News
05-28-2015, 05:15 PM
Police abuse in black and brown communities is generations old. It is nothing new.
On any given day, in any police department in the nation, 15 percent of officers will abuse their authority. And 15 percent will not abuse their authority. The remaining 70 percent could go either way, depending on who they are working with. That remaining 70 percent of officers are highly susceptible to the culture in a given department. In the absence of real efforts to challenge department cultures, they eventually become part of the problem. If their command ranks are racist, they too may end up doing terrible things, according to K.L. Williams, who trains officers in use of force.
Based on what I experienced as a black man serving in the St. Louis Police Department, I agree with him.
The president of my police academy class sent out an email after President Obama won the election saying, "I can't believe I live in a country full of ni**er lovers!!!!!!!!" He patrolled the streets in black communities.
1) Cameras provide the most objective record of police-citizen encounters
2) There are officers around the country who want to address institutional racism
3) The mainstream media sustains the hype of heroism: Corrupt officers take refuge in it
4) There are officers who willfully violate human rights in the communities they serve
5) The bad officers corrupt the departments they work for
And no matter what an officer has done to a black person, that officer can always cover himself in the...
http://www.vox.com/2015/5/28/8661977/race-police-officer
On any given day, in any police department in the nation, 15 percent of officers will abuse their authority. And 15 percent will not abuse their authority. The remaining 70 percent could go either way, depending on who they are working with. That remaining 70 percent of officers are highly susceptible to the culture in a given department. In the absence of real efforts to challenge department cultures, they eventually become part of the problem. If their command ranks are racist, they too may end up doing terrible things, according to K.L. Williams, who trains officers in use of force.
Based on what I experienced as a black man serving in the St. Louis Police Department, I agree with him.
The president of my police academy class sent out an email after President Obama won the election saying, "I can't believe I live in a country full of ni**er lovers!!!!!!!!" He patrolled the streets in black communities.
1) Cameras provide the most objective record of police-citizen encounters
2) There are officers around the country who want to address institutional racism
3) The mainstream media sustains the hype of heroism: Corrupt officers take refuge in it
4) There are officers who willfully violate human rights in the communities they serve
5) The bad officers corrupt the departments they work for
And no matter what an officer has done to a black person, that officer can always cover himself in the...
http://www.vox.com/2015/5/28/8661977/race-police-officer