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Police reform behind racial enforcement

Police violence has been a long-discussed issue revolving around the overuse of firearms and other weapons and the discriminatory treatment of racially diverse law enforcement. After the George Floyd incident, the police's irregular law enforcement violence has been pushed to a peak. Protests erupted in states led by Minnesota to denounce police brutality and advocate for police reform. A poll released in 2021 showed that public confidence in police environment had fallen to 48%, a first to have been lower than 50% in 27 years. Citizens oppose police use of excessive force in law enforcement and demand that racial disparities in police and other agency ratings be examined. This shows that police reform is imminent.

(See Figure 1)

These findings are the latest in Gallup's tracking of the public's confidence in an array of institutions, which began in 1973 during the Watergate scandal. This image is the result of a poll asking about confidence in American police. For the first time in sixteen years, the number of people who believe that the police are doing a good job and support them have fallen below 50% for the first time. This means that public support for the police had reached an all-time low.

I believe the focus of police reform begins from three angles. These are cultural changes within the police department, the refurbishment of police functions and the reward and punishment system, as well as changes to the current police accountability system based on Qualified Immunity. In the following, I will focus on these three perspectives, introduce the need for police reform and the expected results.

 In my CP paper, I reiterated that when police officers face different races of law enforcement, psychological factors will interfere with the judgment of using weapons. Through my research, I believe that the psychology of police officers and the underlying subculture of the police department are driving officers to make more extreme decisions. In his article, author Carlson explains the psychological and cultural influences on police behavior, arguing that police subcultures provide police with specific values ​​that explain their patterns of engagement in police work and understanding their moral standing in the world and practical tools for navigating the tricky tasks involved in policing. This shows the deep influence of culture in a community, which affects the behavior of individuals. Cultural changes can bring about changes in group behavior. This means that changes in police department culture will affect the conduct of all officers.

 The author claims that "Police subculture emphasizes a crime-fighting mission, a desire for action and excitement, an ‘us/them’ mentality, the glorification of force, suspiciousness, and cynicism, social isolation and strong in-group loyalty, and authoritarian conservatism. This is a kind of the warrior mindset.” (Carlson, Jennifer 2) It is a mindset that prioritizes surviving fear and danger, not quitting when faced with difficulties, and being aggressive like a warrior. In this aggressive intellectual environment, officers are immersed in a “military special operations” culture characterized by unique technical warrior clothing, heavy weapons, cutting-edge technology, ultra-manly and dangerous capabilities. This idea over-describes the dangers of policing. It also prompts police to associate black and brown stereotypes for those who are often involved in drug crime, violent crime, and gangs with enemies, danger, and difficulty. (Carlson, Jennifer 2-4) Under the guidance of this culture, the police's handling of black and brown cases is closer to the aggressive law enforcement of soldiers overcoming danger and defeating the enemy.

This is why I believe police department culture needs to be reformed. The police do not participate in society as soldiers, but as enforcers and defenders of a safe social environment. The police are not facing enemies, but ordinary people in the community. in such a working environment, excessive warrior culture training may make the police appear too aggressive in law enforcement activities and hinder the correct judgment of law enforcement, particularly in law enforcement scenarios involving racial issues. Changing the culture of the police department to a more moderate culture rather than continuing the warrior culture would be a good start. At the same time, minor changes and integrations are made depending on a police department’s location. This is more conducive to the integration of the police into the local community culture and no longer draws parallels between the law enforcement targets and enemies on a battlefield.

In the police department, culture is formed from the search for a sense of identity. Rewards and punishments are a reflection of whether a superior or a department agrees with an individual's behavior. I believe the reform of culture should start from the system, and in particular, the reward and punishment system. The police's current disclosures are better expressed in the Rashawn Ray of Working Group on Criminal Justice Reform report. He believes that the frequent occurrence of racial issues is inseparable from the relevant institutional culture of the police, in which the police culture is incorrectly targeted towards civilians, and in particular, blacks and brown-skinned people. He states that the "police have to be of the people and for the people." Most of the time, the police talk about themselves as if they were not a part of community. As the book mentions, "officers often view themselves as warriors at war with the people in the communities they serve."(Rashawn, 6) At the same time, many police officers refer to people in the community by the word "them" instead of “us.” This means that officers do not see themselves as part of the community most of the time. (Rashawn, 6-7) This is not a healthy police culture system. Nevertheless, the birth of this culture is based on the rewards and punishments in place. The vast majority of current police incentives and punishments are based on the number of arrests, subpoenas, and tickets to demonstrate an officer's leadership and ability to work. But they are rarely recognized or rewarded for positive things such as keeping their communities safe, or for their service to the community.

I believe that police reform in culture requires a reconceptualization of the police's mission and the culture that evolves from its execution. As Rashawn claim in his article, “Policing can be about respecting individuals and not using force. It is an ethical approach to policing that requires incentives positive outcomes rather than deficits that rewards citations and force.” (Rashawn, 7) This system of rewards and punishments, and the reshaping of the mission, is more in line with the role of the police, whose purpose is to serve the community and keep it safe. This kind of reward and punishment system based on positive encouragement can greatly change the existing warrior culture and the way police think and behave like soldiers. At the same time, it can also help the police realize that they are part of the community, rather than outsiders who are disconnected from the community. Finally, we can reduce the influence of warrior culture on the use of weapons in law enforcement and the impact of implicit prejudice against blacks and other racial minorities.

                Changing the police's existing reward and punishment model and reshaping the police's mission is not enough to drive a change in police culture. The accountability system for the police is yet another key point in changing police culture and reducing law enforcement errors. Sobel expresses his thoughts on the act as follows: “Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine that courts invented to make it more difficult to sue police and other government officials who have been plausibly alleged to have violated somebody’s rights.” (Sobel, 1-3) The bill was originally proposed to combat the violent Ku Klux Klan in the South, protecting police from violating each other's rights during law enforcement and becoming a system for exempting police officers from responsibility. Now, the law makes it far more difficult for officials to be prosecuted. A YouGov and Cato poll found that 60 percent of Americans support repealing the bill, and that 80 percent of Americans believe that police officers' history of wrongdoing in law enforcement should not be removed. (YouGov, Cato, 1-3) This shows that most people believe that Qualified immunity has not played the expected role in the current society. On the contrary, he gives police officers a good means of evading responsibility for irregularities or wrongdoing in the process of law enforcement. From a police department perspective, the inability to discipline and fire officials who should be held accountable not only jeopardizes public perception of the department, but also drags down the social standing of the entire law enforcement profession. (Rashawn, 3) At present, many of the police's law enforcement actions against blacks and brown-skinned people have proved to be unreasonable and critically violate the rights of law enforcement objects. Qualified immunity provides some police officers with a good umbrella for this type of behavior. This can also induce police officers into ignoring their aggressive behavior or misjudgment, further increasing the likelihood of multiple mistakes. This is unfair to the community and to the victims.

For these reasons, the police accountability system based on qualified immunity needs to be changed. The new accountability system should focus on increasing the responsibility of individual officers who make mistakes, including taking financial responsibility and other punitive measures. Of course, it is not advisable to completely hold the police officers accountable for their mistakes. At present, 67% of murders involve firearms, and most criminals obtain their firearms illegally. (Data from Wikipedia) An overly draconian accountability system puts police in even more dangerous situations when confronting criminals. Therefore, the strength of the reform of the police accountability system needs far more research. The ideal reform effort would be to help police officers realize their mistakes and be far more wary the use of lethal weapons in cases. This can help reduce the number of wrongful casualties in law enforcement. 

The current policing system still needs a lot of improvement. Our goal is to delve into the major policy changes needed for accountability, finance, culture, and community- centered police reform. Reform may require a lot of time and money, but the frequent occurrence of violent law enforcement in the current police department has continuously pointed out the need for reform of the police system. New standards and policies are needed to improve policing issues highlighted in this report.

               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Citation page

 

CARLSON, J. Police Warriors and Police Guardians: Race, Masculinity, and the Construction of     Gun Violence. Social Problems, [s. l.], v. 67, n. 3, p. 399–417, 2020. DOI             10.1093/socpro/spz020. Disponível em:            https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=144669169&site=e           host-live&scope=site. Acesso em: 19 fev. 2022.

Ray, R., & Neily, C. (2021, April 30). A better path forward for Criminal Justice: Police Reform. Brookings. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-better-path-forward-for-criminal-justice-police-reform/

Sobel, Nathaniel. “What Is Qualified Immunity, and What Does It Have to Do With Police             Reform?” Lawfare. June 6, 2020. Available at: https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-  qualified-immunity-and-what-does-it-have-do-police-reform

Ekins, Emily. “Poll: 63% of Americans Favor Eliminating Qualified Immunity for Police.” Cato        Institute. July 16, 2020. Available at: https://www.cato.org/survey-reports/poll-63-  americans-favor-eliminating-qualified-immunity-police#introduction

Brenan, M. (2021, November 12). Amid pandemic, confidence in key U.S. institutions surges. Gallup.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://news.gallup.com/poll/317135/amid-pandemic-confidence-key-institutions-surges.aspx

Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, March 7). Gun violence in the United States. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States

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