Tag: police

Linked To Preterm Births In Neighborhoods Nearby – Fatal Police Violence
IN OTHER NEWS

Linked To Preterm Births In Neighborhoods Nearby – Fatal Police Violence

Building on generations of work by activists and organizers, there is currently a national reckoning with the impacts of police violence on Black communities underway in the United States. It’s well established that killings, injuries and intense surveillance by police can traumatize not only the direct victims, but their communities. But little research has been done to assess whether police violence has spillover effects on other facets of human health. I am an epidemiologist who studies how the social and physical environment shapes maternal and infant health, and my research team and I wanted to investigate whether witnessing the police killing someone – or even living nearby or hearing about it afterward – could affect the outcome of a healthy pregnancy. Our latest research suggests ...
It Doesn’t Always Happen When Sources Are The Police – But Being Skeptical Of Sources Is A Journalist’s Job
Journalism

It Doesn’t Always Happen When Sources Are The Police – But Being Skeptical Of Sources Is A Journalist’s Job

The death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo might well have made international headlines on March 29, 2021 – the day he was shot and killed by a police officer – had the emerging narrative been different. Instead, early news reports of the incident relied on a police statement which said Toledo died in an “armed confrontation.” An image of a gun recovered at the scene was also released. During a bond hearing for the man who had been with Toledo when the chase began, prosecutors said a gun was in Toledo’s hand when police shot him dead. Body camera footage released a full two weeks later now casts doubt on the accuracy of that narrative. A short video clip shows a chase which ends with Toledo turning his body toward the officer, arms raised. There is no gun is his hands when the shot is fired. ...
5 Essential Reads On Police Violence Against Black Men: As The Derek Chauvin Trial Begins In George Floyd Murder Case
VIDEO REELS

5 Essential Reads On Police Violence Against Black Men: As The Derek Chauvin Trial Begins In George Floyd Murder Case

The trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd is underway in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chauvin, who is white, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with the death of George Floyd, who was Black, during an arrest last May. For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, Floyd – handcuffed and face down on the pavement – said repeatedly that he could not breathe, while other officers looked on. A video of Floyd’s agonizing death soon went viral, triggering last summer’s unprecedented wave of mass protests against police violence and racism. Chauvin’s murder trial is expected to last up to four weeks. These five stories offer expert analysis and key background on police violence, Derek Chauvin’s record and racism in U.S. law ...
When Body Camera Footage Should Be Made Public, Police And Civilians Disagree
IN OTHER NEWS, VIDEO REELS

When Body Camera Footage Should Be Made Public, Police And Civilians Disagree

Many police chiefs and regular American civilians agree that officers’ body camera footage should be released to the public after police shoot someone dead. They differ, though, on when the images should be made public. This complicates achieving accountability, which is often the reason officers wear cameras. 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 often cited 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. In June 2020, weeks after...
Kids’ perceptions of police fall as they age – for Black children the decline starts earlier and is constant
SOCIAL JUSTICE

Kids’ perceptions of police fall as they age – for Black children the decline starts earlier and is constant

The deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and most recently Dijon Kizzee at the hands of officers come in an age when overpolicing and underserving minority communities has, as some experts believe, resulted in a “legitimacy crisis” in American policing. The reality is that these events are also impacting children. Youth today are growing up in what has been described as an “era of mistrust” of police. Across racial and ethnic groups, youths’ perceptions of police have dropped in recent years to a decades-long low. Yet, the amount of the decline differs across demographic groups. In fact, Black youth report the most dramatic declines, and the gap between their perceptions and white youths’ perceptions has been increasing. As scholars of policing and the criminal justice system, we stud...
To stop police shootings of people with mental health disabilities, I asked them what cops – and everyone – could do to help
HEALTH & WELLNESS

To stop police shootings of people with mental health disabilities, I asked them what cops – and everyone – could do to help

When Joe Prude called the police on his brother, he was asking for help: Daniel Prude, who suffered from mental health problems, had run almost naked out of his Rochester, New York, house into the snow. When officers arrived, new video footage shows, the March 23 encounter quickly turned violent, and Prude died from asphyxiation under a hood officers had put over his head. Two years prior, in 2018, Shukri Ali Said of Georgia also wound up dead after leaving her house during a mental health crisis on April 23, 2018. Police, called in to help, found Said standing at an intersection holding a knife. Officers shot her five times in the neck and chest, killing her. That same month, in New York, officers answered a 911 call about a black man waving something that looked like a gun. In fact, it...
When police stop Black men, the effects reach into their homes and families
IN OTHER NEWS

When police stop Black men, the effects reach into their homes and families

While much of the world was sheltering in place in the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans’ undivided attention was focused squarely on Minneapolis, Minnesota, where George Floyd was killed at the hands – and knees – of the police. Floyd’s murder evoked memories of other murders by the police, including those of Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Philando Castile and Samuel DuBose. Most recently, another unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot seven times in the back in Kenosha, Wisconsin. We are a sociologist and a social worker who study racism, inequality and families, including a focus on Black men and their interactions with law enforcement. Each of these killings serves as confirmation that concerns about those interactions are warranted. The problem isn’t just that Black ...
Decades of failed reforms allow continued police brutality and racism
IN OTHER NEWS

Decades of failed reforms allow continued police brutality and racism

Police brutality has a long history of being protected, reinforced and even redoubled for more than a century in the U.S. through a combination of political expediency and racism. President Donald Trump’s executive order and the stalled bills in Congress to curb police misconduct are, at best, attempts to retune an instrument that was orchestrated for abuse. As a former archivist in charge of the National Archives records for the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Prisons, it is clear to me that the history of police violence in the U.S. informs and influences why the U.S. is again facing protests over violence, racism and unjust death. Wickersham Commission Violence and corruption have long been the mainstay of American police. In 1929, President Herbe...
Teach police nonviolence, scholars say, and how to work with local residents
Journalism

Teach police nonviolence, scholars say, and how to work with local residents

Calls to reform, defund or even outright abolish police in the U.S. are coming from many corners of American society. The Conversation asked several scholars who study different aspects of policing to explain what their research has found could help reduce police prejudice and violence. Kirssa Cline Ryckman, Jennifer Earl, Jessica Maves Braithwaite, University of Arizona Police have a saying, “better to be judged by 12 than carried by six,” acknowledging they might face a jury if they use excessive force, but it’s preferable to being killed in the line of duty. Many police oppose civilian oversight of their departments, which could prevent both criminal charges and death. Yet right now, all over the U.S., the public is judging police for how they act. Some police officers question the use...
Police unions are one of the biggest obstacles to transforming policing
POLITICS, SOCIAL JUSTICE

Police unions are one of the biggest obstacles to transforming policing

Protesters and community organizers are increasingly calling for defunding and disbanding the police as a way to end police violence. Advocates argue that moderate reforms like enhanced training and greater community oversight have failed to curb police violence and misconduct. But there’s a major, and usually insurmountable, obstacle to reform: police unions. Research suggests that these unions play a critical role in thwarting the transformation of police departments. Union officials like John McNesby in Philadelphia, where I live and work as a scholar of law and the criminal justice system, do not deny this. Over the course of his 12-year career as president of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, he has derided the city’s civilian review board and predicted in 2010 th...