how they failed marginalized people who were targeted by a serial killer, how can we now possibly expect any type of calls for democratic reform to be treated seriously? </p>
<p><em>Elliot Fonarev, Cheryl Cheung, Deanna Pikkov and Ferdouse Asefi are research assistants who provided assistance with this piece.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165039/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joe Hermer receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the University of Toronto COVID-19 Action Fund. He advises not-for-profit groups on policing issues. </span></em></p>A year after historic protests for police reform, it’s clear that the Toronto Police aren’t sincere about changing how they treat historically over-policed and criminalized communities.Joe Hermer, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1634572021-06-29T14:56:32Z2021-06-29T14:56:32ZDalian Atkinson: manslaughter conviction for PC but ‘justice’ for police violence remains elusive<p>On June 23, PC Benjamin Monk was found guilty of the 2016 manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson, a former professional footballer with an international career spanning 16 years, at Birmingham Crown Court. Monk, who has been <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-57603091">sentenced to eight years</a>, is the first police officer since 1986 to be found guilty of murder or manslaughter after a death in custody or following police contact in England and Wales. </p>
<p>It is possible, in theory, that a successful prosecution like this one might empower the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to authorise charges in more cases like this one. However, the prosecution of police or other state agents following a death in custody or police contact remain vanishingly rare. </p>
<p>Many activists are sceptical about the capacity of the state to hold itself accountable in the aftermath of police violence, and Monk’s conviction may not be the precedent it seems.</p>
<p>Since 1990 there have been <a href="https://www.inquest.org.uk/deaths-in-police-custody">1,787 deaths</a> recorded in England and Wales of persons in custody or following police contact. Over that 31-year period, the charity INQUEST found that in only <a href="https://www.inquest.org.uk/dalian-atkinson-cps">ten instances</a> were murder or manslaughter charges brought against police officers. None of these cases resulted in conviction.</p>
<p>The jury in Birmingham acquitted Monk of the murder of Atkinson, before finding him guilty of manslaughter. Without being in the jury room, it’s difficult to assess their reading of the evidence of the case. But from the verdict, we can deduce that the jury must have concluded that Monk didn’t have the intention to kill or cause serious bodily harm sufficient for a murder conviction. At the same time, they clearly rejected the claim central to Monk’s case, that he had acted in self-defence. </p>
<p>Faced with what he <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-57331711">testfied</a> was an “erratic” and “threatening” Atkinson, Monk discharged his Taser three times – once for 33 seconds, more than six times the recommended length of time the Taser should be used. As Atkinson laid unconscious on the ground, Monk kicked him at least two times in the head, hard enough to leave an imprint of his shoelaces on his skin. Atkinson died after going into cardiac arrest on the way to hospital. </p>
<p>Monk’s conviction for Atkinson’s manslaughter comes at an important juncture in the history of policing in the UK. This history is one marked by criticism of and protest against the overpolicing and disproportionate application of state force against black and brown people. </p>
<p>Disproportionate force is applied to racialised and minority communities at every point in the criminal justice system. This is true of the police use of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2020">stop and search powers</a>, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/643001/lammy-review-final-report.pdf">arrest and prosecution rates</a>, <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/ethnicity-and-the-criminal-justice-system-what-does-recent-data-say/">conviction and imprisonment</a>, and disproportionate rates of <a href="https://irr.org.uk/app/uploads/2015/03/Dying_for_Justice_web.pdf">deaths in custody</a> or following police contact. </p>
<p>Atkinson’s partner, Karen Wright, has discussed how Atkinson was “<a href="https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/dalian-atkinson-hounded-police-claims-20912560">hounded</a>” by police who racially profiled him throughout his life. </p>
<p>A global wave of Black Lives Matter protests over the summer of 2016 and in 2020 saw thousands of young people on the street throughout the UK protesting racist policing and police violence. An <a href="https://netpol.org/black-lives-matter/">investigation</a> of the policing of those protests found that police disproportionately used excessive force at black-led protests, and against black protesters in particular. </p>
<h2>Racist language and ‘self-defence’</h2>
<p>Testifying in his own defence, I was struck by the language Monk used to describe Atkinson prior to causing his death. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-57331711">Monk described</a> his fear being “through the roof” when he was faced with an “erratic, unpredictable, terrifying … very, very scary” Atkinson, who was in the throes of a mental health crisis when Monk and a colleague were called out to an incident in August 2016. The jury <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/24/dalian-atkinson-jury-discharged-failing-reach-verdict-pc">failed to reach a verdict</a> on assault charges against the colleague. </p>
<p>In Monk’s words, Atkinson’s face was “one of utter rage … It was surreal, he’d got the biggest wildest eyes I’d ever seen, they were protruding from his head.” <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-57189805">Monk gave evidence</a> that Atkinson as “quite simply huge”. “The bloke was towering above me, absolutely towering. His shoulders literally filled the frame of the door.” </p>
<p>A common way disproportionate and deadly violence against black men has been justified and excused throughout history is by invoking exactly these tropes that Monk relies on in his defence: that black men are enraged, hulking, out of control, inhuman. <a href="https://irr.org.uk/app/uploads/2015/03/Dying_for_Justice_web.pdf">Research</a> into the disproportionate rate of deaths in custody and following police contact of black and brown people shows that these types of stereotypes are frequently used to justify the use of force, including of weaponry and untested or sanctioned restraint techniques. </p>
<h2>Policing and mental health</h2>
<p>Atkinson’s case again brings to the fore activist calls to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/02/britain-defund-the-police-black-lives-matter">defund the police</a> in favour of better funding for mental health support, youth centres, social care and housing and domestic violence services. </p>
<p>Police watchdog the <a href="https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk">Independent Office for Police Conduct</a> recently launched yet another inquiry into a death in custody, this time of 30-year-old <a href="https://www.thenational.wales/news/19400469.leighton-jones-family-want-answers-pentwyn-death/">Leighton Jones</a> in Wales, who died after being restrained by police during a mental health crisis. Police are not trained to deal with or provide the care necessary for people who need mental health support, and medical neglect is another <a href="https://www.inquest.org.uk/prison-report-2020">frequent cause</a> of death for black and brown people who come into contact with the police or who are in prison.</p>
<p>Atkinson’s family had to wait five years for this conviction. There are literally hundreds of <a href="https://www.inquest.org.uk/family-campaigns">other families</a>, like those of <a href="https://www.4frontproject.org/mark-duggan">Mark Duggan</a>, <a href="https://justice4paps.wordpress.com">Paps Ullah</a>, <a href="https://azellerodneycampaignforjustice.wordpress.com">Azelle Rodney</a> and <a href="http://www.seanriggjusticeandchange.com">Sean Rigg</a> who have never seen any kind of criminal justice accountability for the deaths of their loved ones after contact with police. </p>
<p>Unfortunately there will be more. We can hope and continue to work together, however, for a change in policing and justice for victims, their families and society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163457/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yvette Russell 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 conviction of police officer Benjamin Monk for the manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson is a very rare case.Yvette Russell, Senior Lecturer in Law and Feminist Theory, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596242021-05-24T21:41:52Z2021-05-24T21:41:52ZPain of police killings ripples outward to traumatize Black people and communities across US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506899/original/file-20230127-25-wnm1jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C6000%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">RowVaughn Wells, in gray jacket, mother of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers, is with friends and family members at the conclusion of a candlelight vigil for Tyre, in Memphis, Tenn., on Jan. 26, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MemphisPoliceForceInvestigation/390cc9fdc03b4f708c2d89f7543bd8b6/photo">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/memphis-police-set-release-video-showing-fatal-beating-tyre-nichols-rcna67710">video goes public</a> of Black police officers in Memphis beating Tyre Nichols to death, it is a stark reminder of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. That set up the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/largest-marches-us-history-2017-1">largest protests in U.S. history</a> and a national reckoning with racism.</p>
<p>But beyond any protests, every police killing – indeed, every violent act by police toward civilians – can have painful and widespread consequences.</p>
<p>Each year, U.S. police kill about 1,000 people, which equals <a href="https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/">approximately 8% of all</a> <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304559">homicides for adult men</a>. This risk is greater for Black men, who are <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/116/34/16793">about 2.5 times more likely to be killed by the police than white men</a>. </p>
<p>The effects of these killings ripple from the individual victim to their families and local communities as they cope with the permanence of injury, death and loss. <a href="https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2019/01/29/law-enforcement-violence">People victimized by the police</a> have demonstrated higher-than-usual rates of depression, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6998899/">psychological distress</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5610123/">even suicide risk</a>. </p>
<p>But the pain doesn’t stop there. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="George Floyd's headstone sits front and center in an orderly faux cemetery with other white headstones set up in grass" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402189/original/file-20210521-17-177335d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each headstone in Minneapollis’ ‘Say Their Names’ cemetery represents a Black American killed by police – deaths that create a ripple effect of pain felt in Black communities nationwide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/george-flyods-headstone-sits-front-and-center-at-the-say-news-photo/1232363944?adppopup=true">Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Public health research I am conducting with <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/bulr100&div=30&id=&page=">my research team at the University of California, Berkeley</a> finds that the harm from police killings of Black people goes beyond the people and places directly involved in these incidents to affect Black Americans far from the site of the killing, who may have never met the victim. </p>
<p>Evidence shows that many Black Americans across the U.S. experience police killings of other Black people as <a href="https://doi.apa.org/fulltext/2019-01033-001.htm">traumatic events</a>, and that this trauma diminishes the ability of Black communities to thrive.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402364/original/file-20210524-17-1k617a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protesters carry a cardboard coffin down a city street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402364/original/file-20210524-17-1k617a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402364/original/file-20210524-17-1k617a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402364/original/file-20210524-17-1k617a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402364/original/file-20210524-17-1k617a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402364/original/file-20210524-17-1k617a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402364/original/file-20210524-17-1k617a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402364/original/file-20210524-17-1k617a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protest march marking the anniversary of George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis, Minn., May 23, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/demonstrators-carry-a-cardboard-coffin-as-they-march-during-news-photo/1233078117?adppopup=true">Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ripple effect</h2>
<p>One of the key studies illustrating this ripple effect of police killings on the mental health of Black Americans was <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31130-9/fulltext">published in the medical journal The Lancet in 2018</a>.</p>
<p>Boston University researchers surveyed 103,710 people in the U.S. to measure the relationship between police killings and Americans’ mental health. </p>
<p>Among survey respondents, each police-related fatality of an unarmed Black person in the state where they lived was associated with an increase in the number of days when <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31130-9/fulltext">they reported poor mental health</a> relating to stress, depression or emotional issues.</p>
<p>The authors estimated that the cumulative impact of U.S. police killings of unarmed Blacks could add up to 55 million additional poor mental health days for the <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219">U.S.’s 44 million Black people</a>. </p>
<p>Police killings of armed Black people did not elicit the same distress among Black Americans. And white Americans suffered no additional poor mental health days, as defined by the researchers, after exposure to police killings – no matter the circumstances or race of the victim. </p>
<p>The authors speculated that historical and institutional patterns of systematic, targeted violence against Black people – combined with a general lack of legal consequences when police officers commit such crimes – make the killings of unarmed Blacks particularly stressful for Black Americans.</p>
<p>“Racism, like trauma, can be experienced vicariously,” they concluded.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620307802?via%3Dihub">A 2021 study</a> substantiates the Boston University’s mental health findings. </p>
<p>Scouring emergency department admission records in 75 counties in five U.S. states, researchers found that within three months following a police killing of an unarmed Black person in the county in which they reside, Black Americans sought treatment at local emergency departments for depressive symptoms <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620307802?via%3Dihub">11% more frequently</a> than in other months. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402362/original/file-20210524-19-15yfxde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black man facing the camera hugs a woman, whose back is to the camera, as other people physically support her" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402362/original/file-20210524-19-15yfxde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402362/original/file-20210524-19-15yfxde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402362/original/file-20210524-19-15yfxde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402362/original/file-20210524-19-15yfxde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402362/original/file-20210524-19-15yfxde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402362/original/file-20210524-19-15yfxde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402362/original/file-20210524-19-15yfxde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Civil rights attorney Ben Crump hugs Sequita Thompson, grandmother of Stephon Clark, who was shot and killed by Sacramento police in 2018 in Sacramento, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/civil-rights-attorney-ben-crump-embraces-sequita-thompson-news-photo/938252528?adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prenatal and childhood trauma</h2>
<p>Black women experience acute fear that their children will be harmed by the police.
Those who expressed beliefs that Black youth are at higher risk for having negative police experiences <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5391334/">were 12 times more likely</a> to report symptoms of depression during their pregnancy than other women, according to one study from 2017. </p>
<p>Depression during pregnancy can increase the risks for health problems for both parent and child, including newborns with low birth weight or premature delivery – both <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/210887">major causes of infant death</a>. Depression during pregnancy also puts new mothers at <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163638302000899?via%3Dihub">higher risk for postpartum depression</a>, which may negatively <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11039686/">affect their ability to nurture</a> their children. </p>
<p>Police killings can also directly harm the mental health of young people of color. According to Brendesha Tynes’ 2019 study, exposure to viral videos of police killings is associated with symptoms of depression and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X19301648?via%3Dihub">post-traumatic stress disorder</a> among adolescents of color. </p>
<h2>Health effects</h2>
<p>Police killings and other negative encounters with police create a climate of fear in Black communities that <a href="https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1196/annals.1314.001">takes a physical toll on residents</a>. </p>
<p>For example, aggressive policing can cause fear and excessive watchfulness among Black Americans that, at elevated levels, are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7263347/">associated with high blood pressure</a>. A New York City-based research team found in 2016 that in neighborhoods where police engaged in the invasive practice of “stop and frisk,” residents were more likely to have not only <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4824697/">high blood pressure</a> but to also suffer from diabetes, get asthma attacks and be overweight. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402366/original/file-20210524-21-1yq6fh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four Black youth listen attentively" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402366/original/file-20210524-21-1yq6fh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402366/original/file-20210524-21-1yq6fh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402366/original/file-20210524-21-1yq6fh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402366/original/file-20210524-21-1yq6fh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402366/original/file-20210524-21-1yq6fh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402366/original/file-20210524-21-1yq6fh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402366/original/file-20210524-21-1yq6fh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black teenagers in Washington, D.C., listen to city council youth testimony about being stopped and frisked by police, July 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/makiya-graham-15-and-mia-gibbs-tear-up-during-their-friends-news-photo/998386146?adppopup=true">Calla Kessler/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A 2016 study conducted in 75 metropolitan areas across the U.S. found that a police killing of a Black person in the area the year prior was associated with a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2019-054026">7.5% rise in local syphilis rates</a> and a 4% rise in gonorrhea rates – perhaps, the authors suggest, because the associated psychological stress leads to riskier sexual behavior. Fear of a police run-in and distrust of institutions might also lead people in these areas to avoid medical services. </p>
<p>Police violence in a given neighborhood is also linked to lower trust in government, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/political-consequences-of-the-carceral-state/4E39A3AFDAB682A1D4DE53C57E38C019">less frequent voting and higher crime rates</a>. It decreases residents’ perception of their ability to stand together and control <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4824692/">what happens in their neighborhood</a>.</p>
<h2>Policing seen as racism</h2>
<p>Many people in heavily policed neighborhoods see negative police encounters as forms of discrimination or racism – both of which are scientifically documented to <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040218-043750">worsen the health of Black people</a>.</p>
<p>“People understand that this system is filled with all sorts of inequality and injustice, and that implicit bias and just outright racism is embedded in the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/a-black-lives-matter-co-founder-explains-why-this-time-is-different">way that policing is done</a> in this nation,” said Opal Tometi, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, in an interview with the New Yorker. It amounts to “a war on Black life.”</p>
<p>Ultimately, the cumulative impact of harmful policing can shred the social fabric of Black neighborhoods and drain Black people and their communities of the health and social resources they need to live healthy lives. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published May 24, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denise A. Herd 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 shows that many Black Americans experience police killings of unarmed Black people – even those they do not know – as traumatic events, causing acute physical and emotional distress.Denise A. Herd, Professor of Public Health, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1595542021-05-12T13:00:47Z2021-05-12T13:00:47ZDerek Chauvin trial: how oppressive police systems defend themselves<p>The recent conviction of white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, for the murder of a black man, George Floyd, was widely welcomed in the US and elsewhere. The US police force has long been seen as helping to maintain the country’s racialised system of inequality. In the face of that, Chauvin’s conviction appears to be, as President Joe Biden put it, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/legal/biden-says-praying-right-verdict-chauvin-trial-2021-04-20/">“a giant step forward in the march toward justice”</a> for people of colour.</p>
<p>But the way police violence can work to uphold systems of power has deep roots in history that stretch much further than the US. My research on the role of such violence in previously colonised countries highlights how arguments made in the Chauvin case have long been used to defend oppressive policing. And this could help explain why the Black Lives Matter protests that followed Floyd’s murder resonated in countries around the world.</p>
<p>Solidarity protests against police brutality occurred in places including <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/15/africa/ghana-protests-black-lives-matter/index.html">Ghana</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/world/africa/george-floyd-protests-police-africa.html">Kenya</a>, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/16/nigeria-crackdown-police-brutality-protests">Nigeria</a>, <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/south-africa-police-brutality-poor-black-protest/">South Africa</a>, <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/oped/comment/african-lives-don-t-matter-to-their-leaders-and-police-3217374">Uganda</a> and <a href="https://www.okayafrica.com/zimbabwean-lives-matter-personal-stories-shared-for-awareness/">Zimbabwe</a> – all ex-British colonies. They also experienced calls to “decolonise” policing, to reform policing systems by limiting their use of force, reducing their ability to victimise poor, racial, ethnic and religious minorities, and making police more accountable.</p>
<p>It may seem odd to think that police in various African countries, which are largely black, need to be decolonised. But these police forces often have their origins in colonial organisations that were not established to protect the public. </p>
<p>Their purpose was, instead, to serve as <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520234475/violence-workers">“violence workers”</a> to protect colonial regimes from perceived threats by their colonised subjects. Since post-colonial states largely retained the systems of colonial policing they inherited, many police forces continue to uphold state power by enacting extra-legal violence against the poor and other traditionally marginalised groups.</p>
<p>My recent book, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colonial-Terror-Torture-State-Violence/dp/0192893939">Colonial Terror</a>, details how in India the British relied on police violence, such as torture and other forms of brutality, to maintain an oppressive system of rule. In making the police “<a href="https://www.indianculture.gov.in/report-indian-police-commission-1902-03">a terror to the people</a>”, as the 1902 Indian Police Commission put it, they thus sent a clear message to Indians that the purpose of the police was to protect the colonial regime, not them.</p>
<p>Police violence today is often explained by authorities as the actions of a few “bad apples” – this was the defence made <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/04/19/prosecution-paints-derek-chauvin-as-bad-apple-in-closing-argument-this-was-not-policing">in the Derek Chauvin case</a>. This effectively upholds the systems that produce and protect violence in policing.</p>
<p>Similar arguments were common under British colonial rule. White police officers in India were occasionally punished for the use of extra-legal violence. But they were generally, at worst, simply dismissed from service. </p>
<p>Imprisonment, on the rare occasions it was given, was largely reserved for colonised subordinates on the lowest rungs of the police hierarchy. This was despite the fact that such subordinates were <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WIskEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=%E2%80%98guided+by+the+will+of+their+superiors+in+the+service,+who+are+mostly+Englishmen%27+ananda+bazar&source=bl&ots=vVL1tDnVBe&sig=ACfU3U2K5fFdgs6GufN5KIdRWBl5321E_A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjo7NKnqKbwAhVHSsAKHaIxBt4Q6AEwBHoECAQQAw#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%98guided%20by%20the%20will%20of%20their%20superiors%20in%20the%20service%2C%20who%20are%20mostly%20Englishmen'%20ananda%20bazar&f=false">“guided by the will of their superiors”, who were “mostly Englishmen”</a>, as the Indian newspaper the Ananda Bazar Patrika observed in 1913.</p>
<h2>Victim blaming</h2>
<p>In the Chauvin trial, the defence also portrayed George Floyd as being <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56802198">responsible for his own death</a>. In colonial contexts, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pX4fEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=Heath+Colonial+Terror+%22the+displacement+of+colonial+blame+thesis%22&source=bl&ots=bmEA_9ST1D&sig=ACfU3U0KipBLMo_giibCfEODuYMnjLRUoA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwig_pWrtqbwAhXQN8AKHXdCBTQQ6AEwAXoECAEQAw#v=onepage&q=Heath%20Colonial%20Terror%20%22the%20displacement%20of%20colonial%20blame%20thesis%22&f=false">“the displacement of colonial blame thesis”</a> (through which colonised peoples were blamed for the violence enacted by the colonisers against them) was similarly used to shift blame for extra-legal violence by colonial police forces against colonised victims.</p>
<p>Such displacement ranged from blaming victims for bringing “false charges” to inflicting injuries on them that were so severe they could result in death. In 1866, for example, an Adivasi man (from one of India’s indigenous ethnic groups) named Bheem was tortured so severely by members of the Indian police that he was unable to walk.</p>
<p>Although medical evidence supported Bheem’s claim that he had been tortured, his torturers escaped conviction on the grounds that Bheem was a person of “<a href="https://llmc.com/titledescfull.aspx?type=2&coll=149&div=429&set=99816">no character”</a>, namely that he was immoral and inherently untrustworthy. In addition, Bheem and his witnesses were sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for bringing false charges against the police. </p>
<p>In these ways, the history of colonial policing shows the scale of the challenge the world faces in tackling violent, oppressive and institutionally racist policing. Perhaps Derek Chauvin’s conviction is a turning point for the US, but as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/20/george-floyd-family-reaction-guilty-verdict">George Floyd’s brother, Philonise</a>, put it, people of colour will have to keep fighting against police violence “for life”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deana Heath 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>Colonial police organisations used similar arguments to uphold their power as were heard in the trial of George Floyd’s murderer.Deana Heath, Senior Lecturer in Indian and Colonial History, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596102021-05-11T12:50:05Z2021-05-11T12:50:05ZHow do I talk to my child about violence? 4 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397942/original/file-20210429-19-14yo56h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C0%2C6720%2C4466&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Discussing violence with children can be challenging for a parent.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/father-disciplines-teenage-son-with-extra-chores-royalty-free-image/855227518?adppopup=true">SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Children are exposed to images of violence almost every day, whether through the media or in real life. Consumption of violent imagery can take a harmful toll on a child’s mental and emotional well-being, <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759104914/Violence-and-Mental-Health-in-Everyday-Life-Prevention-and-Intervention-Strategies-for-Children-and-Adolescents">research shows</a>. Parents, especially those with young children, may be asking themselves <a href="https://mhanational.org/talking-kids-about-fear-and-violence">how to talk about violence with their kids</a>. </p>
<p>Here are four articles from The Conversation U.S. that offer insight into how to have hard conversations with children about violence.</p>
<h2>1. Teach children to be resilient</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/vanessa-lobue-220989">Vanessa LoBlue</a>, an assistant professor of psychology at Rutgers University-Newark, <a href="https://theconversation.com/stressful-times-are-an-opportunity-to-teach-children-resilience-144551">writes about ways</a> parents can foster a supportive environment to help children develop resilience in stressful situations. </p>
<p>Genuinely listening to children talk about how they feel not only shows care and acceptance for the child, but it also helps them validate and contextualize their feelings, LoBlue writes. Allowing children some autonomy to solve their problems on their own – even if they fail – can help them practice resilience.</p>
<p>“Helping children build resilience is particularly critical now, as Americans face particular turbulence in daily life,” LoBlue writes. “Parents, too, need to guard their mental health in order to provide kids with crucial support: Building resilience isn’t just kid stuff.”</p>
<h2>2. Teach kids to think critically about systemic inequality</h2>
<p>Perhaps no profession has been under as much public scrutiny lately as that of the police officer. In less than a month’s span in spring 2021, there were at least three high-profile fatal police shootings that claimed the lives of young people: 13-year-old <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/15/us/adam-toledo-police-shooting-body-camera/index.html">Adam Toledo</a> in Chicago; 20-year-old <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/daunte-wright-death-minnesota.html">Daunte Wright</a> in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota; and 16-year-old <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/21/us/ohio-columbus-police-shooting-15-year-old/index.html">Ma'Khia Bryant</a> in Columbus, Ohio. </p>
<p>Not only do such experiences shape how children come to view the police, but those perceptions are formed at an early age, <a href="https://theconversation.com/kids-perceptions-of-police-fall-as-they-age-for-black-children-the-decline-starts-earlier-and-is-constant-145511">writes Adam Fine</a>, a criminology and criminal justice professor, and Kathleen Padilla, a graduate student of criminology and criminal justice, both at Arizona State University.</p>
<p>“These perceptions don’t just affect individual kids; they affect society too,” Fine and Padilla write, noting that negative perceptions of police can dissuade young people of color from pursuing careers in law enforcement. “As the nation is engaging in critical discussions about the future of policing, part of that introspection should focus on why the pipeline of youth of color entering law enforcement is almost entirely shut off.”</p>
<h2>3. Validate how your child feels</h2>
<p>Children are, unfortunately, very familiar with violence. In today’s schools, students have <a href="https://theconversation.com/active-shooter-drills-may-reshape-how-a-generation-of-students-views-school-93709">active shooter drills</a> and engage in anti-violence movements like <a href="https://theconversation.com/march-for-our-lives-awakens-the-spirit-of-student-and-media-activism-of-the-1960s-93713">March for Our Lives</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kyle-greenwalt-286694">Kyle Greenwalt</a>, associate director of teacher preparation and associate professor of education at Michigan State University, and five other scholars offer suggestions about <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-should-schools-teach-kids-about-what-happened-at-the-us-capitol-on-jan-6-we-asked-6-education-experts-152884">how to talk to students about the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot</a>. </p>
<p>Engaging students in discussions around past and current violent events can allow them to express and process what they feel in a safe environment, writes Greenwalt’s co-author, <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kei-kawashima-ginsberg-211764">Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg</a>, director of the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. “Do not dehumanize any student because of their opinion – but teach them to always consider the intent and impact of their response.”</p>
<h2>4. Know what your child is being exposed to</h2>
<p>The internet is rife with violent imagery, leaving many children vulnerable to psychological harm. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/daniel-j-flannery-220974">Daniel J. Flannery</a>, director of the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University, <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-witnessing-violence-harms-childrens-mental-health-91971">describes how</a> exposure to violence can <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759104914/Violence-and-Mental-Health-in-Everyday-Life-Prevention-and-Intervention-Strategies-for-Children-and-Adolescents">lead to higher risk of depression, anger and anxiety</a>. </p>
<p>“Parents have an important role to play,” Flannery writes. “Knowing where their children are, what they are doing and with whom are some of the best ways to help support children. That <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14582862">improves their ability to cope</a> with what is going on in the world around them.” </p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159610/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Violence is a tough but necessary subject to address. Here are four articles on how to speak to your child about violence.Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Education Editor, The ConversationAlvin Buyinza, Editorial and Outreach Assistant, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596742021-04-30T12:14:54Z2021-04-30T12:14:54ZThe ‘bystander effect’ is real – but research shows that when more people witness violence, it’s more likely someone will step up and intervene<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397952/original/file-20210429-23-yif9ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C32%2C978%2C551&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An image from a police body camera shows bystanders including Darnella Frazier, third from right, filming a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee on George Floyd's neck.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GeorgeFloydOfficerTrialNelson/ca9d6a445a60478092510cd46683dc0f/photo?Query=Darnella%20AND%20Frazier&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=4&currentItemNo=1">Minneapolis Police Department via AP, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The most powerful evidence for the prosecution at the trial of Derek Chauvin was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prZ-bYOUuZo">a video showing the then-Minneapolis police officer pinning a pleading George Floyd</a> to the ground by kneeling on his neck until he grew silent and then died. </p>
<p>On the witness stand, the teenager who captured the incident on her smartphone, 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/us/darnella-frazier-video.html">expressed regret</a> for not doing more on the day of the crime. </p>
<p>As a professor whose major field of research is <a href="https://www.business.rutgers.edu/faculty/wayne-eastman">the application of psychology and game theory to ethics</a>, I believe that Frazier’s regret about not physically intervening illuminates two major points: First, a witness to a troubling situation who is in a group may feel a lesser sense of personal responsibility than a single individual. Second, someone in a group of people who can see one another may nonetheless feel responsible to act.</p>
<h2>The bystander effect</h2>
<p>The sense of diminished personal responsibility for people in a group has become known as the “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130507023426/http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/0155060678_rathus/ps/ps19.html">bystander effect</a>” – a phenomenon first described in the wake of a celebrated, infamous case.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/27/archives/37-who-saw-murder-didnt-call-the-police-apathy-at-stabbing-of.html">1964 front-page story headlined</a> “37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police; Apathy at Stabbing of Queens Woman Shocks Inspector,” The New York Times related the gruesome story of the middle-of-the-night sexual assault and murder of Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bartender, near her apartment building. </p>
<p>In recent years, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.6.555">academics</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/insider/1964-how-many-witnessed-the-murder-of-kitty-genovese.html">The New York Times itself</a> have concluded that the report had significant errors – the number of witnesses was fewer than 37 and multiple people phoned the police.</p>
<p>Reflecting on the notorious case long before these errors were known, social psychologists <a href="https://latane.socialpsychology.org/">Bibb Latane</a> and <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/news/2018/09/13/social-psychologist-john-darley-early-researcher-bystander-intervention-dies-80">John Darley</a> wondered if it would be possible to study failure of bystanders to act in lab experiments.</p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Unresponsive_Bystander.html?id=wU1-f2RLVKgC">In a 1970 book</a>, Darley and Latane summarized that the chances of any one individual acting in a pro-social or helpful way is lower when responsibility is diffused among a number of people. Subsequent studies <a href="https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0023304">also confirmed</a> that individuals are more likely to act when they feel they have the sole responsibility to do so.</p>
<p>The bystander effect has been reformulated by game theorists as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002785029004003">volunteer’s dilemma</a>.” In the volunteer’s dilemma, a person, or a group of people, will avoid discomfort if any one of them takes a pro-social action with a small cost, such as <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/media-spotlight/201604/exploring-the-volunteers-dilemma">performing first aid or fixing a clogged drain</a>.</p>
<p>Any one individual acting alone has good reason to take action – but if there is a crowd of, say, 20 people, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002793037003008">the chance that they will do nothing and let someone else volunteer goes up</a>. </p>
<p>In the case of George Floyd, the bystander effect was complicated by the power dynamics at play. Chauvin was an armed white police officer, and Frazier and the other bystanders were unarmed civilians who were mostly Black, like George Floyd himself. Given that, it is reasonable to ask whether Frazier, if she had been the sole civilian witness, would have gone beyond recording a video to physically intervene – such as trying to pull Chauvin off Floyd. </p>
<p>And it is also reasonable to ask whether she or any bystander should physically intervene in a situation where doing so might be extremely risky. </p>
<h2>What makes people act</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397900/original/file-20210429-21-w2n2qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People gathered at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis after the guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial on April 20, 2021." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397900/original/file-20210429-21-w2n2qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397900/original/file-20210429-21-w2n2qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397900/original/file-20210429-21-w2n2qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397900/original/file-20210429-21-w2n2qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397900/original/file-20210429-21-w2n2qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397900/original/file-20210429-21-w2n2qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397900/original/file-20210429-21-w2n2qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">After Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter, people gathered on the street where he killed George Floyd.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-gather-at-the-intersection-of-38th-street-and-news-photo/1232426311?adppopup=true">Brandon Bell/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>What needs to be explained in Frazier’s behavior – and that of a number of other witnesses who also recorded videos or called out to Chauvin to stop – is not why they didn’t take drastic, risky physical action, but why they did take the steps to record videos and yell for Chauvin to stop. </p>
<p>To explain their pro-social action, an advancing line of research on the behavior of witnesses to troubling scenes is helpful. That research suggests that having more witnesses <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15534510701766181">increases rather than decreases the chance of intervention</a> and that pro-social intervention by at least some in a group is the norm. </p>
<p>A 2008 analysis by social psychologist <a href="https://stalder.socialpsychology.org/">Daniel Stalder</a> of previous studies found that although the bystander effect is real, larger group size <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15534510701766181">increased the probability</a> that at least one person in the group would make a pro-social intervention. </p>
<p>More recently, a 2019 article by psychologist <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/psychology/about-us/people/richard-philpot">Richard Philpot</a> and four co-authors found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000469">there is a greater chance that someone will act</a> when there are larger numbers of witnesses to public conflicts. They also found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000469">that intervention is the norm</a>: 90.7% of public conflicts featured one or more witnesses making a pro-social intervention, with an average of 3.8 witnesses intervening in each conflict.</p>
<p>Compared with earlier research, their study is particularly persuasive, as it relied not on lab studies, but on examining surveillance camera footage of actual public conflicts between civilians (not between police and civilians) taking place in crowded urban street settings. The research was conducted in three countries – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000469">South Africa, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom</a>. </p>
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<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000469">As Philpot and his co-authors put it</a>, in a line that presages what Frazier and several others near her did: “We found that in nine-out-of-10 conflicts, at least one person – but typically several – did something to help.” </p>
<p>In trying to understand bystander ethics, the troubling phenomenon of diffusion of responsibility remains relevant. But it is also important to understand the more positive finding that pro-social intervention like Frazier’s by one or more people in groups who witness public conflicts is common.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159674/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wayne Eastman 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 game theory expert explains why a witness to a troubling situation who is in a group may feel a lesser sense of personal responsibility than a single individual.Wayne Eastman, Professor, Department of Supply Chain Management, Rutgers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1594202021-04-20T23:30:29Z2021-04-20T23:30:29ZWhy this trial was different: Experts react to guilty verdict for Derek Chauvin<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396169/original/file-20210420-15-wiivt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5741%2C3876&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman reacts to the news that Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts in the murder of George Floyd.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-react-after-the-verdict-in-the-derek-chauvin-trial-news-photo/1313533958">Scott Olson/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Scholars analyze the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/20/us/derek-chauvin-verdict-george-floyd">guilty verdicts handed down</a> to former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the 2020 murder of George Floyd. Outside the courthouse, crowds cheered and church bells sounded – a collective release in a city scarred by police killings. Minnesota’s attorney general, whose office led the prosecution, said he <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/04/20/minnesota-ag-keith-ellison-on-derek-chauvin-verdict-the-first-step-toward-justice/">would not call the verdict “justice, however”</a> because “justice implies restoration” – but he would call it “accountability.”</em></p>
<h2>Race was not an issue in trial</h2>
<p><strong>Alexis Karteron, Rutgers University - Newark</strong></p>
<p>Derek Chauvin’s criminal trial is over, but the work to ensure that no one endures a tragic death like George Floyd’s is just getting started. </p>
<p>It is fair to say that race was on the minds of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd-protests-timeline.html">millions of protesters who took to the streets last year</a> to express their outrage and pain in response to the killing. Many felt it was impossible for someone who wasn’t Black <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52877678">to imagine Chauvin’s brutal treatment of George Floyd</a>. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.startribune.com/jurors-will-consider-george-floyd-s-death-not-the-issue-of-race-in-the-derek-chauvin-murder-ca/600039769/">race went practically unmentioned</a> during the Chauvin trial. </p>
<p>This should not be surprising, because the criminal legal system writes race out at virtually every turn. When I led a lawsuit as a civil rights attorney challenging the <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/cases/ligon-v-city-new-york-challenging-nypds-aggressive-patrolling-private-apartment-buildings">New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk program</a> as racist, the department’s primary defense was that it complied with Fourth Amendment standards, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/stop_and_frisk">under which police officers need only “reasonable suspicion”</a> of criminal activity to stop someone. Presence in what police say is a “high-crime area” is relevant to developing reasonable suspicion, as is a would-be subject taking flight when being approached by a police officer. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/nyregion/bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-new-york.html">But the correlation with race</a>, for a host of reasons, is obvious to any keen observer.</p>
<p>American policing’s most pressing problems are racial ones. For some, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-racist-roots-of-american-policing-from-slave-patrols-to-traffic-stops-112816">the evolution of slave patrols into police forces</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/decades-of-failed-reforms-allow-continued-police-brutality-and-racism-141011">failure of decadeslong reform efforts</a> are proof that American policing is irredeemable and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/defund-police/612682/">must be defunded</a>. For others, <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/IF11572.pdf">changes to use-of-force policies and improved accountability measures</a>, like those in the proposed <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7120">George Floyd Justice in Policing Act</a>, are enough. </p>
<p>Different communities across the country will follow different paths in their efforts to prevent another tragic death like George Floyd’s. Some will do nothing at all. But progress will be made only when America as a whole gets real about the role of race – something the legal system routinely fails to do.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd for 9 minutes, 29 seconds.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Why this trial was different</h2>
<p><strong>Ric Simmons, The Ohio State University</strong></p>
<p>The guilty verdicts in the Chauvin trial are extraordinary, if unsurprising, because past incidents of police lethal use of force against unarmed civilians, particularly Black civilians, have generally not resulted in criminal convictions.</p>
<p>In many cases, the prosecuting office has been <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2015/10/tamir_rice_shooting_was_tragic.html">reluctant or halfhearted</a> in pursuing the case. Prosecutors and police officers work together daily; that can make prosecutors sympathetic to the work of law enforcement. In the Chauvin case, the attorney general’s office invested an overwhelming amount of resources in preparing for and conducting the trial, bringing in two outside lawyers, including a prominent civil rights attorney, to assist its many state prosecutors. </p>
<p>Usually, too, a police officer defendant can <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/13/us/why-police-rally-around-each-other-trnd/index.html">count on the support of other police officers</a> to testify on his behalf and explain why his or her actions were justified. Not in this case. Every police officer witness testified for the prosecution against Chauvin.</p>
<p>Finally, convictions after police killings are rare because, evidence shows, jurors are <a href="https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=3972&context=clevstlrev">historically reluctant to substitute their own judgment</a> for the split-second decisions made by trained officers when their lives may be on the line. Despite the past year’s protests decrying police violence, U.S. support for law enforcement <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/07/usa-today-ipsos-poll-just-18-support-defund-police-movement/4599232001/">remains very high</a>: A recent poll showed that only 18% of Americans support the “defund the police” movement.</p>
<p>But Chauvin had no feasible argument that he feared for his life or made an instinctive response to a threat. George Floyd did nothing to justify the defendant’s brutal actions, and the overwhelming evidence presented by the prosecutors convinced 12 jurors of that fact.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396170/original/file-20210420-13-khnova.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman holding a sign reading 'Silence is violence' and 'BLM' stands in front of a crowd" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396170/original/file-20210420-13-khnova.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396170/original/file-20210420-13-khnova.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396170/original/file-20210420-13-khnova.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396170/original/file-20210420-13-khnova.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396170/original/file-20210420-13-khnova.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396170/original/file-20210420-13-khnova.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396170/original/file-20210420-13-khnova.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The death of George Floyd sparked protests around the U.S. and across the world, including this June 2020 rally in Germany.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GeorgeFloydOfficerTrialWhatsChanged/4c272924b3324327a482864f6b431e17/photo">AP Photo/Martin Meissner</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>The ‘thin blue line’ kills</h2>
<p><strong>Jeannine Bell, Indiana University</strong></p>
<p>Like other high-profile police killings of African Americans, the murder of George Floyd <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-us-military-usually-punishes-misconduct-but-police-often-close-ranks-127898">revealed a lot about police culture</a> – and how it makes interactions with communities of color fraught.</p>
<p>Derek Chauvin used prohibited tactics – keeping his knee on Floyd’s neck when he had already been subdued – to suffocate a man, an act the jury recognized as murder. Three fellow Minneapolis Police Department officers watched as Chauvin killed Floyd. Rather than intervene themselves, they helped him resist the intervention of upset bystanders and a medical professional. They have been <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/us/george-floyd-officers-charges-explained/index.html">charged with aiding and abetting a murder</a>.</p>
<p>The police brotherhood – that intense and protective “<a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/08/the-short-fraught-history-of-the-thin-blue-line-american-flag">thin blue line</a>” – enabled a public murder. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, unusually, broke this code of silence when he testified against Chauvin.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/06/05/training-police-to-step-in-and-prevent-another-george-floyd">Research shows</a> that even if officers see a fellow officer mistreating a suspect and want to intervene, they need training to teach them how to do so effectively. The city of New Orleans is now <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/06/05/training-police-to-step-in-and-prevent-another-george-floyd">training officers to intervene</a>. Once training is in place, police departments could also make intervention in such situations mandatory.</p>
<p>When some officers stand by as other officers ignore their training, the consequences can be dangerous – and potentially lethal – for civilians. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396171/original/file-20210420-21-7cmjye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sheriff's deputy handcuffs Derek Chauvin in the courtroom, while Chauvin speaks to his attorney" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396171/original/file-20210420-21-7cmjye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396171/original/file-20210420-21-7cmjye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396171/original/file-20210420-21-7cmjye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396171/original/file-20210420-21-7cmjye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396171/original/file-20210420-21-7cmjye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396171/original/file-20210420-21-7cmjye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396171/original/file-20210420-21-7cmjye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After the verdicts were read, Derek Chauvin was taken into police custody to await sentencing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXGeorgeFloydOfficerTrial/c679ece1c3cf4eb2a23deab3b4712846/photo">Court TV via AP, Pool</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Minnesota faces its racism</h2>
<p><strong>Rashad Shabazz, Arizona State University</strong></p>
<p>This verdict reflects a little-known truth about Minneapolis: As the city and metro region have become Blacker and more diverse, police violence against Black people has intensified. This is not to suggest that things have always been good for <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/06/19/twin-histories-segregation-and-police-violence-in-minneapolis/">Black Minneapolis residents</a>. Indeed, Minneapolis’ Black population – a group without political power or visibility – has faced <a href="https://theconversation.com/minneapolis-long-hot-summer-of-67-and-the-parallels-to-todays-protests-over-police-brutality-139814">segregation, police violence</a> and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6283352.stm">Northern Jim Crow policies</a> in its <a href="https://www.startribune.com/prince-and-first-avenue-a-history-of-the-club-s-ties-to-its-brightest-star/377583391/">downtown music venues</a> for decades.</p>
<p>White Minnesotans and Minneapolitans developed a false belief that somehow <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/us/minneapolis-racism-minnesota.html">they were above racism</a>; that their form of neighborliness known as “<a href="https://www.startribune.com/where-does-the-term-minnesota-nice-come-from-and-what-does-it-mean/502474301/">Minnesota nice</a>” was an antidote to anti-Blackness and that – most of all – race didn’t matter in a place as nice as Minnesota. </p>
<p>That false assumption was easy to believe when the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/30/minneapolis-racial-inequality/">Black population was small, contained</a> and largely out of sight. But <a href="https://mn.gov/admin/demography/data-by-topic/age-race-ethnicity/">Black Minneapolis’ population growth in recent decades</a>, and the torrent of <a href="https://www.mnopedia.org/race-and-policing-twin-cities">police violence that has followed</a>, proved otherwise. </p>
<p>The murder of George Floyd last year and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/daunte-wright-death-minnesota.html">Daunte Wright’s killing</a> in a nearby community last week demonstrate that despite the state’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/us/minneapolis-racism-minnesota.html">liberal posture and Lutheran ethic</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/30/minneapolis-racial-inequality/">institutional anti-Black racism is as Minnesotan</a> as <a href="https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/gofishing/learn-ice-fish.html">ice fishing</a>, <a href="http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/ss/ssmstb.pdf">untaxed groceries</a> and “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/17/travel/a-fishing-trip-with-an-agenda.html">ya, sure, youbetcha</a>” memes.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand key political developments, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s election newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159420/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scholars of policing, law, race and Minnesota history explain the landmark guilty verdicts handed down in the trial for the murder of George Floyd.Alexis Karteron, Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers University - NewarkJeannine Bell, Professor of Law, Maurer School of Law, Indiana UniversityRashad Shabazz, Associate Professor at the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State UniversityRic Simmons, Professor of Law, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1538582021-04-16T12:37:43Z2021-04-16T12:37:43ZFatal police violence may be linked to preterm births in neighborhoods nearby<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386556/original/file-20210225-13-1egzyog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C7589%2C5048&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A demonstration in New York City in June 2020 denounces systemic racism and the police killings of African Americans. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/demonstrators-denouncing-systemic-racism-and-the-police-news-photo/1218028223?adppopup=true">Scott Heins via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Building on generations of work by activists and organizers, there is currently a national reckoning with the impacts of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/08/americans-racism-police-brutality-problems-poll">police violence</a> on Black communities underway in the United States. <a href="https://theconversation.com/police-shootings-and-race-in-america-five-essential-reads-65847">It’s well established</a> that killings, injuries and intense surveillance by police can traumatize not only the direct victims, but <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4824697/">their communities</a>. But little research has been done to assess whether police violence has spillover effects on other facets of human health.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MUjnTIAAAAAJ&hl=en">I am an epidemiologist</a> who studies how the social and physical environment shapes maternal and infant health, and my research team and I wanted to investigate whether witnessing the police killing someone – or even living nearby or hearing about it afterward – could <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/13/933084699/how-police-violence-could-impact-the-health-of-black-infants">affect the outcome of a healthy pregnancy</a>. Our latest research suggests the answer is yes.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.12753">Our new study</a>, published in March in the journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, found that Californians who were pregnant when fatal police violence occurred in their neighborhoods saw increases in preterm birth. For Black mothers, the associations were particularly high: When police killed a Black person in the neighborhood, the hazard of delivering early increased by 35% or 81%, depending on the data source. </p>
<p>Previous studies show stressful or traumatic events of any kind during pregnancy <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clp.2011.06.007">can be linked</a> to increased risk for preterm birth. Because Black people are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48503126">disproportionately victimized</a> by police violence, and because there are stark <a href="https://doi.org/10.1053/j.semperi.2011.02.020">racial and ethnic inequities in preterm births</a>, we anticipated that exposure to fatal police violence during pregnancy might also influence preterm birth risk. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pregnant Black woman." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386559/original/file-20210225-23-1b6aqad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386559/original/file-20210225-23-1b6aqad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386559/original/file-20210225-23-1b6aqad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386559/original/file-20210225-23-1b6aqad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386559/original/file-20210225-23-1b6aqad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386559/original/file-20210225-23-1b6aqad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386559/original/file-20210225-23-1b6aqad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Preterm birth is the leading cause of infant death.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/pregnant-african-american-mother-using-digital-royalty-free-image/526296623?adppopup=true">Tom Grill/JGI via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Examining the data</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.12753">Our study</a> used California birth records to estimate pregnancy duration for the almost 4 million births statewide from 2007 to 2015. We then looked at anyone who was pregnant when a police killing occurred in their neighborhood, and compared them to their neighbors who were not exposed during their pregnancies. There is no single comprehensive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001915">source of data</a> on police killings. We therefore used two sources of information about fatal police violence: California death records and <a href="https://fatalencounters.org/">the Fatal Encounters database</a>, a compilation of Americans killed during police interactions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A protester stares down a police officer during a protest in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394636/original/file-20210412-17-1ght9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394636/original/file-20210412-17-1ght9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394636/original/file-20210412-17-1ght9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394636/original/file-20210412-17-1ght9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394636/original/file-20210412-17-1ght9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394636/original/file-20210412-17-1ght9vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394636/original/file-20210412-17-1ght9vj.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">A protester and a police officer during a protest in Brooklyn Center, Minn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/staring-down-a-cop-a-protester-stands-at-the-line-where-news-photo/1232267708?adppopup=true">Christopher Mark Juhn/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>We observed that when people were exposed to fatal police violence sometime during their pregnancies, there was a small increase in the hazard of delivering prematurely. Using the California death records, there was a 5% increased hazard of the baby being born between 34 and 36 weeks of gestation. There was a 3% increased hazard using the Fatal Encounters database. We didn’t observe associations between exposures to police violence and delivery even earlier, between 20 and 33 weeks of gestation. </p>
<p>Among Black women, we found that exposure to fatal police violence, especially when the victim was also Black, had an even stronger impact. When police killed a Black person in her own neighborhood, a Black mother’s hazard of delivering her child between weeks 32 and 33 increased 81% with the California death records. With the Fatal Encounters data, the hazard increased by 35%.</p>
<p>These findings are critical for a number of reasons. Preterm birth is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2006-0860">leading cause of infant death</a> and may also carry implications for a child’s <a href="https://doi.org/%2010.1056/NEJMoa0706475">short- and long-term health</a>. Mothers of preterm children may experience adverse mental health outcomes like <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012676">increased anxiety and fatigue</a> and use postnatal services less. </p>
<p>The cost of preterm birth is staggering, an estimated <a href="https://www.marchofdimes.org/peristats/documents/Cost_of_Prematurity_2019.pdf">US$25.2 billion</a> per year – about $65,000 per birth – with a substantial portion of that <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/state-indicator/births-financed-by-medicaid">paid by Medicaid</a>. For families, preterm birth can present additional <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/2191-1991-1-6">financial hardships</a>, including increased transportation costs for additional medical appointments and delayed return to work or missed work for employed parents. </p>
<p>The American Public Health Association <a href="https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2019/01/29/law-enforcement-violence">provides detailed guidance</a> on addressing police violence to improve health and health equity. This policy statement from public health researchers builds on work from community organizers and indicates what’s needed most is a shift in how government resources are allocated. It suggests that moving those resources away from criminalizing and policing marginalized communities to investing in their health, safety and well-being – through housing, food security, and quality health care and education systems – is the route to real change.</p>
<p>[<em>More than 104,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153858/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study was supported by NIH grant 35 DP2HD080350; the University of California Firearm Violence Research Center; the University of California, Berkeley Committee on Research; and the Cheri Pies Dissertation Award.</span></em></p>A new study suggests exposure to police violence may affect the outcome of a pregnancy.Dana Goin, Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1580932021-03-29T18:26:40Z2021-03-29T18:26:40ZDerek Chauvin trial begins in George Floyd murder case: 5 essential reads on police violence against Black men<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392319/original/file-20210329-17-f3uaon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C34%2C7717%2C5325&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Floyd's nephew, Brandon Williams (center), with the Rev. Al Sharpton (left) outside the heavily guarded Hennepin County Government Center, in Minneapolis, Minn., before the murder trial of Officer Derek Chauvin began, March 29, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/brandon-williams-wears-a-mask-and-pendant-with-the-image-of-news-photo/1232003463?adppopup=true">Stephen Maturen/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the <a href="https://www.startribune.com/derek-chauvin-murder-trial-opens-today-in-minneapolis-with-opening-statements-evidence/600039838/">murder of George Floyd is underway in Minneapolis, Minnesota</a>. </p>
<p>Chauvin, who is white, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with the death of George Floyd, who was Black, during an arrest last May. For <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/us/george-floyd-timing.html">8 minutes and 46 seconds</a>, Floyd – handcuffed and face down on the pavement – said repeatedly that he could not breathe, while other officers looked on. </p>
<p>A video of Floyd’s agonizing death soon went viral, triggering last summer’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/george-floyd-protests-arent-just-anti-racist-they-are-anti-authoritarian-139932">unprecedented wave of mass protests</a> against police violence and racism. Chauvin’s murder trial is expected to last up to four weeks.</p>
<p>These five stories offer expert analysis and key background on police violence, Derek Chauvin’s record and racism in U.S. law enforcement.</p>
<h2>1. Police violence is a top cause of death for Black men</h2>
<p>Since 2000, U.S. police have killed between 1,000 and 1,200 people per year, according to Fatal Encounters, an up-to-date archive of police killings. The victims are <a href="https://theconversation.com/police-are-more-likely-to-kill-men-and-women-of-color-121158">disproportionately likely to be Black, male and young</a>, according to a study by Frank Edwards at the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice, in Newark. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man helping a woman during a street protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355160/original/file-20200827-22-c1qrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Protesters in Kenosha, Wisc. after another 2020 shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-helps-a-woman-during-a-clash-with-law-enforcement-in-news-photo/1228208322?adppopup=true">Brandon Bell/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In 2019, Edwards and two co-authors analyzed the Fatal Encounters data to assess how risk of death at the hands of police varies by age, sex and race or ethnicity. They found that while “police are responsible for a very small share of all deaths” in any given year, they “are responsible for a substantial proportion of all deaths of young people.” </p>
<p>Police violence was the sixth-leading cause of death for young men in the United States in 2019, after accidents, suicides, homicides, heart disease and cancer. </p>
<p>That risk is particularly high pronounced for young men of color, especially young Black men.</p>
<p>“About 1 in 1,000 Black men and boys are killed by police” during their lifetime, Edwards wrote. </p>
<p>In contrast, the general U.S. male population is killed by police at a rate of .52 per 1,000 – about half as often.</p>
<h2>2. Chauvin has a track record of abuse</h2>
<p>Many police officers who kill civilians have a history of violence or misconduct, including Chauvin.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/police-officers-accused-of-brutal-violence-often-have-a-history-of-complaints-by-citizens-139709">an article on police violence</a> written after George Floyd’s killing, criminal justice scholar Jill McCorkel noted that Derek Chauvin was “the subject of at least 18 separate misconduct complaints and was involved in two additional shooting incidents.” </p>
<p>During a 2006 roadside stop, Chauvin was among six officers who fired 43 rounds into a truck driven by a man wanted for questioning in a domestic assault. The man, Wayne Reyes, who police said aimed a sawed-off shotgun at them, died. A Minnesota grand jury did not indict any of the officers.</p>
<p>Nationwide fewer than one in 12 complaints of police misconduct result in any kind of disciplinary action, according to McCorkel. </p>
<h2>3. Bad police interactions hurt Black families</h2>
<p>Even when officers who use excessive force are fired, as Chauvin was after the George Floyd killing, these incidents – occurring so frequently, for so many years – take an emotional toll on Black communities. </p>
<p>In a 2020 Gallup survey, one in four Black men ages 18 to 34 reported they had been treated unfairly by police within the last month.</p>
<p>The racism and inequality researchers Deadric T. Williams and Armon Perry analyzed data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, which surveyed nearly 5,000 families from U.S. cities, and found that negative police interactions have “<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-police-stop-black-men-the-effects-reach-into-their-homes-and-families-144321">far-reaching implications for Black families</a>.”</p>
<p>“Fathers who reported experiencing a police stop were more likely to report conflict or lack of cooperation in their relationships with their children’s mother,” they wrote. </p>
<p>Black mothers also report “feelings of uncertainty and agitation” after Black fathers are stopped by police, Williams and Perry found. That can “affect the way that she views the relationship, leading to anger and frustration.”</p>
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<h2>4. This happens far less in Europe</h2>
<p>According to a 2014 study on policing in Europe and the U.S. by Rutgers researcher Paul Hirschfield, American police were 18 times more lethal than Danish police and 100 times more lethal than Finnish police. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103120/original/image-20151125-18267-gnya28.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103120/original/image-20151125-18267-gnya28.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103120/original/image-20151125-18267-gnya28.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103120/original/image-20151125-18267-gnya28.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103120/original/image-20151125-18267-gnya28.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103120/original/image-20151125-18267-gnya28.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103120/original/image-20151125-18267-gnya28.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103120/original/image-20151125-18267-gnya28.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=328&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">Annual fatal police shootings per million residents as of 2014. Data are based on most recent available. US: 2014; France: 1995-2000; Denmark: 1996-2006; Portugal: 1995-2005; Sweden: 1996-2006; Netherlands: 2013-2014; Norway: 1996-2006; Germany: 2012; Finland: 1996-2006; England & Wales: 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The top reason for this difference, Hirschfield <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-american-cops-kill-so-many-compared-to-european-cops-49696">wrote in an article explaining his findings, is simple</a>: guns.</p>
<p>In most U.S. states, it is “easy for adults to purchase handguns,” Hirschfield wrote, so “American police are primed to expect guns.” That may make them “more prone to misidentifying cellphones and screwdrivers as weapons.” </p>
<p>U.S. law is relatively forgiving of such mistakes. If officers can prove they had a “reasonable belief” that lives were in danger, they may be acquitted for killing unarmed civilians. In contrast, most European countries permit deadly force only when it is “absolutely necessary” to enforce the law. </p>
<p>“The unfounded fear of Darren Wilson – the former Ferguson cop who fatally shot Michael Brown – that Brown was armed would not have likely absolved him in Europe,” writes Hirschfield. </p>
<h2>5. American policing has racist roots</h2>
<p>Well before modern gun laws, <a href="https://theconversation.com/george-floyds-death-reflects-the-racist-roots-of-american-policing-139805">racism ran deep in American policing</a>, as criminal justice researcher Connie Hassett-Walker wrote in June 2020. </p>
<p>In the South, the first organized law enforcement was white slave patrols.</p>
<p>“The first slave patrols arose in South Carolina in the early 1700s,” Hassett-Walker wrote. By century’s end, every slave state had them. Slave patrols could legally enter anyone’s home based on suspicions that they were sheltering people who had escaped bondage.</p>
<p>Northern police forces did not originate in racial terror, but Hassett-Walker writes that they nonetheless inflicted it. </p>
<p>From New York City to Boston, early municipal police “were overwhelmingly white, male and more focused on responding to disorder than crime,” writes Hassett-Walker. “Officers were expected to control ‘dangerous classes’ that included African Americans, immigrants and the poor.” </p>
<p>This history persists today in the negative stereotypes of Black men as dangerous. That makes people like George Floyd more likely to be treated aggressively by police, with potentially lethal results.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158093/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Research on racism and policing in the US, explained by the experts who study it.Catesby Holmes, International Editor | Politics Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.