The conviction of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the violent murder of George Floyd witnessed by millions on video has raised the hopes of decent Americans of all races their country might finally be ready to end the deadly police tactics routinely killing unarmed African Americans for minor crimes in Black communities that would never be tolerated if those deaths occurred in white communities.
But we all should know how difficult systemic police reform will be. Police officers say civilians can’t fairly judge their actions until they’ve walked in the shoes of the police.
More than 20 years ago, I tried. I spent a summer attending weekly classes at the Milwaukee Police Academy taught by the same instructors who trained new officers. During the Chauvin trial, it was obvious little in policing has changed. The problem is training that continues to go very wrong in practice on the streets in the same parts of town victimizing the same group of citizens.
The class consisted of members of both print and broadcast media as well as representatives of neighborhood associations concerned about public safety. It was a public relations effort by the department to improve the image of the police in the community. We were aware the department was putting the best possible face on policing, but some of the most disturbing things we learned couldn’t have been intentional.
Protect Yourself
That was especially true of what one instructor called the top priority for beginning officers to understand when responding to a public disturbance. Was the first priority to protect the public, possible victims or potential perpetrators? Put that way, most of us said protection of the public. It was a trick question. He said the top priority was protection of the police officers themselves. Police had to immediately establish dominance because they’re the only ones who can prevent a dangerous situation from escalating out of control. Otherwise, there could be far more disastrous consequences.
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That’s why police often treat everyone aggressively until they sort out what’s happening. But anyone aware of the disparities in American policing recognizes that’s also an opening for abuse by officers already prone to violence against those they’re policing. We now have an unforgettable image of an officer establishing total dominance over a Black man suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill. He’s staring impassively at a racially diverse group of witnesses with one hand in his pocket to demonstrate his indifference to their shouts he’s killing the man by pressing his knee on the man’s neck until long after the victim has lost consciousness and a pulse.
Throughout that course, a running theme was innocuous police encounters with the public can turn violent at any time, but it’s not their fault. We experienced life-size training videos of traffic stops in which we had to make split-second decisions whether to fire a weapon showing us how easy it was to misinterpret motorists’ actions and kill innocent people. At that time, modern technology hadn’t been developed to keep our streets under constant video surveillance or we might have asked why armed police were needed to raise civic revenue by writing traffic citations that could more efficiently be issued after the fact.
Fear for their Lives
White drivers never want to see flashing lights behind them on the highway either, but at worst it’s an annoyance they’ll be late somewhere. They never fear for their lives. With the frequent police killings of unarmed African Americans for minor traffic violations now being reported by the media and recorded on cellphones, Black drivers have to fear that possibility.
Opponents of police reform distort it as defunding the police. Long overdue reform is really intended to improve policing in all neighborhoods by eliminating minor duties like writing tickets that don’t require armed police and others including intervening in mental health crises they’re not professionally trained to handle. Fear of police armed with deadly weapons can escalate violence in such situations rather than reduce it.
In the past year, Milwaukee lost a good friend to COVID. Lenard Wells was an historic figure in pulling the Milwaukee Police Department into the 21st century. He was an activist with the League of Martin, the small group of African American officers filing a successful lawsuit challenging discriminatory hiring, assignments and promotions by racist Police Chief Harold Breier. Wells fought for racial justice and progressive police reform throughout his professional career and beyond.
Wells vehemently disagreed with anyone excusing violent or illegal actions by police as a natural consequence of dealing with the worst of humanity. He said police dealt far more often with the vulnerable people living in the poor neighborhoods that were most victimized by crime. Lenard believed police officers who failed to feel empathy for people they were hired to protect couldn’t adequately fulfill the requirements of the job. He was right.
