The Problem Is Systemic, We Need Systemic Reform

This problem is not about one or two bad cops.  We see police brutality from coast to coast (and in Canada, too).  Some departments have handled things better than others as I noted last week.  While biking, I listened to the Bill Simmons podcast episode with DeRay Mckesson, who has been an activist on these issues since at least Ferguson.  I was struck by much of what they discussed but also have some additional suggestions as I have been thinking of this stuff the past week.  To be sure, I am not an expert, but my outrage has caused me to think beyond what I have studied (as if I don't exceed my expertise all the time). Update: for a good piece on the problems of modern policing, ee this article.

First, Mckesson discussed a dataset that he had helped built that identified the policies of the police departments of the 100 biggest cities in the US.  They found that eight policies together reduce the likelihood of cops killing citizens by 72%.  These eight are:

• Require officers to de-escalate situations.
• Ban choke/strangleholds.
• Require officers to intervene and stop excessive force used by other officers (the George Floyd case illustrates that one quite well).
• Restrict officers from shooting at moving vehicles.  Looks good in the movies but is dangerously stupid and stupidly dangerous.
• Develop a Force Continuum that limits types of force and/or weapons that can be used in specific types of situations.
• Require officers to exhaust all other reasonable means before resorting to deadly force (this isn't required already?)
• Require officers to give a verbal warning, when possible, before shooting at a civilian.
• Require officers to report each time they use force or threaten to use force against civilians.

This is all common sense, right?  The police unions (more below) will say that this endangers the cops and makes cities more dangerous.  The data very much says otherwise.  That cities where this stuff is enacted don't have more cops getting killed and don't have more crime. I would go one step further: that the onus of risk in any interaction between police officer and civilian should be on the police officer.  Their job is to protect and serve.  If they are unwilling to risk their lives for civilians, well then, don't join.  If they think their lives are more important than civilians, again, don't join.

The good news is that most of these policies can be enacted by mayors and police chiefs and city commissioners.  Most don't require negotiating a new contract.  However, as Bill de Blasio has shown, mayors live in fear of the cops and their unions.

Mckessesen goes to talk about reducing the role of cops--that they are lousy at handling mental health problems, so don't send them out for such calls.  Send mental health specialists.  And the like.

I have two other proposals that are more politically, um, difficult.

1. Radical transparency.  Police departments fought hard not to let this project get the information on policies.  Many union contracts require departments to rip up complaints after a few years.  The week's events, with the repeated assaults on the press, indicate that bad departments and bad cops fear the light of day.  So, let's turn the lights on real bright.  There should be state and potentially federal laws that require all police policies to be public, the next contracts should require that any complaints are made public, that any complaints that are proven to be valid are made permanently public, and so on.  We need to have better data, we need to hold accountable those who bad things, and those who might be tempted to do bad things should know that their bad behavior will follow them the rest of their lives.  The consequences for the public of abuses of authority are very high, so the consequences for those who abuse their powers should similarly be high.  Again, if you can't take it, don't join the police.
2. Break the police unions.  Yeah, I said it.  They seem largely to serve the bad cops and encourage bad behavior.  If they are unwilling to change the culture and behavior of police, then we must find ways to reduce their power.  This weekend, the NYC police union released information about ... the mayor's daughter!  They feel so empowered, so entitled that they are willing to endanger the mayor's daughter.  And his reaction?  Cowering in fear apparently.  There is work and activism on this via https://www.checkthepolice.org/.   When unions serve as protection rackets, they need to be radically reformed.  

And, yes, who radicalized me?  Not Deray McKessen.  Nope, it was all of the videos this week of cops spraying pepper spray arbitrarily, of cops breaking and stealing the supplies of protestors, of cops attacking journalists, of cops picking the vocal but peaceful protestors out of the line and beating them.  The First Amendment was violated in so many ways over the past week.  The cops have proved that there is a police brutality problem by beating those who were protesting police brutality.  As a result, there needs to be a massive shift in how we think and do policing.  I get that the job can be dangerous, but only 5% of arrests are of violent criminals.  They may think they are under threat all the time, but part of that is that their behavior creates the conditions that make that more likely.  Crime has been doing down for decades, but police brutality has not.

The nationwide mobilization against police brutality demonstrates that local and state politicians have more political capital to do something now.  The question now is: will decision makers fear the police unions or their citizens more?