Tangled Up in Blue

by Rosa Brooks

  I’m also grateful to MPD Chief Peter Newsham, who took a risk on the Police for Tomorrow program and has continued to support it through thick and thin, and to Cohorts 1 and 2 of the Police for Tomorrow Fellowship Program, who give me hope that the future of American policing will be brighter than its past: Akintayo Akintunde, Tatiana Benard, Sean Bickersteth, Salah Czapary, Tom Flaherty, Emma Hicks, Paris Hughes, Shania Hughes, Renae Lee, Ricardo Perez, Ashley McHenry, Cody Robinson, Gentry Schaffer, Dan Sebastian, Qasim Sheroz, Zach Speck, Assante Thomas, Shayne Wallace, Eric Abreu, Carimaxy Benitez-Garcia, Stephen Benson, Jeremy Brady, Tipi Brookins, Mike Brumbaugh, Lisa Burton, Evan Douglas, Jose Guzman, Dan Kornfield, Anam Mumtaz, Cory Novick, Chris Paige, Tim Parrish, Dillon Savage, Corbin Seward, Tamicka Smithson, John Sullivan, and Harry Weiss.

  Nicole Boykin, Bobby Gboyor, Carlos Johnston, and Milena Yordanova adopted the Police for Tomorrow program as their project in 2017: without their work and faith (as well as the work of Ben Haiman and the support of Chief Robert Contee), it would never have gotten off the ground. My Georgetown colleagues Kris Henning, Paul Butler, Shon Hopwood, and, especially, Christy Lopez poured their time and energy into building what is now a national model, and their friendship and thoughts have immeasurably enriched my understanding of what changes are needed to make policing more just. Georgetown Law Dean Bill Treanor and former Vice Dean Jane Aiken gave the Innovative Policing Program and the Police for Tomorrow Fellowship vital moral and financial support as the project was getting off the ground.

  Georgetown Law students in my Criminal Justice class and the Innovative Police Practicum were a crucial sounding board and source of ideas and insights for this book, and Jenny Gilbert, Nick Joynson, and Johanna Moody provided invaluable research assistance. Thanks also goes to Brent Godfrey, Brandon del Pozo, Sue Rahr, Scott Thomson, Chuck Wexler, Kevin Hay, Fred Rogers, Chris Magnus, Ron Davis, Talhia Tuck, Tanya Weinberg, Mimi Koumanelis, Monica Stearns, Chris Hammer, Ben Purse, Melanie Hudgens, Jaclyn Diaz, Gene Finn, Tom Clark, Jonny Reck, Brianna Walden, Lionel Beehner, Peter Bergen, Dan Rothenberg, Pete Singer, Anne Marie Slaughter, and the fellows and staff at New America, West Point’s Modern War Institute and the Charles Koch Foundation, all of whom provided ideas, inspiration or support at critical moments.

  My agent, Kris Dahl, believed in this book well before I did. At Penguin, Ann Godoff and Casey Dennis helped it take shape and were patient with my occasional fits of ambivalence. My parents, John Ehrenreich, Sharon McQuaide, and Barbara Ehrenreich read early drafts and offered comments and love, as did Deirdre English, my “goddess mother.” John McGough provided the renovated one-room Wyoming schoolhouse in which I wrote most of this book. My husband, Joe, and my two beloved children, Anna and Clara, tolerated my strange new policing hobby and provided me with hugs and humor when I needed it most. Scout the dog won’t be able to read this, but my long walks with her in Wyoming helped me keep things in perspective.

  I’m also grateful to the hundreds of Washington, DC, residents whose lives I glimpsed as a patrol officer. Most of them were struggling, in one way or another, but almost without exception, they offered my MPD colleagues and me their trust and cooperation. Often, their kindness and courage were humbling.

  Finally, I’m grateful to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who took to the streets to call for more just and responsive forms of policing—and to the many police officers, in Washington, DC, and around the nation, who are trying their best to transform policing from within.

  APPENDIX A:

  WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

  In spring 2020, two things happened that have the potential to forever change American policing: the COVID-19 epidemic and the mass protests that followed the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. First, the COVID-19 pandemic brought an abrupt end to business as usual for people all over the world. Police departments also faced urgent new challenges: when routine police practices such as stops, searches, and arrests risk exposing officers and suspects alike to a potentially deadly illness, everything’s up for grabs. Policing is “a contact sport,” as one of my academy instructors put it, and there’s no way to completely eliminate the risk of infection to police or community members. But, like many law enforcement agencies, the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police moved quickly to reduce custodial arrests for minor crimes and change other high-risk practices. Among other things, the department ended in-person papering and trained dispatchers to screen calls and direct callers, when possible, to more appropriate city services, dispatching patrol officers only to those calls clearly requiring a police response. It’s too soon to say how many of these changes will endure once the pandemic ends, but it’s clear that the crisis has shaken up settled assumptions in ways that may have far-reaching consequences for the future of policing. Second, the death of George Floyd sparked a nationwide outpouring of anger and grief over police brutality and racial injustice. Diverse crowds gathered in every US state, and political leaders at every level pledged to work for change. Although calls to “defund” or abolish the police are supported (as of July 2020) by only about a quarter of Americans, these demands have triggered an important conversation about the role of police and the allocation of resources between police and social services. As with the COVID epidemic, it’s difficult to know whether the protests following George Floyd’s death will lead to genuine and sustainable changes—but as I write this in July 2020, changes that once seemed impossible are beginning to seem both necessary and possible.

  Even before the pandemic and the protests, MPD had begun to make significant changes. Partly as a result of feedback from the Police for Tomorrow fellows, the police academy’s curriculum and requirements are being overhauled. Achieving a particular cut-off score on the PT test is no longer a graduation requirement; instead, the test is used as a self-assessment tool and to evaluate recruits’ effort and improvement. In 2019 MPD and Georgetown’s Innovative Policing Program convened the first national police academy directors’ symposium, bringing together academy directors from departments around the country to discuss new approaches to police training and education.

  MPD has made other important changes as well, overhauling the department’s performance evaluation system, reexamining the recruiting system, changing the district assignment system, revamping policies for dealing with young offenders, and changing the way data is collected on police stops and frisks, among other things.

  Chief Peter Newsham continues to be a strong supporter of the Police for Tomorrow Fellowship, and Ben Haiman, the reserve officer and MPD civilian who helped create the program, was promoted to serve as head of MPD’s Professional Development Bureau, a position equivalent to that of assistant chief of police.

  Of the sixteen people who started in Reserve Recruit Class 2016-01, only six remain with MPD. The first to leave was Gregson, who quit abruptly after just a few months. Several of my classmates left when they moved to different cities or deployed. Smith transferred to the FBI, and Ramos switched to become a full-time MPD officer. Lowrey, the rocket scientist, stuck with the reserve corps and became one of the most dedicated and thoughtful reservists I know. The Metropolitan Police Reserve Corps now has more than a hundred officers, but still includes only half a dozen women.

  Auguste returned to the Boston area as soon as he was able to get a job with a local police department, but Murphy, Jeremiah, Reid, Jake, and Yusef still work in 7D. Sergeant Flanagan graduated from the Police for Tomorrow program and still works full-time at the police academy, training recruits in defensive tactics and reminding them to behave with decency and common sense.

  Patrol officers rarely learn what happens next to the people they encounter while patrolling, but here’s what I was able to find out about some of the people I met when responding to calls:

  Prosecutors decided not to move forward with the assault charges against Imani. She went back to living with her grandmother, but her relationship with both her gran
dmother and her mother remained contentious. Police responded to her grandmother’s house on at least one other occasion following reports of a fight between Imani and her grandmother, and on another occasion, they responded to another report of a fight between Imani and her mother. No arrests were made on either occasion. Imani’s mother also continued to have a contentious relationship with her other children—police were called on several occasions—and with her boyfriend (the one from whom Imani had requested money, setting off the events that led to her arrest on charges of assaulting her mother). The boyfriend was arrested on multiple occasions for assaulting Imani’s mother; on one occasion he was arrested for setting fire to her house. Imani’s mother was arrested on at least one occasion for assaulting her boyfriend. Both the mother and her boyfriend were also arrested on multiple occasions for other crimes, ranging from burglary and drug possession to armed robbery.

  Prosecutors also decided not to move forward with assault charges against the young man who said he threw up because his girlfriend was pregnant. A few months later, he was questioned by the police about an alleged sexual assault on his younger stepbrother, but no charges were filed.

  Prosecutors did not proceed with charges against the nurse who hit her sister during a fight over laundry. Her record was otherwise clean.

  The man who threatened us after we arrested him for assaulting his girlfriend eventually pled guilty to assault. He had been on probation for a previous offense and his probation was revoked; he was sentenced to 180 days in jail. His arrest for assault was part of a long string of arrests for a range of offenses, many of them involving assaults and threats.

  The shoplifter with a failure-to-appear warrant continued to move in and out of the criminal justice system. Before we encountered her, she had been arrested on several previous occasions for shoplifting as well, on one occasion making off with $396 worth of merchandise from Walmart and on another occasion with $222.71 worth of groceries from another Safeway. On other occasions, she was arrested for drug possession, failure to pay Metro fare, and driving on a suspended license. She was also a victim of domestic violence at the hands of a boyfriend.

  Star, the woman who claimed to have been raped by a mysterious black man, continued to have problems. Within the next few months, she called 911 again on several occasions, claiming that her parked car had been damaged, a fan had been stolen, a window had been smashed, and a brick had been thrown through her bedroom window. On each occasion, she said, the suspects fled before police could arrive. On three other occasions, third parties called police after finding Star apparently drunk and unconscious. On one of those occasions she told police that an unknown person had come up behind her and pushed her to the ground. A few months later, Star called 911 to report that on the previous day, another unknown black male, armed with a handgun, had tried to kidnap, rape, and kill her. She told police that she had called 911 at the time and been taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries incurred during her abduction. A subsequent investigation found no record of related 911 calls or hospitalization, and the friends and neighbors Star said had witnessed some of these events denied that they had occurred. Star agreed to voluntarily admit herself to the hospital for psychiatric treatment.

  The boy I arrested for robbery during my certification ride was eligible for diversion release, since he was a minor with no prior record. A month later, however, he was involved in a fight along with a number of other teens and ended up stabbing a young woman in the face with a knife. She was able to identify him and directed police to his house. His mother opened the door willingly to the police and pointed them to her son’s bedroom, where police arrested him. While searching him, they found a knife in his waistband and a bloodstained T-shirt on his bed.

  Zari and Darius continued to try to take care of their mother, who was also constantly in and out of the criminal justice system. She had a long string of arrests and police involvement in her life, for issues ranging from drug possession to vehicular offenses, assaults, and family disturbances.

  APPENDIX B:

  POLICE FOR TOMORROW

  If you’d like to learn more about Georgetown’s Innovative Policing Program and the Georgetown/MPD Police for Tomorrow Fellowship, you might be interested in some of the media coverage about the program:

  “Police for Tomorrow,” Georgetown Law, Spring/Summer 2019, www.pageturnpro.com/Georgetown-Law/90551-Georgetown-Law-Magazine--SpringSummer-2019/flex.html.

  Angela Morris, “Law School Tackles Police Reform,” American Bar Association Journal, January 1, 2019, www.abajournal.com/Magazine/Article/Law_School_Tackles_Police_Reform.

  Theresa Vargas, “A Roomful of Cops Asked if It’s Better to ‘Do Nothing’ Sometimes. Why That’s a Good Thing,” Washington Post, December 15, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-roomful-of-cops-asked-if-its-better-to-do-nothing-sometimes-why-thats-a-good-thing/2018/12/14/3b8bd058-ffe9-11e8-862a-b6a6f3ce8199_story.html.

  Karen Sloan, “Can Law Schools Reform Policing? Georgetown Is Trying,” National Law Journal, October 23, 2018, www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2018/10/23/can-law-schools-reform-policing-georgetown-is-trying/.

  “Our Fresh Takes on Policing This Week,” USA Today, December 17, 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2018/12/17/policing-usa-newsletter-white-clergy-black-lives-matter-first-step-act-d-c-police/2334444002/.

  “Georgetown Program Fosters Police Tactics of the Future,” NBC4 video, 91 seconds, October 24, 2018, www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/georgetown-program-fosters-police-tactics-of-the-future_washington-dc/169746/.

  “Policing for Tomorrow,” April 11, 2018, in The Podcast @ DC, podcast, 38 minutes, soundcloud.com/user-768286365/policing-for-tomorrow.

  Cameron Luttrell, “Georgetown Law Launches Police Fellowship Program,” Patch, June 6, 2017, patch.com/district-columbia/georgetown/georgetown-law-launches-police-fellowship-program.

  Peter Hermann, “Georgetown Law Program Offers Fellowship for Young D.C. Police Officers,” Washington Post, June 5, 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/georgetown-law-program-offers-fellowship-for-young-dc-police-officers/2017/06/05/b21ec920-4a17-11e7-a186-60c031eab644_story.html.

  Mikaela Lefrak, “D.C. Police Team Up with Georgetown to Train and Retain Young Officers,” June 7, 2017, WAMU 88.5 radio broadcast, wamu.org/story/17/06/07/d-c-police-team-georgetown-train-retain-young-officers/.

  NOTES

  “We are looking for dedicated”: “Metropolitan Police Department,” Reserve Police Officer (Volunteer), Government of the District of Columbia, https://joinmpd.dc.gov/career-position-2020/reserve-police-officer.

  American police killed: Swaine, Jon, and Ciara McCarthy, “Young Black Men Again Faced Highest Rate of US Police Killings in 2016,” Guardian, January 8, 2017, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/08/the-counted-police-killings-2016-young-black-men.

  ANIMALS

  “Shee-it.” He closed: Later, as I became more experienced, I found that mention of Donald Trump’s presidency offered a fairly reliable test of mental alertness. Otherwise-stuporous people could be jolted quickly back to consciousness—often irate consciousness—by mention of Trump’s name, and the test worked even if you didn’t name names.

  One night, responding to another “man down” call, we found a woman slumped against the curb, unconscious. After some gentle shaking, poking, and cajoling, she revived a bit, and by the time the ambulance arrived, she could raise her head and was able to give her name, the correct date, and our location in a quavering voice, though she still seemed half-dazed.

  “Great, you’re doing great. Just one more question,” the medic told her. “You know who the president is?”

  For a moment, her eyes fogged over, but then they snapped back into focus and she jerked herself upright. “That . . . white . . . motherfucker!”

 
“Yeah, she’s good,” said the medic, jotting a note on his tablet. “Fully oriented to time, place, and person.”

  The acronyms were: In April 2018, MPD eliminated the old abbreviations and issued a list containing more than two hundred new ones, most just as opaque. (ACCUNK stands for “Accident with Unknown Injuries,” for instance, while THRTPER stands for “Threat—In Person” and BERGMACHRPT stands for “Burglary of Machine, More than 30 Minutes Ago.”)

  THE ABYSS

  during the first: Lartey, Jamiles, “By the Numbers: US Police Kill More in Days Than Other Countries Do in Years,” Guardian, June 9, 2015, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/09/the-counted-police-killings-us-vs-other-countries.

  For America’s first: Alexander, Michelle, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (New York: New Press, 2010).

  America charges: In 2014, US residents committed more than 14,000 murders, along with over 1.2 million other violent crimes. Some 68 percent of US homicides involved firearms, which isn’t too surprising, since there are an estimated 270 million to 357 million firearms sloshing around the United States. If you’re wondering if that’s a big number, it is: some studies suggest that between 35 and 50 percent of all civilian-owned guns in the world are in the United States.