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< | Lack of Discernment when are Cops Afraid? | >
> | Lack of Discernment when Cops are Afraid? | | | -- By TaleahTyrell - 16 Apr 2021 | |
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< | Pretextual Stops Escalating
**the cops fearing us.
**Consequences of a Disproportionate response to Situations
**guns, knives, their age. what would i normally perceive as a fear. categoraically perceive as a risk. breaking protocol rather, this is protocol.
Pretextual Stops are not Uncommon | >
> | Different Looking People Spurs Suspicion and Fear
Pretextual Stops | | | A year ago, while driving around an affluent San Diego neighborhood with my boyfriend the cops stopped us.
"May I ask what we did wrong officer?" | | | Luckily I'd brought my wallet along. I gave him my identification and he said, "Oh, you are from here." He let us go. | |
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< | Our day was ruined. We left angry, confused, hurt, but most of all embarrassed. Why did he ask for MY license if I was not the one driving? Why did he stop us for driving around with a Tennessee license plate? I started crying, fuming. Was this just a “bad apple” or was there a bigger problem? I don't know what I would've done had I been asked to get out of the car that day. I want to say that I would comply and do all as I was asked to do. But even knowing all the rules, I can't say that my fight or flight instincts wouldn't have hit me and I too would be, like Daunte, trying to flee the situation in fear. I thought to myself, what exactly could I do about this situation? Who could I report this to?
Re-imagining Policing for those who FEAR Police
Both Parties Fearing Other
The death of George Floyd last year shook many Americans to their core. As the officer who shot him stands in trial, we see how different this case has been from others. The wall of defense that police officers normally have for each other has largely broken down. We have witnessed officer after officer testify against one of their own, to the disbelief of many. Cities have also made changes. Efforts to "defund the police" have spurred throughout the country. But what does it mean to "defund" a cornerstone of our society? Some say its allocating some of their resources to other services such as mental health counselors, community vigilante groups, and social workers, arguing that they should be alternative numbers of citizens to call for help during a situation. Others argue that the money should go towards racial bias training so that officers can identify and overcome this instinct. A smaller group calls for officers to get more training so that they learn to de-escalate situations without resorting to killing. | >
> | Our day was ruined. We left angry, confused, hurt, but most of all embarrassed. Why did he ask for MY license if I was not the one driving? Why did he stop us for driving around with a Tennessee license plate? I started crying, fuming. Through the frustration however, I began to wonder if maybe that cop was actually a kind man with good intentions, maybe with kids and a family that lived close to the area. What if, he from his perspective, our foreign car driving around the neighborhood was a threat that he needed to stop immediately? | | | | |
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< | Many black people in this country, however, who know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of pretextual stops and micro-aggression also know that the answer cannot include police officers in the form that they are currently presented. There is a deep un-spoken, but deeply embedded rule within the black community I was raised in: Don't call the po po. Issues are largely solved within the community. We largely defer to pastors or respected elders when it comes to solving issue within the community. As for interactions with the police that are not by our choice, we largely try to avoid them. Most of us have had the talk: when you encounter the police only say yes sir, no ma'am. Do exactly as you are told. I've practiced it several times. But its different when you encounter an officer. All the fear and anger can easily boil together, especially when you feel like you've been unjustly stopped. | >
> | Police Officers Discernment | | | | |
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< | How the Police System has to Change
The policing of Black Americans will likely need to be re-imagined completely because of the deep trauma the Black community has faced at the hands of police. Some say that the issue is that some police officers that are "bad apples." Unfortunately, it is not that simple. I refuse to believe that most of the officers killing Black Americans are horrible racists who want to see Black people dead. These cops have jobs, families, and commitments to uphold. I do not think they would do their dirty work so openly and freely. I do not think they would be willing to risk it all considering the current political climate. I certainly do not think that they would do so during the same with where they see one of theirs on trial, largely unsupported by all his ex co-workers and presumably friends. | >
> | De-Funding is Insufficient
Cops unnecessarily killing people of color has re-sparked a movement in America in 2020. After the death of George Floyd, millions of Americans united to protest police brutality. This movement sparked citywide changes across the U.S. Efforts to "defund the police" have spurred throughout the country as a way to eliminate the problem altogether. The main goal consists of allocating police resources to other services such as mental health counselors, community vigilante groups, and social workers, arguing that they should be alternative numbers of citizens to call for help during a situation. However, those efforts will largely fail if the crucial role police discernment plays is not identified. At the end of the day, police officers hold a valuable role in society. They are trained to protect, serve, and keep law and order in our society. They cannot be fully replaced by mental health counselors as evidenced by approaches like this that have failed in the past. Accepting the reality that officers are here to stay leads to the effort of identifying why discernment fails when police officers are tasked with policing Black communities. | | | | |
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< | Instead, it's that even "good apples" can freak out. That the same fear Black Americans have for the police is may actually be shared by police towards Black Americans. Even those that do not intend to injure or kill during a traffic stop the fear and anxiety exuded by the person they have stopped may be incorrectly interpreted as aggression. My sympathetic system is mirrored by the police officer, also triggered within them. And in cases where they actually hold a gun, and I do not, the result is sometimes inevitable. This is why we see police officers safely arrest and detain non-black people. The officers are working with discipline, making sound decisions. | >
> | Discernment: A Police Officers Greatest Tool
According to Merriam Webster, "discernment" means "the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure" or "an act of perceiving." Police officers are tasked with this role daily. They drive around neighborhoods examining individuals and situations making quick decisions based on human dispositions, activities, clothing, demeanor, etc. With this input of information they must make quick judgments about whether to arrest, interfere, assist, help, or interrupt. Quality discernment becomes an officers most valued skill and a method to success in their field. This ability to comprehend is not necessarily always a conscious decision. A good discern-er couples conscious thoughts with quick subconscious judgments that analyze those thoughts. For officers, after many successful arrests, de-escalations, or detainments, these subconscious judgments are inevitably trusted more and more, leading to a confidence that a good officer should have. As such, the valued skill of discernment can become diluted or weakened when its only source is derived from a subconscious experience. In these times, fear or anxiety may be confused as discernment and result in unjustifiable and unnecessary use of force. | | | | |
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> | False Discernment: A Police Officers Greatest Weakness
This false discernment, which is a mix of fear, anxiety, and rash actions is evidenced by the officer who shot 13-year old Adam Toledo. In the video, Toledo drops a handgun then turns to the police raising his hands. The cop immediately shot him. As graphic as the video is to watch, more telling are the words of desperation as the officer chases Toledo down the alley "Hey! Don't F**move! Stop, STOP!" An eerily similar sheer desperation is also reflected in the voices the the cops that scrambled to stop Daunte Wright. This time, the officer mistakenly shot her gun thinking it was a taser, killing the 20-year-old. | | | | |
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< | The training that police officers undergo is insufficient
Risk perception as a white officer you think perceive a disproportionate risk when you come in contact with a black person and respond accordingly. This is justifiable because this person is a higher risk.
Officer Fears Resulting in Deadly Work | | | | |
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< | As I watched the video of 13-year old Adam Toledo getting shot to death by an officer, I couldn't help but also hear the fear and anxiety in the officers voice. A similar tone to the killer of Daunte Wright. But one was trained, doing their job, and had a gun so naturally more expected of that person. Police reform and defunding may be a start to re-imagining how to police Black communities. But those efforts will largely fail if the anxiety and fears that are triggered within officers as they try to detain those that do not look like their son or brother or cousin or uncle are not first acknowledged, addressed, and remedied. | >
> | Eliminating False Discernment to Properly Police those that look Suspiciously Different
To have equal justice under the law with respect to and from police officers we need to train officers to re-wire the disproportionate risk perception that they unconsciously attribute to Black people. The current response to situations seems justifiable to them in the situations because they view Black people as a higher risk. Because of deep unconscious bias that has grown from years of portrayals of Black people in the media, the amount of Black people in prison, and the differences in cultures and experience all lend to an appropriately heightened state when they encounter Black people. Those years of discernments where officers look for guns, knives, age, and normally make a sound decision as to how to resolve the situation now mix with the fear of the unknown, “will this Black person respect my authority?” “Do they have a gun?” “If they do, will they shoot me?” Instead of discerning as with a white person, too often the threat is categorically perceived as a deadly risk. Unlearning this bias has to begin by acknowledging the fight or flight the emerges within officers when encountered in these situations. | | | | |
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> | I’ll never know why that officer stopped me in San Diego. However, knowing that there are so many well-intentioned good officers, I can imagine that this officer saw two very different people and his usual discernment told him that this irregularity warranted further investigation. It is at that crucial moment, however, that officers must take stock of the line between their fear and discernment so that individuals are not needlessly killed. | | |
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