Who Polices The Police

Who Polices the Police?
Author(s): Gene Grabiner

Source: Social Justice, Vol. 43, No. 2 (144) (2016), pp. 58-79
Published by: Social Justice/Global Options
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26380303
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COMMENTARY
Who Polices the Police?
Gene Grabiner*
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

—attributed to Juvenal
Metropolitan Police, or "bobbies," are tobe found in the control of

The origins
the "dangerousof English
classes" on behalf of Prime Minister
the English ruling elite. These Robert Peel's
dangerous classes were primarily the urban working class, perceived by the
ruling class as a potentially rebellious, if not revolutionary, mob. American
Robber Baron Jay Gould boasted of his ability to hire one-half of the work
ing class to kill the other half (Foner 1998, 51). In the twentieth century,
Antonio Gramsci (1971,12) observed that there is an "apparatus of state
coercive power" that legally "enforces discipline on those groups who do
not consent' either actively or passively" to the character of social, political,
cultural, and economic life. Over time, crime control came also to be part
of policing. But class has always been implicated in policing, together with
that other special historical and enduring dimension—race:
[T]he literature clearly establishes that a legally sanctioned law

enforcement system existed in America before the Civil War for
the express purpose of controlling the slave population and protect
ing the interests of slave owners. The similarities between the slave
patrols and modern American policing are too salient to dismiss or
ignore. Hence, the slave patrol should be considered a forerunner
of modern American law enforcement. (Turner, Giacopassi, and
Vandiver 2006,186)
Today, the police continue to serve its historical political function. That
includes the disproportionate killing ofblack males as well as subtler aggres
sions such as over-long response times to 911 calls in the black community.
As I will argue in the conclusion, however, that iron fist is also reserved for
' Gene Grabiner is SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus.
58 Social Justice Vol. 43, No. 2 (2016)
Who Polices the Police? 59
the broader population affected

of work currently happening acro
The police question is a difficul
a reality, and it has become a pu
whether there are just some rotte
tree—a corrupt system of polic
criminal justice system and an u
to sketch a picture of policing i
the structural underpinnings of p
level factors that may contribut
is killed by (and kills) the polic
recommendations to address, an
United States. I will pay particul
of body cameras.
Structural Underpinni
Post-Industrial Poverty a
The current historical moment is

which undoubtedly increases th
along class lines. In looking at B
of32,598 black men over 16 ye

in the workforce.... Almost 6 o
employed or out of the work p
almost 8 out of 10 black men
almost 200,000 men and wome
when fewer than 5 of 10 black
emnloved. manufacturing counts for fewer than 50.000 iobs here.1
In Baltimore, where Freddie Gray was among the most recent and
nationally known police murder victims, and where riots (Martin Luther
King's "voice of the unheard") ensued, the same economic dynamics are at
play. Baltimore lost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs between 1950 and
1995, 75 percent of its industrial employment—not to mention most of
the jobs with union representation. Currently, only 6 percent of all jobs in
the city are in manufacturing. The collapse of industry led to a number of
changes in the demographic makeup of the city and the surrounding region,
contributing to a crisis in urban poverty that lingers today.
60 Gene Grabiner
As factories bled m
one-third of its po
the city, followed by
economic hub of ce
had shrunk to 657,
residents of1950 to
of central Maryland
quarter of the regio
ßammore, nice curraio, is just an example or wnat nas Deen going on in
the last few decades in inner cities throughout the United States, where a
combination ofdeindustrialization,war on drugs, welfare abolition, and urban
segregation has added fuel to the fire that is burning today. In this sense, the
incidence of excessive use of force by white police against people of color
is not a "recent uptick," as suggested in The Buffalo News on December 8,
2014.Today's racist police behavior is part of the deep legacy of racism in the
United States, which often finds extreme expressions in law enforcement (a
few cops have even belonged to the Klan).3 It has been honed through years
of aggressive policing and hypercriminalization of the black community.
A pattern of generally aggressive and racist policing is common throughout
the country. For example, there is a known problem of aggressive policing in
Oakland, Los Angeles, and elsewhere; so much so that federal receivership
or sanctions are either occurring or threatened in Oakland, Los Angeles,
Cleveland,4 and possibly also in Albuquerque.s Baltimore has paid out
$5.7 million since 2011 to settle 100 lawsuits "claiming that police officers
brazenly beat up alleged suspects."6 There is also an ongoing Department
of Justice investigation of the Baltimore Police Department.
Zero tolerance, or quality of life policing, is an additional problem in
current police practice. Such approach leads to racial profiling and more
intensive policing (but not real public safety) of communities of color, with
drug arrests being the main component in the incarceration binge centered
on youth.
Washington, DC, Police Chief Kathy Lanier is highly critical of zero
tolerance policing,claiming that it has ruined positive relationships between
police and those residing in high-crime neighborhoods. Lanier notes that
neighborhoods that have the most homicides and shootings are

also the neighborhoods that have the most victims and witnesses.
These are the people that can help you, that know what's going. We
destroyed that relationship

back and completely undo
George Will insightfully o

violent offenses such as tagg
cigarettes, or toll-jumping
and more behaviors are crim
police, who embody the sta
fully participate in humanity
The arrest data show that
people of color. An excellen
data reported to the FBI, sh
racial groups to be arrested
crime. Nationwide, black p
serious as murder and assau
session. Arrest rates are lo
departments examined by
a rate equal to or lower tha
It will take much to chang
which have opted to buy dr
relying on militarization r
ordinance in hand, their op
when simply serving warra
On the average, American
Houses are broken into wit
in these events. A recent A
raids disproportionately im
sage that the families being r
causes property damage, in
that "police overwhelmingl
like hostage situations but
warrants or searching for a
No-knock raids should cle
Though the no-knock raid ha
of the erosion of the Fourth
the intent of our existing law
force to enter an apartment
steroids. And that is because
62 Gene Grabiner
use their military sur

for police to rely on
Ironically, two pree
Attorney General Er
"militarized culture"
taining federal progr
used to dispel First
Individual Facto
Ingood faith, we m
most individuals sin
many go into law enf
depending upon the
a high school diplom
tion. And it's a job t
and possibly an early
Part of the current p
from among those w
optional qualification
For example, as is th
recruitment materia
Police recruitment
that are best able to
most likely to perfo
in the shortest tim
Department actively
in the Department.
of this opportunity
agency dedicated to
leadership. We are d
delphia, we invite y
On its face, is ther

veterans? Surely vet
ted to military solidar
enforcement. And, l
home. Still, it is rea
if law enforcement solidarity

"the enemy."
There may be also an issue w
or otherwise,15 who become
People with PTSD may be

startle easily or be irritabl
ally begin within three mo
may only emerge years lat
Affairs estimates that PTSD
veterans, as many as 10 pe
erans, 11 percent of veterans
of Iraqi war veterans.16
Those PTSD statistics are tr
Since the U.S. went to war i

about 2.5 million members o
Coast Guard and related Reser
deployed in the Afghanistan
of Defense data. Of those, m
than once.... As of last year
than 270,000 Iraq and Afgh
and the agency's disability
more than 150,000 of them
We do not know how many

unreported PTSD,18 and how
may become or already are po
has another important impl
with military desensitization
In his research on World
concluded that most soldiers
resistance to killing."19 Cog
undertook a training regimen
cessful. During the Vietnam
(Steuter and Wills 2009). In O
to Kill in War and Society (G
at the FBI Academy and is
list, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
64 Gene Grabiner
There are great psyc

soldier or police off
for what may happ
by their commander
their actions (or if
Should police office

preparation thwart
Who Kills Police Officers?
With the killing of two police officers in New York City, Pat Lynch,
president of the New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (NYPBA),
has proclaimed, "For the 1st time in a number of years we have become
a 'wartime' police department. We will act accordingly."21 Of course it's
reasonable to ask Mr. Lynch who he thinks is making war on the NYPD:
Mayor Bill de Blasio? Thousands of peaceful demonstrators protesting
against a national problem of police brutality, racism, and use of excessive
force and violence? And who, also, would Mr. Lynch like to make war on?
While the deaths of those NYPD officers are tragedies, so too are the
recent deaths of two Pennsylvania State troopers ambushed by Eric Frein.
Frein, an experienced outdoorsman, is white; his victims were both white.
Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who ambushed the two NYPD officers, was apparently
mentally unstable, had a criminal history, and had shot his ex-girlfriend in
Baltimore prior to killing those police officers. He is black. As one com
mentator at NYMag.com has ironically put it, "this guy Brinsley, a clearly
mentally unstable man with a criminal past is supposed to represent the
avenging hand of people protesting police brutality and general injustice
in cases involving Black people. [That would be like having] Eric Frein
represent all outdoorsmen."22
But judging by Lynch's words, above, it's not Brinsley, the individual,
who is responsible for his actions. Lynch blames both a social movement
focused on the fact that black lives matter and New York City Mayor de
Blasio (whose wife happens to be black, and whose children are biracial).
But Brinsley did not act as part of a social movement, or as an agent of
Mayor de Blasio. He acted alone.
It is not illogical to assume that if police persist in brutal behavior in
certain communities, at some point someone may violently respond to the
police. What is surprising is that in the 395 years since people were first
brought here from Africa, an

New Jim Crow, and persisti
such as Mr. Brinsley have b
Law enforcement deaths ar
there is no paucity of statisti
However, Paul Takagi's (197
showed that the occupation
those in mining, constructio
In fact, per a 2013 Bureau
does not rank among the to
indicates, the following occup
rates in 2013: logging worker
pilots and flight engineers, r
mining machine operators and
drivers, farmers, ranchers,
electrical power-line installe
By way of comparison:
Preliminary statistics rele

enforcement officers were
2013, a decrease of more t
49 officers killed in 2012.
criminal acts that occurred
four officers in the Midw
ditional 49 officers were a
2013.This total represents on
were accidentally killed in
accidents in the South, nine
four in the Midwest.24
It should be noted that of th

in 2013,15 of the perpetrato
offenders had prior criminal
played up by the media, cop
And also those with prior c
blacks and whites.
There is a growing concern

officers by members of whit
citizens, christian dominion
66 Gene Grabiner
sympathizers. Most o
look more like Eric
and perhaps disturbi
2014," or "white ambu
only about Brinsley
fact, 13 of the 15 amb
perpetrated by whit
In looking at the d
knowledging that law
a gun and confrontin
police work in high
excessive use of for
amounts to outright
to serve and protect
Who Do Police Officers Kill?
The national record-keeping of killings of civilians by police is not uniform,

accurate, or systematic. In sum, it's just plain inadequate.
The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports track justifiable police homicides.
There were 1,688 from 2010 to 2013, or an average of 400 civilians killed
each year between 2008 and 2012.27 Yet the statistics rely only on voluntary
reporting by law enforcement agencies and are incomplete.28 Circumstances
of death and other information such as age and race are not required.
Efforts are under way to give a fuller picture of what is happening on the
ground in the United States: UCLA's Center for Policing Equity29 has begun
work on creating a policing database, with funding from the Department
of Justice, the National Science Foundation, and private groups.The initia
tive will monitor not only deaths but also all police stops and uses of force.
But even now, the Washington Post has delved much deeper into this issue.
In a recent article, the Washington Post has shown that 385 people were
fatally shot by police in the first five months of 2015 alone, averaging 2.6
fatalities per day.30 At this rate, deadly police shootings of civilians will
exceed 1,000 for 2015. The Guardian has so far tallied 779 civilians killed
this year by law enforcement in the United States.31
The rate of 2.6 civilian fatalities per day is more than twice the rate
offered by the FBI and mentioned earlier. And police are seldom, if ever,
found guilty of killing civilians.32 Of the conservatively estimated 4,000
civilians killed by police between 2005 and 2015, only 54 officers were
charged for fatal shootin

their cases resolved. Of t
saw their charges dropped
According to a Think Prog
related deaths:
A 2012 study found that about half of those killed by the police
each year are mentally ill, a problem that the Supreme Court will
consider in 2015. Young black men are also 21 times more likely
to be killed by cops than young white men, according to one Pro
Publica analysis of the data we have In short, people who belong
to marginalized communities are at a higher risk of being shot than
those who are not.34
This is graphically evident in a table compiled by the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention showing the rates of police killings of civilians from
1999 to 2011.
Groups Most Likely to Be Killed by Law Enforcement
AFRICAN AMERICANS, AGE 20-24 7.!
NATIVE AMERICANS, AGE 25-34
AFRICAN AMERICANS, AGE 25-34
LATINOS, AGE 20-24
LATINOS, AGE 25-34
AVERAGE, ALL RACES, AGES
Rate of law enforcement killings, per million population per year, 1999-2011.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.
The data show that the problems encountered with police violence are
systemic, not merely a case of individual "bad apples. "Although most of these
bad apples seem to be white, black police may also commit acts of violent
68 Gene Grabiner
aggression against c
deal to do with the
sional socialization.
for the actions of t
will they do to com
Recommendatio
A real reform of the

dealing with basic iss
and fully staffed pu
measures combining
of the police, implem
increased accountab
Below are some recommendations.
1. Eliminate "stop and frisk": Stop and frisk is fundamentally organized

around racial profiling and is demeaning. It must be eliminated.
2. Decriminalize marijuana arrests: The criminalization of minor drug
offenses, a pillar of a decade-long war on drugs, has proven to be ineffective
and has disproportionately affected black marginalized communities. A study
investigating differential marijuana arrest rates by race in 700 United States
counties found that "in 64 percent of these counties, the black arrest rate
for marijuana violations was more than twice the arrest rate for whites."35
3. Demilitarize the police: The war-zone firepower embodied by the
police, like the one so strongly and frighteningly displayed in Ferguson, is
over the top. And wherever police are militarized in our country we may
speak of occupied territory.
4. Community policing: Police and those they serve must find common
ground. What is needed are better interactions between the police and the
communities they serve. Both police and those communities need to see
their common interests in building a public safety model that really does
make communities safer.
5. Residency requirements: Police departments should enforce residency
requirement to ensure that at least a sizeable portion of its officers reside
in the city they work in.
6. Police education and retraining: Police need to take on-the-job de
escalation training, and also attend mandatory classes on racism and sexism:
what they are, how they operate, and how to combat them—in themselves
and in others. These classe

academy training and colleg
curricula, rather than as st
successfully complete these
resolution grad in order to
ployment as cops. Such cla
all cops on a regular schedu
is a good device to use in th
take these classes, too. In p
be a strong emphasis on no
7. Psychological testing: A
psychological testing. Give
enforcement officers maybe
using the Implicit Associat
psychological testing and th
every three years during the
8. Increase minority and f
broad. Its first long-term co
American, Hispanic, Nativ
on white and to some exte
ians, diversity alone, much
the complex problem of a
aggression. But it is certain
bilingual or multilingual of
aural translation devices to
English-speaking individua
9. Revise police promotion
explicit promotion criteria. B
such as number of arrests,
(particularly in the NYPD)
linked to community polic
such as reduced crime rates
10. Role of police unions:
cannot be relied upon to o
line"to end chronic police
unions may exhibit racist s
authority.36 It is unwarra
uses of force, including th
ians, to be addressed solely
70 Gene Grabiner
as proposed in pend
be the only bodies
use of excessive for
11. Independent pros
too closely with the
use of force. Distric
unions for electoral
behind the police u
appointed by the st
sive force or death o
12. Civilian compla

board must be creat
deadly force. This b
review all police bo
As Frank Serpico (
independent boards
Typically, police un
shootings of civilians
also lack the necess
13. Police and grand
States v. Williams, p
should be barred fro
possible indictment
It is the grand jury

tion [the charge m
defenses, but only
is made" by the pr
Phila. 1788); see als
§ 360, pp. 248-249
this country nor i
by the grand jury e
have exculpatory e
14. Create database

and police stops: In
who made arrests a
15 percent accounte
cases involve minor
departments should keep a

arrest charges. It may also
excessive force events and p
licly available. Minimally, t
complaint review board pro
constructing such databases
15. National policejobperform
and/or be fired in one jurisdi
jurisdictions, a national poli
this been in place before Ta
ann, Rice may never have b
pendence, OH, police force,
unstable"and unfit for servic
direct supervisors described h
"inability to perform basic
referring to the disturbing
training session. Loehmann
when handling weapons wou
files [http://www. blackenter
There may well be other offi
department without ever be
national database may help
16. Cop watching and body
officers to use body camera
both civilians and police. Ho
ing the body camera questio
A small, single police depar
wearing ofbody cameras has r
police behavior: "The findin
the total number of incidents
and nearly ten times more
the experiment."41 The ACL
use of video cameras to reco
such cameras can reduce the
yield better law enforcemen
entire 7,000-member Los An
with body cameras.43
President Obama is asking
to record events like the sh
72 Gene Grabiner
Brown. They plan

cameras, expand tr
police department
that total, $75 mil
cameras to record
ing half the cost.
But is this latest
and aggression tow
another short-term
Recent federal gov
enforcement office
700,000. Even if all
able to cease autom
a technocratic appr
may soon recognize
perspective, while p
conflict or non-con
in favorable ways,
From this point of
fuller pictures of w
tempted to block pu
encounters with ci
EricGarner, was su
Was his arrest and
The Illinois legislatu
to record police con
excuse to scuttle bo
cameras to record
violate the law, as
is now considering
when videoing any
legislation, the AC
Texans have a Firs

in public places as
incidents of polic
King, would never
citizen journalists
they believed was wrong. H

46
check against abuse of pow
Police body cameras may well work against, not for, civilians. With such
tools in hand, police might seek "increased regulation of private civilians'
ability to record and disseminate videos of police actions, a long-contentious
issue for law enforcement. Why should civilians record police when police
can do it themselves?" (Carlson 2014).
Distaste for videoing their own actions has sometimes led police who
have used cameras to turn them off at crucial moments.47 It is known that
from time to time during inmate cell extractions, while inmates get beaten,
surveillance camera batteries seem to run out. For example, Charles B. Clarke
III died at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, quite possibly
from a beating by corrections officers when he was extracted from his cell:
"The videotape ... ends before Clarke is injured, a common ploy used by
prison guards who want to exact retribution during a use of force incident.
[One of the corrections officers involved in this cell extraction] claimed the
tape ended because the camera's battery had died."48 Might the same thing
happen with body cameras?
It is also worth considering that in the hands of racist, sexist, or violent
police, body cameras will be videotaping people who may simply be argu
ing on a street corner, or maybe even trading marijuana joints. Will they
get busted? If smoking marijuana is illegal, and police see such behavior,
they may be required to make an arrest. Consequently, body cameras might
actually mean more arrests over fewer violent interactions and, therefore, a
potential increase in America's already unacceptable incarceration rates.
Therefore, one major downside to police use of body cameras is an even
more ubiquitous surveillance. Body cameras may actually come to represent a
further infringement or intrusion on personal rights, civil rights, and human
rights: "Outfitting law enforcement with body cameras may also backfire
on those it's meant to protect: people in poor communities, people of color,
people in high-crime areas. Privacy may well be a thing of the past, but the
erosion of privacy is not distributed equally across society" (Carlson 2014).
How, for example, may racist police deal with domestic violence situations?
Will police then be videoing civilians in their own homes? And what about
kids with toy guns in minority communities, or BB guns like Tamir Rice?
In the absence of their own commitment to and practice of antiracist
behavior, why should we think that police would change their behavior
74 Gene Grabiner
simply because of
dash cams—how m
police murder of S
surfacing truth aga
in the absence of a
well leave racist an
Conclusion
Violent policing should be understood as an aspect of long-term structural

violence in American life. Sociologist Johan Galtung coined the concept
of structural violence in 1969 (Galtung 1969, pp. 167-91; see also Farmer
2006, Pena 2011). According to Pena (2011, p. 207), the concept denotes
the systematic ways in which a social structure or social institution kills
people slowly by preventing them from meeting their basic needs. Galtung
(1990) notes that structural violence is justified or legitimized by aspects
of a culture: cultural violence goes hand in hand with structural violence
and changes its "moral color," making the latter look or feel right, or at least
not wrong. This is how "stand your ground" laws and "open carry" gun laws
have become acceptable to many, and George Zimmerman and Bernhard
Goetz (the "subway vigilante") have become folk heroes to some in America.
(Another indicator of a change in moral color is that survey data indicate
that CIA and prison torture have become acceptable to most Americans.)50
According to Seema Sadanandan, the ACLU's Washington, DC, pro
gram director, the issue is "the culture of policing and the way in which
certain types of policing are being incentivized by federal funding." 51 She
argues that police are delivering injustice upon the community, and for many
poor people, police act as judge and jury in the ways they interact and then
deliver punishment. With the war on drugs, Sadanandan argues, police
became the most well-funded institution and the center of the public safety
paradigm—our solution for every problem and a poor substitute for needed
mental health providers, child protective services, and first responders: "Your
kid acts up in school, call the police. Uet into a hght witn your partner, can
the police. Somebody's smoking marijuana. Call the police."An alternative
would be for us to recapture the idea of public safety in a way that makes
sense for our communities and to figure out a role that is appropriate for the
police. If someone's child is abducted, Sadanandan continues, we do want
the police to look for that child, "but we don't necessarily need the police
shaking down every young black man in a black neighborhood."52
Who Polices the Police ? 75
As we have seen so far, excess

poor and working people, and
do seem to protect and serve
Indeed, most middle-class whit
the police; and when they do,
records, incarceration, or police
epidemic of police and vigilant
males.However, the structural
lack of social services, poor hea
meaningful, well-paying jobs—
white communities. To date, w
prone to the type of focused,
munities of color have experie
working class whites are also
at the hands of police. Consequ
to the current movement to en
come through mutual aid and r
outlined above cannot produce
broad movement addressing th
violence in the United States.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Marvin Berlowitz,Harper Bishop,Mary Ann Castle, Gregory
Shank, and Bruce Jackson for their helpful suggestions and insights durin
the development of this article.
NOTES
1. At http://artvoice.com/issues/vl2n24/news_analysis.html.
2. "A Brief Economic History of Modern Baltimore," from Putting Baltimore's Peo
First: Keys to Responsible Economic Development of Our City (2004), District 1199E-DC, SE
AFL-CIO. At http://www.nathanielturner.com/robertmooreandll99union3.htm.
3. In June 20, 2014, two law enforcement officers in Williamson County, Texas, ha
been fired after it was discovered they were members of the Ku Klux Klan. In July 14,
a Fruitland Park Florida deputy police chief has resigned and an officer has been fired
the FBI reported that both belonged to the Ku Klux Klan. There may also be other wh
supremacist connections among some of the 700,000 or so police officers in the Un
States.
76 Gene Grabiner
4. Justice Department
finds "systemic deficien
4,2014).
5. For a glimpse at the Albuquerque dynamic, consider the following: thefreethoughtproject.
com/retired-cop-ojfers-killology-classes-warrior-cops/.
6. See data.baltimoresnn.com/news/police-settlements/.
7. '"Zero tolerance' policing giving way to softer approach," Washington Post, May 3,
2015.
8. See https://www.washingt077post.com/opinions/george-will-eric-garner-criminalized
to-death/2014/12/10/9 acl0090-1')d4-l 1 e4-9f38-95al87e4clJ7_story.html?utm_term=.
d836633446ba.
9. See www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/18/ferguson-black-arr
rates/19043207/
10. See www.vox.com/2014/10/29/7083371/swat-no-knock-raids-police-kiUed-civilians

dangerous-work-drugs.
11. At www.aclu.org/smart-justice-fair-justice/aclus-report-police-militarization-finds
weapons- and-tactics-war-used.
12. See www.law.cornell.edu/wex/knock-and-announce_rule.
13. See http://www.bpdny.org/Hotne/Press/2011/BPD2011RecruitmentExam-, see also
http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/search/law-enforcement-jobs/military-transition-to
police-force.html and http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0625/Military-veterans-to-get
priority-for-police-jobs-under-COPS-grants.
14. At http://www.phillypolice.com/careers/military-experience/.
15. The real incidence of PTSD among Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq War veterans
might be substantially greater than the one recorded by the data.
16. At http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/winter09/articles/
winter09pgl 0-14. html.
17. At http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/14/185880/minions-went-to-war-in-iraq
afghan ist an. html-storylink=cpy.
18.1 had a student who was an Iraq War veteran. Fie told me that after he returned from
the war, he once had a heated exchange with another man on the street. As he walked away,
he almost reached for his boot knife to stab the other fellow. He did not do this; but he was
also not diagnosed at the VA with PTSD.
19. At en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_KiUi77g.
20. Ibid, (italics added).
21. At melanoidnation.org/did-pat-lynch-of-the-ny-police-union-literally-declare-war-on
black- citizens/.
22. At my.nymag.com/triniman65.
23. See http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf.
24. Ibid.
25. See http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/leoka/2013/officers-feloniously-killed/
felonious_topic_page_-2013.
26. See http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/
spring/the-year-in-hate-and-extremism.
27. See http://www.fbi.gOv/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime~in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the~
u.s.-2012/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/.
28. See http://www.businessinsider

2014-12?r=UK&IR=T.
29. See http://cpe.psych.ucla.edu.

30. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fatal-police-shootings-in-2015
approaching-400-nationwide/2015/05/30/d322256a-058e-lle5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story
html.
31. See http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted

police-killings-us-database.
32. See http://www. washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/04/11/thousands-dead
few-prosecuted/? post._id=10204784597722304_10204784597522299 - _=_.
33. Ibid.
34. At thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/12/12/3601771/people-police-killed-in-2014/.
35. Gettman (2000); see also www.aclu.org/files/assets/aclu-thewaronmarijuana-rel2.pdf.
36. See truth-out.org/news/item/28593-blood-on-their-hands-the-racist-history-of
modern -police-un ions.
37. As a corollary, we should oppose the New York State legislation proposed by
Governor Cuomo that "declares that all competitive class employees are entitled to
collective bargaining with respect to matters pertaining to disciplinary procedures." The
legislation in question is S7801/A9853. See www.brooklynnaacp.org/veto_bill_l.
38. In July 2015, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive
order appointing the state attorney general's office as a special prosecutor in cases
involving unarmed civilians killed by police officers. See www.brennancenter.org/bIog/
new-york-attorney-general-special-prosecutor.
39. At thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/ll/26/3597322/justice-scalia-explains-what
was-wrong-with-the-ferguson-grand-jury/.
40. At www.wnyc.org/story/can-the-nypd-spot-the-abusive-cop/.
41. At www.policefoundation.org/content/body-worn-cameras-police-use-force; sec also
"Wearing a Badge, and a Video Camera," New York Times, April 7, 2013, p. BU4.
42. See https://www.aclu.org/other/police-body-mounted-cameras-right-policies-place
win-all.
43. See rt.com/usa/215383-all-lapd-wear-body-cameras/

44. See http://www.amny.com/news/ramsey-orta-man-who-videotaped-police
putting-eric-garner-in-chokehold-arrested-on-weapons-charge-1.8953834.
45. At http://www. illinoispolicy. org/illinois-general-assembly-revives-recording-ban/.
46. See http://truthinmedia.com/tx-biH-restrict-filming-of-police-segregate-journalists/.
47. On May 14, 2014, a Daytona Police Department internal affairs investigation
revealed that former officer Justin Ranum had turned off his body camera during an
incident under the Seabreeze Bridge. Ranum was forced to resign. On December 3,
2014, the Albuquerque Police Department has fired Officer Jeremy Dear for multiple
incidents in which his body camera was found to be disabled during encounters with
citizens that involved controversial uses of force, including one that ended in Dear
fatally shooting 19-year-old Mary Hawkes.
In Oakland, California, dozens of police officers have been punished for failing to
switch on their body cameras over the last two years, reported ArsTechnica. According
to recently released public records, the Oakland Police Department disciplined police
officers on 24 different occasions because the officers either disabled or didn't turn
78 Gene Grabiner
on their body cameras.

to terminations. See rin
they-just-wont-turn-the
48. At https://www:pr
on-the-feach-state/. In
communication with a
49.
See www.cnn.com/2
50. See http://www.sl
americans_support_tor
www.people-press, or
justified/Hpartisan-divid
51. See http://therealn
iSItemid=74&jumival=
52. Ibid.
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Who Polices The Police

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Who Polices the Police?

Author(s): Gene Grabiner

Who Polices the Police?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Metropolitan Police, or "bobbies," are tobe found in the control of

[T]he literature clearly establishes that a legally sanctioned law

' Gene Grabiner is SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus.

58 Social Justice Vol. 43, No. 2 (2016)

the broader population affected

The current historical moment is

of32,598 black men over 16 ye

neighborhoods that have the most homicides and shootings are

destroyed that relationship

George Will insightfully o

use their military sur

On its face, is ther

if law enforcement solidarity

People with PTSD may be

Those PTSD statistics are tr

Since the U.S. went to war i

We do not know how many

There are great psyc

Should police office

Who Kills Police Officers?

brought here from Africa, an

Preliminary statistics rele

It should be noted that of th

There is a growing concern

Who Do Police Officers Kill?

The national record-keeping of killings of civilians by police is not uniform,

charged for fatal shootin

This is graphically evident in a table compiled by the Centers for Disease

Groups Most Likely to Be Killed by Law Enforcement

AFRICAN AMERICANS, AGE 20-24 7.!

NATIVE AMERICANS, AGE 25-34

NATIVE AMERICANS, AGE 35-44

AFRICAN AMERICANS, AGE 25-34

NATIVE AMERICANS, AGE 20-24

LATINOS, AGE 20-24

LATINOS, AGE 25-34

AFRICAN AMERICANS, AGE 35-44

AFRICAN AMERICANS, AGE 15-19

AVERAGE, ALL RACES, AGES

A real reform of the

1. Eliminate "stop and frisk": Stop and frisk is fundamentally organized

and in others. These classe

12. Civilian compla

It is the grand jury

14. Create database

departments should keep a

Brown. They plan

Texans have a Firs

they believed was wrong. H

Violent policing should be understood as an aspect of long-term structural

As we have seen so far, excess

10. See www.vox.com/2014/10/29/7083371/swat-no-knock-raids-police-kiUed-civilians

28. See http://www.businessinsider

29. See http://cpe.psych.ucla.edu.

31. See http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted

43. See rt.com/usa/215383-all-lapd-wear-body-cameras/

on their body cameras.

Carlson, Jennifer Dawn