tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/us-police-16584/articlesUS police – The Conversation2023-03-22T16:32:38Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022692023-03-22T16:32:38Z2023-03-22T16:32:38ZMet police: Casey review shows how ‘warrior culture’ drives policing in the UK<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516940/original/file-20230322-1165-fb5pix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C2995%2C1971&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/two-police-officer-machinegun-london-close-444743512">Jacek Wojnarowski/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The landmark <a href="https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/met/about-us/baroness-casey-review/update-march-2023/baroness-casey-review-march-2023.pdf">Casey review</a> has found the Metropolitan police institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. This language – “institutionally” – means that these are not problems isolated to a few bad apples, like <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-64456086">David Carrick</a> or <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/sarah-everard-murder-wayne-couzens-sentenced-to-whole-life-order-12421499">Wayne Couzens</a>. </p>
<p>These officers, and many others whose problematic conduct was known to colleagues, remained in post for years. This shows what policing researchers have argued for decades: that the <a href="https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/cjm/article/police-corruption-apples-barrels-and-orchards">barrel</a> has been rotten for some time.</p>
<p>Police leaders including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/20/met-police-culture-problems-not-just-a-few-bad-apples-says-acting-head">Sir Stephen House</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/25/race-action-plan-police-accept-institutionally-racist">Neil Basu</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/23/three-met-pcs-received-pictures-murdered-sisters-keep-jobs-nicole-smallman-bibaa-henry">Dal Babu</a> have demanded changes to police’s institutional culture in recent years. But to change the culture, we have to understand it. </p>
<p>One way researchers have understood the problems in policing is through the lens of “<a href="https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/gjicl/vol49/iss2/3/">warrior culture</a>”. This is characteristic of police institutions around the world, and the Casey review shows that the Met’s toxic atmosphere is no exception.</p>
<p>Warrior culture describes a police force with a <a href="https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/the-politics-of-the-police-9780198769255?cc=gb&lang=en&">military-like</a> nature. It encourages repression, regards traditionally marginalised groups like poor people, ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ people as enemies. It defaults to using aggression, violence and force, including deadly force, rather than de-escalation. </p>
<p>While it is only in recent years US academics have coined the term “warrior policing”, UK researchers have long discussed UK policing’s military approach and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/030981688502500102?journalCode=cnca">emphasis on social control</a>.</p>
<p>This perspective rebuts the popular belief that UK policing has been primarily shaped by the <a href="https://assets.college.police.uk/s3fs-public/2021-02/code_of_ethics_readinglist.pdf">Peelian policing principles</a> attributed to the Met’s 19th-century founder, Sir Robert Peel. These include policing by consent, garnering public respect and approval, impartiality, service to the public and minimising the use of force. </p>
<p>With a <a href="https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/law_facpub/456">warrior mindset</a>, police are suspicious of the communities they serve, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1098611114552726">stereotyping them</a> as lacking integrity, respect, and not valuing hard work. They place trust only in their fellow officers. </p>
<p>This culture creates an “us versus them” mindset, pitting officers against communities, and against other officers from minority backgrounds or who reject the warrior mindset. This is illustrated in the Casey review, in the numerous examples of racist alienation and bullying among officers, and the conclusion that minority ethnic staff “are viewed with suspicion and seen as outsiders”.</p>
<p>Detachment from the people they police means officers are <a href="https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/the-politics-of-the-police-9780198769255?cc=gb&lang=en&">less invested</a> in community wellbeing, particularly of marginalised communities, and can more easily engage in aggressive policing tactics and violence. We see how embedded these biases are in UK policing, in the <a href="https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/stop-and-search/latest#:%7E:text=Summary%20of%20Stop%20and%20search%20By%20ethnicity%20Summary&text=data%20shows%20that%3A-,there%20were%20697%2C405%20stop%20and%20searches%20in%20England%20and%20Wales,for%20every%201%2C000%20black%20people">stops and searches</a> and <a href="https://www.inquest.org.uk/deaths-in-police-custody">deaths in police custody</a> that disproportionately affect people of colour.</p>
<p>My <a href="http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3420/">doctoral research</a> found warrior culture often derided and devalued officers working in policing roles focused on community engagement and trust-building. Officers working in these areas told me their peers and supervisors often said their efforts were not “real” police work and not of value. Some officers I spoke with even reported being viewed with suspicion by police colleagues for interacting so closely with local communities. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/casey-review-key-steps-the-met-police-must-take-to-address-its-institutional-racism-and-sexism-202255">Casey review: key steps the Met police must take to address its institutional racism and sexism</a>
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<h2>The birth of warrior culture</h2>
<p>In any policing organisation, there can be <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Two-Cultures-of-Policing-Street-Cops-and-Management-Cops/Reuss-Ianni/p/book/9781560006541">multiple cultures</a>. Street officers, middle management and senior police leaders, for example, approach the job differently. But research suggests that the core of policing, and the most influential on a force’s overall behaviour, is street police culture, which researchers have long believed is grounded in a warrior model. </p>
<p>One reason that warrior culture has become so embedded in policing is that it can be seen as <a href="https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/law_facpub/456/">beneficial to officers</a>. In theory, it creates camaraderie and a shared sense of values, enabling them to do what can often be a very difficult job.</p>
<p>Since its conception, the London Met’s <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1016/S1521-6136(07)08002-5/full/html">culture</a> was shaped by straight, white, working-class men, who made up a primary source of policing personnel. Traditional male conceptions of masculinity, sex, gender, race, aggression, physical strength and social control and interactions have influenced what is now institutionalised. </p>
<p>These norms are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0038038588022001004">passed down</a> from senior to more junior officers in the police academy and the field. They are reinforced on the job through performance metrics, supervisor evaluations and promotion decisions. It makes racism, misogyny and homophobia even harder to root out and challenge. </p>
<h2>Guardians, not warriors</h2>
<p>In the US, <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf">police leaders</a> have called for an overhaul of the warrior model. Many argue that reducing police misconduct and brutality in the long term is only possible with a <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/248654.pdf">guardianship approach</a>. </p>
<p>Police guardians are not adversaries of local communities. Instead of aggression, they focus on community engagement, building trust, positive community relations, conflict avoidance, de-escalation, and other peaceful means of policing. </p>
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<img alt="Rows of armed police in riot gear with face and body shields at an outdoor protest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516932/original/file-20230322-1520-3ekdfe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516932/original/file-20230322-1520-3ekdfe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516932/original/file-20230322-1520-3ekdfe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516932/original/file-20230322-1520-3ekdfe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516932/original/file-20230322-1520-3ekdfe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516932/original/file-20230322-1520-3ekdfe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516932/original/file-20230322-1520-3ekdfe.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">Warrior culture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/atlanta-georgia-us-may-31th-2020-1745897156">Raymond Richards/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Some departments, like in <a href="https://www.tucsonaz.gov/police/chief-police-chris-magnus">Arizona</a>, <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/html/podcasts/the_beat/08-2013/TheBeat-082013_Davis_Transcript.txt">Minnesota</a> and <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/gratitude-to-sue-rahr-an-early-leader-on-police-reform/">Washington</a> have started to make these changes voluntarily. Others, such as <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.pdf">Ferguson, Missouri</a> and <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/03/17/nopd_report.pdf">New Orleans</a>, have done so under court-mandated consent decrees.</p>
<p>This model could serve UK policing well. Many officers across UK forces and in a variety of roles already reject the warrior approach and serve as police guardians in practice. </p>
<p>Officials I interviewed for my <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/police-diversity">forthcoming book</a> on police diversity say shifting to a guardianship model requires overhauling all aspects of policing, from recruitment and training, to disciplining and terminating officers.</p>
<p>But UK policing as a whole has not yet accepted the influence of police warrior culture and the way it drives violence. This must happen for meaningful shifts to guardianship policing to occur. Though long overdue, hopefully the Casey review is the impetus for this reckoning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tara Lai Quinlan 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>Police thinking of themselves as warriors can lead to distrust and aggression towards minority groups.Tara Lai Quinlan, Assistant Professor in Law and Criminal Justice, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1992522023-02-10T13:51:17Z2023-02-10T13:51:17ZHow video evidence is presented in court can hold sway in cases like the beating death of Tyre Nichols<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509006/original/file-20230208-15-izfcn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C15%2C5081%2C2858&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Video footage of the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols may be key to any criminal trial.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CongressPoliceReform/7927280ae6504bbf8ba431ff3332576c/photo?Query=footage%20Tyre%20Nichols&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=6&currentItemNo=0">City of Memphis via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Body camera and surveillance footage depicting the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/07/us/memphis-officers-tyre-nichols.html">Jan. 7, 2023, fatal beating of Tyre Nichols</a> was key in raising national awareness and prompting protests for police reform. It may now play a crucial part in any prosecution of those accused in his death.</p>
<p>Five Memphis police officers have been <a href="https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/01/27/court-date-set-5-former-mpd-officers-charged-with-murder-tyre-nichols/">charged with murder</a> and are <a href="https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/01/27/court-date-set-5-former-mpd-officers-charged-with-murder-tyre-nichols/">set to appear in court</a> on Feb. 17. Additionally, the U.S. Justice Department has opened <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtn/pr/statement-united-states-attorney-kevin-g-ritz">a civil rights investigation</a> into Nichols’ death. </p>
<p>For over a decade, <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262542531/seeing-human-rights/">I have studied</a> how video evidence has helped civil rights and human rights claims get recognition and restitution in the U.S. and around the world. As a <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/cmci/people/media-studies/sandra-ristovska">media scholar</a>, I am especially interested in understanding the power and limitation of video evidence inside the courtroom, especially as video is now estimated to form a part of <a href="https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/media/document/final-video-evidence-primer-for-prosecutors.pdf">four in every five criminal cases</a>. </p>
<p>I have found that video does not provide a unified, objective window onto the truth. Rather, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-42392-001?doi=1">jurors may perceive the depicted events differently</a> – based, among other factors, on how the video is presented in court. </p>
<h2>How video’s presentation can influence perception</h2>
<p>Video can turn its viewers into witnesses, giving them the impression that they are transported directly to the event in question. Even judges may believe that the opportunity to see a video is equivalent to those in court seeing the real event. In the words of one district judge, it is as if the court had “<a href="https://casetext.com/case/mcdowell-v-sherrer">witnessed with its own eyes</a>.” Yet a growing body of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/2869">interdisciplinary research</a> has shown that there are many influences on how people perceive events recorded on video. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1603865113">The speed at which video is played in court</a>, for example, can affect people’s judgments. Videos played in slow motion, compared with normal speed, result in greater judgment of the intention of the person in the depicted action. Sports replays are an easy way to understand this point – slowing down events can make a foul in soccer or football seem more egregious. </p>
<p>Additionally, even the type of video people see can change their perception of what it shows. Across <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805928116">eight different experiments</a>, viewers of body camera footage were less likely to judge the police officer as having acted intentionally than those who watched the same incident captured on a dashboard camera.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509033/original/file-20230208-29-j7xrit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man's finger pressing a button on a device placed on a blue police uniform." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509033/original/file-20230208-29-j7xrit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509033/original/file-20230208-29-j7xrit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509033/original/file-20230208-29-j7xrit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509033/original/file-20230208-29-j7xrit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509033/original/file-20230208-29-j7xrit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509033/original/file-20230208-29-j7xrit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509033/original/file-20230208-29-j7xrit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A police officer starting a body camera recording.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/west-valley-city-patrol-officer-gatrell-starts-a-body-news-photo/464977016?phrase=body%20camera%20police&adppopup=true">George Frey/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The variations in the perception of intent were driven, in part, by the distinctive camera perspective. A body camera records from the police officer’s point of view, so it is unable to show the officer. On the other hand, a dashboard camera is mounted on a police car, thus it can show the officer’s actions from a wider angle and not necessarily from their viewpoint. </p>
<h2>Confirmation bias</h2>
<p>The discrepancies in perception and the judgments that ensue from the type and presentation of video are significant: They can be highly consequential in a criminal court trial where intent needs to be proved beyond reasonable doubt. </p>
<p>Furthermore, these cognitive biases may be particularly pernicious to people of color within <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12355">a legal system that already discriminates against them</a>. The perspective of body cameras, for example, may worsen racial biases in viewers of videos depicting police use of force. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab002">A study</a> shows that white viewers perceived dark-skinned civilians more negatively than light-skinned individuals when the body camera made them the subject of primary focus. </p>
<p>A common assumption is that repeated viewing can assist people to focus on information they may have missed on the first viewing, seemingly helping them better evaluate the depicted event. During trial, jurors indeed have multiple opportunities to see the same video. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23743603.2022.2026214">an eye-tracking study</a> demonstrates how people engage in visual confirmation bias: Their eyes follow a very similar pattern of visual attention, making them overconfident about their initial perception of the video in question. In other words, multiple viewing opportunities are ultimately unlikely to reduce biases that may already exist. </p>
<p>The proliferation of video is therefore challenging the existing legal practices regarding its presentation and use in court. </p>
<h2>Equal and fair justice in an age of video</h2>
<p><a href="https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/media/document/final-video-evidence-primer-for-prosecutors.pdf">The Bureau of Justice Assistance</a> at the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that video now appears in about 80% of criminal cases. Yet U.S. courts, from state and federal all the way to the Supreme Court, lack clear guidelines on how video can be used and presented as evidence. </p>
<p>As a result, the U.S. legal system provides substantial discretion in evaluating video evidence by ignoring <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-38574-001">a range of biases</a> that may shape visual perception and judgment in court. </p>
<p>The footage of Tyre Nichols is yet another reminder that video can help people bear witness to traumatic events. However, the way video is presented in court can greatly influence jurors’ perceptions. </p>
<p>As more and more encounters with police officers that are proving deadly are making their way into criminal and civil courts, I believe, the legal system needs mechanisms that can ensure consistency and fairness in the presentation and evaluation of video as evidence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra Ristovska is the recipient of a Mellon/ACLS Scholars & Society Fellowship (2021-2023). For her work on video evidence, she also received a Research and Innovation Office (RIO) Seed Grant from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2020-2021. </span></em></p>Jurors can perceive events in a video in different ways – one of which depends on how the evidence is presented in court, a media scholar explains.Sandra Ristovska, Assistant Professor in Media Studies, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994582023-02-08T03:58:27Z2023-02-08T03:58:27ZState of the Union: What experts have said about Biden’s proposed reforms on policing, guns and taxes – 8 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508788/original/file-20230208-17-sinz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C458%2C5542%2C3134&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/StateoftheUnion/0793dd475cc34b48ac6cd1b296624993/photo?Query=biden&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=96897&currentItemNo=2">Jacquelyn Martin, Pool/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The speech lasted 70-odd minutes and was interrupted at least 70 times, mostly by standing ovations from supporters, but also from occasional interjections from less sympathetic lawmakers.</em></p>
<p><em>There was also policy to dissect in President <a href="https://apnews.com/article/state-of-the-union-biden-2023-b9bebd876a42a9510f068a04a3f2a348">Joe Biden’s State of the Union address</a>. Some of it was new, much of it wasn’t – which meant that The Conversation was able to pull from its archives articles that shed light on and provide context and analysis to some of Biden’s proposals. Here are what scholars had to say on three policy themes that emerged.</em> </p>
<h2>1. Reforming the police</h2>
<p>Biden may well have been planning to push for police reform in the State of the Union address before the recent release of footage showing police officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols. But that incident – the latest in a series of high-profile deaths of Black men at the hands of police – has again shined a light on the failure to address systemic problems in the nation’s policing.</p>
<p>In front of an audience that included Nichols’ mother and stepfather, the president called on Congress to “finish the job on police reform,” while referencing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act – a bill that failed to pass into law amid gridlock in Congress.</p>
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<img alt="Two Black people stand with heads bowed as other people around them turn to face them and applaud." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508802/original/file-20230208-24-pi0z0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols are applauded by other attendees at the State of the Union.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/StateoftheUnion/a50366a28afe4a7a81c35bc884ac3629/photo?Query=tyre%20mother&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=86&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Patrick Semansky</a></span>
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<p>The bill would have addressed some of the problems of U.S. policing. It includes a ban on racial profiling by all law enforcement agencies and an end to the “qualified immunity” that protects officers in civil lawsuits. It would also expand the powers of the Justice Department to hold departments to account over civil rights violations.</p>
<p>But, as <a href="https://law.rutgers.edu/directory/view/ak1444">Alexis Karteron</a>, associate professor of law at Rutgers University – Newark, notes, <a href="https://theconversation.com/tyre-nichols-death-prompts-calls-for-federal-legislation-to-promote-police-reform-but-congress-cant-do-much-about-fixing-local-police-159881">it isn’t a sufficient fix</a>. The problem is the federal government has only limited power when it comes to effecting change among the nearly 18,000 police departments in the U.S. </p>
<p>“For those looking to the federal government to solve what’s wrong with policing in America, federal legislation can’t ensure that every police department will make meaningful changes. That’s because the [George Floyd Justice in Policing Act] reflects the hard reality that the federal government has almost no control over state and local police departments,” Karteron writes. She adds that even if it is passed, the likelihood is some of those agencies would sue, “arguing that the federal government is attempting to coerce them into adopting policy reforms they do not need or want.”</p>
<p>Which is why some policing experts, such as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=rJXj1KEAAAAJ">Thaddeus L. Johnson</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=w9JwJd8AAAAJ">Natasha N. Johnson</a> at Georgia State University, have suggested that <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-police-reform-talks-have-failed-but-local-efforts-stand-a-better-chance-of-success-168630">reform is best undertaken at a local level</a>. That would leave the federal government to play “a clear role in regard to financing reform and addressing nonpolicing issues that contribute to crime, such as underlying poverty and the lack of green spaces.”</p>
<p>Federal money could also help police departments recruit and train police officers. Biden in 2022, announced plans to add 100,000 officers nationwide as part of his policing plan. <a href="https://theconversation.com/memphis-police-numbers-dropped-by-nearly-a-quarter-in-recent-years-were-staffing-shortages-a-factor-in-the-killing-of-tyre-nichols-199078">Research from criminologists</a> <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/criminology_and_criminal_justice/our_people/directory/adams_ian.php">Ian T. Adams</a> of the University of South Carolina, <a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-public-affairs-and-community-service/criminology-and-criminal-justice/about-us/justin-nix.php">Justin Nix</a> of the University of Nebraska Omaha, and University of Utah’s <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ypvpo1gAAAAJ&hl=en">Scott M. Mourtgos</a> suggests that adding officers would help reverse a trend that has seen many leave the profession since the protests that followed George Floyd’s death. In Memphis, where Tyre Nichols was killed, police staffing has dropped by nearly a quarter in recent years.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tyre-nichols-death-prompts-calls-for-federal-legislation-to-promote-police-reform-but-congress-cant-do-much-about-fixing-local-police-159881">Tyre Nichols' death prompts calls for federal legislation to promote police reform – but Congress can’t do much about fixing local police</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-police-reform-talks-have-failed-but-local-efforts-stand-a-better-chance-of-success-168630">Federal police reform talks have failed – but local efforts stand a better chance of success</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/memphis-police-numbers-dropped-by-nearly-a-quarter-in-recent-years-were-staffing-shortages-a-factor-in-the-killing-of-tyre-nichols-199078">Memphis police numbers dropped by nearly a quarter in recent years – were staffing shortages a factor in the killing of Tyre Nichols?</a>
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<h2>2. Tightening gun controls</h2>
<p>The State of the Union comes just 38 days into the new year, but already there have been 60 mass shootings in the U.S., according to the nonprofit <a href="https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/">Gun Violence Archive</a>. Brandon Tsay, who disarmed the gunman at the Jan. 21, 2023 deadly attack at Monterey Park, California, was among the attendees in Congress to hear Biden speak.</p>
<p>Biden detailed what his administration was able to do to promote gun control, notably through provisions contained in the Safer Communities Act. Hailed by Biden as “the most sweeping gun safety law in three decades,” the act was limited in scope, but experts believe its modest reforms will save lives.</p>
<p>Among other provisions, it gives support to states to pass so-called “red flag laws” that allow authorities to seize the firearms of individuals deemed to be a threat. Political scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=3y3BVcEAAAAJ">John A. Tures</a> of LaGrange College has <a href="https://theconversation.com/red-flag-laws-saved-7-300-americans-from-gun-deaths-in-2020-alone-and-could-have-saved-11-400-more-185009">examined the effectiveness of red flag laws</a>.</p>
<p>He found that states that passed such legislation saw significantly lower firearm death rates than states without them. </p>
<p>“In 2020, if there were no red flag laws, I estimate that 52,530 Americans would have died in gun deaths. The number actually recorded was 45,222, indicating red flag laws saved 7,308 American lives that year,” Tures writes.</p>
<p>Lives – mainly female ones – will also be saved by the closing of the “boyfriend loophole,” which had allowed some people with a record of domestic violence to keep and buy firearms. The Safer Communities Act extended the wording in a federal ban to “those who have or have had a continuing relationship of a romantic or intimate nature.” <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=QHzNAqcAAAAJ">April Zeoli</a> at Michigan State University writes that <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-closing-the-boyfriend-loophole-in-gun-legislation-save-lives-heres-what-the-research-says-185481">closing the boyfriend loophole will save lives</a>. But she notes in a separate article that recent court rulings may <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-judge-in-texas-is-using-a-recent-supreme-court-ruling-to-allow-domestic-abusers-to-keep-their-guns-195273">allow domestic abusers to keep their guns</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Biden called for a ban on assault weapons “once and for all.” Such a ban once existed but was allowed to lapse. But do bans on assault rifles work? Yes, writes <a href="https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/michael-j-klein-1">Michael J. Klein</a> of New York University, who was part of a team that analyzed the impact of the federal ban on assault rifles in place for a decade from 1994. </p>
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<p>“We calculated that the risk of a person in the U.S. dying in a mass shooting was 70% lower during the period in which the assault weapons ban was active,” he writes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/red-flag-laws-saved-7-300-americans-from-gun-deaths-in-2020-alone-and-could-have-saved-11-400-more-185009">Red flag laws saved 7,300 Americans from gun deaths in 2020 alone – and could have saved 11,400 more</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-closing-the-boyfriend-loophole-in-gun-legislation-save-lives-heres-what-the-research-says-185481">Will closing the 'boyfriend loophole' in gun legislation save lives? Here's what the research says</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-judge-in-texas-is-using-a-recent-supreme-court-ruling-to-allow-domestic-abusers-to-keep-their-guns-195273">A judge in Texas is using a recent Supreme Court ruling to allow domestic abusers to keep their guns</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/did-the-assault-weapons-ban-of-1994-bring-down-mass-shootings-heres-what-the-data-tells-us-184430">Did the assault weapons ban of 1994 bring down mass shootings? Here's what the data tells us</a>
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<h2>3. Taxing the rich?</h2>
<p>Biden came to the State of the Union armed with economic data showing robust job growth and evidence that once-soaring inflation is beginning to fall.</p>
<p>With the United States’ increasing national debt as a backdrop, Biden outlined a plan to boost government revenues through a minimum tax for billionaires and a quadrupling of the tax on corporate stock buybacks.</p>
<p>Even if Republicans in Congress were to approve the measures, it is unlikely to set a course for a new era of progressive taxation. As <a href="https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/profile/1047593">Gabriel Zucman</a> and <a href="https://eml.berkeley.edu/%7Esaez/">Emmanuel Saez</a>, economists at the University of California, Berkeley, explain, similar plans eyed by Democrats in recent years <a href="https://theconversation.com/tax-the-rich-democrats-plans-to-make-the-wealthy-pay-a-little-more-will-barely-dent-americas-long-slide-from-progressive-taxation-168057">hardly amount to squeezing the uber-rich</a>; in fact, they do little to reverse the decadeslong trend toward regressive taxation, in which lower earners pay a larger percentage of their earnings in tax than wealthier ones.</p>
<p><iframe id="lW4lQ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/lW4lQ/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The two economists conclude that although it would “increase taxes on millionaires significantly,” the 2021 proposal put forward by Democrats would “largely leave billionaires off the hook, despite the explosion of their wealth during the pandemic.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/tax-the-rich-democrats-plans-to-make-the-wealthy-pay-a-little-more-will-barely-dent-americas-long-slide-from-progressive-taxation-168057">'Tax the rich'? Democrats' plans to make the wealthy pay a little more will barely dent America's long slide from progressive taxation</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
President Biden outlined his achievements in key policy areas and sketched out his plans for the rest of his term in office.Matt Williams, Senior International EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/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>
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<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">
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<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>
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<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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<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/1815462023-02-03T13:30:10Z2023-02-03T13:30:10ZPolice traffic stops can alienate communities and lead to violent deaths like Tyre Nichols’ – is it time to rethink them?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507965/original/file-20230202-14530-1p6zzq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3671%2C2082&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The fatal beating of Tyre Nichols started after he was pulled over by cops.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MemphisPoliceForceInvestigation/f7da78aa167a423a8fa327e1703219f7/photo?Query=Tyre%20Nichols%20officers&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=300&currentItemNo=103">City of Memphis via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/us/tyre-nichols-timeline-investigation/index.html">killing of Tyre Nichols</a> has raised questions about the use and risks of a routine part of U.S. policing: the traffic stop.</p>
<p>Nichols died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2022, from injuries sustained in a <a href="https://www.memphistn.gov/news/video-footage-of-incident-between-tyre-nichols-and-memphis-police-department/">beating by five officers</a> three days earlier. The violence occurred after the 29-year-old Black man was <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/tyre-nichols-memphis-police-reckless-driving-b2270667.html">pulled over while driving in Memphis, Tennessee</a>. The officers, all of whom are also Black, have since been fired and face charges of second-degree murder.</p>
<p>While not all traffic stops result in violent encounters – indeed <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3355119">studies suggest</a> that relatively few do – the case of Nichols highlights that such encounters can become sites of police violence. And this isn’t an isolated incident. Before Nichols came <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61123590">Patrick Lyoya</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/20/us/philando-castile-shooting-dashcam/index.html">Philando Castile</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/sandra-bland-brian-encinia.html">Sandra Bland</a>, to name just a few high-profile cases. All were killed by police in incidents that began with a traffic stop.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2HBudoEAAAAJ&hl=en">We have</a> analyzed a data set of <a href="https://scholars.org/brief/what-20-million-traffic-stops-reveal-about-policing-and-race-america">more than 20 million traffic stops</a> as part of research into the effectiveness of this routine part of police life. What <a href="https://sppga.ubc.ca/profile/megan-dias/">we have found</a> is that, even by its own standards, the return on this high-contact form of policing is slim – it <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/papers/APSA_2022_PoliticsOfPolicing.pdf">rarely leads to criminal charges or convictions</a>. Moreover, the negative consequences are far-reaching. Law enforcement traffic stops are prone to racial bias and cause harm to communities and individuals disproportionate to any benefit that they bring, <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/articles/PGI-2016-Targeting.pdf">our research suggests</a>.</p>
<h2>‘Broken taillight’ theory?</h2>
<p>Traffic stops represent the <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpp08.pdf">most common nonvoluntary interaction</a> between citizens and police officers in the U.S. Every year, around <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/papers/APSA_2022_PoliticsOfPolicing.pdf">20 million stops are recorded</a>.</p>
<p>Some of these stops are for legitimate public safety reasons – drunken drivers, for example, are an obvious risk to other road users. But police officers have huge discretion when it comes to conducting traffic stops for a whole slew of driving infractions, from a broken taillight to speeding. They can also, in most states, initiate a traffic stop as the pretext to investigating other crimes. This right was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1996 in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1995/95-5841">Whren vs. United States</a>. The ruling stated that it is not unconstitutional for officers to use any traffic violation, no matter how minor, as a reason to search the vehicle for other suspected crimes – for example, the possession of illegal drugs – if they have reasonable cause.</p>
<p>These <a href="https://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/s98oday.htm">pretextual stops</a>, stopping cars for minor infractions as an opportunity to look for evidence of drug-related or violent crime, can be thought of as the roadside equivalent to “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/stop_and_frisk">stop and frisk</a>” – the practice of allowing officers to search someone on the streets if they have “reasonable” suspicion of criminal activity.</p>
<p>Both form part of what is called the “<a href="https://cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/what-works-in-policing/research-evidence-review/broken-windows-policing/">broken windows” theory</a> of policing. This idea, which rose to prominence in the 1990s, holds that minor instances of disorder in a neighborhood create an environment that will eventually lead to more serious instances of crime, and that by focusing on smaller infractions police can root out more serious offenses.</p>
<p>The SCORPION unit that pulled over Nichols exemplifies the type of high-contact, proactive, and aggressive policing that often characterizes broken windows tactics. The officers who killed Nichols <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/tyre-nichols-video-assault-cops.html">gave him more than 70 orders in just a few minutes</a>.</p>
<p>Broken windows policing has long been <a href="https://news.northeastern.edu/2019/05/15/northeastern-university-researchers-find-little-evidence-for-broken-windows-theory-say-neighborhood-disorder-doesnt-cause-crime/">debunked by many criminologists</a> who find that it fails to achieve its objectives, at the detriment of communities. Our research suggests that traffic stops yield few results when it comes to serious crimes. <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/papers/APSA_2022_PoliticsOfPolicing.pdf">Analysis of 9.5 million traffic stops</a> in North Carolina between 2013 and 2019 shows that just 1.2% led to felony charges. The felony conviction rate resulting from pulling over a driver was 0.23%.</p>
<h2>Driving while Black</h2>
<p>While the effectiveness of traffic stops as a tool to apprehend serious criminals appears tenuous at best, what is clear is that pulling over drivers has the <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/articles/PGI-2016-Targeting.pdf">potential for negative</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/police-killings-traffic-stops-takeaways.html">sometimes violent, outcomes</a> – <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/traffic-stops-are-flashpoint-policing-america-reformers-are-winning-big-n1280594">especially for Black drivers</a>.</p>
<p>It can also affect entire communities. Ferguson, Missouri, is just one well-known example of how widespread racially biased traffic stops can <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.pdf">erode trust in the police</a>.</p>
<p>In places like Ferguson, evidence has shown that intensely policing minor traffic infractions, while legally permissible, can <a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/08/25/343143937/in-ferguson-court-fines-and-fees-fuel-anger">drown communities in fines, fees and administrative burdens</a>. And Ferguson isn’t alone. Funds from penalty fines are used to help fund police and local governments across the U.S. A 2019 study found that in 600 jurisdictions across the U.S. <a href="https://www.governing.com/archive/fine-fee-revenues-special-report.html">fines made up more than 10% of funds</a>. In almost half of those governments, money from ticketing accounted for more than 20% of funding.</p>
<p>This financial burden falls disproportionately on Black drivers. A <a href="http://nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/police-ticket-quotas-money-funding.html">2021 New York Times analysis</a> of 4,000 traffic citations handed out in Newburgh Heights, Ohio, a small town just south of Cleveland, found that 76% of license and insurance violations and 63% of speeding tickets were handed to Black drivers. Black residents made up just 22% of the town’s population.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Demonstrators gather on a street, one crying out and the other with a face mask with 'defund MPD' written on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506925/original/file-20230128-16-f1lyqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Release of video footage of Tyre Nichols’ beating has sparked protests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MemphisPoliceTyreNicholsWashington/350e3ec761224f99bdbaacbf65249747/photo?Query=tyre%20nichols&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=247&currentItemNo=114">P Photo/Carolyn Kaste</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Racial bias has <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2020/may/black-drivers-more-likely-to-be-stopped-by-police.html">long accompanied traffic stops</a>. In the largest study of its kind, Stanford researchers in 2020 analyzed 100 million traffic stops and concluded that “persistent racial bias” existed. The study found that during daylight hours Black drivers are more likely to be pulled over than their white counterparts. But at nighttime, when the “<a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2020/05/05/veil-darkness-reduces-racial-bias-traffic-stops/">veil of darkness</a>” makes it harder for officers to racially identify drivers, white drivers are stopped more often than Black drivers.</p>
<p>This concurs with our own findings on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2016.1160413">traffic stop data from North Carolina</a>: Black men are far more likely to be searched by cops than their white counterparts – at a rate of just under two to one – despite being less likely to be found with any illegal substances.</p>
<p>Traffic stops can also be a precursor to violent and deadly encounters, such as in the case of Nichols’ killing. The New York Times in 2021 found that over a five-year period, police officers in the U.S. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/police-traffic-stops-killings.html">killed more than 400 drivers or passengers</a> not brandishing a gun or knife and not being pursued over a violent crime. Black Americans were disproportionately represented among those killed by officers, the newspaper found.</p>
<h2>Taking a new route</h2>
<p>Using the traffic code to raise funds for jurisdictions or as a pretext to investigate serious crime produces only dubious public safety benefits and comes at a heavy costs, research indicates. </p>
<p>It has prompted <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/09/03/police-pretext-traffic-stops-need-to-end-some-lawmakers-say">some policymakers to look at other options</a>, such as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/traffic-stops-are-flashpoint-policing-america-reformers-are-winning-big-n1280594">scaling back the types of infractions</a> that can provide a basis for a traffic stop. In 2020, Virginia became the first state to <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+sum+HB5058">ban officers from conducting traffic stops for low-level violations</a>, such as a broken taillight or illegal tinted windows. A year earlier, the <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-supreme-court-bans-police-officers-random-questions/">Oregon Supreme Court ruled</a> that it is impermissible for police officers to use a routine traffic stop as a springboard for broader criminal investigations by asking if they can search a vehicle without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.</p>
<p>Such moves will limit the number of interactions police have with motorists. They could also save lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The case of Tyre Nichols highlights how traffic stops can turn deadly. Traffic stops are also prone to racial bias, can break down community trust in police and yield few results, research shows.Derek Epp, Assistant professor in the Department of Government, The University of Texas at AustinMegan Dias, PhD Candidate, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1988512023-02-01T19:15:05Z2023-02-01T19:15:05ZTyre Nichols’ death underscores the troubled history of specialized police units<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507650/original/file-20230201-8653-ncdbsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3722%2C2093&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of Memphis' SCORPION unit were behind the brutal beating of a suspect.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MemphisPoliceForceInvestigation/9536d0e992af49cbb5b1f5d928e3a160/photo?Query=Tyre%20Nichols%20officers&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=300&currentItemNo=104">City of Memphis via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tyre-nichols-death-investigation-memphis-police-officers-charges-what-we-know/">officers charged</a> in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/01/27/us/tyre-nichols-police-beating-timeline.html">fatal beating of Tyre Nichols</a> were not your everyday uniformed patrol officers.</p>
<p>Rather, they were part of an elite squad: Memphis Police Department’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/memphis-police-scorpions.html">SCORPION team</a>. A rather tortured acronym for “Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods,” SCORPION is a crime suppression unit – that is, officers detailed specifically to prevent, detect and interrupt violent crime by proactively using stops, frisks, searches and arrests. Such specialized units are common in forces across the U.S. and tend to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/30/dc-police-special-squad/">rely on aggressive policing</a> tactics.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/criminology_and_criminal_justice/our_people/directory/adams_ian.php">academics who</a> <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/law/faculty_and_staff/directory/stoughton_seth.php">study policing</a>, and as former officers ourselves, we have long been aware of potential problems with such specialized units. Treating aggressive crime fighting as the highest priority in policing can cultivate a corrosive culture in which bad behavior is often tolerated, even encouraged – to the <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL261/better-policing-toolkit/all-strategies/zero-tolerance/in-depth.html">detriment of community relations</a>. Changing that pattern requires wrestling with complexities of policing in modern society.</p>
<h2>From Prohibition to the war on drugs</h2>
<p>Crime suppression units, sometimes called “violence reduction units” or “street crimes units,” have a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/31/scorpion-police-units-harm-communities/">long and often sordid history</a> in the United States.</p>
<p>Such specialized units are usually set up to address specific issues, such as drug trafficking or gang crime. An early precedent to modern crime suppression units can be seen in the squads set up by the federal Bureau of Prohibition and their local counterparts during the 1920s. These squads were charged with enforcing newly passed alcohol laws but <a href="https://prohibition.themobmuseum.org/the-history/enforcing-the-prohibition-laws/law-enforcement-during-prohibition/">often lacked the training or numbers to support their mission</a>. The predictable result was the unlawful <a href="https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/prohibition-bureau-bureau-of-prohibition/">killing of civilians and corruption</a>. Indeed, the <a href="https://law.jrank.org/pages/11309/Wickersham-Commission.html">Wickersham Commission report</a>, released in the early 1930s, shows how the power that goes with being part of a specialized unit can be corrosive. It noted that the “unfortunate public expressions [by police] approving killings and promiscuous shootings and lawless raids and seizures” can lead to the alienation of “thoughtful citizens, believers in law and order.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photo shows police officers in 1920s uniforms pouring out liquid from a barrel." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507688/original/file-20230201-16382-rsj2qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prohibition police units often overstepped the mark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cambridge-officer-patrick-f-ready-has-his-ax-in-hand-as-the-news-photo/160467129?phrase=prohibition%20police%20US&adppopup=true">Hugh E. O'Donnell/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In more recent times, police agencies have used specialized units to respond to violent crime, often because of a surge in public demand for the police to “do something.” Investing in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/how-actually-fix-americas-police/612520/">a more robust public safety infrastructure</a> is expensive, politically fraught and, even if successful, could take decades to reap rewards. So instead of addressing social problems, such as poverty and lack of economic opportunity, elected officials turn to police leaders, who often reach for a familiar tool: <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/addressing-violent-crime-more-effectively">aggressive enforcement tactics</a>. Such an approach is intended to prevent, detect and interrupt crime, and to <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674248908">identify, apprehend and punish</a> criminal offenders. </p>
<h2>When cops ‘own the city’</h2>
<p>That was exactly the pattern in Memphis, where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/us/memphis-shooting-gun-violence.html">violent crime</a> in 2020 and 2021 experienced <a href="https://memphiscrime.org/the-stats/">a significant increase</a>, with a per capita murder rate that put it among the most dangerous cities in the nation. These historic rises in homicides were in contrast to <a href="https://memphiscrime.org/the-stats/">dramatically lower rates</a> just a few years before.</p>
<p>In 2021, the city hired Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, who bluntly described <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/memphis-police-scorpions.html">her vision</a>: “being tough on tough people.”</p>
<p>As homicides soared, Memphis established the SCORPION team, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/scorpion-unit-memphis-police-task-force-center-tyre/story?id=96720313">assigning 40 officers to clean up the most crime-ridden parts</a> of the city. Both Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Chief Davis <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/memphis-police-scorpions.html">celebrated</a> the number of arrests that the SCORPION team’s officers made, along with the guns, cash and vehicles they seized.</p>
<p>Positions in specialized units come with prestige, flexibility and the lure of future promotions. In better times, membership is restricted to officers with more experience and training. But as the Memphis Police Department lost around 23% of its sworn personnel between 2013 and 2018, <a href="https://www.actionnews5.com/story/38513242/mpd-makes-changes-to-college-requirements-for-recruits">the department lowered overall minimum standards</a> for officers, and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/memphis-police-scorpion-unit-tyre-nichols-rcna67711">inexperienced officers were appointed to SCORPION</a> – <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tyre-nichols-police-officers-charged-48d48f2137a2f34482274edb1bd1bab2">including those now charged</a> with murdering Tyre Nichols.</p>
<p>Memphis is far from alone. In 2007, the Baltimore Police Department <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e25f215b3dbd6661a25b79d/t/61dfb0a510a6fd7443dd5914/1642049707420/GTTF+Report_Executive+Summary-c2-c2-c2.pdf">set up the Gun Trace Task Force</a> to address illegal guns and violent crime. And before that, in the 1990s, the Los Angeles Police Department established the Rampart <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/scandal/crashculture.html">CRASH, or Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, unit</a>, which focused on gangs and violent crime. In New Orleans, the city’s police department viewed its task force officers, known as “jump out boys,” as “<a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/03/17/nopd_report.pdf">enforcers and agents of crime control</a>.” </p>
<p>Scandal connects these units. In each case – and in many more – officers stepped over the line from aggressive enforcement to misconduct, abuse or even outright criminality. Members of the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force were <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/we-own-this-city-gun-trace-task-force-baltimore-hbo-1698924">eventually convicted on charges including robbery, racketeering and extortion</a>. Rampart CRASH unit officers <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/scandal/cron.html">robbed banks, stole narcotics and engaged in extrajudicial beatings of suspects</a>. The New Orleans Police Department was eventually <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/us/plan-to-reform-new-orleans-police-department.html">placed under the oversight of a federal consent decree</a> after the jump out boys developed a reputation as “dirty cops, the ones who are going to be brutal,” in the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2011/03/17/nopd_report.pdf">words of one sergeant</a>.</p>
<h2>Do the ends justify the means?</h2>
<p>These result were, for many, entirely foreseeable. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://thecrimereport.org/2020/01/27/renowned-policing-expert-herman-goldstein-dies-at-88/">eminent criminologist Herman Goldstein</a> wrote in 1977, problems arise when “the police […] place a higher priority on maintaining order than on operating legally.” Recent scholars refer to “<a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315162591/police-ethics-michael-caldero-brian-withrow-jeffrey-dailey">noble cause corruption</a>,” but readers are probably more familiar with a synonymous phrase: “the ends justify the means.”</p>
<p>Even when well-intentioned, prioritizing aggressive police enforcement can be deeply destructive. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12192">Research has found</a> that aggressive police units have significantly more use-of-force incidents and public complaints, while also having fewer complaints against them upheld. This suggests a culture in which some violations are tacitly approved so long as the unit is productive – that is, it makes arrests.</p>
<p>To a significant extent, this comes down to agency culture. A permissive culture, as researchers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(03)00002-3">have long recognized</a>, can both protect and corrupt the nature of policing. Every police department has a culture, but those best able to balance the missions of addressing violent crime and maintaining community support set about shaping and reinforcing their culture instead of leaving it to grow wild.</p>
<p>When aggressive police culture overwhelms the professional norms of constitutional policing, the public safety mission of policing breaks down. Chiefs are put into a difficult position – they must ensure that officers who use coercive authority in response to public demands for crime control also respect the legal limits of their authority.</p>
<p>The legitimacy of policing, we believe, depends on recognizing that while hyperaggressive tactics by young, often inexperienced officers in crime suppression units may contribute to short-term deterrence of some violent crime, those same tactics are very likely to leave a wake of public disgust and distrust behind. That can seriously undermine public safety efforts, including the investigation of violent crimes that rely heavily on community cooperation. </p>
<p>If the history of crime suppression units teaches us anything, it is that they must prioritize legal and <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/248411.pdf">rightful policing</a> above aggressive crime fighting. To do otherwise is to risk becoming just another source of violence in already victimized communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The officers charged in the murder of a Black man in Memphis, Tenn., were part of the elite SCORPION squad. Such units have an ugly history.Ian T. Adams, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South CarolinaSeth W. Stoughton, Professor of Law, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1987112023-01-28T00:14:16Z2023-01-28T00:14:16Z‘Acts that defy humanity:’ 3 essential reads on police brutality, race and the power of video evidence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506900/original/file-20230127-10847-1b0tbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=447%2C320%2C5182%2C3426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People attend a candlelight vigil in memory of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tenn., on Jan. 26, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-attend-a-candlelight-vigil-in-memory-of-tyre-nichols-news-photo/1459866539?phrase=tyre%20nichols&adppopup=true">Scott Olson/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the case of the five Black, former Memphis police officers accused of murder in the beating death of Tyre Nichols, justice has moved quickly. </p>
<p>In fewer than 30 days after Nichols’ Jan. 10, 2023 death, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/former-memphis-police-officer-indicted-tyre-nichols-death-cnn-reports-2023-01-26/">former officers were charged</a> with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. </p>
<p>The Memphis Police Department released video footage of the officers’ encounter with Nichols on Jan. 27, 2023. And some who’ve seen the video, which includes footage captured by body-worn cameras, cameras mounted on dashboards of police vehicles and security cameras on utility poles in the vicinity, have <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/mother-of-tyre-nichols-calls-for-peaceful-protests-when-horrific-video-is-released/ar-AA16OGVm">described it as “horrific.”</a></p>
<p>Before the video was released <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/27/us/tyre-nichols-memphis-friday/index.html">Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis told CNN</a>: “You are going to see acts that defy humanity.”</p>
<p>In recent years, as national outrage over the systemic racism within U.S. law enforcement has grown, The Conversation U.S. has published several articles on police brutality, race and the national outrage over systemic racism within the U.S. criminal justice system. </p>
<h2>1. Different interpretations of video evidence</h2>
<p>Media Studies Professor <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/cmci/people/media-studies/sandra-ristovska">Sandra Ristovska</a> examines the use of video as evidence in state and federal courts in the U.S. and <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-rodney-king-to-george-floyd-how-video-evidence-can-be-differently-interpreted-in-courts-159794">writes</a> about the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9JiIdsjfjo">Rodney King</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fpivi5ljhI">George Floyd</a> cases where jurors interpreted video evidence differently. </p>
<p>In the King case, the four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of charges of assault and excessive use of force as the jury believed the video showed a justified response to King’s allegedly frightening actions.</p>
<p>Lead prosecutor Terry White ended his closing arguments by asking the jury: “Now who do you believe, the defendants or your own eyes?”</p>
<p>In the Floyd case, jurors believed their own eyes and convicted Derek Chauvin for the murder of Floyd.</p>
<p>As Ristovska explains, bystander, bodycam and dashcam videos of policing can be powerful forms of evidence.</p>
<p>“Yet judges, attorneys and jurors may see and treat video in varied ways that can lead to inconsistent renderings of justice,” she writes.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-rodney-king-to-george-floyd-how-video-evidence-can-be-differently-interpreted-in-courts-159794">From Rodney King to George Floyd, how video evidence can be differently interpreted in courts</a>
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<h2>2. The racist roots of policing</h2>
<p>As historian <a href="https://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/people/clare-corbould">Clare Corbould</a> explains, police violence that disproportionately targets African Americans long predates portable video cameras. </p>
<p>Where Black Africans were once enslaved to provide cheap labor, Corbould writes, they are now policed, charged, indicted and incarcerated at staggering rates.</p>
<p>“As many have noted since [George] Floyd’s murder, the origins of U.S. policing lie in the control of supposedly disorderly populations,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/relief-at-derek-chauvin-conviction-a-sign-of-long-history-of-police-brutality-159212">Corbould writes</a>, “whether of enslaved people or, after the end of slavery, an impoverished class of laborers including Black people and immigrants.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/relief-at-derek-chauvin-conviction-a-sign-of-long-history-of-police-brutality-159212">Relief at Derek Chauvin conviction a sign of long history of police brutality</a>
</strong>
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<h2>3. College requirements for police may reduce fatal encounters</h2>
<p>In their peer-reviewed study of data on 235 U.S. city police departments from 2000 to 2016, <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/thaddeus-johnson/">Thaddeus L. Johnson</a> and <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/natasha-johnson/">Natasha N. Johnson</a> found that police forces requiring at least a two-year college degree for employment are less likely to employ officers who engage in actions that cause the deaths of Black and unarmed citizens. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/college-requirements-for-police-forces-can-save-black-lives-but-at-what-cost-187251">they explain</a>, “Our results demonstrated that college minimums are associated with as much as three times lower rates of police-related fatalities involving Black people than police forces without a college degree requirement.”</p>
<p>Their findings further suggest that the impact of a more educated police force may emerge during only the most dangerous encounters that often precede the use of weapons.</p>
<p>More research needs to be done but they conclude that police agencies trying to reduce fatal confrontations should consider ways to recruit college-degreed applicants while at the same time support college attendance among current officers.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/college-requirements-for-police-forces-can-save-black-lives-but-at-what-cost-187251">College requirements for police forces can save Black lives, but at what cost?</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The death of a Black motorist after a beating by five Black Memphis police officers has triggered national outrage over police brutality and systemic racism with the U.S. criminal justice system.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/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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<p>
<em>
<strong>
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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</em>
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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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<p>
<em>
<strong>
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/1929002022-10-24T12:26:40Z2022-10-24T12:26:40ZRepublicans say crime is on the rise – what is the crime rate and what does it mean?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490961/original/file-20221020-15-cwe7bn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2100%2C1401&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Mehmet Oz has talked a lot about the crime rate during his campaign in Pennsylvania.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2022PennsylvaniaSenate/d1c89933cd874bdea6c6c3ca8a861edf/photo">AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the lead-up to the 2022 midterm elections, Republican candidates across the nation are <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republicans-ride-crime-wave-worries-in-midterms-home-stretch/ar-AA12Zj7W">blaming Democrats for an increase in crime</a>. </p>
<p>But as a scholar of criminology and criminal justice, I believe it’s important to note that, despite the <a href="https://host2.adimpact.com/admo/viewer/4f9ccad6-acdb-4498-a405-910fc13b3ae8">apparently confident assertions of politicians</a>, it’s not so easy to make sense of fluctuations in the crime rate. And whether it’s going up or down depends on a few key questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>What you mean by “crime,”</li>
<li>What the “up” or “down” comparisons are in reference to, and</li>
<li>The location or area being examined.</li>
</ul>
<p>Here’s an explanation of those elements – and why there is no one answer to whether crime has increased in the past year, or over the past decade.</p>
<h2>What is ‘crime,’ anyway?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490969/original/file-20221020-22-3h2uwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An email message reads: Three fires in residential neighborhoods in ONE WEEK! Three homeless encampment evictions in that same week! Multiple vehicles broken into in just one neighborhood! A homecoming game interrupted by youth with unmarked guns!" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490969/original/file-20221020-22-3h2uwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490969/original/file-20221020-22-3h2uwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490969/original/file-20221020-22-3h2uwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490969/original/file-20221020-22-3h2uwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490969/original/file-20221020-22-3h2uwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490969/original/file-20221020-22-3h2uwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490969/original/file-20221020-22-3h2uwx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Republican politicians across the nation, including Cicely Davis in Minnesota, are working to get voters concerned about crime.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cicely Davis campaign email</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Usually when politicians, public officials and scholars talk about crime statistics, they’re referring to <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement">the most serious crimes</a>, which the FBI officially calls “index” or “Part 1” offenses: criminal homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson.</p>
<p>Because these crimes vary a great deal in terms of seriousness, experts break this list up into “violent” and “property” offenses, so as not to confuse a surge in thefts with an increase in killings.</p>
<p>Each month, state and local police departments tally up the crimes they have handled and send the data to the FBI for inclusion in the nation’s annual <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/need-an-fbi-service-or-more-information/ucr">Uniform Crime Report</a>.</p>
<p>But that system has limitations. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/criminal-victimization-2021">fewer than half</a> of all events that could count as crimes actually get reported to police in the first place. And police departments are not required to send information about known crimes to the FBI. So each year what are presented as national crime statistics are derived from whichever of the <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh236/files/media/document/csllea18st.pdf">roughly 17,000 police departments</a> across the country decide to send in their data.</p>
<p>In 2021, the optional nature of reporting crime statistics was a particular problem, because the FBI asked for more detailed information than it had in the past. Historically, the bureau received data from police departments covering about 90% of the U.S. population. But <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/05/us/fbi-national-crime-report-2021-data/index.html">fewer agencies supplied</a> the more detailed data requested in 2021. That data covered only 66% of the nation’s population. And the patchwork wasn’t even: In some states, such as Texas, Ohio and South Carolina, nearly all agencies reported. But in other states, such as Florida, California and New York, <a href="https://public.tableau.com/shared/7969TZHT6?:toolbar=n&:display_count=n&:origin=viz_share_link&:embed=y">participation was abysmal</a>.</p>
<p>With those caveats in mind, the 2021 data estimates that <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/murder">criminal homicide</a> rose about 4% nationally from 2020 levels. Robberies were down 9%, and aggravated assaults remained relatively unchanged.</p>
<p>Rapes are notoriously <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/vnrp0610.pdf">underreported to police</a>, but the <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/criminal-victimization-2021">2021 National Crime Victimization Survey</a> suggests there was no significant change from 2020.</p>
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<h2>What’s the benchmark?</h2>
<p>Those comparisons look at the prior year to assess whether certain types of crime are up or down. Such comparisons may seem straightforward, but violent crime, particularly homicide, is statistically rare enough that a rise or fall from one year to the next doesn’t necessarily mean there is reason to panic or celebrate.</p>
<p>Another way to assess trends is to look at as much data as possible. <a href="https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/home">Over the past 36 years</a>, clear trends have emerged. The national homicide rate in 2021 wasn’t as high as it was in the early 1990s, but 2021’s figure is the highest in nearly 25 years.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, robberies have been trending steadily downward for the better part of 30 years. And though the aggravated assault rate didn’t change much from 2020 to 2021, it is clearly higher now than at any time during the 2010s.</p>
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<h2>Crime is highly localized</h2>
<p>These figures are imperfect in other ways, too. The data being used in today’s assertions about crime rates is more than 10 months old and presents national figures that mask a substantial amount of local variation. The FBI won’t release 2022 crime data until the fall of 2023. </p>
<p>But there is more current data available: The consulting firm AH Datalytics has a free <a href="https://www.ahdatalytics.com/dashboards/ytd-murder-comparison/">dashboard</a> that compiles more up-to-date murder data from 99 big cities. </p>
<p>As of October 2022, it indicates that murder in big cities is down about 5% in 2022 when compared with the first 10 months of 2021. But this aggregate change masks the fact that murder is up 85% in Colorado Springs, Colo.; 33% in Birmingham, Ala.; 28% in New Orleans; and 27% in Charlotte, N.C. Meanwhile, murder is down 38% in Columbus, Ohio; 29% in Richmond, Va.; and 18% in Chicago.</p>
<p>Even these city-level statistics don’t tell the whole story. It is now <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12070">well established</a> that crime is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1989.tb00862.x">not randomly distributed across communities</a>. Instead, it clusters in small areas that criminologists and police departments often refer to as “hot spots.” What this means is that regardless of whether crime is up or down in cities, a handful of neighborhoods in those cities are likely still significantly and disproportionately affected by violence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Nix 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>Whether crime is up or down depends on what kind of crime, what the comparison is to, and where you’re counting crimes.Justin Nix, Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska OmahaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1848232022-08-12T12:17:02Z2022-08-12T12:17:02ZReducing gun violence: A complicated problem can’t be solved with just one approach, so Indianapolis is trying programs ranging from job skills to therapy to violence interrupters to find out what works<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474979/original/file-20220719-18-26nxd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5400%2C3605&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Participants in 'violence prevention' programs seek to deescalate conflicts before they turn deadly.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/safe-streets-violence-interrupter-lamont-medley-left-greets-news-photo/547477796?adppopup=true">Andre Chung for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Indianapolis is no stranger to gun violence. The city is also trying many <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/community-based-violence-interruption-programs-can-reduce-gun-violence/">promising approaches to reducing violence</a> that – if proven successful – could benefit other urban areas across the U.S.</p>
<p>The city’s homicide rate in 2020, at 24.4 per 100,000 residents, was <a href="https://www.wishtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Indianapolis-Gun-Violence-Problem-Analysis-Summary-Narrative.pdf">approximately triple the national average</a>, and the city’s highest on record. Approximately 80% of those homicides were perpetrated using firearms.</p>
<p>Gun homicides ended about <a href="https://www.wishtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Indianapolis-Gun-Violence-Problem-Analysis-Summary-Narrative.pdf">240 lives there in a recent two-year period</a>, according to a study regarding this <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/indianapolis-in-population">city of 900,000 people</a>. The number of people who were shot but survived was far higher, and firearms account for a significant number of suicide deaths. </p>
<p>I’m a former police officer who has studied <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ShZl8kwAAAAJ&hl=en">policies and programs that seek to prevent gun violence</a> since the late 1990s. I have periodically partnered with Indianapolis officials and community agencies on anti-violence initiatives coordinated by the <a href="https://www.indy.gov/activity/violence-reduction">local government</a> with many <a href="https://www.cicf.org/not-for-profits/elevation-grant/">private- and nonprofit-sector partners</a> since 2004.</p>
<p>Though some <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/as-homicide-rates-surge-momentum-grows-for-community-violence-prevention-solutions">approaches developed in other places</a> have worked here, and Indianapolis has implemented many programs that have been shown to make a difference elsewhere, there’s still not enough data to pinpoint which specific programs are the most effective.</p>
<p>But given the urgency of the problem, I believe it’s important to keep test-driving promising methods based on the information available so far. And because Indianapolis experiences many of the same gun violence issues that other medium and large cities face, what’s learned here can apply in many other places.</p>
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<h2>Stepping up efforts to reduce gun violence</h2>
<p>Indianapolis intensified its efforts to reduce gun violence in 2006, when <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/">144 people died by homicide</a> – up 27% from a year earlier. </p>
<p>That year Bart Peterson, then serving as the city’s mayor, created the <a href="https://www.wthr.com/article/news/crime-prevention-task-force-tackles-thorny-problem/531-4fc46635-5009-404a-af73-72e5bf32993e">Community Crime Prevention Task Force</a>, in which I played a role. Its mission was to seek evidence-based recommendations to reduce violence. </p>
<p>After reviewing the relevant academic research, I identified best practices and the most promising violence-prevention strategies. The task force, in turn, made recommendations to the Indianapolis City-County Council.</p>
<p>The city subsequently began to increase funding for efforts to reduce gun violence in coordination with the <a href="https://cicf.welldonesite.com/not-for-profits/crime-prevention/">Indianapolis Foundation</a>, a local charity.</p>
<p>This private-public partnership has been supporting nonprofits engaged in several approaches to <a href="https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/research-and-practice/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/solutions/strategies-to-reduce-community-gun-violence">reducing gun violence</a> ever since. </p>
<p>The overarching purpose of all these programs is to help the people who are the most likely to be wounded or killed by a gun to obtain services, such as job training and health care, in their communities and change norms away from gun violence to reduce that risk.</p>
<p>Because people killed by guns in Indianapolis are most likely to be <a href="https://www.wishtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Indianapolis-Gun-Violence-Problem-Analysis-Summary-Narrative.pdf">male, young and Black</a>, young Black men are a major focus for all the programs. Researchers have also determined that 3 in 4 gun homicide victims and suspects in the city were known to law enforcement through prior investigation, arrests or convictions. So that is another factor in terms of determining who gets these services.</p>
<h2>Employing formerly incarcerated people</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cicf.org/2022/07/05/mayor-joe-hogsett-the-indianapolis-foundation-announce-recipients-of-elevation-grants/">Other grants</a> from the private-public partnership in Indianapolis have funded <a href="https://theconversation.com/cbt-dbt-psychodynamic-what-type-of-therapy-is-right-for-me-171101">cognitive behavioral therapy</a> for people at risk of engaging in or being victims of gun violence. This is a method in which people get help identifying and pushing back on their negative thoughts and behaviors, making it easier to resolve disputes without resorting to violence.</p>
<p>The city has also partnered with <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/pr/us-department-justice-recognizes-community-violence-intervention-program-indianapolis">several community organizations</a> to prevent gun violence.</p>
<p>One such group is Recycleforce, which <a href="https://cbs4indy.com/this-morning/recycleforce-provides-resources-for-formerly-incarcerated-to-find-housing/">hires formerly incarcerated people</a> to recycle old electronic goods. It’s among several enhanced transitional job programs that provide services and <a href="https://www.indy.gov/activity/violence-reduction">training to the recently incarcerated</a>.</p>
<p>One study showed that Recycleforce participants were <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/etjd_sted_7_site_report_508_2.pdf">5.8% less likely to be arrested</a> and 4.8% less likely to be convicted of a crime in the first six months of the period reviewed. However, in the second six months, the benefits were no longer statistically significant. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2019.1596190">second study</a> used in-depth interviews to assess the program. It suggested that the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2019.1596190">peer-mentor model</a> Recycleforce follows works well.</p>
<h2>Preventing future gunshots</h2>
<p>A large Indianapolis hospital, Eskenazi, also runs several important anti-violence programs. One, called <a href="https://www.eskenazihealth.edu/programs/violence-prevention">Prescription for Hope</a>, assists people treated there for gunshot wounds.</p>
<p>Like similar <a href="https://www.thehavi.org/what-is-an-hvip">hospital-based programs</a> around the country, the one based at Eskenazi helps participants develop effective life skills and connects them with community resources to reduce criminal and risky behaviors.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/000313481207800942">initial study of the program</a> showed that only about 3% of participants returned to the emergency department with a repeat violent injury within the first year, compared with an 8.7% rate when the program wasn’t underway. This translates to a two-thirds reduction in the likelihood that someone with a violent injury will need similar emergency medical assistance in the future. </p>
<h2>‘Violence interruption’</h2>
<p>In 2021, <a href="https://cbs4indy.com/news/violence-interrupters-hit-streets-to-curb-indys-record-homicide-rate/">Indianapolis began to hire “violence interrupters</a>” to calm contentious situations and reduce the risk of violent retaliation.</p>
<p>The “<a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/summer16/highlight2.html">violence interruption</a>” method connects people with personal ties to those most at risk of becoming involved in gun violence as victims or perpetrators.</p>
<p>Violence interrupters try to mediate disputes and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/many-cities-are-putting-hopes-violence-interrupters-understand-challen-rcna28118">calm things down</a> on the streets, at parties and during funerals before any shooting starts. They have credibility with violence-prone people because of their past experiences. </p>
<p>The interrupters also help at-risk people to obtain services and to <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/227181.pdf">change gun violence norms</a> in their communities. </p>
<p>Violence interruption, part of a growing <a href="https://cvg.org/what-we-do/">public health approach to reining in violence</a>, <a href="https://cvg.org/about/#history">originated in Chicago</a> in 2000. Now called the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122509">cure violence model</a>,” it has spread quickly amid <a href="https://johnjayrec.nyc/2020/11/09/av2020/">generally positive</a> <a href="https://bja.ojp.gov/program/community-violence-intervention/overview">research results</a>.</p>
<p>Indianapolis was employing about <a href="https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/violence-interrupters-to-hit-the-streets-of-indianapolis-crime-homicide-record/531-a628deb7-37eb-437c-8b34-dadc7597a890">50 violence interrupters as of mid-2022</a>.</p>
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<h2>More federal funding</h2>
<p>Most of the city’s violence-prevention grants funding these efforts have been relatively small until now, ranging from US$5,000 to $325,000.</p>
<p>But U.S. cities, including Indianapolis, now have have until 2024 to <a href="https://gfrc.uic.edu/our-work/featured-projects/how-are-cities-using-arpa-fiscal-recovery-funds/what-the-first-batch-of-treasury-department-reports-tells-us-about-how-governments-are-using-their-arpa-money/">tap into a comparatively large stream of federal funding</a> for community-based violence intervention. That money was included in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package enacted in 2021.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wishtv.com/news/crime-watch-8/indianapolis-spends-45m-on-organizations-combating-violence/">Using these federal funds</a>, the city is partnering with the Indianapolis Foundation to <a href="https://www.cicf.org/not-for-profits/elevation-grant/">award grants totaling $45 million</a> from 2022 through 2024 for local efforts to reduce gun violence. </p>
<p>Fortunately, Indianapolis’ <a href="https://www.wishtv.com/news/i-team-8/impd-new-numbers-show-gun-violence-going-down-in-indianapolis/">homicides appear to be declining</a> in 2022 compared with a year earlier.</p>
<p>As a local resident, I certainly welcome this news. But as researcher, I consider it to be too soon to tell whether this trend will continue or what the many public and private efforts to reduce gun violence underway will accomplish.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Stucky received funding to serve as a research partner on Indianapolis anti-violence initiatives prior to 2013. </span></em></p>A burst of federal funding is letting Indianapolis expand existing efforts and try promising new approaches that other cities have developed.Thomas D. Stucky, Professor of Criminal Justice, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1768522022-02-10T13:37:45Z2022-02-10T13:37:45ZNo-knock warrants, a relic of the ‘war on drugs,’ face renewed criticism after Minneapolis death<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445526/original/file-20220209-25-gqumto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3526%2C1900&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Minneapolis police force entry moments before shooting Amir Locke. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PoliceShooting-Minneapolis/bb40b5cef9c64a569ee4d6583155908f/photo?Query=Amir%20Locke&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=21&currentItemNo=18">Minneapolis Police Department via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Protests in Minneapolis over the <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2022/02/a-no-knock-warrant-led-to-the-police-shooting-of-amir-locke.html">death of a 22-year-old man</a> during a police raid have <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amir-locke-minneapolis-police-killing-protests-no-knock-warrant/">reignited debate</a> over the role of so-called “no-knock warrants.” </p>
<p>Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey <a href="https://www.minneapolismn.gov/news/2022/february/moratorium-on-no-knock-warrants/">imposed a moratorium</a> on the practice, in which police obtain permission to enter a premises unannounced, and often accompanied by heavily armed SWAT teams.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.thomasnolan.org/">former police officer</a>, I took part in no-knock raids. Often they offered little return – my team ended up empty-handed, with no real criminal evidence. I now <a href="https://www.emmanuel.edu/academics/our-faculty/tom-nolan.html">teach criminal justice and police ethics</a> and have observed that the use of no-knock warrants has increasingly become a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/27/938524573/movement-to-limit-police-raids-looks-beyond-no-knock-warrants">concern for those demanding criminal justice reform</a>.</p>
<h2>Obtaining a ‘no-knock’ can be a low bar</h2>
<p>No-knock warrants are an exception to the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/knock-and-announce_rule">“knock and announce” rule</a>, a common law policing practice that requires an officer to make their presence and intention known, and then wait a reasonable time before entering a suspect’s home.</p>
<p>Usually this takes the form of a police officer knocking on the door loudly and then calling out “Police, we have a warrant” and waiting for the occupant to open the door.</p>
<p>The problem is, this can give suspects time to hide or dispose of evidence. To avoid this possibility, police can apply for a court-authorized exception. </p>
<p>To obtain any search warrant, police need to show probable cause that criminal activity is going on. For a no-knock provision, they have to articulate to a judge or a court clerk that, for example, there is reason to suggest drugs that could be easily disposed of, or that the suspect may have a gun that they could access on the property. Obtaining a no-knock exception is often a low bar.</p>
<p>Supreme Court rulings <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1962/53">going back to the early 1960s</a> have affirmed this ability to enter a home unannounced under certain circumstances, but it only really began to be used regularly under the so-called “War on Drugs.”</p>
<p>Beginning in the 1990s, amid public pressure on politicians and police to crack down on drugs, no-knock warrants <a href="https://cjmasters.eku.edu/sites/cjmasters.eku.edu/files/21stmilitarization.pdf">became increasingly common</a>.</p>
<p>Criminal justice scholar Peter Kraska <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-war-on-drugs-gave-rise-to-no-knock-warrants-breonna-taylors-death-could-end-them">notes that</a> whereas in the early 1980s the annual number of <a href="https://cjmasters.eku.edu/sites/cjmasters.eku.edu/files/21stmilitarization.pdf">no-knock warrants carried out</a> by municipal police or sheriffs numbered around 1,500, this figure grew to around 40,000 in the 2000s, and is thought to be <a href="https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7117&context=lawreview">as high as 80,000 in recent years</a>.</p>
<p>The increase in no-knock raids coincides with a period in which police forces became <a href="https://theconversation.com/militarization-has-fostered-a-policing-culture-that-sets-up-protesters-as-the-enemy-139727">increasingly militarized</a>, through the transfer of military-style weapons, armor and vehicles to police departments. No-knock warrants are often carried out by officers in heavy body armor using a battering ram to break down doors.</p>
<p>But just as their usage has increased, so has the controversy around no-knock warrants.</p>
<p>High-profile deaths, such as the recent one in Minneapolis – or of Breonna Taylor, killed in 2020 in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/15/breonna-taylor-noknock-raid/">a botched no-knock raid</a> in Louisville, Kentucky – have highlighted the danger to life they pose. Often those injured or killed are not suspected of involvement in the crime being investigated. In the recent Minneapolis case, the man shot and killed by police, Amir Locke, had <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/us/arrest-no-knock-warrant-amir-locke-investigation/index.html">no involvement in the crime for which the warrant had been issued</a>.</p>
<p>Part of the problem is that no-knock raids can cause chaotic scenes. Often they are conducted in the middle of the night – the suspects may wake up disoriented and not knowing who is breaking into their home. They might think it is a home invasion, or a rival drug gang.</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>
<p>Officers are supposed to say “police” as they enter, but it can be difficult to hear or understand what is going on over the noise of a battering ram and armed officers rushing into a room. Often, <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/02/breonna-taylor-grand-jury-recording/5893277002/">occupants say</a> they did not hear police announce who they were upon entering.</p>
<p>No-knock raids can be dangerous for officers as well. Disorientated suspects may not be in a position to make rational decisions, or could instinctively reach for a legally owned firearm in self-defense. An <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/18/us/forced-entry-warrant-drug-raid.html">investigation by The New York Times</a> found that between 2010 and 2016, 81 civilians and 13 law enforcement officers were killed in no-knock and quick-knock raids (in which suspects are given only minimal time to respond).</p>
<h2>Insufficient rewards for risks involved</h2>
<p>There is also the issue of whether the potential risks of executing no-knock warrants is commensurate with the “rewards” for police. Is the seizure of evidence or contraband of sufficient value to law enforcement and the criminal legal system to justify the potential for injury or death?</p>
<p>Kraska’s research has noted that the majority of no-knock raids <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-war-on-drugs-gave-rise-to-no-knock-warrants-breonna-taylors-death-could-end-them">relate to marijuana searches</a>. Drug consumption and distribution is <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-drug-dealers-are-the-same-its-time-to-ditch-outdated-stereotypes-93773">typically a non-violent event</a>. As such, there are concerns among criminal justice advocates that no-knock raids are an outsized response to what they would say is a relatively low-level offense.</p>
<p>No-knock warrants should, I believe, only be authorized in the most exceptional circumstances and where there are no alternatives, such as the apprehension of a suspected terrorist or a suspect barricaded in a premises while holding hostages. These types of circumstances often present the distinct possibility or even likelihood that serious injury or death to innocent persons may result if law enforcement officers are not allowed to act quickly and decisively.</p>
<p>But this is not what the majority of no-knock warrants are executed for.</p>
<p>More and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/kentucky-75c32df10d23956362fef52f3a073a6b">more cities</a> and police departments are reviewing the use of no-knock warrants. As someone who has taken part in such raids, I believe the payoff is frequently insufficient to justify the level of intrusion and the potential for violent and tragic outcomes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Nolan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The death of a 22-year-old man in a ‘no-knock’ raid in Minneapolis has sparked fresh concern over the associated risk to the public and police alike.Tom Nolan, Associate Professor of Sociology, Emmanuel CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1723592021-11-22T20:17:55Z2021-11-22T20:17:55ZSUV tragedy in Wisconsin shows how vehicles can be used as a weapon of mass killing – intentionally or not<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433197/original/file-20211122-25-129bv3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C181%2C5760%2C3630&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Debris at the site where an SUV plowed into a Christmas parade</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/debris-left-near-following-a-driver-plowing-into-the-news-photo/1236732471?adppopup=true">Jim Vondruska/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Police have yet to confirm what caused a driver to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/suv-plows-into-parade-waukesha-wisconsin-injured-f8c6a9dcd420bc1f1a732afc7b10943a">plow a red SUV into a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin</a>, on Nov. 21, 2021, killing at least five people and injuring scores more. But one thing is clear: Vehicles can be a deadly weapon, whether used deliberately or unintentionally.</p>
<p>The suspect, <a href="https://www.fox6now.com/news/waukesha-christmas-parade-5-dead-40-hurt-after-suv-sped-through-police-line">identified as Darrell Brooks Jr.</a>, is expected to face charges including <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2021/11/22/suspect-waukesha-parade-incident-identified-darrell-brooks-jr/8717524002/">five counts of intentional homicide</a>. It has emerged that Brooks was previously arrested earlier in November after being accused of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/22/us/driver-parade-crash-suspect.html">hitting the mother of his child with his car</a> in a gas station parking lot. Waukesha police confirmed on Nov. 22, that the latest incident, which left <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/22/us/waukesha-car-parade-crowd-monday/index.html">18 children between the ages of 3 and 16 in hospital</a>, was not an act of terrorism. Nor did it follow a police pursuit, although reports suggest that the suspect may have been <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/11/22/person-held-in-wisconsin-rampage-may-have-been-fleeing-knife-incident/">fleeing an earlier incident</a>. </p>
<p>But the manner of the deaths conjures up recent memories of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38377428">terror attacks using vehicles on perceived soft targets</a>, such as holiday markets, as well as concern over the risk of high-speed chases ending in tragedy.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://news.gsu.edu/expert/mia-bloom/">a scholar who has researched</a> <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/71431/vehicle-ramming-the-evolution-of-a-terrorist-tactic-inside-the-us/">the weaponizing of vehicles</a>, I know that cars, SUVs and trucks can be an efficient means of mass killing, and one that can be virtually impossible to prepare against. Furthermore, it is becoming <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/162163/republicans-anti-riot-laws-cars">harder to prosecute the driver</a> involved in such fatalities in some states.</p>
<h2>‘Poor man’s weapon of mass destruction’</h2>
<p>Vehicle ramming – <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0920_plcy_strategic-framework-countering-terrorism-targeted-violence.pdf">defined by the Department of Homeland Security</a> as the deliberate aiming of a motor vehicle at individuals with the intent to inflict fatal injuries or cause significant property damage – has been called the “poor man’s weapon of <a href="https://www.offgridweb.com/preparation/vehicular-terrorist-attacks-strategies-for-safety-and-survival/">mass destruction</a>.” </p>
<p>Members of the terrorist group Islamic State were not the first to employ this deadly innovation – in attacks on people in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39355108">London</a>, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/tag/nice-truck-attack/">Nice</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/31/nyregion/police-shooting-lower-manhattan.html">New York</a> – but in recent years they have perhaps become most closely <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/16/islamic-state-claims-responsibility-for-nice-truck-attack">associated with the tactic</a>.</p>
<p>The group featured “vehicle ramming” in their propaganda as one of their <a href="https://www.counterextremism.com/vehicles-as-weapons-of-terror">preferred weapons against Western targets</a> and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26297702?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">encouraged supporters to use vehicle ramming</a> against crowds. Islamic State group propaganda magazine, Dabiq, even advised would-be lone actors <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26351502?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">which vehicle could do the most damage</a></p>
<p>In North America, white supremacists and other militant and terrorist groups have also rammed their vehicles into crowds. Incidents of people running vehicles into pedestrians include that of the violent “incel” – or “involuntary celibate” – Alek Minassian, who <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56269095">rammed his van into a crowd in Toronto in 2018</a>, killing 10. It has also been employed by members of the far-right, such as James Fields, who was found guilty of the murder, by vehicle, of Heather Heyer at the Unite the Right rally in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/james-alex-fields-found-guilty-killing-heather-heyer-during-violent-n945186">Charlottesville, Virginia</a>, in 2017.</p>
<p>After the protests following the police killing of George Floyd, <a href="https://apps.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2021/10/vehicle-rammings-against-protesters/tulsa/">there was a massive uptick in the number of attacks</a>, most of which were aimed at Black Lives Matter protests. From the day of Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021, vehicles drove into protests at least 139 times, according to a Boston Globe analysis. </p>
<p>During the course of my Department of Defense-sponsored <a href="https://minerva.defense.gov/Owl-In-the-Olive-Tree/Owl_View/Article/1859857/telegram-and-online-addiction-to-terrorist-propaganda/">research on how militant and terrorist groups’ use social media</a>, I observed extreme right-wing groups on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Parler and Telegram sharing memes about the vehicular attacks in the summer of 2020. Posts minimized the civilian casualties and mocked the core message of “Black Lives Matter,” turning it into the grotesque slogan “All Lives Splatter” and featuring a white SUV covered in red paint on the hood.</p>
<p>And it isn’t only right-wing groups that have targeted protesters. Police in cities such as <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/31/new-york-city-george-floyd-protests-nypd-suvs-brooklyn-crowd/5299746002/">New York</a> and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/07/08/protesters-police-suv-dashboard-camera-footage/5370556002/">Detroit</a> have driven vehicles into demonstrations. And in Tacoma, Washington, at least one man was injured after an <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/535563-tacoma-police-vehicle-plows-through-crowd-watching-street-race">officer drove into a crowd of protesters</a>. In Boston last year, Police Sergeant Clifton McHale was recorded on a police body camera bragging about hitting protesters with his <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/162163/republicans-anti-riot-laws-cars">police cruiser</a>.</p>
<h2>Criminal and civil immunity</h2>
<p>In recent months, five states – Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma and Tennessee – have either shielded drivers who kill pedestrians from legal action or have fully <a href="https://apnews.com/article/817f34d2f4a04a4cb1e65afc079f6292">decriminalized hitting a pedestrian with a vehicle</a> if they were in the street or on a highway. Legislatures in states like Iowa, Florida and Oklahoma <a href="https://apps.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2021/10/vehicle-rammings-against-protesters/tulsa/">have passed laws granting drivers criminal and civil immunity</a> if they “unintentionally” hit or kill a protester while “fleeing from a riot,” so long as they say it was necessary to protect themselves. Kansas, Montana, and Alabama are <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/06/21/eight-states-enact-anti-protest-laws">planning similar legislation</a>.</p>
<p>Many more Americans are unintentionally killed or injured as a result of high-speed pursuits involving law enforcement. Police chases often occur on public roads or in <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/122025NCJRS.pdf">residential areas</a>. The result of what can be multiple vehicles going at high speeds in these areas can be deadly. The <a href="https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FCJEI/Programs/SLP/Documents/Full-Text/Lenemier.aspx">Department of Transportation estimates</a> that around 250,000 high-speed police chases occur every year, with 6,000 to 8,000 of them resulting in a collision.</p>
<p>Around <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/30/police-pursuits-fatal-injuries/30187827/">500 people are killed annually</a> as a result of these police pursuits, and approximately 5,000 are injured. The Justice Department, recognizing the danger of high-speed chases, has <a href="https://www.cji.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/police_pursuits.pdf">urged police officers to avoid or abort pursuits</a> that endanger pedestrians, motorists or the officers themselves.</p>
<p>The risk to the public of a driver intentionally or unintentionally causing a mass casualty event is, as the Wisconsin case shows, just too high.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172359/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mia Bloom receives funding from the Minerva Research Initiative and the Office of Naval Research, any opinions, findings, or recommendations expressed are those of the author alone and do not reflect the views of the Office of Naval Research, the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense.</span></em></p>At least five people were killed and many more were injured after an SUV crashed into a Christmas parade. A terrorism expert explains how vehicles have been weaponized.Mia M. Bloom, Evidence Based Cyber Security Program, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1714602021-11-16T13:18:51Z2021-11-16T13:18:51ZThe concrete effects of body cameras on police accountability<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430901/original/file-20211108-17-t9x7xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C80%2C2914%2C1544&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police officers wear body cameras in Oakland, California, on Dec. 4, 2014.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-officers-wearing-body-cameras-form-a-line-in-east-news-photo/459970458?adppopup=true">Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Without video evidence, it’s unlikely we would have ever heard of <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/george-floyd-87675">George Floyd</a> or witnessed the prosecution of his killer, a Minneapolis police officer.</p>
<p>The recording of Floyd’s killing echoed the documentation in the deaths of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/14/us/michael-brown-ferguson-video-claims/index.html">Michael Brown</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2014/dec/04/i-cant-breathe-eric-garner-chokehold-death-video">Eric Garner</a>, two Black men who were killed at the hands of police.</p>
<p>The circulation of such videos – witness cellphones, dashcams and police body-worn cameras – have helped awaken a protest movement centered on police accountability and systemic racism in the United States.</p>
<p>They have also diminished trust in law enforcement, which has dipped to its lowest level since 1993, according to a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/352304/black-confidence-police-recovers-2020-low.aspx">2020 Gallup Survey</a>. Nineteen percent of Black Americans said they trust police, compared to 56% of white Americans. And a majority of those polled, 56%, called for major reforms in policing, including 88% of Black people and 51% of white people.</p>
<p>Much discussion on police reform revolves around <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2020/07/08/meaningful-police-reform-requires-accountability-and-cultural-sensitivity/">police officer recruitment</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/17/988331517/former-police-officer-says-training-methods-for-cops-need-to-change">training processes</a> and re-budgeting or <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2020/06/what-does-defund-the-police-mean-the-phrase-explained.html">“defunding” the police</a>.</p>
<p>But another way to reform policing is to make police services more transparent and officers more accountable. Over the past decade, the implementation of body camera technology has rapidly expanded across major metropolitan police departments, including Washington, New York and Chicago.</p>
<p>We are <a href="https://www.american.edu/spa/faculty/suat.cfm">criminologists</a> and <a href="https://www.american.edu/spa/faculty/tekin.cfm">economists</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w29019">our recent study</a> has found that providing police officers with body cameras has a substantive effect on investigations of police accountability. The cameras have also helped reduce racial bias against citizen complainants.</p>
<h2>Increased fairness in investigations</h2>
<p>The vast majority of U.S. public complaints against police officers are dismissed.</p>
<p>Only 2.1% of the citizen complaints filed in Chicago between 2010 and 2016 resulted in a disciplinary action against police officers, according to the <a href="https://invisible.institute/press-release">Invisible Institute</a>, a journalism organization that “collects and publishes information about police misconduct in Chicago” in its Citizens Police Data Project. This rate is about one-third lower when complainants are African Americans.</p>
<p>There is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611115613320">a similar pattern</a> in cities like Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Oregon.</p>
<p>Traditional strategies to address police misconduct have focused on internal affairs divisions in police departments, which investigate possible law-breaking incidents and professional misconduct within police forces, or citizen oversight review boards, which investigate citizen complaints. But both of these have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd.html">criticized for being biased</a> against citizens.</p>
<p>Such investigations of police misconduct have relied heavily on eyewitness accounts, often producing “he said/she said” patterns of flawed evidence and, thus, inconclusive results.</p>
<p>This has changed, however, with the introduction of body camera technology.</p>
<p>While there have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12412">dozens of studies</a> on the impact of body cameras on police behavior – with some promising outcomes in the reduction in police wrongdoings – their effect on the resolution of citizen complaints has been relatively understudied.</p>
<p>We recently studied an eight-year period – 2013 to 2020 – of citizen complaint data from Chicago’s <a href="https://www.chicagocopa.org/">Civilian Office of Police Accountability</a>. During that span, the Chicago Police Department assigned these cameras to its officers in a staggered fashion, district by district across a 17-month period, from June 2016 to December 2017.</p>
<p>This allowed us to conduct the first study to estimate their effect on the outcomes of citizen complaint investigations across multiple time frames.</p>
<p>We found a significant effect on police accountability following the implementation of body cameras. Police officers were 64% more likely to be subject to disciplinary action after a complaint investigation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426566/original/file-20211014-21-1gizuu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protestors gather in North Carolina." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426566/original/file-20211014-21-1gizuu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426566/original/file-20211014-21-1gizuu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426566/original/file-20211014-21-1gizuu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426566/original/file-20211014-21-1gizuu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426566/original/file-20211014-21-1gizuu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426566/original/file-20211014-21-1gizuu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426566/original/file-20211014-21-1gizuu1.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">Protestors gather in Elizabeth City, N.C., as elected officials discuss the possible release of police body camera footage from the shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr. on April 21, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/demonstrators-gather-outside-a-government-building-during-news-photo/1232487956?adppopup=true">Sean Rayford/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consistent with the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cico.12388?casa_token=alnq4Qzi-yAAAAAA%3ACesmSC_ojtKpD079bx530g843DUg9_HH0ph1Vrfu5MyFLzvi_1KX6Bsn-LpIH4Rrlo4FhcSDBF8avxg">existing studies</a>, we identified a considerable degree of racial disparity in the resolution of citizen complaints prior to the implementation of police body cameras. Complaints from Black people were more likely to be dismissed – 53% vs. 38% – and less likely to be sustained – 10% vs. 21% – than those of White people.</p>
<p>But following their widespread implementation in Chicago, body cameras largely eliminated such racial disparities, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w29019">according to our study</a>.</p>
<p>Complainants from all racial groups benefited from body cameras, with a greater overall rate of disciplinary action. We found that the percentages of dismissed citizen complaints were reduced to 16%, 18% and 15% for white, Black and Hispanic complainants, respectively.</p>
<p>Our findings initially illustrated the existence of racial bias in the dismissal of police complainants. They subsequently show that the introduction of body cameras can change this. And the continued implementation of such cameras is likely to continue reducing the disparities that play a large role in mistrust of law enforcement by people of color.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 115,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Many policymakers see this technology as a potential game-changer in police-citizen relations. It can protect officers from spurious complaints and make them more accountable for actual misconduct.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/legislatures-require-police-body-camera-use-statewide-magazine2021.aspx">Seven states</a> – Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Carolina – have already mandated the use of body cameras.</p>
<p>Because body cameras produce an objective accounting of the interactions between police and citizens, they have the potential to overcome previous weaknesses in the quality of evidence</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171460/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suat Cubukcu is affiliated with Orion Policy Institute, an independent non-profit think tank. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erdal Tekin, Nusret Sahin, and Volkan Topalli 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 body-worn cameras increase disciplinary action against officers and reduce racial bias against citizen complainants, according to a recent study.Suat Cubukcu, Professorial Lecturer, American UniversityErdal Tekin, Professor Department of Public Administration and Policy, American UniversityNusret Sahin, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Stockton UniversityVolkan Topalli, Professor of Criminal Justice, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1688232021-09-27T19:48:37Z2021-09-27T19:48:37ZMore guns, pandemic stress and a police legitimacy crisis created perfect conditions for homicide spike in 2020<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423422/original/file-20210927-23-c08mfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C5%2C3489%2C2321&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What role did the pandemic play in the hike in murders in 2020?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-walks-past-police-tape-near-the-scene-of-a-shooting-news-photo/504027776?adppopup=true">Mark Makela/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Homicides in the U.S. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/27/politics/uniform-crime-report-2020/index.html">spiked by almost 30%</a> in 2020.</p>
<p>That was the main takeaway from <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2020-crime-statistics">figures released on Sept. 27, 2021, by the FBI</a> that showed almost uniform increases across America in the murder rate. </p>
<p>The fact that big cities, small cities, suburbs and rural areas – in both blue and red states – experienced similar increases in homicides suggests that nationwide events or trends were behind the rise.</p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic would be one obvious explanation given its pervasiveness in 2020. But <a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-public-affairs-and-community-service/criminology-and-criminal-justice/about-us/justin-nix.php">as a criminologist</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_Jr8r8UAAAAJ&hl=en">I know that</a> homicide rates are affected by a number of factors. And what happened in 2020 was a confluence of events that created the perfect conditions for a spike in murders.</p>
<h2>Stress and a lack of support</h2>
<p>COVID-19 likely did have an impact. People were under increased psychological and financial pressure during the pandemic. Criminologists have long pointed to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2001.tb00915.x">strain theory</a>” to explain criminal behavior. Stressors – such as unemployment, isolation and uncertainty about the future – can lead to increased frustration and anger. People experiencing these negative emotions are more prone to turn to crime when they lack access to more positive coping mechanisms. And previous research has shown how financial stressors and a lack of social support <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2003.tb00999.x">work together to influence the overall homicide rate</a>.</p>
<p>But the pandemic wasn’t the only major event of 2020 that likely contributed to the increased homicide rates. In May of that year, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd.html">George Floyd was murdered</a> by a police officer in Minneapolis.</p>
<p>Floyd’s murder and the large-scale protests that followed sparked a <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2021/02/24/denver-crime-rate-homicide-shooting-property-crime-police/">police legitimacy crisis</a>. In short, this means citizens’ trust in police <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421000460">was diminished</a>.</p>
<h2>The ‘Ferguson effect’</h2>
<p>When trust in the police <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/12/americans-confidence-police-falls-new-low-gallup-poll-shows/3352910001/">falls as dramatically as it did</a> following Floyd’s murder, the general public may become less likely to call 911 to report crimes or otherwise engage with the criminal justice system. Indeed, research by Desmond Ang at Harvard University suggests that after Floyd’s death, <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/ang/files/abbd_crimereporting.pdf">911 calls dropped significantly</a> in the eight cities he and his colleagues studied. </p>
<p>High-profile cases of police brutality are also associated with what has become known as the “Ferguson effect,” in which police officers <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3715223">make fewer stops</a> that occasionally <a href="https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/hall-police-enforce-traffic-laws.pdf">result in illegal guns being taken off the streets</a>. </p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0783-y">a small number of people are disproportionately involved in violent crime</a>. If this small group felt <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0011-1348.2005.00014.x">emboldened as a result of the legitimacy crisis</a>, then it might help explain the increase in homicides.</p>
<p>Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, cited the “Ferguson effect” <a href="https://www.npr.org/2016/06/15/482123552/murder-rate-spike-attributed-to-ferguson-effect-doj-study-says">as a factor</a> in the 17% hike in homicides <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/249895.pdf">recorded in U.S. cities</a> after Michael Brown was shot by a police officer in the Missouri city in 2014.</p>
<h2>More guns = more gun homicides</h2>
<p>There is also <a href="https://www.vox.com/22529989/2020-murders-guns">evidence that gun carrying increased</a> in 2020.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Crimealytics?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Crime analyst Jeff Asher</a> and <a href="https://www.robarthurwriter.com/about.html">data scientist Rob Arthur</a> found that in 10 cities, although police made fewer arrests in 2020, the number of gun seizures went up. This suggests more people were illegally carrying guns in 2020. And research has long confirmed that gun ownership is <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301409">linked to higher rates of firearm homicides</a>.</p>
<p>When there are more guns in the hands of emboldened offenders, then the likely result is more attempted and completed murders. That this all happened during the height of a pandemic means 2020 was a perfect storm of factors that proved capable of producing the largest single-year homicide spike on record. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Nix 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>FBI statistics recorded a 30% rise in homicides in 2020. A criminologist helps break down what was behind the spike.Justin Nix, Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska OmahaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1686302021-09-24T12:36:30Z2021-09-24T12:36:30ZFederal police reform talks have failed – but local efforts stand a better chance of success<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423038/original/file-20210923-19-jst6w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Another door closes on federal police reform.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sen-cory-booker-speaks-with-members-of-the-press-after-news-photo/1235437009?adppopup=true">Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bipartisan talks over police reform <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/22/bipartisan-police-reform-513609">ended with no agreement</a> on Sept. 22, 2021, with House Democrats and Republicans blaming each other for the lack of progress.</p>
<p>It isn’t the first time that <a href="https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5011&context=flr">reform at a federal level</a> has been attempted – nor the first time <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-legislation-breonna-taylor-politics-14423b35b5cc36502cd52a5df1170e77">it has stalled</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/29/congress-to-hold-police-reform-legislation-talk-as-george-floyd-act-stalls.html">sticking points</a> this time appear to be centered around proposed changes to use-of-force procedures and plans to strip officers of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-qualified-immunity-protects-police-officers-accused-of-wrongdoing-159617">qualified immunity</a>, which shields them from being sued.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/natasha-johnson/">scholars of criminal justice</a> – one <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/thaddeus-johnson/">a former police officer of 10 years</a> – we were not surprised by the collapse of bipartisan talks. Policing in the U.S. is politicized, making it harder to reach consensus in an age of polarization, even though <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/315962/americans-say-policing-needs-major-changes.aspx">most Americans believe that major changes</a> are needed. </p>
<p>In determining the magnitude of this failure, it is important to keep in mind that policing in the U.S. is inherently local. The nearly <a href="https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/america-has-18000-police-agencies-no-national-standards-experts-say-thats-a-problem">18,000 police departments</a> in the country face a variety of different issues, ranging from problems recruiting enough officers – and of a sufficient caliber – to a breakdown of trust with the community. </p>
<p>Even without legislation from Congress, there is a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/opinion/police-reform-obama-task-force.html">national blueprint</a> for police reform. President Barack Obama’s <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf">Task Force on 21st Century Policing</a> set out six pillars to guide departments toward better practices. Those included strategies to build trust with the community, provide oversight, implement better training and procedures, and improve officer safety and well-being.</p>
<p>The federal government can play a clear role in regard to financing reform and addressing nonpolicing issues that contribute to crime, such as underlying poverty and the lack of green spaces.</p>
<p>In the years after the 9/11 attacks, the federal government <a href="https://theconversation.com/militarization-has-fostered-a-policing-culture-that-sets-up-protesters-as-the-enemy-139727">made funding available</a> for local departments to buy military-grade weapons and vehicles through the Defense Logistics Agency’s 1033 Program and the Homeland Security Grant Program. The federal government might now be better placed playing a similar role as a funder for local law enforcement reforms.</p>
<h2>City by city</h2>
<p>While reform has stalled in Congress, there <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/legislative-responses-for-policing.aspx">has been movement</a> elsewhere. Steps toward reform are underway in many U.S. cities, including <a href="https://www.davisvanguard.org/2021/04/philadelphia-da-throws-weight-behind-police-reform/">Philadelphia</a>; <a href="https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/02/24/proposed-defunding-reforms-of-oakland-police-department-draw-mixed-reactions/">Oakland, California</a>; and <a href="https://www.kgw.com/article/news/politics/oregon-police-reform-bills-passed-activists-reaction/283-d1fea772-7ea5-4165-99b0-eacc7c79e995">Portland, Oregon</a>.</p>
<p>Many of <a href="https://www.axios.com/police-reform-george-floyd-protest-2150b2dd-a6dc-4a0c-a1fb-62c2e999a03a.html">these efforts</a> are geared toward ending specific practices, including those that tripped up negotiations in Congress, such as the granting of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/20/george-floyd-derek-chauvin-killer-mike-police">qualified immunity</a> and the use of <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/06/11/louisville-metro-council-votes-ban-no-knock-warrants-after-breonna-taylors-death/5342907002/">no-knock warrants</a>. Mayors and city councils nationwide have also pushed reforms emphasizing <a href="https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/police-department/news/2020/updated-policies.html">accountability and transparency</a>, with many working to create <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/07/931806105/across-the-country-voters-approve-more-civilian-oversight-for-police">independent oversight commissions</a>. </p>
<p>From Ferguson, Missouri, to Baltimore, Oakland and Chicago, numerous city police departments have undergone transformation efforts following controversial police killings. </p>
<p>Not all of the reform movements have lived up to their promises. </p>
<p>After the shooting death of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html">unarmed teen Michael Brown</a> in 2014, police in Ferguson <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-missouri-ferguson-plan/ferguson-accepts-u-s-governments-police-reform-plan-idUSKCN0WH30H">agreed to a reform program</a> that included anti-bias training and an agreement to end stop, search and arrest practices that discriminate on the basis of race.</p>
<p>But five years into the process, <a href="https://forwardthroughferguson.org/stateofpolicereform/">a report by the nonprofit Forward Through Ferguson</a> found the reforms had done <a href="https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2019-09-17/ferguson-groups-report-concludes-police-in-st-louis-area-have-not-made-enough-reforms">little to change policing culture or practice</a>. This was backed up by a Ferguson Civilian Review Board <a href="https://www.fergusoncity.com/DocumentCenter/View/4244/2019-FPD-Traffic-Stops-and-Racial-Profiling-Data">report in July 2020</a> that found the “disparity in traffic stops between Black and white residents appears to be growing.” </p>
<p>Similarly, concerns over the <a href="https://theappeal.org/years-after-freddie-grays-death-baltimore-police-misconduct-persists/">quality of Baltimore’s police services persist</a> despite federal oversight and reforms brought on after the <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-freddie-gray-20150419-story.html">death of Freddie Gray</a> in police custody in 2015.</p>
<p>Commentators have pointed to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/baltimore-police-reforms-crime/2020/06/18/7d60e91e-b041-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html">resistance to change</a> among officers and an inability to garner <a href="https://www.marylandmatters.org/2020/12/02/baltimore-city-residents-seek-police-accountability-measures-more-education-funding-in-next-session/">community buy-in</a> as reasons for the slowdown in progress in Baltimore. </p>
<p>Part of the problem, as seen with Baltimore, is that federal intervention does not appear to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1098611114561305">guarantee lasting change</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12295">Research shows</a> that Department of Justice regulations aimed at reform only slightly reduce police misconduct.</p>
<p>There is also no evidence that national efforts targeting the use of force alone <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2020.1733637">mitigate police killings</a>.</p>
<h2>Community-led reform</h2>
<p>One beacon of hope is the Cincinnati Police Department. Twenty years ago, residents in Cincinnati experienced events similar to what many cities have faced in more recent years. An unarmed Black man, <a href="https://www.fox19.com/2021/04/07/april-remembering-timothy-thomas-two-decades-later/">Timothy Thomas</a>, was shot dead by officers in 2001, sparking widespread unrest. It led Cincinnati to enter into a different model of reform: a <a href="https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/department-references/collaborative-agreement/">collaborative agreement</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A protester throws debris at Cincinnati police officers in riot gear in 2001." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After the death of Timothy Thomas in 2001, Cincinnati erupted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protester-throws-debris-april-10-2001-at-cincinnati-police-news-photo/800279?adppopup=true">Mike Simons/Newsmakers via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Touted by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch as <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-lynch-delivers-remarks-community-policing-roundtable-cincinnati">a national model for community-led police reform</a>, the collaborative agreement saw the police department, civic government, police unions and local civil rights groups act in partnership for a reform program backed by court supervision. </p>
<p>The resulting changes to use-of-force policies, a focus on community-based solutions to crime and robust oversight brought about improved policing. A <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG853.html">2009 Rand evaluation</a> of the collaborative agreement found that it resulted in a reduction in crime, positive changes in citizens’ attitudes toward police and fewer racially biased traffic stops. There were also <a href="https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/linkservid/97D9709F-F1C1-4A75-804C07D9873DC70F/showMeta/0/">fewer use-of-force incidents and officer and arrestee injuries</a>.</p>
<p>But it isn’t perfect. Cincinnati’s Black residents continue to be disproportionately arrested – likely owing to the concentration of crime, service calls and police deployments in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Figures from 2018 show Black Cincinnati residents were <a href="https://jacobdkaplan.com/arrest.html#state=Ohio&agency=Cincinnati%20Police%20Department&category=all_arrests_total&subcategory=tot&subsubcategory=Race&rate=true&percent=false&monthly=false&checkbox_1=false&checkbox_2=false&checkbox_3=false&checkbox_4=false&checkbox_1=true">roughly three times</a> as likely to be arrested as their white counterparts.</p>
<p>Cincinnati’s collaborative agreement contained a number of elements that experts say are needed if police reforms are to be successful: strong leadership; flexible, goal-oriented approaches; effective oversight; and externally regulated transparency.</p>
<p>Moreover, it depended on police officials’ ability to cultivate <a href="http://jlsp.law.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2017/03/46-Schatmeier.pdf">community investment</a> and overcome resistance from police officers and police unions.</p>
<p>Community confidence is <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2012.00291.x">critical to police reform and community safety</a>. When citizens view police as legitimate and trustworthy, they are more likely to report crimes, cooperate during police investigations, comply with directives and work with police to find solutions to crime.</p>
<h2>Beyond collaboration</h2>
<p>Efforts like those in Cincinnati that put community engagement at the heart of police reforms undoubtedly are strides in the right direction. But they can go only so far. A noticeable shortcoming in most police reform programs is a focus on what is the right thing to do during confrontations with the public, rather than on trying to avert those situations in the first place. </p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1086/701423">Fatal police shootings</a> often happen during police stops and arrests – situations that carry <a href="https://doi.org/10.3818/JRP.4.1.2002.87">increased risks</a> of citizen resistance and violent police response.</p>
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<p>Scaling back low-level enforcement, such as arrests for vagrancy and loitering – much of which has little <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403417725370">public safety advantage</a> – and having police partner with civilian responders for mental health, homelessness and drug-related calls, could mean <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20191028">fewer opportunities for violent police encounters</a>.</p>
<p>Some departments have begun to change their enforcement policies along these lines. The Gwinnett County Police Department in Georgia, for example, stopped making arrests and issuing citations for <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local/gwinnett-won-issue-citations-misdemeanor-marijuana-cases/QpGuMJ8KzHp7Ula8DLVw1M/">misdemeanor marijuana possession</a>. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108553599">2018 study</a> of traffic stops in Fayetteville, North Carolina, found that redirecting enforcement away from minor infractions – such as broken taillights and expired tags – and toward the more serious violations of speeding and running traffic lights resulted in reduced crime and a narrowed racial gap in stops and searches.</p>
<p>Isolated successes suggest that a localized approach emphasizing community buy-in may be key to police reform. That is not to say that the federal government can’t play a role – just that it may be better off looking at ways to help facilitate change at a departmental or citywide level.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: Portions of this article originally appeared in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-cities-have-long-struggled-to-reform-their-police-but-isolated-success-stories-suggest-community-and-officer-buy-in-might-be-key-159618">previous article</a> published on April 30, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168630/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thaddeus L. Johnson is affiliated with the Council on Criminal Justice. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha N. Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Months of bipartisan talks in Congress aimed at reaching consensus over policing reforms have ended with no agreement. Two policing scholars argue that federal efforts are better placed focusing on supporting local measures.Thaddeus L. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State UniversityNatasha N. Johnson, Clinical Instructor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1608462021-05-25T12:11:34Z2021-05-25T12:11:34ZBody cameras help monitor police but can invade people’s privacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400380/original/file-20210512-24-vmvfml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C13%2C2975%2C2063&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police see some difficult scenes; body cameras can record those and make them public.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/diversey/48968390892/">Tony Webster via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the course of their work, police officers encounter people who are intoxicated, distressed, injured or abused. The officers routinely ask for key identifying information like addresses, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers, and they frequently enter people’s homes and other private spaces. </p>
<p>With the advent of police body cameras, this information is often captured in police video recordings – which some states’ open-records laws make available to the public. </p>
<p>Starting in the summer of 2014, as part of research on police adoption of body-worn cameras within two agencies in Washington state, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7kICf7kAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I</a> spent hours <a href="https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol92/iss4/2">riding in patrol vehicles</a>, hanging out at police stations, <a href="https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol96/iss5/8">interviewing officers</a>, observing police officers while they worked and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818786477">administering surveys</a>.</p>
<p>One of the most striking findings of my study was about the unintended effects of these cameras and associated laws. Body-worn cameras and freedom of information laws do enable oversight and accountability of the police. But, as I outline in my new book, “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520382909/police-visibility">Police Visibility: Privacy, Surveillance, and the False Promise of Body-Worn Cameras</a>,” they also hold the potential to force sensitive data and stressful episodes in private citizens’ lives into public view, easily accessible online.</p>
<h2>Accountability, with visibility</h2>
<p>Body-worn cameras have been issued to <a href="https://bja.ojp.gov/program/body-worn-cameras-bwcs/overview">police all over the United States</a>, with a patchwork of regulations and laws governing their operation and the video they record. The goal is often to make officers accountable for their actions, though <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-07-29/police-body-cameras-why-don-t-they-improve-accountability">their effectiveness at doing so has been questioned</a>. </p>
<p>Opinions and laws also differ on <a href="https://theconversation.com/police-and-civilians-disagree-on-when-body-camera-footage-should-be-made-public-157111">when body camera footage should be made public</a>. And, even when it is, interpreting what the footage depicts <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-rodney-king-to-george-floyd-how-video-evidence-can-be-differently-interpreted-in-courts-159794">can be complicated</a>. Nevertheless, the cameras have the potential to make police work, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/us/brooklyn-center-police-shooting-minnesota.html">including misconduct and police violence</a>, more visible.</p>
<p>I found that within weeks of adopting body-worn cameras, the police agencies I studied began receiving requests under local and state public records laws, seeking all of the footage recorded. In response, the departments began to release the videos, under the provisions of <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/body-worn-cameras-interactive-graphic.aspx">state public records laws</a> with few – if any – redactions to protect citizens’ sensitive personal information. The primary instigator of these initial requests <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/05/the-body-cam-hacker-who-schooled-the-police/">posted the disclosed video to a publicly accessible YouTube channel</a>.</p>
<p>One patrol officer told me, “I personally would never provide my personal information to an officer with a camera. It all ends up on the internet. That is wrong and unsafe.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400591/original/file-20210513-20-6vorg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman gestures in a bedroom" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400591/original/file-20210513-20-6vorg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400591/original/file-20210513-20-6vorg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400591/original/file-20210513-20-6vorg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400591/original/file-20210513-20-6vorg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400591/original/file-20210513-20-6vorg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400591/original/file-20210513-20-6vorg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400591/original/file-20210513-20-6vorg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An image from body-worn camera footage recorded during a prostitution sting in Bellingham, Wash., which later appeared on YouTube.com. The young woman’s face is obscured in this image to help preserve her privacy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bryce Newell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Say hi to the camera, honey!’</h2>
<p>One winter afternoon in 2015, I accompanied a Spokane, Washington police officer on a domestic violence call. After parking by the curb, we walked up the driveway to where a man was standing. </p>
<p>The officer I was shadowing turned on his body camera and informed the man that he had activated his camera and would be recording their conversation. </p>
<p>The man we had approached yelled down the driveway to his wife, “Smile and say hi to the camera, honey!” </p>
<p>The woman had allegedly taken a metal baseball bat and smashed in the man’s face across his eye. He had blood leaking from his eye and eyebrow and rolling down his nose and cheek. His eyebrow looked caved in; the bone was obviously broken. After a few minutes of questioning, the medics arrived and quickly rushed him to the ambulance. </p>
<p>The officer and I followed them to the ambulance, where the officer continued to question the injured man, seeking to get a statement or confession out of him on camera. His body camera continued to record everything in front of the officer, including the man and the inside of the ambulance.</p>
<p>When the ambulance left, we entered the home, where the woman was being questioned. The officer continued to record in case the woman might offer her own statement or confession.</p>
<p>Although much of what was recorded on the officer’s camera in this case occurred outside, within view of neighbors and others present on the street, it still was a traumatic, personal and embarrassing moment in the lives of both victim and alleged offender. </p>
<p>But the fact that a camera recorded it made these events much more visible, to a wider audience, for a longer time. Officers sometimes showed each other videos at the end of their shifts while writing reports, often to simply decompress after a long shift or bond with their colleagues. In addition, the footage could potentially become public under state open records laws at the time it was recorded.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400593/original/file-20210513-21-tagp7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three images, one with a man with his arms spread wide, then the man running away, then a police officer with a Taser pointed at the man" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400593/original/file-20210513-21-tagp7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400593/original/file-20210513-21-tagp7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400593/original/file-20210513-21-tagp7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400593/original/file-20210513-21-tagp7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400593/original/file-20210513-21-tagp7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400593/original/file-20210513-21-tagp7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400593/original/file-20210513-21-tagp7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These screen captures are from a body-worn camera video recorded during a police contact and foot chase in Bellingham, Wash. Faces have been obscured.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bryce Newell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Maybe I should stop drinking’</h2>
<p>On another winter evening, I found myself standing inside another couple’s living room with two officers as the man and woman, separately, tried to explain why the wife had called 911 and accused the husband of threatening violence. </p>
<p>The husband was drunk – and drinking continuously while talking to the officer, who was wearing a camera on his chest. He told a rambling story about how much trouble his wife had caused him over the years, musing that perhaps he should leave her and move on, but perhaps he loves her. On the other hand, he said, she had caused him nothing but grief and made his life miserable. Moments later, he continued, “Maybe what I really should do is stop drinking,” and he took another sip from his beer can.</p>
<p>Even if he had been sober, he probably would not have realized that this conversation might end up on YouTube with virtually unlimited visibility. If he had, would he or his wife have let the police into their house in the first place? Would the wife even have called to report her husband’s threats? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400594/original/file-20210513-20-1ro1s3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A police officer gives a field sobriety test to a person" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400594/original/file-20210513-20-1ro1s3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400594/original/file-20210513-20-1ro1s3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400594/original/file-20210513-20-1ro1s3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400594/original/file-20210513-20-1ro1s3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400594/original/file-20210513-20-1ro1s3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400594/original/file-20210513-20-1ro1s3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400594/original/file-20210513-20-1ro1s3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This image is from body-worn camera footage of a field sobriety test in Bellingham, Wash., which later appeared on YouTube.com.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bryce Newell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are potential social costs to deploying body-worn cameras, including possible invasions of privacy when sensitive moments are recorded or made public, and increasing police surveillance of communities already subjected to heightened police attention. When body cameras are introduced, careful attention to existing laws and policies, including public records laws, can help minimize harm to the public while increasing the transparency of police work. </p>
<p>As I discuss in <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520382909/police-visibility">my book</a>, one possible solution could be redacting personal information about victims, witnesses, bystanders and even suspects, as long as it is not related to law enforcement officer conduct. Other options include creating independent oversight groups to review footage before its release, giving victims and their families access to footage, and erring on the side of nondisclosure when body cameras record in private spaces or in particularly sensitive contexts. </p>
<p>I believe these are possible without limiting public access to procedural information about how officers conduct their activities, to enable oversight and accountability. </p>
<p>Just as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cellphone-videos-of-black-peoples-deaths-should-be-considered-sacred-like-lynching-photographs-139252">videos of Black people’s deaths at the hands of the police should be treated with more care</a>, the decision to make police video that captures sensitive and traumatic moments of people’s lives public should be a measured and considered one. In my view, there is little need to force civilians onto the public stage simply because they are contacted by a police officer.</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160846/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bryce C. Newell received funding for some parts of this research from the University of Washington's Information School and the Dutch Research Council (NWO). </span></em></p>Police body cameras have the potential to make private details about people’s lives, including some of the most stressful experiences of their lives, public and easily accessible onlineBryce C. Newell, Assistant Professor of Media Law and Policy, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602362021-05-21T12:26:32Z2021-05-21T12:26:32ZSheriffs in more militarized counties reap election rewards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400836/original/file-20210514-23-nrb4a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C85%2C5164%2C3362&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When local law enforcement agencies get military surplus equipment, like armored vehicles, local sheriffs are more likely to get reelected.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PoliceShootingWisconsinPhotoGallery/00a6a75c93f844cebaa343126b06edb2/photo">AP Photo/David Goldman</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>Sheriffs in counties that get more military surplus equipment from a federal program have a better chance of getting reelected than sheriffs whose counties get less equipment, or less lethal equipment, from the same program, our new research shows.</p>
<p>Through a federal program aimed at <a href="https://www.dla.mil/DispositionServices/Offers/Reutilization/LawEnforcement/ProgramFAQs.aspx">fighting drug trafficking and terrorism and improving border security</a>, thousands of law enforcement agencies around the country have gotten billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment, including bulletproof vests, helicopters, robots, firearms and ammunition, and armored vehicles.</p>
<p><iframe id="SaKSt" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/SaKSt/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>We took <a href="https://github.com/washingtonpost/data-1033-program">publicly available data</a> on where the Defense Department sent its surplus equipment from 1990 to 2015, and how much of it and matched that with data on 6,218 sheriff elections in 2,381 U.S. counties from 2006 to 2016. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.surrey.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2021-03/DP02-21.pdf">We found</a> that military transfers increase the sheriff’s reelection likelihood. For instance, transferring equipment of total value of US$188,579 to a county that actually received no equipment made it, statistically, 8% more likely that the sheriff would be reelected.</p>
<p>The effect is strongest for sheriffs in counties that received lethal equipment such as weapons and armed vehicles. Sheriffs whose counties’ departments got nonlethal equipment, such as high-end cameras or office supplies, got less of a boost to their reelection efforts. Sheriffs in less populated counties got bigger boosts from military surplus than sheriffs in more populated counties, where perhaps their political or organizational significance is less visible.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Sheriffs are <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3485700">often reelected</a> with large margins. But our analysis found that in close elections, the amount of military equipment received by a county may have made the difference in who won.</p>
<p>This could add insight into why sheriffs in 2017 <a href="https://www.sheriffs.org/Sheriffs-Applaud-Executive-Order-Restoring-1033-Program">eagerly supported</a> loosening restrictions on the transfers of tracked armored vehicles; weaponized aircraft, vessel and vehicles; heavy caliber firearms and ammunition; bayonets and grenade launchers; and camouflage uniforms out of military hands and into police arsenals.</p>
<p>It could also help the public understand how and why <a href="https://theconversation.com/militarization-has-fostered-a-policing-culture-that-sets-up-protesters-as-the-enemy-139727">American police have become more militarized</a> in recent years and how that has <a href="https://theconversation.com/police-with-lots-of-military-gear-kill-civilians-more-often-than-less-militarized-officers-141421">affected the way police behave</a>.</p>
<p>And more generally, our work provides quantitative evidence on a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/how-partisan-is-local-law-enforcement-evidence-from-sheriff-cooperation-with-immigration-authorities/A1E4CE5955A7C7468586E0464B74782F">little-studied corner of local politics</a>, which is itself <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050317-071108">not studied a great deal</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400837/original/file-20210514-19-4h5w0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An armored vehicle drives with a helmeted man holding onto the back" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400837/original/file-20210514-19-4h5w0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400837/original/file-20210514-19-4h5w0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400837/original/file-20210514-19-4h5w0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400837/original/file-20210514-19-4h5w0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400837/original/file-20210514-19-4h5w0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400837/original/file-20210514-19-4h5w0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400837/original/file-20210514-19-4h5w0n.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">Baltimore County, Maryland, is one of many counties in the U.S. where local law enforcement agencies have received military surplus equipment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MarylandBusIncident/98d6f5cb64424a88a36e15c24d41937f/photo">AP Photo/Julio Cortez</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>Our data does not allow us to confidently pinpoint exactly what is behind this connection between military surplus equipment and sheriff reelection. </p>
<p>It might be possible, for instance, that voters appreciate living in “militarized” counties. This would contradict recent studies showing that militarization <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/115/37/9181">decreases citizens’ perception of the police</a>. Research could help identify why voters in militarized counties appear to reward sheriffs at the electoral booth.</p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>Better understanding of voting behavior in local elections could help us more clearly interpret this result. Not all voters make a choice in every race on their ballots. Perhaps some people – the ones who disapprove of militarization and violent tactics – have chosen not to vote on sheriff’s races. </p>
<p>That could leave the sheriff’s race to be determined by those who do choose to vote for a candidate, potentially delivering a result that differs from the overall views of voters in the county.</p>
<p>Research could help reveal what causes people to cast ballots in specific races – and who chooses to abstain.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160236/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>Sheriffs in less populated counties got bigger boosts from military surplus than sheriffs in more populated counties.Christos Mavridis, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Middlesex UniversityMaurizio Zanardi, Professor of Economics, University of SurreyOrestis Troumpounis, Associate Professor of Public Economics, University of Padova, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1573012021-05-18T12:25:32Z2021-05-18T12:25:32ZRacial groups suffer disparate consequences after unfair police treatment – but not the groups you might think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400070/original/file-20210511-15-kszi1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C61%2C3046%2C1892&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seattle police officers deploy pepper spray as they clash with protesters in Seattle, Washington, on July 25, 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/seattle-police-officers-deploy-pepper-spray-as-they-clash-news-photo/1227781527?adppopup=true">Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>George Floyd’s high-profile death has become synonymous with unfair police treatment.</p>
<p>His death has sparked discussions surrounding <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/george-floyds-killing-sparks-calls-police-reform-unions/story?id=71172743">police reform</a> and the long-term consequences for people who experience <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hpb20210412.997570/full/">violent contact with police</a>.</p>
<p>But what does research say more generally about unfair treatment by police?</p>
<p>One of the biggest questions that researchers like my <a href="https://www.fredonia.edu/academics/colleges-schools/college-liberal-arts-sciences/sociocultural-justice-sciences/faculty/Jessica-Finkeldey">colleague</a> and <a href="https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/sociology/faculty/faculty-directory/dennison-christopher.html">I</a> examine is whether different groups of individuals – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0734016810379904">young people</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2015.1023821">racial and ethnic minorities</a> and those from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2002.tb00962.x">poorer socioeconomic backgrounds</a> – are more likely than their respective counterparts to report police treatment that they perceive to be unfair. </p>
<p>We focus on perceptions of police interaction because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2002.tb00962.x">research has long contended</a> that “citizens’ perceptions of police stops may be considered just as important as the objective reality of such stops.”</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12269">January 2021 study</a> of roughly 12,000 U.S. adults, we found that 62.9% of Black men, 36.5% of Latino men and 21.8% of white men reported experiencing unfair treatment by police.</p>
<p>Our findings also expand current research in two important ways. </p>
<p>We found that experiencing unfair treatment was psychologically detrimental. And some of these consequences were significantly worse for certain racial and ethnic groups, but maybe not the ones you might think.</p>
<h2>The consequences of unfair police treatment</h2>
<p>Research shows that when someone reports experiencing police contact that they perceive to be unfair, it can lead to a range of negative outcomes. They include <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304012">suicidal ideation</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796019000015">post-traumatic stress disorder</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.07.002">diminished physical health</a>. </p>
<p>Our study aligns with these findings.</p>
<p>It also shows that experiencing unfair police treatment leads to the increased use of illegal drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy and heroin. </p>
<p>For instance, 7.2% of those who experienced unfair police treatment reported subsequent illegal drug use compared with just 3% of those with no history of unfair experiences. We also found that experiencing unfair treatment decreases people’s self-efficacy – the general belief in their ability to succeed in life.</p>
<h2>Unequal consequences</h2>
<p>Our research also focused on whether the consequences of unfair police treatment differed among racial and ethnic groups. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611104271085">Some studies show</a> that minorities’ preexisting fears that police contact will be unfair may amplify the consequences if they experience unfair police treatment.</p>
<p>As researchers noted in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146518811144">2018 study</a> of unfair police treatment, “the high-profile incidents of police beating or killing Black men (e.g., Rodney King, Eric Garner and Walter Scott, among many others) may be [emotionally] relived as trauma after experiencing unfair treatment by police.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Police officers in front of LA City Hall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400066/original/file-20210511-23-1ta9u6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Los Angeles police officers hold a line during a July 25, 2020, protest demanding justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-officers-hold-a-line-in-front-of-la-city-hall-during-news-photo/1227781660?adppopup=true">Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The study shows that unfair police treatment leads to worse physical outcomes among Black people compared with white people, such as premature cellular aging that indicates exposure to stress. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2156869320923095">recent study</a>, published in 2020, found that intrusive police stops – such as those that involve a frisk or search – lead to increased depressive symptoms among Black adolescents but not white adolescents.</p>
<h2>Expecting future police interactions</h2>
<p>On the other hand, the preconceived expectation of unfair police treatment among Black communities might normalize these experiences to the point where the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12174">consequences are less pronounced</a>, according to studies.</p>
<p>Our study, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2153368712459273">like some others</a>, found evidence of this phenomenon. </p>
<p>We found that some of the consequences of unfair police treatment were weaker among Black Americans compared with white Americans. Although experiencing unfair police treatment resulted in depressive symptoms and lower self-efficacy among Black and white people, these consequences were more pronounced among white people. </p>
<p>Black people’s expectation of unfair treatment may explain these results. Another explanation for the weaker effects for Black people might stem from the increasing prevalence of Black families <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241611409038">socializing their children</a> to be better prepared for navigating future interactions with law enforcement. </p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>That is, Black families teach their children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243219828340">strategies</a> to interact with police safely, such as following officers’ instructions and not fighting with police.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>One suggestion to offset some of the consequences of unfair treatment is to encourage officers to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-015-9263-8">explain the reasoning</a> for their actions to those <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110316-113318">who are being stopped</a>.</p>
<p>While research on this <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-121416-011426">topic is emerging</a>, it is plausible that legitimizing the interaction in the eyes of those who are stopped may make the entire process be seen as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jels.12086">procedurally just</a>. </p>
<p>Other research suggests that the use of proactive policing strategies that involve heavy police presence should be minimized.</p>
<p>For example, the use of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1198/016214506000001040">stop-and-frisk</a> policies, wherein officers question and search individuals if they have reasonable suspicion that the individual is involved in a crime, disproportionately targets people of color. Thus, reducing the use of stop-and-frisk procedures may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403415610166">improve public opinions and perceptions of police</a>.</p>
<p>Regardless of the approach, the overarching goal of these suggestions is to move the U.S. closer to a fairer and more equitable criminal justice system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research confirms that unfair police treatment is psychologically damaging and that the consequences are decidedly worse for certain racial and ethnic groups.Christopher R. Dennison, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University at BuffaloJessica Finkeldey, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at FredoniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596172021-05-04T12:14:58Z2021-05-04T12:14:58ZHow qualified immunity protects police officers accused of wrongdoing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397657/original/file-20210428-17-zb3vej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2096%2C1178&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Body camera footage shows a Virginia police officer pepper-spraying a Black U.S. Army officer during a traffic stop in December 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ArmyOfficerTrafficStopLawsuit/cb4ac641a5444dd59a64f7cfdf1355e3/photo">Windsor Police via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When police officers kill people without apparent justification, those officers may face both criminal charges – as in the case of Derek Chauvin, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-this-trial-was-different-experts-react-to-guilty-verdict-for-derek-chauvin-159420">convicted of murdering George Floyd</a> in Minneapolis in 2020 – and civil lawsuits.</p>
<p>Floyd’s family filed a federal civil rights suit against Chauvin and three other officers, alleging they used “<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/07/15/891221766/floyd-family-attorneys-to-announce-a-civil-lawsuit-against-minneapolis-and-polic">unjustified, excessive, illegal and deadly force</a>” while detaining him. The suit also named the city of Minneapolis, alleging city officials did not have good policies about using force and didn’t train the officers properly.</p>
<p>In March 2021, as Chauvin’s criminal trial was set to begin, the city settled the lawsuit – agreeing to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/27-million-settlement-george-floyds-family-approved-minneapolis/story?id=76419755">pay US$27 million to Floyd’s family</a> – but Chauvin and the other officers paid nothing. </p>
<p>That’s because, as a Minneapolis police officer at the time he killed Floyd, Chauvin was legally immune from civil lawsuits seeking damages for his actions. The principle is called “qualified immunity,” and it protects government workers from being sued for things they do in their official roles at work.</p>
<h2>A brief history of immunity</h2>
<p>The U.S. legal system has two types of immunity. The first is absolute immunity, which has a long history dating back to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/glsr.2020(V-II).01">judges’ rulings under English common law</a> from the 1700s. This type of immunity protects <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/touro24&div=29&id=&page=">judges and lawmakers from being sued</a> by people who suffer financially from their rulings or policy decisions. Therefore, judges and lawmakers are free to make the best decisions for society as a whole without worrying that anyone who is somehow harmed by their choices could come back and sue them for damages.</p>
<p>The second kind of immunity, the one that affects police officers, stems from the <a href="https://www.fjc.gov/history/timeline/civil-rights-act-1871">Civil Rights Act of 1871</a>. That law allowed an officer to be sued for official acts only if he knew, or should have known, that his action would violate a person’s constitutional rights, or if he intended to deprive someone of their constitutional rights. This liability depended on the officer’s internal state of mind, which is <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/blog/looking-back-at-the-ku-klux-klan-act">notoriously hard to prove in court</a>.</p>
<p>In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court changed that focus. The change came about in a ruling that an officer <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/386/547/">could not be sued for false arrest</a> in the arrest of a person who was later found not to be guilty of a crime. The court did not look at the officer’s state of mind. Instead, the court compared the officer’s actions with those that would be taken by a <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/457/800/">reasonable public official</a> in the same circumstances. If the officer’s actions were reasonable, then immunity was granted.</p>
<p>Over time, this immunity has been expanded by the courts. It now <a href="https://theappeal.org/the-lab/explainers/qualified-immunity-explained/">extends to cover other misdeeds</a>, such as infringement of a suspect’s civil rights during the exercise of a police officer’s authority, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/qualified_immunity">whether those misdeeds were intentional or not</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397659/original/file-20210428-23-19frqyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Police in protective gear spray chemical agents at demonstrators" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397659/original/file-20210428-23-19frqyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397659/original/file-20210428-23-19frqyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397659/original/file-20210428-23-19frqyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397659/original/file-20210428-23-19frqyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397659/original/file-20210428-23-19frqyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397659/original/file-20210428-23-19frqyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397659/original/file-20210428-23-19frqyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police use of force, as in this July 2020 pepper-spraying incident in Seattle, is under scrutiny around the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/WashingtonLegislaturePoliceReform/7fa589f813a14396aba00593f1ace647/photo">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Making lawsuits harder</h2>
<p>The current standard, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/05/30/police-george-floyd-qualified-immunity-supreme-court-column/5283349002/">created by the Supreme Court in 1982</a>, protects officers from being sued in civil court unless their actions are objectively ruled a violation of the law.</p>
<p>An aggrieved citizen with a civil rights complaint can no longer argue that an officer’s conduct was motivated by wrongful intent, malice or even prejudice. What matters is not what the officer did but how it compares with what a reasonable officer might have done.</p>
<p>The result of the changed standard has been to <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-qualified-immunity-and-what-does-it-have-do-police-reform">severely limit the number of civil claims</a> against police that make it past the officer’s broad defense of qualified immunity.</p>
<p>Over many decades, and with increasing intensity in recent years, news reports and citizen complaints have identified police officers harming civilians, particularly Black Americans, seemingly with impunity. Officers know the law will shield them from personal liability, and they also know that it is <a href="https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports98/police/uspo14.htm">rare for officers to face criminal charges</a> – much less be convicted.</p>
<p>But recent examples may bring additional attention to this issue.</p>
<p>In March 2021, Marion Humphrey, a Black law student at the University of Arkansas, filed a <a href="https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2021/03/11/marion-humphrey-jr-sues-state-police-trooper-over-i-40-stop-handcuffing-and-search-for-driving-while-black">federal lawsuit against an Arkansas state trooper</a>, alleging the trooper unlawfully searched his personal belongings during a traffic stop in August 2020. The trooper has not been disciplined or faced criminal changes, but the lawsuit says a video camera captured the trooper making insulting remarks about Humphrey’s race and age.</p>
<p>In April 2021, Caron Nazario, a Black U.S. Army lieutenant, filed a civil rights lawsuit against <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/11/986271819/officer-who-handcuffed-and-pepper-sprayed-black-army-lieutenant-is-fired">two police officers in Virginia who pepper-sprayed him</a> during a December 2020 traffic stop. One of the officers involved <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/virginia-police-officer-fired-pepper-spray-handcuff-black-army-lieutenant-traffic-stop/">was fired</a>, and the other was ordered to undergo retraining. The state attorney general is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/11/986271819/officer-who-handcuffed-and-pepper-sprayed-black-army-lieutenant-is-fired">investigating the incident</a>, in which Nazario says his constitutional rights were violated. </p>
<p>It is not yet clear how those lawsuits will address the possibility of the officers claiming – or being granted – qualified immunity. But those incidents and others like them have <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-qualified-immunity-and-what-does-it-have-do-police-reform">sparked intense debate</a> about whether, and under what circumstances, police officers should have qualified immunity. </p>
<p>Proponents say qualified immunity offers a balance between letting victims hold officials accountable and minimizing harm to society as a whole. Opponents say it serves as protection for wrongdoers that harks back to Jim Crow laws and is a vestige of racism that perpetuates unequal treatment before the law.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397656/original/file-20210428-25-qbith1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowd of people march, some carrying mock coffins" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397656/original/file-20210428-25-qbith1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397656/original/file-20210428-25-qbith1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397656/original/file-20210428-25-qbith1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397656/original/file-20210428-25-qbith1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397656/original/file-20210428-25-qbith1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397656/original/file-20210428-25-qbith1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397656/original/file-20210428-25-qbith1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Family members of people killed by police in Minnesota march on the state’s Capitol building in October 2020 demanding better accountability for police violence, including an end to officers’ qualified immunity from civil lawsuits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-march-down-university-avenue-towards-the-news-photo/1228969528">Chris Juhn/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A move to eliminate qualified immunity</h2>
<p>Qualified immunity is a federal law construct; however, some states are already moving to do away with this type of legal protection for police officers. In June 2020, the state of Colorado did so, in <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/19/colorado-police-accountability-bill-becomes-law/">direct response to George Floyd’s death</a> and the resulting protests. In August 2020, <a href="https://reason.com/volokh/2020/08/02/connecticut-passes-law-curbing-back-qualified-immunity-but-with-loopholes/">Connecticut took a similar step</a>.</p>
<p>In March 2021, the <a href="https://council.nyc.gov/press/2021/03/25/2079/">New York City Council did the same</a> for its police department. <a href="https://www.jurist.org/news/2021/04/new-mexico-governor-signs-law-eliminating-qualified-immunity/">New Mexico joined the growing movement</a> the following month.</p>
<p>At the federal level, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1280">George Floyd Justice in Policing Act</a> in March 2021, which in part seeks to limit the ability of police officers to claim qualified immunity as a defense in private lawsuits. The bill is now in the U.S. Senate for consideration. Similar laws are likely to spread across the country as Americans and their lawmakers examine whether qualified immunity for police does more harm than good.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 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/159617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronnie R. Gipson Jr. does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Police officers who kill, injure or violate the rights of citizens are often not held accountable, even in civil court – because in most cases, they can’t be sued for official acts.Ronnie R. Gipson Jr., Assistant Professor of Law, University of MemphisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596182021-04-30T12:16:16Z2021-04-30T12:16:16ZAmerican cities have long struggled to reform their police – but isolated success stories suggest community and officer buy-in might be key<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397951/original/file-20210429-19-p9sccl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5375%2C3769&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Getting police and community on board with reforms is crucial for success.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-carrying-a-portrait-of-george-floyd-looks-on-at-a-news-photo/1231586015?adppopup=true">Stephen Maturen/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/trial-over-killing-of-george-floyd/2021/04/20/987777911/court-says-jury-has-reached-verdict-in-derek-chauvins-murder-trial">guilty verdicts delivered against Derek Chauvin</a> on April 20, 2021, represented a landmark moment – but courtroom justice cannot deliver the sweeping changes <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/315962/americans-say-policing-needs-major-changes.aspx">most Americans feel are needed</a> to improve policing in the U.S. </p>
<p>As America continues to grapple with racism and police killings, federal action over police reform has <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/29/congress-to-hold-police-reform-legislation-talk-as-george-floyd-act-stalls.html">stalled</a> in Congress. But at the state level <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/legislative-responses-for-policing.aspx">there is movement</a> and steps toward reform are underway in many U.S. cities, including <a href="https://www.davisvanguard.org/2021/04/philadelphia-da-throws-weight-behind-police-reform/">Philadelphia</a>; <a href="https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/02/24/proposed-defunding-reforms-of-oakland-police-department-draw-mixed-reactions/">Oakland, California</a>; and <a href="https://www.kgw.com/article/news/politics/oregon-police-reform-bills-passed-activists-reaction/283-d1fea772-7ea5-4165-99b0-eacc7c79e995">Portland, Oregon</a>.</p>
<p>Many of <a href="https://www.axios.com/police-reform-george-floyd-protest-2150b2dd-a6dc-4a0c-a1fb-62c2e999a03a.html">these efforts</a> are geared toward ending specific practices, such as the granting of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/20/george-floyd-derek-chauvin-killer-mike-police">qualified immunity</a>, through which officers are shielded from civil lawsuits, and the use of certain <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/police-use-of-force-chokehold-carotid-ban/">police neck holds</a> and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/06/11/louisville-metro-council-votes-ban-no-knock-warrants-after-breonna-taylors-death/5342907002/">no-knock warrants</a>. Mayors and city councils nationwide have also pushed reforms emphasizing <a href="https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/police-department/news/2020/updated-policies.html">accountability and transparency</a>, with many working to create <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/07/931806105/across-the-country-voters-approve-more-civilian-oversight-for-police">independent oversight commissions</a>. </p>
<p>It’s too soon to expect substantial improvement from these recently proposed remedies. </p>
<p>But as <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/natasha-johnson/">scholars of criminal justice</a> – one <a href="https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/thaddeus-johnson/">a former police officer of 10 years</a> – we know America has been here before. From Ferguson to Baltimore and Oakland to Chicago, numerous city police departments have undergone transformation efforts following controversial police killings. But these and other reform movements haven’t lived up to their promises. </p>
<h2>Resisting change</h2>
<p>After the shooting death in Missouri of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html">unarmed teen Michael Brown</a> in 2014, police in Ferguson <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-missouri-ferguson-plan/ferguson-accepts-u-s-governments-police-reform-plan-idUSKCN0WH30H">agreed to a reform program</a> that included anti-bias training and an agreement to end stop, search and arrest practices that discriminate on the basis of race.</p>
<p>But five years into the process, <a href="https://forwardthroughferguson.org/stateofpolicereform/">a report by the nonprofit Forward Through Ferguson</a> found the reforms had done <a href="https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2019-09-17/ferguson-groups-report-concludes-police-in-st-louis-area-have-not-made-enough-reforms">little to change policing culture or practice</a>. This was backed up by a Ferguson Civilian Review Board <a href="https://www.fergusoncity.com/DocumentCenter/View/4244/2019-FPD-Traffic-Stops-and-Racial-Profiling-Data">report in July 2020</a> that found the “disparity in traffic stops between black and white residents appears to be growing.” </p>
<p>Similarly, concerns over the <a href="https://theappeal.org/years-after-freddie-grays-death-baltimore-police-misconduct-persists/">quality of Baltimore’s police services persist</a> despite federal oversight and reforms brought in after the <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-freddie-gray-20150419-story.html">death of Freddie Gray</a> in police custody in 2015.</p>
<p>Commentators have pointed to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/baltimore-police-reforms-crime/2020/06/18/7d60e91e-b041-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html">resistance to change</a> among officers and an inability to garner <a href="https://www.marylandmatters.org/2020/12/02/baltimore-city-residents-seek-police-accountability-measures-more-education-funding-in-next-session/">community buy-in</a> as reasons for the slowdown in progress in Baltimore. </p>
<p>Part of the problem, as seen with Baltimore, is that federal intervention does not appear to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1098611114561305">guarantee lasting change</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12295">Research shows</a> that Department of Justice regulations aimed at reform only slightly reduce police misconduct. There is also no evidence that national efforts targeting the use of force alone <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2020.1733637">mitigate police killings</a>.</p>
<h2>Community-led reform</h2>
<p>One beacon of hope is the Cincinnati Police Department. Twenty years ago, residents in Cincinnati experienced events similar to what many cities have faced in more recent years. An unarmed Black man, <a href="https://www.fox19.com/2021/04/07/april-remembering-timothy-thomas-two-decades-later/">Timothy Thomas</a>, was shot dead by officers in 2001, sparking widespread unrest. It led Cincinnati to enter into a different model of reform: a <a href="https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/department-references/collaborative-agreement/">collaborative agreement</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A protester throws debris at Cincinnati police officers in riot gear in 2001." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397892/original/file-20210429-16-fqvmwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After the death of Timothy Thomas in 2001, Cincinnati erupted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protester-throws-debris-april-10-2001-at-cincinnati-police-news-photo/800279?adppopup=true">Mike Simons/Newsmakers via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Touted by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch as <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-lynch-delivers-remarks-community-policing-roundtable-cincinnati">a national model for community-led police reform</a>, the collaborative agreement saw the police department, civic government, police unions and local civil rights groups act in partnership for a reform program backed by court supervision. </p>
<p>The resulting changes to use-of-force policies, a focus on community-based solutions to crime, and robust oversight brought about improved policing. A <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG853.html">2009 Rand evaluation</a> of the collaborative agreement found it resulted in a reduction in crime, positive changes in citizens’ attitudes toward police and fewer racially biased traffic stops. There were also <a href="https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/linkservid/97D9709F-F1C1-4A75-804C07D9873DC70F/showMeta/0/">fewer use-of-force incidents and officer and arrestee injuries</a> under the collaborative agreement.</p>
<p>But it isn’t perfect. Cincinnati’s Black residents continue to be disproportionately arrested – likely owing to the concentration of crime, service calls and police deployments in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Figures from 2018 show Black Cincinnati residents were <a href="https://jacobdkaplan.com/arrest.html#state=Ohio&agency=Cincinnati%20Police%20Department&category=all_arrests_total&subcategory=tot&subsubcategory=Race&rate=true&percent=false&monthly=false&checkbox_1=false&checkbox_2=false&checkbox_3=false&checkbox_4=false&checkbox_1=true">roughly three times</a> as likely to be arrested as their white counterparts.</p>
<p>Cincinnati’s collaborative agreement contained a number of elements that experts say are needed if police reforms are to be successful: strong leadership, flexible, goal-oriented approaches, effective oversight and externally regulated transparency.</p>
<p>Moreover, it depended on police officials’ ability to cultivate <a href="http://jlsp.law.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2017/03/46-Schatmeier.pdf">community investment</a> and overcome resistance from police officers and police unions.</p>
<p>Community confidence is <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2012.00291.x">critical to police reform and community safety</a>. When citizens view police as legitimate and trustworthy, they are more likely to report crimes, cooperate during police investigations, comply with directives and work with police to find solutions to crime.</p>
<h2>Beyond collaboration</h2>
<p>Efforts like that in Cincinnati that put community engagement at the heart of police reforms undoubtedly are strides in the right direction. But they can go only so far. A noticeable shortcoming in most police reform programs is a focus on what is the right thing to do during confrontations with the public, rather than on trying to avert those situations in the first place. </p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1086/701423">Fatal police shootings</a> often happen during police stops and arrests – situations that carry <a href="https://doi.org/10.3818/JRP.4.1.2002.87">increased risks</a> of citizen resistance and violent police response.</p>
<p>Scaling back low-level enforcement, such as arrests for vagrancy and loitering – much of which has little <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403417725370">public safety advantage</a> – and having police partner with civilian responders for mental health, homelessness and drug-related calls, could mean <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20191028">fewer opportunities for violent police encounters</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>.]</p>
<p>Some departments have begun to change their enforcement policies along these lines. The Gwinnett County Police Department in Georgia, for example, stopped making arrests and issuing citations for <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local/gwinnett-won-issue-citations-misdemeanor-marijuana-cases/QpGuMJ8KzHp7Ula8DLVw1M/">misdemeanor marijuana possession</a>. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108553599">2018 study</a> of traffic stops in Fayetteville, North Carolina, found that redirecting enforcement away from minor infractions – such as broken taillights and expired tags – toward the more serious violations of speeding and running traffic lights resulted in reduced crime and a narrowed racial gap in stops and searches.</p>
<h2>Removing the trigger</h2>
<p>Low-level infractions have often been the <a href="https://www.joincampaignzero.org/brokenwindows">triggers for police interventions that end in citizen deaths</a>. Eric Garner – who died in 2014 after a New York police officer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/nyregion/daniel-pantaleo-fired.html">put him in a banned chokehold</a> – was stopped for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/loose-cigarette-arrests-in-nyc-drop-in-year-after-eric-garners-death-1436992014">selling loose cigarettes</a>.</p>
<p>Devoting less time to policing such activity would also free up officers’ time to devote to such endeavors as analyzing crime trends, conducting wellness checks on elderly residents and mentoring community youth. I (Thaddeus Johnson) felt this as a police officer on the street, and I see it as a criminal justice scholar now.</p>
<p>The examples of Cincinnati, Ferguson and Baltimore show that getting community buy-in is crucial if attempts to improve policing are to be successful. We believe that evaluating officers’ performance and rewarding them based on community-oriented activities – rather than just the number of stops and arrests – could foster the support necessary for lasting reform.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thaddeus L. Johnson is affiliated with the Council on Criminal Justice (Senior Research Fellow). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha N. Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Attempts to reform US police departments fail when they are unable to get community support. Perhaps it is time to take a different tack, argue two criminal justice scholars – one a former cop.Thaddeus L. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State UniversityNatasha N. Johnson, Clinical Instructor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1592122021-04-21T04:32:37Z2021-04-21T04:32:37ZRelief at Derek Chauvin conviction a sign of long history of police brutality<p>The unprecedented conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin for the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-21/derek-chauvin-murder-manslaugher-george-floyd-sentence/100083494">murder and manslaughter</a> of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/20/george-floyd-life-biography">George Floyd</a> is testament to the hard work of Black Lives Matter organisers and protesters. </p>
<p>It might seem as though someone who spent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd-kneel-9-minutes-29-seconds.html">nine minutes and 29 seconds</a> pressing his weight through his knee into another man’s neck – all captured on video – would be a slam dunk for a conviction. But history shows us otherwise. </p>
<p>Thirty years ago, blurry footage taken with a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/28/us/rodney-king-footage-camera-auction-trnd/index.html">home camcorder</a> from an apartment balcony showed the world four white police officers beating Rodney King, an African American man on his knees. The police used batons, between 53 and 56 times.</p>
<p>Those officers were charged with <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/04/26/524744989/when-la-erupted-in-anger-a-look-back-at-the-rodney-king-riots">excessive force and assault</a>. Their lawyers argued they could not get a fair hearing in Los Angeles, so the trial was moved to a conservative county with a higher proportion of white residents – reflected in the makeup of the jury.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-racist-roots-of-american-policing-from-slave-patrols-to-traffic-stops-112816">The racist roots of American policing: From slave patrols to traffic stops</a>
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<p>Their lawyers also argued, successfully, that the audio on the recording be omitted because it would prejudice the jury. Instead, they screened it frame by frame. Without the sounds of the blows striking King and the screams of bystanders urging the police to stop, the video persuaded jurors of the defence lawyers’ arguments that the officers were <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-30-mn-850-story.html">acting in self-defence</a>. </p>
<p>One juror later told reporters she believed King was in “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=WcFTAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=rodney+king+%22total+control%22+juror&source=bl&ots=ydRyQ4b1GA&sig=ACfU3U2WJsnE7sTm8s3CkwnK-J5YXxT1Yg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-_7-q_43wAhXlyzgGHbPzDrgQ6AEwDXoECAgQAw#v=onepage&q=rodney%20king%20%22total%20control%22%20juror&f=false">total control</a>” of the event. That juror believed one of the defence lawyers, who said “there’s only one person who’s in charge of this situation and that’s Rodney Glenn King”. She was sure a Black American man presented a violent threat, even while on his knees and clearly injured.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396204/original/file-20210421-13-1j45wpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396204/original/file-20210421-13-1j45wpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396204/original/file-20210421-13-1j45wpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396204/original/file-20210421-13-1j45wpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396204/original/file-20210421-13-1j45wpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396204/original/file-20210421-13-1j45wpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396204/original/file-20210421-13-1j45wpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&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">People react to the news of a guilt verdict in front of a mural to George Floyd in Atlanta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/EPA/Eric S. Lesser</span></span>
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<p>This idea – that Black bodies somehow contain coiled violence ready to be unleashed at any moment – has justified police violence for years. This is true for police perceptions of African American women, such as <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/breonna-taylor">Breonna Taylor</a> in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html">her own home</a>, as well as for African American men.</p>
<p>It has meant the legal test of whether the use of force is “<a href="https://theconversation.com/derek-chauvin-trial-3-questions-america-needs-to-ask-about-seeking-racial-justice-in-a-court-of-law-158505">excessive</a>” has fallen further along the spectrum of violence when it comes to cases in which the victim is Black. This is true in Australia, too, where more than 400 Indigenous people have <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-18/aboriginal-deaths-custody-reflect-health-democracy-australia/100074262">died in custody</a> since the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/indigenous-deaths-custody-report-summary">1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-432-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-since-1991-no-one-has-ever-been-convicted-racist-silence-and-complicity-are-to-blame-139873">not one person has been convicted of a crime</a>.</p>
<p>This belief means that even when police killings are captured on video, as in the cases of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2014/dec/04/i-cant-breathe-eric-garner-chokehold-death-video">Eric Garner</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52896872">Philando Castile</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/27/alton-sterling-shooting-two-police-officers-will-not-be-charged-with-any">Alton Sterling</a>, prosecutors find reasons not to indict and juries find reasons not to convict.</p>
<p>This belief also means that even when the victim of a police shooting is a child, like <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/12-year-son-tamir-rice-killed-police-im/story?id=71654873">12-year-old Tamir Rice</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-30220700">shot by an officer</a> <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/cleveland-police-office-shot-tamir-rice-unfit-duty-years-ago-police-reports-show">previously deemed unfit</a> for the job, no police officer was charged with a crime.</p>
<p>Of course, police violence that disproportionately targets African Americans <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/08/888174033/video-history-of-policing-how-did-we-get-here">long</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/03/869046127/american-police">predates</a> portable video cameras. As many have noted since Floyd’s murder, the origins of US policing <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/the-invention-of-the-police">lie in the control of supposedly disorderly populations</a> –whether of enslaved people or, after the end of slavery, an impoverished class of labourers including Black people and immigrants.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396203/original/file-20210421-17-ktab5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396203/original/file-20210421-17-ktab5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396203/original/file-20210421-17-ktab5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396203/original/file-20210421-17-ktab5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396203/original/file-20210421-17-ktab5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396203/original/file-20210421-17-ktab5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396203/original/file-20210421-17-ktab5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">George Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd wipes his eyes during a press conference after the verdict was handed down.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/AP/Julio Cortez</span></span>
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<p>As African Americans migrated from the agricultural southern states to cities in the US South and North, police forces adapted accordingly. Ever since, at every stage of the “law enforcement” process, Black people are disproportionately the target. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/opinions/systemic-racism-police-evidence-criminal-justice-system/">includes</a> in <a href="https://www.aclu.org/other/cracks-system-20-years-unjust-federal-crack-cocaine-law">law-writing</a>; neighbourhood patrols; the exercise of <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/7/21293259/police-racism-violence-ideology-george-floyd">discretion over arrest</a>, indictment, and plea bargains at trial; <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/05/11/a-growing-number-of-state-courts-are-confronting-unconscious-racism-in-jury-selection">jury decisions</a>; and judges’ decisions regarding fines and <a href="https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/un-report-on-racial-disparities/">sentences</a>. </p>
<p>Whether it’s the so-called 1960s <a href="https://time.com/3746059/war-on-crime-history/">War on Crime</a> or the 1980s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/nixon-adviser-ehrlichman-anti-left-anti-black-war-on-drugs-2019-7?r=US&IR=T">War on Drugs</a>, the whole of <a href="https://bostonreview.net/race/elizabeth-hinton-minneapolis-uprising-context">policing in the US rests</a> on <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674979826">anti-black</a> <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/new-jim-crow">racism</a>.</p>
<p>As historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad argues in his excellent book, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674238145">The Condemnation of Blackness</a>, the entire justice system itself rests on the criminalisation of Black Americans. For many, the apparent criminality of Black people is evident in the proportion of them in prison or on bail or remand or parole. It’s a vicious circle. </p>
<p>Reports and commissions by government, not-for-profit organisations and academics have long identified racism as the cause of the problem. This started in the 1920s with the <a href="https://archive.org/details/negroinchicagost00chic/page/n11/mode/2up?view=theater">report into the 1919 Chicago Race Riot</a>. The 1968 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/us/kerner-commission-report.html">Kerner Commission Report</a> made recommendations that have been repeated reports since. </p>
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<p>So why is the problem so intractable?</p>
<p>In short, profit. The “justice system” in the United States generates enormous revenue for a small group of people. Its services, ranging from public and private prisons, reform programs, well-resourced police and other legal systems, pays the salaries of literally millions more. Where African-descended people were once enslaved to provide cheap labour, they are now policed, charged, indicted and incarcerated at <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/national/">staggering rates</a>. </p>
<p>It cannot be left to police departments to reform themselves. The only reason Chauvin has been convicted is because of the extraordinary labour of activists, which has focused attention on this case. Almost simultaneous with the verdict on the charges being read out, another African American child — this time a 15-year-old girl called Ma’Khia Bryant — was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/20/ohio-police-shooting-girl-15">shot dead by Ohio police</a>. </p>
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<p>It is time, rather, that calls to abolish police be taken more seriously. To many, this campaign seems outlandish. But as the work of <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/06/10/ruth-wilson-gilmore-makes-the-case-for-abolition/">Ruth</a> <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/racism-racialisation/transcript-conversation-ruth-wilson-gilmore">Wilson</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazine/prison-abolition-ruth-wilson-gilmore.html">Gilmore</a> and others points out, democracies elsewhere in the world flourish with only a small fraction of the proportion of incarcerated people as in the United States. “Where life is precious, life is precious,” Gilmore says.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/justice-for-george-floyd-derek-chauvins-guilty-verdicts-must-result-in-fundamental-changes-to-policing-159400">Justice for George Floyd: Derek Chauvin's guilty verdicts must result in fundamental changes to policing</a>
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<p>Achieving a society in which police and prisons are not necessary is no easy task, especially when those profiting from current arrangements hold so much sway. We need, as writer, Mellon Foundation president, and inaugural poet <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/arts/elizabeth-alexander-george-floyd-video-protests.html">Elizabeth Alexander</a> says, the imagination and courage of Black artists. </p>
<p>Alexander points to Pat Ward Williams, who asked in 1986 of photographs of lynched Black people, “<a href="https://whitney.org/collection/works/8401">Can you be Black and look at this?</a>” </p>
<p>In his closing statement to the jury, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell said with anguish: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You were told, for example, that Mr. Floyd died because his heart was too big […] [but] the truth of the matter is – that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr Chauvin’s heart was too small.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare Corbould has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a member of the Australian Greens.</span></em></p>The conviction of a former police officer for murder is unprecedented - and an indication of the long, brutal history of racism in US law enforcement.Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin 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>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G9pssTNgK-g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd for 9 minutes, 29 seconds.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<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>
</figure>
<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/1571112021-03-19T11:31:51Z2021-03-19T11:31:51ZPolice and civilians disagree on when body camera footage should be made public<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389933/original/file-20210316-21-mbvnjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C22%2C2986%2C1971&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When should the public be able to see what this camera captures?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/California-PoliceVideo/13e60e3fee6344f8ae970eb6f75421dc/photo">AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many police chiefs and regular American civilians agree that officers’ body camera footage should be released to the public after police shoot someone dead.</p>
<p>They differ, though, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108966658">on when the images should be made public</a>. This complicates achieving accountability, which is often the <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/police-body-camera-policies-accountability">reason officers wear cameras</a>.</p>
<p>That’s the finding of our new research, published by Cambridge University Press. We surveyed 4,000 U.S. residents – 1,000 across the nation as a whole and 1,000 in each of three cities – Los Angeles, Seattle and Charlotte – which are <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479850150/cops-cameras-and-crisis/">often cited</a> as having different policies for releasing body camera footage. We asked participants whether they identified themselves as white, Black, Hispanic or Asian. We also surveyed 1,000 police chiefs across the country.</p>
<p>In June 2020, weeks after the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police, the Pew Research Center reported that “78% of Americans overall – but a far smaller share of black Americans (56%) – said they had <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/05/a-month-before-george-floyds-death-black-and-white-americans-differed-sharply-in-confidence-in-the-police/">at least a fair amount of confidence</a> in police officers to act in the best interests of the public.”</p>
<p>Those findings are consistent with other research also revealing that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2020.101760">race is a factor</a> that influences whether Americans trust police.</p>
<p>We randomly showed police chiefs body camera footage and smartphone footage of a fatal shooting. We randomly showed the 4,000 people we surveyed either body camera footage of a police officer shooting a person or a reason why they could not view that footage and then asked them whether, how and when the footage should be made public.</p>
<p>We found very little geographical variation in citizens’ expectations for police behavior and trust in police to use force appropriately. But we found that regular people and police chiefs differed in some of their views about body camera recordings.</p>
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<p>People from all across the country, including in the three cities we focused on, generally wanted the footage to be made public. More than 9 in 10 respondents thought so. And the vast majority of police chiefs – just under 9 in 10 – agreed.</p>
<p>But beyond that, there were noteworthy differences in people’s views about when and how the video should be released. A plurality of every group – nationwide, and in each city, and when separated by race – was content to wait to see the raw footage until after an internal police investigation was complete.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WT4Ss6ASOrE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Los Angeles Police Department releases narrated, edited videos of police shootings.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Overall, on average 39% of the 4,000 citizens felt that way. Nearly half of police chiefs – 48.7% – did. Nonwhites were less willing to wait for an internal investigation to wrap up before seeing the footage.</p>
<p>For citizens, the next most preferred method of seeing the footage was a release of the raw video immediately after the event, with between one-quarter and one-third of people seeking that. Only about one in five citizens preferred to see edited video that was cut and narrated to help explain to viewers what the police officers were doing. But the idea of an edited video appealed to police chiefs, who far preferred that over an immediate release of unedited footage.</p>
<p>If body cameras are going to help improve police accountability, then it is important that police chiefs and the public agree on how and when the footage will be released.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157111/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Bromberg received funding as a collaborator on the Insight Grant (#435-2020-1013) and support from the Canada Research Chairs program, both from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Étienne Charbonneau has received an Insight Grant (#435-2020-1013) and support from the Canada Research Chairs program, both from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>Nonwhites were less willing to wait for an internal investigation to wrap up before seeing the footage.Dan Bromberg, Associate Professor of Public Administration and Political Science, University of New HampshireÉtienne Charbonneau, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Comparative Public Management, École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1564512021-03-11T20:11:09Z2021-03-11T20:11:09ZNew Jersey State Police’s first 100 years characterized by racial prejudice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388107/original/file-20210305-13-1cs4y68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C49%2C4679%2C3089&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New Jersey state troopers salute before an NFL football game.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PatriotsJetsFootball/cc98fa0f078b4edeaeb9810fdad04f46/photo">AP Photo/Adam Hunger</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The New Jersey State Police, founded 100 years ago, was created to counter the influence of the state’s <a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/working-papers/2002/demo/POP-twps0056.pdf">rising populations</a> of <a href="https://nj.gov/state/historical/assets/pdf/topical/afro-americans-in-nj-short-history.pdf">African Americans</a> and <a href="https://www.nj.gov/nj/about/history/short_history.html">immigrants</a>, whom <a href="https://dspace.njstatelib.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10929/24561/h6731994.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">white residents feared</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/c028fdb791653edc6fe42c4081350e8f/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y">My research</a> into the <a href="https://www.state.nj.us/acps/home/hearings/pdf/061121_wbuckman.pdf">agency’s culture</a> found that the agency emerged as the result of a seven-year campaign by the state’s Chamber of Commerce to <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/crime-and-the-state-police/oclc/1079354989&referer=brief_results">replace rural police and county sheriffs</a> with a statewide professional force.</p>
<p>A key element of the chamber’s effort was a 225-page report, issued in 1917, written by <a href="https://www.whitmanarchives.org/omeka/exhibits/show/notables/garrett">Paul Garrett, a well-known businessman</a>, whose reputation <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/influence-of-paul-garrett-on-general-motors-public-relations-and-the-development-of-corporate-pr/oclc/29335412">helped boost the idea</a> for a state police agency.</p>
<p>Garrett’s writing focused on what he called the “foreign problem” in 13 of the state’s 21 counties, which was how he described crimes allegedly committed by African American and foreign-born residents in these communities. The report <a href="https://dspace.njstatelib.org/handle/10929/33525">contained stark racial and ethnic epithets</a> and stereotypes, including claims that “negroes come from the South to this place for the summer and give much annoyance,” and “foreigners should be given full freedom so long as they are law abiding. But the many instances of rape and robbery and assault and battery due to them would indicate that the problem has not yet been adequately solved.”</p>
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<p>Garrett also praised the nation’s first modern state police force, in Pennsylvania, for its “military and physical prowess” at controlling the nonwhite population, including their ability to “shoot down a n—r a mile off.”</p>
<h2>Military origins</h2>
<p>When the New Jersey legislature created the state police in 1921, it did not replace other law enforcement agencies, but was clearly intended to be a model for other New Jersey police departments. From the beginning, the agency’s superintendent, a <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4079/herbert-norman-schwarzkopf">career military officer named H. Norman Schwarzkopf Sr.</a>, took pains to promote the new agency to the public. </p>
<p>In radio speeches, newspaper interviews and <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=qOIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA929&dq=new+jersey+state+police&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilsYT-hY7vAhWCiK0KHeKvD_wQ6AEwBHoECAEQAg">eye-catching photo spreads</a> in magazines, he promised the state police would have “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report/E4NCAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0%20p.%2016">a steady and impartial line of conduct</a> in the discharge of its duty … cleanly, sober and orderly habits and … a respectful bearing to all classes.”</p>
<p>But the police force’s internal publication, The Triangle, told a different story. In a 1924 dispatch called “We Must Have a Little Fun,” an unnamed trooper wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It has been found out that some of the men stationed at Haddon Heights are carrying shotguns with # 2 Buck, hunting for ‘colored gentlemen.’ Corporal Wilson has asked that we make application for some rubber sling shots.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Racist tendencies</h2>
<p>A year later, The Triangle reported on an encounter in which a Black man had shot at a trooper, injuring the policeman’s hand, before being shot dead himself:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“A call came in that Trooper Simpson had killed a man in a pistol duel. … Corporal Sperling, talking to Sergeant Hoch with all seriousness, said ‘Can you beat that, I wish the men would pick some other day outside of Saturday afternoon to a kill a n—r.’”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The public, however, was told something else. Schwarzkopf honored Trooper Simpson for his heroism, noting in messages published <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/70285817/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">in</a> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/212673754/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">newspapers</a> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/79519368/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">across</a> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/651146620/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">the</a> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/51488211/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">United</a> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/659505364/?terms=%22new%20jersey%20state%20police%22&match=1">States</a> that the trooper worked the rest of his shift despite his injury.</p>
<p>There were other racially controversial incidents, including a trooper in 1937 <a href="https://hup.medium.com/the-long-history-of-police-abuse-on-the-road-ba11d9928deb">shooting and nearly killing a Black teenager for joyriding</a> – something not then viewed as a real crime. In the 1950s, documents show, troopers paid particular attention to conducting traffic stops on migrant workers, who were <a href="https://nj.gov/state/historical/assets/pdf/topical/afro-americans-in-nj-short-history.pdf">often African Americans</a> or <a href="https://trentonlib.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Historical-Report-about-Puerto-Ricans-in-New-Jersey-from-1955.pdf">Puerto Ricans</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388891/original/file-20210310-15-qikv07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Black man graduating from the New Jersey state police academy" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388891/original/file-20210310-15-qikv07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388891/original/file-20210310-15-qikv07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388891/original/file-20210310-15-qikv07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388891/original/file-20210310-15-qikv07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388891/original/file-20210310-15-qikv07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388891/original/file-20210310-15-qikv07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388891/original/file-20210310-15-qikv07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paul McLemore, right, graduated in 1961 as the first Black trooper in the New Jersey State Police.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/NJSP/status/1356799455962435585">New Jersey State Police</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A toxic work environment</h2>
<p>The first African American trooper didn’t join the New Jersey State Police until 1961. That man, Paul Dean McLemore, years later told legislators his white colleagues had hung flyers around the workplace referring to African Americans as “<a href="https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/reports/police.pdf">porch monkeys, coons, and saucer lips</a>.”</p>
<p>Another African American trooper, Isiah Cherry, who started in 1967, told the author of a <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/troopers-behind-the-badge/oclc/30398308">history of the state police</a> about when another trooper brought his son to the police barracks. The son looked at Cherry and said, “Daddy, there goes a n—r.” Rather than calling out the racist slur, the father replied, “Yeah, but he’s a good one.” </p>
<p>In July 1967, <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11966375">police beat up and arrested a Black taxi driver</a>, sparking a race riot in the state’s most populous city, Newark, in a year when <a href="https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/blog/long-hot-summer-riots-1967">race riots spread across the country</a>. A Newark police officer, a city firefighter and 24 citizens were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/nyregion/newark-riots-50-years.html">killed in the violence</a>.</p>
<p>The following year, a state commission seeking to prevent future unrest reported that during the Newark riots, state police troopers had <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/69748NCJRS.pdf">singled out African Americans for violence</a> and purposely vandalized businesses with window signs indicating they were owned by African Americans.</p>
<p>In more recent years, McLemore has recalled how excited the white troopers were to go to Newark, in one interview recounting that “<a href="https://www.insidernj.com/mlk-day-2021-racism-problem-we-all-still-live-with/">The guys with me were just ecstatic, like they were going off to war</a>.” He has described how witnessing “<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/144229720/">the atrocities bestowed on our people</a>” – meaning Black Americans – by the state police, made him realize that he “was on the wrong team.” </p>
<p>Yet, when McLemore spoke out about racism immediately in the wake of the riots, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/144229720">the state police demoted him</a> from detective to clerical worker, and relegated him to an overnight shift filing paperwork. In 1976, he resigned and – after graduating from college and law school – became a <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/144229720/">civil rights attorney and a judge</a>.</p>
<p>As McLemore was leaving the force, the state entered into a federal consent decree alleging the agency had <a href="https://dspace.njstatelib.org/xmlui/handle/10929/25073">engaged in racially discriminatory hiring practices</a>. Federal supervision of state police hiring in New Jersey lasted 17 years, until 1992.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1360388858920247297"}"></div></p>
<h2>Countering racism</h2>
<p>In 1989, the Middlesex County Public Defender’s Office identified “a <a href="https://www.nj.com/politics/2014/01/timeline_of_nj_state_police_struggles_with_racial_discrimination.html">high percentage of black, out-of-state motorists</a> … being stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike by the State Police.” At that time, the <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/146564NCJRS.pdf">New Jersey State Police were involved</a> in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/29/nyregion/new-jersey-argues-that-the-us-wrote-the-book-on-race-profiling.html">Operation Pipeline</a>, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency program intended to reduce drug trafficking.</p>
<p>The prosecutor’s scrutiny began a years-long series of investigations and lawsuits <a href="https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2657/">alleging various racist practices</a> in New Jersey State Police operations. A state court in 1996 concluded that the state police had a “<a href="https://casetext.com/case/state-v-soto-36">de facto policy … of targeting blacks for investigation and arrest</a>, violating people’s constitutional rights.</p>
<p>In 1998, two troopers shot at a van <a href="https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2020/06/12/nj-police-deaths-over-past-30-years/5339129002/">carrying three Black men and a Hispanic man</a>, wounding three. The officers claimed their shooting was justified in self-defense, later pleaded guilty to official misconduct and providing false information about the encounter.</p>
<p>That shooting, along with other incidents and allegations, sparked a <a href="https://www.nj.com/politics/2014/01/timeline_of_nj_state_police_struggles_with_racial_discrimination.html">federal civil rights investigation</a>. One of the revelations from that inquiry was that internal police documents declared that motorists who appeared to be Black or Hispanic could be considered suspicious if they were staring ”<a href="https://www.drcnet.org/njprofiling/OAG/oag1288-1312.pdf">straight ahead while driving</a>,“ or carrying "maps, newspapers and toll tickets,” or had sleeping “passengers in the back seat” – or even if they engaged troopers in “friendly dialogue” during traffic stops. </p>
<p>In 1999, the police agreed to another federal consent decree <a href="https://www.njpublicsafety.com/jointapp.htm">alleging racist policing practices</a>, especially with traffic stops. When the decree was announced, the state’s attorney general publicly acknowledged that racial profiling “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/22/opinion/racial-profiling-in-new-jersey.html">is real – not imagined</a>.” Originally intended to last five years, the order stayed in effect until 2009.</p>
<p>But eight years later, in 2017, the state police made President Donald Trump – who <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/trump-racism-comments/588067/">espoused white supremacist views</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12270880/donald-trump-racist-racism-history">beliefs</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/29/nyregion/trump-police-too-nice.html">encouraged police to treat citizens violently</a> – an honorary trooper, <a href="https://www.nj.com/politics/2017/09/trooper_trump_state_police_give_the_president_badg.html">complete with an actual badge number, 45</a>. A badge number is normally restricted only to officers who have <a href="https://www.southjersey.com/article/5755/NJ-State-Police-Head-Has-Own-Rules">completed the state’s police academy</a> – and was not given to any other presidents or politicians. </p>
<p>And in June 2020, amid national outcry about racist police violence, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/08/maurice-gordon-shooting-video/">white trooper shot and killed an unarmed Black motorist</a>. The trooper’s actions are <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/nj-state-trooper-fatal-shooting-maurice-gordon">still under investigation</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>From 1999-2001, W. Carsten Andresen received funding from the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General to research the New Jersey State Police for the following two projects: (1) an evaluation of their MVR video units in fall 1999 and spring 2000 and (2) an evaluation of troopers on patrol and the New Jersey State Police (Dr. George L. Kelling, my dissertation advisor, received a larger grant from New Jersey to study the state police).
As of the summer of 2020, W. Carsten Andresen has shared research with various legislators and LGBTQ+ organizations throughout the United States: these individuals and organizations are trying to pass legislation to outlaw the gay and trans panic defense. This does not impact his current article, but he thought he would disclose it just to be on the safe side. </span></em></p>Racism was an early hallmark of the New Jersey State Police, and remains challenging for police agencies in the 21st century.W. Carsten Andresen, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, St. Edward's UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1536322021-02-08T19:57:43Z2021-02-08T19:57:43ZWhy a shootout between Black Panthers and law enforcement 50 years ago matters today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383031/original/file-20210208-19-akqfd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C693%2C522&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the Black Panther Party outside the High Point property raided by police</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.hpenews.com/">Sonny Hedgecock/High Point Enterprise</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the early hours of Feb. 10, 1971, police <a href="https://www.highpointnc.gov/Blog.aspx?IID=43#item">surrounded a property in High Point, North Carolina</a>, where members of the Black Panther Party lived and worked. In the ensuing shootout, a Panther and a police officer were both wounded.</p>
<p>The incident did not receive much national attention at the time – armed conflict of this type was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/26/archives/police-and-panthers-urban-conflict-in-mutual-fear-police-and.html">relatively common</a> during the <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/moves/BPP_map-events.shtml">late 1960s and early 1970s</a>.</p>
<p>But 50 years on, as the U.S. reckons with a year that saw <a href="https://theconversation.com/militarization-has-fostered-a-policing-culture-that-sets-up-protesters-as-the-enemy-139727">militarized police confront Black Lives Matter protesters</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uncomfortable-questions-facing-capitol-police-over-the-security-breach-by-maga-mob-152857">fail to prevent an attack on the U.S. Capitol</a>, I believe the circumstances of this shootout are relevant today.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.highpoint.edu/history/faculty-staff/">a historian</a> who has interviewed participants in the confrontation for a coming book, I see the raid in the context of a then-emerging strategy of urban policing in the U.S., shaped by the racial and political clashes of the 1960s and forged through a growing partnership between local and federal law enforcement. That strategy, of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvjk2w72.3">criminalizing Black political activism</a> at a time when <a href="https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/what-history-tells-us-about-when-white-riot-happens-and-how-mobs-are-treated/">white reactionary protesters were accommodated</a>, has defined police responses to Americans’ activism – and political violence – over the past half-century.</p>
<h2>Aggressive approach</h2>
<p>The approach of law enforcement on the bitterly cold morning of Feb. 10, 1971, was aggressive and combative. Brad Lilley, the 19-year-old leader of the High Point branch of the Black Panthers, woke at 5 a.m. to <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/43095013/">discover about 30 police officers and sheriff’s deputies</a> surrounding the rented house he shared with three other teenage members of the organization.</p>
<p>The police were seeking to evict the Panthers. Despite the fact that Lilley and the other members were paying rent on time, High Point police were looking to force them out in line with <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/cointelprodocs/the-fbi-s-covert-action-program-to-destroy-the-black-panther-party">a national strategy</a> of <a href="https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/black-history/the-story-behind-the-standoff-the-black-panthers-confrontation-with-new-orleans-police-50-years-ago/289-8a5cdb18-a331-4ec4-bcaf-16778cdfda80">pushing Black Panthers out of communities</a> because of their political activities. According to a High Point Enterprise local newspaper reporter <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/43095013/">on the scene</a>, the force was “heavily armed and wearing flak jackets,” though none of the residents had a record of criminal violence. The Enterprise also <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/43095771/">questioned the police department’s aggressive strategy</a> in the crowded residential neighborhood, stating “someone could have been killed in the comparative safety of his home.”</p>
<p>Ironically, High Point <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/pritchett-laurie">Police Chief Laurie Pritchett</a>, who was on the scene that day, had previously built <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/21/archives/former-albany-ga-police-chief-builds-a-new-reputation-in-a-new-town.html">a national reputation</a> by avoiding combative tactics. Pritchett had been chief in Albany, Georgia, in 1961 when the civil rights group the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee began organizing a movement to desegregate the city. His nonviolent approach to policing during this campaign largely thwarted those efforts, even after Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference became involved. King later called Pritchett “<a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/pritchett-laurie">a basically decent man</a>.” Some Black High Pointers described Pritchett’s approach on Feb. 10 as inconsistent with his generally <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/21/archives/former-albany-ga-police-chief-builds-a-new-reputation-in-a-new-town.html">nonbelligerent law enforcement practices</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An unidentified member of the Black Panthers peeks around a bullet-pocked door that police blasted with gunfire during a predawn raid in Chicago." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383037/original/file-20210208-21-12499hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383037/original/file-20210208-21-12499hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383037/original/file-20210208-21-12499hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383037/original/file-20210208-21-12499hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383037/original/file-20210208-21-12499hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383037/original/file-20210208-21-12499hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383037/original/file-20210208-21-12499hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A member of the Black Panthers peeks around a bullet-pocked door that police blasted with gunfire during a predawn raid in Chicago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chicago-il-an-unidentified-member-of-the-militant-black-news-photo/515182014?adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interviews I have conducted suggest that the strategy of Feb. 10 exemplified Pritchett’s adoption of a more militant policing trend in the city. Lilley told me that just a few days before the shootout, a High Point police officer stopped his car and told him, “I know who you are.” According to Lilley and two other passengers in the car, the officer said he was a marked man and was going to be killed.</p>
<h2>Surveillance and intimidation</h2>
<p>Such targeting of leaders of the Black civil rights movement had become increasingly common for law enforcement since the FBI began surveilling King in 1963, and it accelerated after President Lyndon Johnson declared a “<a href="https://origins.osu.edu/article/harlem-ferguson-lbjs-war-crime-and-americas-prison-crisis">war on crime</a>” in 1965. That <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/08/fbi-cointelpro-new-left-panthers-muslim-surveillance">surveillance</a>, and the <a href="https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro">FBI’s COINTELPRO operation</a> that sought to infiltrate Black revolutionary groups like the Panthers, reflected a <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing">shift in federal law enforcement’s response</a> to the civil rights movement.</p>
<p>Previous Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy, respectively, had offered protection to the movement at pivotal moments, such as the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/little-rock-nine-brown-v-board-eisenhower-101-airborne#:%7E:text=On%20September%2023%2C%20President%20Eisenhower,as%20Central%20High%20School%20desegregated.">desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High School</a> and <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/civil-rights-movement#:%7E:text=Attorney%20General%20Robert%20Kennedy%20sent,the%20desegregation%20of%20interstate%20travel.">the Freedom Rides</a>. Now the FBI was focused on disrupting and discrediting these organizations and particularly their leaders, echoing director J. Edgar Hoover’s 1968 warning to “<a href="https://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/814">prevent the rise of a ‘messiah’ who could unify and electrify the Black nationalist movement</a>.”</p>
<p>This change aligned federal agents more closely with the practices of many local law enforcement institutions, and collaboration between the two groups flourished. The Law Enforcement Assistance Act of 1965 began the process of Congress’ providing “<a href="https://time.com/3746059/war-on-crime-history/">military-grade hardware</a>” for local police departments. This trend has accelerated in the post-9/11 era, <a href="https://theconversation.com/militarization-has-fostered-a-policing-culture-that-sets-up-protesters-as-the-enemy-139727">enabling local police to produce heavily militarized responses</a> to anti-racism protests today. </p>
<p>Militant methods of policing Black activists also aligned with the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-06-12/militarization-of-police-is-tied-to-1960s-riots-and-race">violent treatment of left-wing and anti-war protesters</a> at sites like the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968 and Kent State University in 1970. Such aggressive tactics conveyed a perception of danger posed by left-wing and Black activists, an association that is still seen today in the different police responses to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/13/us-police-use-of-force-protests-black-lives-matter-far-right">Black Lives Matter and anti-Trump protesters</a> compared with that of right-wing activists. The Capitol attack shows the dangerous consequences of this tendency.</p>
<p>The law enforcement strategy against Black Panther leaders at the time also saw local and federal officers share information, with the FBI facilitating the Chicago Police Department’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/12/04/police-raid-that-left-two-black-panthers-dead-shook-chicago-changed-nation/">killing of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton</a> through an informant who shared information about Hampton’s activities and the layout of his apartment. </p>
<p>This partnership between local and federal agents contributed to the mistrust of law enforcement that already existed among Black activists. When the High Point police demanded that Lilley and the other Panthers exit the house that morning, they refused. Lilley remembers thinking about Hampton, as well as <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hutton-bobby-1950-1968/">Bobby Hutton</a>, the 17-year-old Panther shot at least 10 times by Oakland police in 1968 as he voluntarily surrendered.</p>
<p>This mistrust remains strong half a century later. A Feb. 2 poll revealed that just <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/politics/polls-police-black-protests/index.html">36% of Black Americans trust the police</a>, compared with 77% of white Americans.</p>
<h2>Healing communities</h2>
<p>When police threw tear gas and began moving toward his house in 1971, Lilley told me he was sure he would be killed.</p>
<p>He fired a shot that wounded one of the officers. The police responded with dozens of rounds of gunfire, and one of the Panthers was also wounded. Lilley subsequently served four-and-a-half years in prison for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1972/02/05/archives/3-panthers-guilty-in-police-shooting.html">assault with a deadly weapon</a>. He is now a pastor and activist in High Point, <a href="https://www.wxii12.com/article/triad-group-works-to-maintain-peace-amid-violent-incidents/28698155">working to deescalate violence in the community</a>. </p>
<p>Fifty years on from the police shootout, he said: “I find myself still in the struggle to help my community heal from the violence that is used against us.”</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Ringel 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>In the early hours of Feb. 10, 1971, heavily armed officers moved in on a house occupied by Black Panther activists – marking a policing trajectory toward a more militarized response to Black activism.Paul Ringel, Associate Professor of U.S. History, High Point University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.