“What Do You Do When the Gang Wears Blue?”
Posted by ajlovesya on November 24, 2008
Whenever the issue of police brutality comes up, the gut reaction is to highlight the good police officers do in order to take away from a few bad apples.
However, police officers are elevated to a higher standard. They are a collection of leaders and just as we would never condone a leader making a mistake that brings great harm to the reputation and capabilities of his/her position (i.e. Eliot Spitzer) then why in the hell should we condone police brutality?
Ever since I moved back to NYC in June it feels as though every other damn week some moronic officer is being investigated for acting a fool. Currently Michael Mineo is a high profile case, claiming he was sodomized by cops. This summer I had to deal with this and this which solicited outrage but were promptly forgotten.
So what do you do when the gang wears blue?
Police brutality is bigger than fairness to the person or group being abused; police brutality impacts the political system by altering citizens’ understanding and interaction with the police force which is often our only government contact. And the frequency of police brutality in NYC is startling.
Policy brutality is part of the fabric of the city which means that its impact is even more insidious.
- It weakens government legitimacy: The police force is an extension of the government and the government is the only institution that can legitimately use force. Once the use of force goes unchecked and becomes suspicious, people become cynical and begin to distance themselves from the political process.
- It makes policing difficult: The infamous “stop snitching” mentality is not the only reason people hesitate to work with the police. It is not uncommon for people to be weary of calling the police for the fear that they will be treated unfairly.
- It divides the city: People and neighborhoods become unfairly stigmatized and the use of force against them rationalized. Action becomes motivated by anger and reconciliation is virtually impossible.
And of course, such treatment is blatantly undemocratic. You cannot claim to serve citizens and then abuse them. You cannot tax them then use their taxes to hurt them. This kind of behavior is political
schizophrenia.
Thank god for social media which makes it easy to catch gross behavior. YouTube videos abound of police officers “protecting and serving.” Unfortunately, how can we move from catching to punishment?
christammiller said
Punishment is important, but is only the tip of the iceberg. Just as if not more important IMO is prevention.
The NYPD, like many other police departments in the US, has had a terrible time attracting recruits. Their officers are serving in the military overseas, their starting pay is abysmal ($25,100 had been the starting salary, though I believe it’s been increased), no one wants to do a dangerous job right out of college. So, the existing officers are overworked, and the recruits making it to the streets may not be the best candidates for the job.
This puts the PD in a tight spot: compromise community and officer safety by doing more with less? Or hire less than the cream of the crop and hope nothing happens? It’s poor risk assessment, granted, but there are few solutions.
Police brutality is a problem on so many different levels. Recruit screening needs to be better. In-house psychological support needs to be better. Training needs to be better, and almost constant. (It’s been proven to “reprogram” an officer’s fall-back response to stress.) Community relations need to be better… as in Chicago and Boston, police need to be able to involve neighborhoods, not as arms of the law, but as violence prevention partners to take some of the burden off their shoulders. And as for the punishment piece, citizen review boards are controversial… but done the right way, they can work.
FTR I liked your post a lot. It’s some of the most common-sense thinking I’ve seen. The sad thing is that common sense is too often lost under pressure. You may KNOW you are doing wrong and are yet unable to stop yourself – you’re just caught in a bad cycle and you don’t know how to get out of it. The right training and support can help you. So the real question is, after you’ve caught and punished the truly bad apples – the sociopaths who have no right to the badge – how do you get the resources to train and support the cops who could grow into very good officers indeed?