The tough conversation about race and police brutality is one we have to have.
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Last summer, in the wake of the movie release of “Straight Outta Compton,” I decided to write an article discussing the recent spate of police brutality and how it has become a more common source of criticism, as of late.
All this is part of a comprehensive effort to ensure that force is used only as a last resort, rather than a first impulse.
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The White House’s Smart Policing Initiative expanded into four new agency locations: Chicago, Illinois; Pinellas County, Florida; Roanoke County, Virginia; and Shoreline, Washington. The first site, in particular, was the subject of a recent New York Times article by Mitch Smith. In the piece, Smith points out the extent to which trust has eroded between police and the local community in Chicago, making the urgency of police monitoring all the more urgent and timely.
The review process will include a department-wide Taser training for all officers who answer police calls. In addition, the Chicago Police Department is updating its policies to “encourage officers to de-escalate situations whenever possible,” rather than use force. All this is part of a comprehensive effort to ensure that force is used only as a last resort, rather than a first impulse. That preventative step alone could prevent a large number of the types of incidents still so common in the news, each day.
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Part of the frustration that many communities feel is likely tied to a perpetual sense of injustice in terms of the way police are—or aren’t—dealt with. For example, the latest case verdict that recently made the news was the Tamir Rice verdict, in which there were absolutely no charges brought against the officers involved. Rice was a twelve year-old boy who was playing with a toy gun who was fatally shot and killed by police officers in a park near his home in Cleveland, Ohio. Despite the lack of a verdict, the Department of Justice issued a statement claiming that they would continue their independent review of the case, as well as reforms of the Cleveland Police Department.
It is also common for law enforcement officers to harass people attempting to record or document police interaction with citizens.
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In late December of 2015, Elle Hearns—an organizer with #BlackLivesMatter in Cleveland—spoke with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, and she didn’t have many positive things to say about the federal government’s response to the incident: “It’s just another attempt by government officials to posture as if they are working on fixing a continuous, consistent issue that we continue to see every single day. Every 28 hours, a black person is murdered by the police.” Hearns and others are justifiably frustrated with the lack of visible results in spite of these lofty-sounding promises by government officials.
However, despite these frustrations, there are, in fact, efforts underway to address the problems with police brutality and contract-backed privileges that prevent police officers from being held fully accountable for their actions. For example, Check the Police is a project that documents police union contracts, hoping to bring attention to systemic and contractual injustices that are written into officer contracts. A few examples of how police unions block accountability include preventing police officers from being interrogated immediately after being involved in an incident and disqualifying misconduct complaints that as submitted more than 180 days after an incident or that take over one year to investigate.
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This kind of increased awareness about incidents of police violence, along with efforts such as this petition on Change-dot-org that demands a change in the policies of most jurisdictions that would make police brutality and use of excessive force a crime resulting also in termination from the police department. However, there are also setbacks, such as a recent bill introduced by Arizona state Senator John Kavanaugh that would criminalize close-up filming of police in public—requiring people to be at least twenty feet away while recording “law enforcement activity.”
Despite this proposal, Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel of the National Press Photographers Association, says courts would likely strike down the proposed restriction due to violating the First Amendment. To be clear, it is a First Amendment right to be able to take photographs and videotape footage of federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police or other government officials; however, it is also common for law enforcement officers to harass people attempting to record or document police interaction with citizens.
If police could avoid profiling civilians based purely on their neighborhood of residence, it would be a step in the right proverbial direction
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The sad truth is that racial profiling and disproportionately high police brutality against people of color does exist—so much so that there is a hashtag called #DrivingWhileBlack—and it will continue until substantial legislative policy changes are implemented and real change takes place. You can consult Police Misconduct, a weekly newsfeed report updated daily, in order to get a sense of the scope of aberrant behavior on the part of law enforcement officials; note, however, that because the list includes arrests and recent case rulings along with incidents of violent behavior, you’ll want to examine the report carefully.
However, there is also reason to hope. For example, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray recently met in Washington, D.C. with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, where “he convened the first Mayors and Police Chiefs Task Force meeting to share best practices and policies regarding police reform.” If police could avoid profiling civilians based purely on their neighborhood of residence, regardless of demographics and crime mapping that often prove immensely helpful regarding the tracking of criminal activity, it would be a step in the right proverbial direction.
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Photo: Getty Images