Gender, Race, and Class in Today’s America

Solutions:  Police Reform

Police Accountability and Qualified Immunity

One of the most important aspects of law enforcement and the use of excessive force has to do with accountability when it comes to killing unarmed African American males.  Oftentimes, police officers that are involved in a killing of this type are not prosecuted.  This has to do with qualified immunity, a legality afforded to officials of the government.  Police officers, Police Departments and cities can be sued in a civil lawsuit.  In Nemeth, (2019), qualified immunity is defined as “[i]mmunity from civil liability for a public official who is performing a discretionary function, as long as the conduct does not violate clearly established constitutional or statutory rights.”³¹  According to Balko, (2014), this aspect of police accountability is the most controversial policy.  Further, under federal law, “police officers cannot be sued for mere negligence – or even gross negligence that results in a fatality”.  The person(s) suing a police officer must show that the officer intentionally violated the person(s) constitutional rights and that the rights were well established at the time they were violated.³²

Qualified immunity sets the stage for no accountability on behalf of a police officer when they know they are automatically protected when they are involved in a situation where excessive or deadly force is exhibited.  For example, in fifteen separate high-profile police killings of unarmed black men from 2014 to 2016, only three officers were criminally convicted and seven officers were never even charged³³  Excessive Force is “[u]nreasonable or unnecessary force under the circumstances.³⁴  Statistical data suggests minorities in these situations fair less than admirable.  “Such disconcerting information may lead one to wonder what the current state of the law is governing a police officer’s use of deadly force and how so many seemingly unjustified civilian killings of unarmed black men occur by those tasked with serving and protecting those same civilians.”³⁵  When you revisit the statistics from 2015 [to 2021], having 135 unarmed killings by police of black men and women nationally, the concern of virtually no prosecutions for these killings is definite.³⁶  “Police departments that receive federal funding should be required to keep records on and report incidents of officer shootings and use of excessive force to an independent federal agency”. ³⁷

Again, in 2020, George Floyd was killed by police officer Derek Chauvin when the officer held his knee on the neck of Mr. Floyd.  In a rare turn of events, Officer Chauvin was prosecuted by the state of Missouri.  He was convicted of murdering Mr. Floyd and sentenced to 22 years in state prison.  The case was unusual because many police officers in the department (such as supervisors, police colleagues and police experts) testified against Officer Chauvin.  They told of how the police officer breach police protocols in subduing a suspect.  There was video footage of the event that was undisputable. The conviction of Officer Chauvin was definitely the exception to the rule when it comes to holding police accountable for excessive force upon citizens.

War on Drugs

In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a War on Drugs.  This war on drugs wreaked havoc on minority communities.  Because of all of the drug arrest and convictions, many minorities went to prison.  The laws were stricter, including mandatory sentences for individuals in possession of small amounts of marijuana.  “Three Strikes and You Are Out”, laws were passed against career offenders.  Many of these laws incarcerated primarily minorities if they had two felonies (2 strikes) and got a 3rd strike for a misdemeanor or felony.  The sentence for 3-Strikes was a life sentence.  Many of these offenders were not violent, yet, they are still serving these life sentences today.  Reform for such offenses should be changed.  “Decriminalizing drug offenses could begin to unwind the violent paramilitary task forces and the us-versus-them, black-and-white drug-war mentality”³⁸

Community Policing

This form of policing includes direct contact with the community police officers serve.  This would include foot patrol, bicycles, horseback riding, neighborhood watch, strip mall units where citizens could have easy access to the police and come into the office for issues they may have in their neighborhoods.  Having a police officer visible and known in the community could help with the “us-versus-them” mentality for the police and the community.  This form of policing could improve the police relationship between the community and neighborhood alike.

Police Training

Balko, (2014), suggest that police officers should be taught de-escalation techniques rather than immediately shooting.  “When you answer to every problem is more force, it shows that you haven’t been taught and trained to consider other options”.³⁹  You often hear this suggestion in the media and conversations of people in the community of police officers not being so fast to pull the trigger on a suspect.  There is something to be said about an officer that arrives at the scene and has the ability to bring the tension down when they arrive.  Thinking about Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy that was killed, could have benefited from a de-escalation tactic upon the arrival of the police officer.  This child was killed within 2 seconds of the police officers arriving.  It is unfortunate that Tamir lost his life. Had the officers stopped and accessed the situation more objectively, perhaps, Tamir would still be alive.  I do realize that police officers must make split decisions, so being critical of them is not the intent here, but merely learning de-escalation strategies to avoid the death of a citizen would be a valuable tool for police officers. 

Balko (2014) makes a good point when he says that in most cases drug offenders (for which most of the police contact will be in urban communities) the offenders are not violent or pose a serious danger, but no time is given to access the situation prior to aggressive force by the police.  He goes on to say that in a SWAT situation (where there may be a serious felon or a hostage situation), the task force takes their time and develop a plan of action rather than merely storming the place.  I think there is something to be said about these scenarios.  Think about it, lives could be saved if the police were to de-escalate the situation with the African American males they encounter. Accessing the situation before the immediate “reach-for-the weapon” should be explored and implemented.