The Same Tired Talking Points
Tags: Racial Profiling, Social Justice, Police Brutality, Racial Justice, George Floyd

This is an issue that I have difficulty discussing because I have never and will never fully understand what is like to be black and deal with systemic oppression, so I cannot speak to the experience. George Floyd’s death once again sparked the debate of disproportionate police brutality and I’ve read numerous testimonies of “don’t commit crimes and you don’t have to worry” “if people would just comply…” “cops just want to go home safe” and the rest of those tired talking points. While I disagree with these points, I lack the experience to speak on it, and didn’t have empirical evidence to refute those claims. Instead of staying silent as my privilege allows, I decided to read the academic literature surrounding the subject to better form my understanding. By no means is this a systematic review nor is it my area of study so take this with a grain of salt, but I’d like to share what I found in these peer reviewed journals for anyone that wants to learn more about it.

First, I want to point out that I don’t believe the majority of police are overtly racist or even bad people; however, implicit bias affects the way we treat others and police officers are absolutely not immune to that. For those of you that are unaware of what implicit bias is, “it refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner” (Ohio State Kirwan Institute). These biases are activated without our conscious awareness, generally favor our ingroup, and are not accessible through introspection. If you don’t believe you are susceptible to implicit bias, I implore you to take a quick and free test created in collaboration by scientists from University of Washington, Harvard University, and University of Virginia at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

Now let’s get to the research…

For the “don’t commit crimes and it won’t happen” argument.

It’s well documented that black individuals are disproportionately arrested and imprisoned compared their white counterparts (Schleiden et al. 2019). This isn’t likely due to increased criminal activity as another study in Nebraska showed African American motorists will be stopped, searched, arrested, detained, and prosecuted because of their race more frequently than their white counterparts (Kamaul, 2016). There was also a direct correlation between percentage of blacks in a community and the percentage of stops that eventually resulted in traffic searches. Another study set in Dallas showed 51% of all arrestees are black, despite accounting for just 24% of the population (Weisburt, 2019). The take away is that black citizens are racially profiled and disproportionately stopped and searched leading to the higher arrest rates and disparities in mass incarceration.

Even worse, these disparaging interactions with police start at a young age. Multiple studies have shown black youth were arrested at greater rates than white youth with first arrests beginning at a younger age (Lau et al. 2017). This teaches and ingrains a distrust in law enforcement at a young age, despite black youth receiving more lenient sentencing for first offenses (Lau et al. 2017). Another study showed that after controlling for contextual and behavioral factors black young adults were arrested seven times more often than their white counterparts (Schleiden, 2019). This sheds light on racial disparities that are not accounted for by contextual or behavioral factors, implying that bias can perpetuate this cyclic oppression.

For the “comply and there won’t be any problems” argument:

In addition to racial profiling leading to more frequent stops, searches, and arrests, black citizens are also more likely to have force used against them. One study showed white suspects were slightly more likely to display no resistance or non-physical forms of noncompliance, white suspects were also more likely to manifest physically aggressive behavior, while black suspects were more likely to resist defensively (Pauline et al. 2016). These results were statistically significant but small-to-modest in magnitude.

Pauline et al. show black suspects do not resist police more forcefully than whites do and furthermore white officers used higher levels of force against black suspects (controlling for resistance), while black offers were unaffected by the race of the suspect (2016).

White officers are more likely than black officers to use OC spray and hard hand tactics (punching/kicking), while black officers had a greater tendency to rely upon soft hands (grappling techniques) (Paoline et al. 2016). In this study white officers were also more likely to use higher levels of force against blacks, while black officers’ behavior was not contingent upon suspect race.

This goes to show that while white officers may not be overtly racist, implicit bias likely plays a role in the treatment of suspects calling for a greater representation of minority police officers

For the “Police officers just want to go home to their family” argument

Yes, being a police officer is a very difficult job and may seem scary, especially with rising tensions. However, if you’re afraid of your job find a different profession. To speak objectively, based on data Officer deaths have been declining for the past three decades. There has been legislation pushed for further police protection including giving officers protected rights similar to minority groups. In 2018 police officers were killed in the line of duty (both accidentally and feloniously) at a rate of 15.4 per 100,000. For perspective, loggers had a rate of 97.6 per 100,000 and even landscapers have a more dangerous job as they suffer 20.2 fatal injuries per 100,000 workers.

Maybe we should rethink the stringency of becoming a police officer as there is a long history of officers mishandling and escalating situations without adequate repercussions.

For those condemning the looting.

First off, if you vocally condemn these riots and have remained silent about George Floyd’s death, take some time to reflect on your true intentions. I’m not condoning looting and don’t think it helps the issue, however the black lives matter group was quickly told “all lives matter” Collin Kaepernick was called unpatriotic for kneeling, athletes and celebrities are told to stay out of politics (although I’m unsure of how police brutality has become politicized), and as a whole, any movement set out to raise awareness against police brutality has been promptly silenced. In that regard, it’s difficult to blame these individuals for feeling unheard and lashing out while year after year nothing changes. Before you point fingers and condemn individuals for protesting and rioting look at the research and see the root of these frustrations.

References

Duffin, E. (2019, September 30). U.S. law enforcement officers 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/191694/number-of-law-enforcement-officers-in-the-us/

McCarthy, N., & Richter, F. (2019, May 08). Infographic: U.S. On Duty Police Officer Deaths Increased In 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/chart/11727/us-police-deaths-spiked-last-year/

Braverman, B. (2019, December 28). The 10 most dangerous jobs in America. Retrieved May 29, 2020, from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/27/the-10-most-dangerous-jobs-in-america-according-to-bls-data.html

Kamalu, N. C. (2016). African Americans and racial profiling by U.S. law enforcement: An analysis of police traffic stops and searches of motorists in Nebraska, 2002–2007. African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies, 9, 187–206.

Paoline, E. A., Gau, J. M., & Terrill, W. (2016). Race and the Police use of Force Encounter in the United States. British Journal of Criminology. doi:10.1093/bjc/azw089

Weisburst, E. K. (2019). Police Use of Force as an Extension of Arrests: Examining Disparities across Civilian and Officer Race. AEA Papers and Proceedings, 109, 152–156. doi:10.1257/pandp.20191028

Lau, K. S., Rosenman, M. B., Wiehe, S. E., Tu, W., & Aalsma, M. C. (2017). Race/Ethnicity, and Behavioral Health Status: First Arrest and Outcomes in a Large Sample of Juvenile Offenders. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research. doi:10.1007/s11414–017–9578–3

Schleiden, C., Soloski, K. L., Milstead, K., & Rhynehart, A. (2019). Racial Disparities in Arrests: A Race Specific Model Explaining Arrest Rates Across Black and White Young Adults. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 37(1), 1–14. doi:10.1007/s10560–019–00618–7