Tangled Up in Blue

by Rosa Brooks

  The worst of it: Mock, Brentin, “What New Research Says About Race and Police Shootings,” CityLab, August 6, 2019, www.citylab.com/equity/2019/08/police-officer-shootings-gun-violence-racial-bias-crime-data/595528/; Jacobs, Tom, “Black Cops Are Just as Likely as White Cops to Kill Black Suspects,” Pacific Standard, August 9, 2018, psmag.com/social-justice/black-cops-are-just-as-likely-as-whites-to-kill-black-suspects.

  WAS THAT WHO I WAS?

  “Hmm,” I said neutrally: It was.

  Statistically, I knew: Most police officers never fire their weapons outside the range. The majority of those who do fire their weapons fire at dogs, not at humans (Morin, Rich, and Andrew Mercer, “A Closer Look at Police Officers Who Have Fired Their Weapon on Duty,” Pew Research Center, February 8, 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/08/a-closer-look-at-police-officers-who-have-fired-their-weapon-on-duty/).

  With no sergeants: Once certified, we would also be permitted to carry our MPD-issued firearms even while off duty. For many of my classmates, this prerogative was highly motivating. DC has some of the nation’s strictest gun control laws, so being permitted to carry a weapon marked one out as special—not just an ordinary citizen, but someone superior and trusted.

  NO PLOT

  I liked patrolling: In Washington, DC, full-time career officers rarely move once they’re assigned to a district. Moving is difficult unless you’re promoted, and many officers spend their entire careers in the same district. The advantage of this system is that experienced officers can come to know their corner of the city extraordinarily well. The disadvantage is that distinct subcultures form in different districts. Common practices in the Second District are virtually unheard of in 7D, and vice versa.

  Like most poor: A recently published study found that killings by police officers are highest in neighborhoods with the greatest concentrations of low-income residents. Feldman, Justin M. et al., “Police-Related Deaths and Neighborhood Economic and Racial/Ethnic Polarization, United States, 2015–2016,” American Journal of Public Health 109, no. 3 (2019): 458–64, ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304851.

  But over-policing: The public, writ large, chooses when and how to deploy police. We could, for instance, order police to conduct traffic stops only where there is an urgent and immediate threat to public safety or when they have probable cause to believe a vehicle or its occupant is involved in a serious crime, and create a cadre of civilian officials akin to parking or code enforcement officials, who would handle all citations for broken headlights and minor moving violations. We don’t ask sworn, armed law enforcement officers to investigate minor building code violations—why do we have police enforcing similar traffic regulations? Civilianizing most traffic regulation enforcement might greatly reduce arrests for minor issues and reduce friction between police and communities—yet we continue to ask police to serve as traffic law enforcers.

  In recent years: Farzan, Antonia Noori, “BBQ Becky, Permit Patty and Cornerstore Caroline: Too ‘Cutesy’ for Those White Women Calling Police on Black People?” Washington Post, October 19, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/10/19/bbq-becky-permit-patty-and-cornerstore-caroline-too-cutesy-for-those-white-women-calling-cops-on-blacks/; Hutchinson, Bill, “From ‘BBQ Becky’ to ‘Golfcart Gail,’ List of Unnecessary 911 Calls Made on Blacks Continues to Grow,” ABC News, October 19, 2018, https://abcnews.go.com/US/bbq-becky-golfcart-gail-list-unnecessary-911-calls/story?id=58584961.

  MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS

  She did go: DC has a mandatory arrest law for domestic violence (16 D.C. Code § 16-1031[a]), a legacy of early efforts to prevent officers from walking away from abusive men with a nod and a wink. But officers fearful of getting in trouble for failing to make an arrest when required tended to interpret the statute rigidly. To me, Imani’s fight with her mother suggested a family in desperate need of help, but I wouldn’t have categorized it as domestic violence, just as the lashing out of a hurt child.

  OFFICER FRIENDLY

  The Supreme Court: “Confidence in Institutions,” Gallup, https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx.

  Republicans are more: Fingerhut, Hannah, “Deep Racial, Partisan Divisions in Americans’ Views of Police Officers,” Pew Research Center, September 15, 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/15/deep-racial-partisan-divisions-in-americans-views-of-police-officers/.

  PORTRAYING A PERSON

  According to official: “District of Columbia,” Treatment Advocacy Center, 2018, www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/browse-by-state/district-of-columbia.

  Within the city’s homeless: “District of Columbia CoC FY2018 Point in Time Fact Sheet,” Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, 2018.

  PARALLEL WORLDS

  In the academic world: The right-wing caricature of students as precious little snowflakes is unfair—most students are reasonable young adults—but carries a grain of truth, as most professors will admit. At a workshop I attended in 2019 for criminal law and procedure professors, for instance, virtually every professor present had a horror story about student hypersensitivity. In particular, classroom discussions of race and sexual assault could be minefields: in every class, there was a student or two ready to declare themselves offended or traumatized by someone else’s comments, and further traumatized if their feelings were not instantly acknowledged as worthy of collective respect. Most professors take the easy way out and try to avoid uncomfortable topics, which is a shame, because discomfort can be a powerful learning tool. In 7D’s more rough-and-tumble culture, feelings were often bruised, but perhaps the conversations were more honest.

  LIKE A SPARROW

  Many lay responders: American Red Cross, First Aid/CPR/AED: Participant’s Manual (Stamford, CT: StayWell, 2016), https://www.amerimedcpr.com/wp-content/uploads/AmeriMed-CPR-Training-CPR-AED-First-Aid-Student-Training-Manual-2018.pdf.

  In Washington, DC: “State and Territorial Data,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/state-and-territorial-data.htm.

  In 2018, there were: “District Crime Data at a Glance,” Metropolitan Police Department, 2019, mpdc.dc.gov/page/district-crime-data-glance.

  Ninety-two DC pedestrians: Lazo, Luz, “Pedestrians Continue to Be at High Risk on Washington Region’s Roads, Data Show,” Washington Post, February 9, 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/pedestrians-continue-to-be-at-high-risk-on-washington-regions-roads-data-show/2019/02/09/e6a4e7a8-1f52-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.html.

  36 vehicle occupants: “Traffic Fatalities,” Metropolitan Police Department, 2019, mpdc.dc.gov/page/traffic-fatalities.

  THE SECRET CITY

  But about a third: Schmitt, Angie, “Death Toll Keeps Rising from Police Chases,” Streetsblog USA, October 19, 2018, usa.streetsblog.org/2018/10/19/death-toll-keeps-rising-from-police-chases/.

  CAGES

  What research exists: Foley, Pamela F., Mary Kelly, and Cristina Guarneri, “Reasons for Choosing a Police Career: Changes over Two Decades,” International Journal of Police Science and Management 10, no. 1 (2008): 2–8.

  In 2017, 3,837 sworn: Government of the District of Columbia, Metropolitan Police Department 2017 Annual Report, https://mpdc.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/mpdc/publication/attachments/MPD%20Annual%20Report%202017_lowres.pdf.

  In this sense: Marimow, Ann E., “When It Comes to Pretrial Release, Few Other Jurisdictions Do It D.C.’s Way,” Washington Post, July 4, 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/when-it-comes-to-pretrial-release-few-other-jurisdictions-do-it-dcs-way/2016/07/04/8eb52134-e7d3-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html; Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia, “FY 2017 Release Rates for Pretrial Defendants within Washington, DC,” https://www.psa.gov/sites/default/files/2017%20Release%20Rates%20for%20DC%20Pretrial%20Defendants.pdf.

  If you have children: Martin, Eric, “Hidden Consequences: The Impact of I
ncarceration on Dependent Children,” National Institute of Justice, March 1, 2017, nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/hidden-consequences-impact-incarceration-dependent-children.

  And if their behavior: Sweeney, Chris, “Juvenile Detention Drives Up Adult Incarceration Rates, MIT Study Finds,” Boston Magazine, June 11, 2015, www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2015/06/11/juvenile-detention-mit-study/.

  A recent Justice Department: Alper, Mariel, Matthew R. Durose, and Joshua Markman, “2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism: A 9-Year Follow-up Period (2005–2014),” Bureau of Justice Statistics, May 23, 2018, www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=6266.

  Maybe your difficulties: Harding, David J. et al., “Short- and Long-Term Effects of Imprisonment on Future Felony Convictions and Prison Admissions,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, no. 42 (2017): 11103–8.

  BAKED INTO THE SYSTEM

  In contrast, New York: “Police Employment, Officers Per Capita Rates for U.S. Cities,” Governing, www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/police-officers-per-capita-rates-employment-for-city-departments.html.

  There are Metro Transit police: “Law Enforcement Agencies in DC,” Washington Peace Center, washingtonpeacecenter.org/dccops.

  In 2017, 31,560 adults: Government of the District of Columbia, Metropolitan Police Department 2017 Annual Report.

  In New York: “Adult Arrests: 2009–2018,” New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/crimnet/ojsa/arrests/nyc.pdf.

  The high DC arrest rate: “Appendix: States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2018,” Prison Policy Initiative, www.prisonpolicy.org/global/appendix_2018.html; Austermuhle, Martin, “District of Corrections: Does D.C. Really Have the Highest Incarceration Rate in the Country?” WAMU 88.5, September 10, 2019, wamu.org/story/19/09/10/district-of-corrections-does-d-c-really-have-the-highest-incarceration-rate-in-the-country/.

  in a country with: The United States locks up a higher percentage of its population than any other country in the world. If you look at local, state, and federal prison and jail populations, this country currently incarcerates more than 2.4 million people, a figure that constitutes roughly 25 percent of the total incarcerated population of the entire world. If the incarcerated population of the United States were a country, it would have a larger population than about fifty other countries, including Namibia, Qatar, Gambia, Slovenia, Bahrain, and Iceland. And the long-term trend is toward increased growth; over the past thirty years, the incarcerated population of the United States has gone up by a factor of four. Wagner, Peter, and Wendy Sawyer, “States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2018,” Prison Policy Initiative, June 2018, www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2018.html; “Criminal Justice Facts,” The Sentencing Project, www.sentencingproject.org/criminal-justice-facts/.

  A 2019 ACLU report: “Racial Disparities in D.C. Policing: Descriptive Evidence from 2013–2017,” ACLU District of Columbia, www.acludc.org/en/racial-disparities-dc-policing-descriptive-evidence-2013-2017.

  Overall, black men: Gramlich, John, “The Gap Between the Number of Blacks and Whites in Prison Is Shrinking,” Pew Research Center, April 30, 2019, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/30/shrinking-gap-between-number-of-blacks-and-whites-in-prison/.

  But although the: Forman, James Jr., Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2017).

  In recent decades: Friedman, Lauren F., and Katie Jennings, “The US Has a Staggering Gap Between Black and White Life Expectancy,” Business Insider, August 21, 2014, www.businessinsider.com/huge-black-white-gap-in-life-expectancy-in-us-2014-8.

  They’re more likely: Williams, Jhacova, and Valerie Wilson, “Labor Day 2019: Black Workers Endure Persistent Racial Disparities in Employment Outcomes,” Economic Policy Institute, www.epi.org/publication/labor-day-2019-racial-disparities-in-employment/; Bridges, Brian, “African Americans and College Education by the Numbers,” UNCF, August 27, 2019, www.uncf.org/the-latest/african-americans-and-college-education-by-the-numbers; Sauter, Michael B., “Faces of Poverty: What Racial, Social Groups Are More Likely to Experience It?” USA Today, October 10, 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/10/10/faces-poverty-social-racial-factors/37977173/; “Criminal Justice Fact Sheet,” NAACP, www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/.

  Black Americans are: Langley, Marty, and Josh Sugarmann, Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2011 Homicide Data (Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2014), www.vpc.org/studies/blackhomicide14.pdf.

  antiblack hate crimes: Levin, Brian, Kevin Grisham, and Lisa Nakashima, Report to the Nation: 2019: Factbook on Hate and Extremism in the U.S. & Internationally (San Bernardino, CA: Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, 2019), csbs.csusb.edu/sites/csusb_csbs/files/CSHE%202019%20Report%20to%20the%20Nation%20FINAL%207.29.19%2011%20PM.pdf; Edwards, Griffin Sims, and Stephen Rushin, “The Effect of President Trump’s Election on Hate Crimes,” SSRN, January 18, 2018, papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3102652.

  much of it comes: Mooney, Chris, “Across America, Whites Are Biased and They Don’t Even Know It,” Washington Post, December 8, 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/12/08/across-america-whites-are-biased-and-they-dont-even-know-it/.

  Similarly, studies have found: Bertrand, Marianne, and Sendhil Mullainathan, “Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination” (working paper, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 2003), www.nber.org/papers/w9873.pdf.

  a 2014 report: “2013–2014 Civil Rights Data Collection: A First Look,” US Department of Education, www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/2013-14-first-look.pdf.

  Another 2014 study: Goff, Phillip Atiba et al., “The Essence of Innocence: Consequences of Dehumanizing Black Children,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 106, no. 4 (2014): 526–45, www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-a0035663.pdf.

  When a wallet is stolen: Looney, Adam, and Nicholas Turner, Work and Opportunity Before and After Incarceration (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2018), www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/es_20180314_looneyincarceration_final.pdf.

  Americans living in poverty: Carson, E. Ann, “Prisoners in 2014,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, September 17, 2015, www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5387.

  Rates of violent victimization: None of this is coincidental. Black Americans inherit an economic and social landscape marred by the poisonous legacy of slavery and segregation, from discriminatory mortgage lending to discrimination in zoning practices and employment decisions.

  This is also why: Carbado, Devon W., and L. Song Richardson, “The Black Police: Policing Our Own,” Harvard Law Review, May 10, 2018.

  Some studies suggest: Mock, “What New Research Says About Race and Police Shootings”; Jacobs, “Black Cops Are Just as Likely as White Cops to Kill Black Suspects.”

  In some states: “State Felon Voting Laws,” ProCon.org, felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000286.

  Right now: See Forman, Locking Up Our Own.

  ONE SUMMER DAY

  Crime is real: My colleague Paul Butler writes about this in his book Chokehold: Policing Black Men. He notes that few African American activists and criminal justice activists want to grapple openly with the reality that black men “are disproportionately at risk for violence, as victims and harm doers,” for fear of undermining the impetus for criminal justice reform. As Butler notes, “black men are about 6.5% of the population but they are responsible for approximately half of all murders in the United States,” as well as 54 percent of robberies, 39 percent of assaults, and 41 percent of all violent felonies. “Because violent crime is mainly intra-racial, Black men are also about 50% of murder victims” in the United States. Butler, Paul, Chokehold: Policing Black Men (New York: New Press, 2018).

  IT CAN BE KIND OF HARD TO SEE THINGS CLEARLY
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  Critical incidents were defined: Green, Douglas William, “Traumatic Stress, World Assumptions, and Law Enforcement Officers,” (PhD thesis, City University of New York, 2016), academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2402&context=gc_etds.

  Police officers experience: Hartley, Tara A. et al., “PTSD Symptoms Among Police Officers: Associations with Frequency, Recency, and Types Of Traumatic Events,” International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience (2013): 241–53; Southall, Ashley, “4 Officer Suicides in 3 Weeks: N.Y.P.D. Struggles to Dispel Mental Health Stigma,” New York Times, June 27, 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/nyregion/nypd-suicides.html.

  YOU’LL GET YOURS

  As dangerous jobs go: Kiersz, Andy, “The 34 Most Dangerous Jobs in America,” Business Insider India, July 20, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-dangerous-jobs-in-america-2018-7.

  But taxi and limousine drivers: Hannagan, Charley, “By the Numbers: Taxi Driver Is the Job with the No. 1 Murder Rate,” Syracuse, January 29, 2015, www.syracuse.com/opinion/2015/01/by_the_numbers_job_with_the_number_1_murder_rate_taxi_drivers.html.

  In 2018, for instance: “2018 Crime in the United States,” FBI, ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018.

  Of the seven MPD officer: “District of Columbia Line of Duty Deaths,” Officer Down Memorial Page, www.odmp.org/search/browse?state=DC.

  Although Rife is listed: “Sergeant Clifton Rife, II,” Officer Down Memorial Page, www.odmp.org/officer/17341-sergeant-clifton-rife-ii; Rife v. District of Columbia, 940 A.2d 964, 965 (2007).

  The fatal injury rate: Sauter, Michael B., and Charles Stockdale, “The Most Dangerous Jobs in the US Include Electricians, Firefighters and Police Officers,” USA Today, January 8, 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/01/08/most-dangerous-jobs-us-where-fatal-injuries-happen-most-often/38832907/.