History > 2014 > USA > Violence > Police (I)

Harry Campbell

Are Police Bigoted?

NYT

30.9.2014

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/
sunday-review/race-and-police-shootings-are-blacks-targeted-more.html

3 Shots From Police

Killed Los Angeles Man,

Autopsy Finds

 

DEC. 29, 2014

The New York Times

By IAN LOVETT

LOS ANGELES — An unarmed black man killed in August by Los Angeles police died of gunshot wounds to his back and side, according to an autopsy report released Monday.

Ezell Ford, 25, was killed after being confronted by police officers here, just two days after Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. While protests of Mr. Brown’s death raged for weeks in Missouri, the police here ordered Mr. Ford’s autopsy report withheld, citing fears that it could contaminate potential witness accounts during their investigation of the shooting.

Mr. Ford was approached on the night of Aug. 11 by two police officers who “observed him make movements that they regarded as suspicious,” Charlie Beck, the Los Angeles police chief, said Monday. According to the police account of the episode, as the officers stepped toward him, he spun around, tackling one of the officers to the ground and lunging for his handgun.

At that point, the other officer shot twice, while the officer on the ground also fired his backup weapon, the police said.

The autopsy report showed that Mr. Ford had been shot three times: once in the side, once in the arm and once in the back. The wound on his back left a muzzle imprint on his skin.

Chief Beck said that the investigation was continuing, and that he was not yet prepared to comment on whether the officers had been justified in shooting.

“There is nothing in the coroner’s report that is inconsistent with the statements given to us by the officers,” he said. “We are still looking for other versions of events.”

Mr. Ford’s family has filed a civil rights lawsuit and a $75 million claim against the city, which said that Mr. Ford had a mental illness and was known to police officers in the area. The suit also accused the police of using excessive force and racial profiling against black residents.

The family’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

A version of this article appears in print on December 30, 2014, on page A12 of the New York edition with the headline: 3 Shots From Police Killed Los Angeles Man, Autopsy Finds.

    3 Shots From Police Killed Los Angeles Man, Autopsy Finds,
    NYT, 29.12.2014,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/30/us/
    3-shots-from-police-killed-los-angeles-man-ezell-ford-autopsy-finds.html

Are Police Bigoted?

Race and Police Shootings:

Are Blacks Targeted More?

 

AUG. 30, 2014

The New York Times

SundayReview | News Analysis

By MICHAEL WINES

IF anything good has come out of this month’s fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., it is that the death of the black teenager shined a spotlight on the plague of shootings of black men by white police officers. And maybe now, the nation will begin to address the racism behind it.

That is the conventional wisdom, anyway, and maybe it is true. Only a fool would deny that racial bias still pervades aspects of American society. The evidence is clear that some police law-enforcement tactics — traffic stops, to cite one example — disproportionately target African-Americans. And few doubt that blacks are more likely than whites to die in police shootings; in most cities, the percentage almost certainly exceeds the African-American share of the population.

Such arguments suggest that the use of deadly force by police officers unfairly targets blacks. All that is needed are the numbers to prove it.

But those numbers do not exist. And because of that, the current national debate over the role of race in police killings is being conducted more or less in a vacuum.

Researchers have sought reliable data on shootings by police officers for years, and Congress even ordered the Justice Department to provide it, albeit somewhat vaguely, in 1994. But two decades later, there remains no comprehensive survey of police homicides. The even greater number of police shootings that do not kill, but leave suspects injured, sometimes gravely, is another statistical mystery.

Without reliable numbers, the conventional wisdom is little more than speculation. Indeed, some recent research suggests that it may not even be correct: One study of police data in St. Louis concluded that black and white officers were equally likely to shoot African-American suspects, while another experiment found that both officers and civilians in simulated situations hesitated significantly longer before firing at black suspects than they did at whites.

“It’s shocking,” said Geoffrey P. Alpert, a professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina. “For 20 years, we’ve been trying to get the government to do something. We don’t have a clear picture of what’s going on in the use of lethal force. Are young black males being shot at a rate disproportionate to their involvement in crime? Are white officers shooting black males in areas where they’re not expected to have those sorts of interactions? Is this an aberration, a trend, routine, something going on for a long time? We don’t know.”

Not only do we not know the racial breakdown of police homicides, we don’t know with any precision how many homicides occur, period.

The F.B.I.’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program tabulates deaths at the hands of police officers. So does the National Center for Health Statistics. So does the Bureau of Justice Statistics. But the totals can vary wildly.

By the F.B.I.’s figures, there were between 378 and 414 police homicides in the five years ending in 2012, the most recent year available. Those numbers, however, include only justifiable homicides without reference to race; mistaken or unjustified killings are not reported. Years of academic research indicate that the actual total is considerably higher.
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A 2012 study by David A. Klinger, a former police officer and professor of criminology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, compared 13 years of internal reports on homicides by Los Angeles police officers and sheriffs’ deputies with the figures published by the F.B.I. The result: the 184 homicides reported by the F.B.I. were 46 percent fewer than the 340 logged by the departments themselves.

The lack of reliable data has ramifications that go well beyond merely keeping tabs on one’s local police department. “There is a long list of important research questions — not arcane ones, or of mere interest to the academic research community — that we currently cannot study or systematically analyze because there is no data,” said Richard Rosenfeld, another University of Missouri-St. Louis criminology professor.

Beyond measuring racial inequities, he said, researchers could use data to ferret out differences between homicides and nonlethal shootings, the nature of communities where shootings generally occur, and the character of police departments whose officers are more likely — or less — to be involved in shootings.

Whether or not racial bias is a significant factor in police homicides is very much an open question.

Studies have long concluded that police killings are more common in cities with more violent crime and larger minority populations, yet some researchers have found no positive association between race and killings. Others, however, have concluded that fewer black suspects were killed in cities with black mayors, and, in one city, that blacks made up a greater share of police homicide victims than of arrests overall.

But all those studies used the government’s imperfect data and measured only homicides, excluding the greater number of shootings in which suspects survived. A more comprehensive analysis exists: Dr. Klinger and Dr. Rosenfeld, among others, examined all 230 instances over 10 years in which officers of the St. Louis police fired their weapons (the city’s police, in contrast to the police in Ferguson involved in Mr. Brown’s shooting).

Their conclusions, presented last November at the American Society of Criminology’s annual meeting, were striking. Officers hit their targets in about half of the 230 incidents; in about one-sixth, suspects died. Of the 360 suspects whose race could be identified — some fled before being seen clearly — more than 90 percent were African-American.

But most interesting, perhaps, was the race of the officers who fired their weapons. About two-thirds were white, and one-third black — effectively identical to the racial composition of the St. Louis Police Department as a whole. In this study, at least, firing at a black suspect was an equal-opportunity decision.

In laboratory experiments, meanwhile, subjects who see pictures or videos of threatening activity, and then punch “shoot” or “don’t shoot” buttons befitting their evaluations of the threat, consistently “shoot” black suspects more often than white ones.

But a different experiment last year at Washington State University in Spokane suggested that the opposite might be true: In realistic simulations of confrontations, subjects armed with laser-firing pistols acted in ways that left black suspects less likely to be shot at — not more.

The experiment’s 102 subjects, a mixture of police officers, combat veterans and civilians, were run through a random sample of 60 scenarios drawn from actual police encounters. The scenarios, using white, black and Hispanic actors, were projected in life-size high-definition video on laboratory screens.

Whether officers, veterans or civilians, the subjects consistently hesitated longer before firing at black suspects and were much more likely to mistakenly shoot an unarmed white suspect, the researchers found. And when they failed to fire at an armed suspect — a potentially fatal mistake — the suspect was about five times more likely to be black than white. The study’s 36 police officers were the lone exception in failing to fire: The suspect’s race wasn’t a factor in their decision not to shoot. “The findings were very unexpected given the previous experimental research,” said Lois James, an assistant professor who conducted the research.

“The notion that cops want to shoot anybody is a lot of baloney,” said Dr. Klinger, who has interviewed some 300 officers involved in shootings. “But white officers are much more reticent to shoot a black man than a white man because, all things being equal, they know the social context in which they’re operating.”

By that theory, officers are more careful when confronting black suspects because they know a fatal shooting will open them to controversy.

Which studies reflect reality? Hard to say. But perhaps the death of Michael Brown will help researchers find out.
 

Michael Wines is a national correspondent for The New York Times. Alain Delaquérière contributed research for this article.

A version of this news analysis appears in print on August 31, 2014, on page SR1 of the New York edition with the headline: Are Police Bigoted?

    Are Police Bigoted?, NYT, 30.9.2014,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/sunday-review/
    race-and-police-shootings-are-blacks-targeted-more.html

In Ferguson,

Scrutiny on Police Is Growing

 

AUG. 20, 2014

The New York Times

By JOHN ELIGON

and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

FERGUSON, Mo. — Early one morning in September 2011, an unarmed 31-year-old black man ran down a residential street here yelling at cars while he pounded his hands on them.

“God is good,” the man, Jason Moore, said. “I am Jesus.”

The first officer to approach Mr. Moore told him to raise his hands and walk toward him, according to a police report on the episode. But Mr. Moore, whose family said he was mentally ill, started running toward the officer “in an aggressive manner while swinging his fist in a pinwheel motion,” the officer said in the report. And when he failed to obey commands to get on the ground, the officer took out his Taser gun and fired it at him, the report said.

Mr. Moore fell to the ground, but after he tried to get up, the officer fired the Taser twice more into him. Mr. Moore let out a raspy sound and stopped breathing. He was pronounced dead soon after.

Mr. Moore’s death and how it was handled by the Ferguson Police Department are now receiving renewed scrutiny after one of the department’s officers, Darren Wilson, killed Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year old, on Aug. 9. On Tuesday, relatives of Mr. Moore filed two lawsuits against the Police Department in federal court, saying that the department wrongfully killed him. The suit was one of several filed in recent years that raised questions about excessive use of force or civil rights violations by the Ferguson Police Department.

The police contend that they behaved properly in all of those cases, and none of the lawsuits has yet led to a judgment against the department. But critics assert that the complaints show a pattern of violent behavior or weak discipline within the force — and say that the department’s conduct should be closely investigated by the Justice Department, which has already opened an inquiry into Mr. Brown’s death.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who visited Ferguson on Wednesday, and top Justice Department officials have begun weighing whether to open just such a broader civil rights review of Ferguson’s police practices, according to law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal talks. Their discussion has been prompted in part by past complaints against the force, including a 2009 case in which a man said that four police officers beat him, then charged him with damaging government property — by getting blood on their uniforms. That case is now the subject of one of the lawsuits against the department.

During his daylong visit, Mr. Holder met with local and state officials, including Gov. Jay Nixon, but also with a group of residents that included Mr. Moore’s sister, Molyrik Welch, 27, who described her brother’s death. “A lot has happened here,” Ms. Welch said after the meeting. She added that Mr. Holder had promised that “things were going to change.”

Before a briefing at local F.B.I. headquarters, Mr. Holder promised that the investigation into Mr. Brown’s death would be “thorough and fair” and that “very experienced” prosecutors and agents had been assigned. “We’re looking for violations of federal criminal civil rights statutes,” he said. But at another stop, a meeting with residents at a community college, he also spoke in deeply personal terms about his own problems with the police when he was a young man.

Saying he could “understand that mistrust” that many young blacks feel toward the police, Mr. Holder recalled twice being pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike and having his car searched. “I remember how humiliating that was and how angry I was and the impact it had on me,” Mr. Holder told the group.

He also recounted being stopped by the police in Georgetown, an upscale section of Washington, because he was running to see a film. “I wasn’t a kid. I was a federal prosecutor. I worked at the United States Department of Justice,” he said. “So I’ve confronted this myself.”

Mr. Holder continued: “We need concrete action to change things in this country. The same kid who got stopped on the New Jersey freeway is now the attorney general of the United States. This country is capable of change. But change doesn’t happen by itself.”

For most of Wednesday morning and early afternoon, the stretch of West Florissant Avenue that has been the center of protest and confrontation turned quiet enough to seem like any other commercial thoroughfare — save for the pieces of plywood covering smashed store windows here and there.

As evening came, a sparse crowd milled, caught up briefly in a heavy downpour.

At one point, tensions flared when a couple identifying themselves as Chuck and Dawn showed up along the route with signs supporting Officer Wilson. “Justice is for Everybody — Even P.O. Wilson,” one of the signs read. Some protesters began to crowd around and jeer, while others urged calm.

As the shouting grew louder and a water bottle was thrown, the police stepped in and spirited the couple away from the crowd.

Also Wednesday, the St. Louis County Police Department said that an officer from a local police department had been suspended after he pointed a semiautomatic rifle at a peaceful protester following a verbal exchange on Tuesday night. In a news release, the county police called the officer’s action “inappropriate,” saying that a police sergeant had immediately escorted him away from the scene.

The episode involving Mr. Moore began at 6:46 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2011, when an officer was sent in response to reports that Mr. Moore was running naked through the streets, according to police reports. “I exited my patrol vehicle and advised Jason to put his hands in the air and to walk my way,” the officer said in a statement he filed afterward. Mr. Moore, the officer said, began moving aggressively toward him, and despite several commands to stop, he did not.

“Jason continued to charge, at the time I deployed one five-second burst from the Taser,” the officer said in the report. “The Taser darts made contact with Jason on his left side of his chest and the right thigh.”

The officer said that after the initial shot, Mr. Moore fell to the ground and then tried to get back on his feet. Again, Mr. Moore ignored commands to remain where he was, the officer said. “In fear for my safety and the safety of Jason, I administered a second five-second burst,” the officer said.

As another officer arrived at the scene and got out of his vehicle, Mr. Moore tried for a third time to get up. Mr. Moore again ignored commands to remain on the ground, and the officer used the Taser gun on him again.

The officer who had just arrived handcuffed Mr. Moore and laid him on his stomach, at which point emergency medical responders were sent to the scene. Another officer tried to speak with Mr. Moore but received no response, according to the police reports.

One of the lawsuits filed by Mr. Moore’s relatives says that the officers left Mr. Moore face down and did not monitor his vital signs.

According to the police reports, about a minute after Mr. Moore was handcuffed, the officer noticed that he was not breathing and removed the handcuffs. The officers rolled Mr. Moore over and began administering CPR for several minutes. “Moore would seem to start to breathe on his own and stop,” one of the police reports said.

Mr. Moore was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

In one of their lawsuits, the family asserts that Mr. Moore was unarmed and “suffering from a psychological disorder and demonstrated clear signs of mental illness.” A lawyer for the family declined to comment, or to explain why it had taken three years to file the lawsuit.

But in an interview posted on YouTube last week, Mr. Moore’s sister said the family had been unable to find a lawyer willing to handle the case until recently.
 

John Eligon reported from Ferguson, and Michael S. Schmidt from Washington. Reporting was contributed by Mosi Secret, Joseph Goldstein and Dan Barry from Ferguson, Matt Apuzzo from Washington, and Kitty Bennett from Seattle.

A version of this article appears in print on August 21, 2014, on page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: Scrutiny on the Police Is Building in Ferguson.

    In Ferguson, Scrutiny on Police Is Growing, NYT, 20.8.2014,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/us/
    in-ferguson-scrutiny-on-police-is-growing.html

N.Y. / Region

U.S. Inquiry Reports

Bias by the Police in Newark

 

JULY 22, 2014

The New York Times

By MONIQUE O. MADAN

A three-year federal investigation has found that the Newark Police Department engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional practices, chiefly in its use of stop-and-frisk tactics, unwarranted stops and arrests, and discriminatory police actions, officials said on Tuesday.

The inquiry by the Justice Department, which found that the Police Department’s practices “have eroded the community’s trust,” said that about 75 percent of pedestrian stops documented by the police did not provide a sufficient basis for the stop. Also, it found that Newark police officers stopped black people at a considerably higher rate than white people and underreported the use of force by officers, said Paul J. Fishman, the United States attorney for New Jersey. Officials also said there was a pattern of theft of citizens’ property, mostly by officers working in the narcotics, gangs and prisoner processing units.

According to Mr. Fishman, the majority of pedestrian stops that officers made were not justified. He added that the data gathered did not provide enough information to conclude whether the department’s actions were “intentional discrimination.”

Black people make up about 54 percent of Newark’s population, 2010 census data show, but account for 85 percent of the Police Department’s pedestrian stops and 79.3 percent of its arrests.

“Because of this disparity, the black community in Newark bears the brunt of N.P.D.’s unconstitutional practices,” said Jocelyn Samuels, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

Officials outlined an agreement between the Justice Department and Newark that calls for a number of reforms and includes a federal monitor position for the Police Department, who is expected to be appointed in mid-September. A civilian review board will also be created in the coming months, Ms. Samuels said.

Officials said the Police Department needed major change, and noted that a new leader had been chosen for the department’s Internal Affairs branch.

While details of the transformation were unclear, officials listed a series of goals, including closer documentation and review of use of force by officers; fair and consistent application of discipline; improved data collection; more rigorous procedures for the safekeeping of personal property; and an early-warning system to support effective supervision of police officers.

Despite the findings of the 49-page report, Mayor Ras J. Baraka of Newark, who took office July 1, said he saw it as an opportunity to improve the department.

“We are actually excited — not about the bad acts of a few police officers in our department — we are excited that we have the ability to transform,” Mr. Baraka said.

Anthony Campos, police chief of Newark, said that much of the unconstitutional conduct cited in the report was a result of organizational failure, including a lack of sufficient policies, supervision and training. Chief Campos said it was unclear if officers who took part in the unconstitutional behavior cited in the Justice Department report would face consequences. Rather, he said, the department’s focus would be on offering more training for officers and reforming the department.

Udi Ofer, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said that Newark’s citizens wanted to see permanent change in the department, and that a civilian review board was a first step.

“In these types of cases, the devil is in the detail,” Mr. Ofer said. “We need to use this moment to establish an independent and strong civilian complaint review board. The Department of Justice will only be monitoring for a few years. Newarkers need to hold their Police Department accountable for decades to come. We also need to make sure that people who have been abused will be able to find justice.”
 

A version of this article appears in print on July 23, 2014,
on page A19 of the New York edition with the headline:
U.S. Inquiry Reports Bias by the Police in Newark.

    U.S. Inquiry Reports Bias by the Police in Newark, NYT, 22.7.2014
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/nyregion/
    inquiry-of-newark-police-cites-a-pattern-of-bias.html