Tag: Policy

What Happened after California Changed the Rules Related to Police Use of Deadly Force? – Public Policy Institute of California

Five years ago, state lawmakers limited the legal justifications for police officers’ use of deadly force. We examine recent trends in the number of people seriously injured or killed during police encounters as well as in the provision of timely medical care for those injured.
— Read on www.ppic.org/blog/what-happened-after-california-changed-the-rules-related-to-police-use-of-deadly-force/

Despite fewer people experiencing police contact, racial disparities in arrests, police misconduct, and police use of force continue | Prison Policy Initiative

New Bureau of Justice Statistics data reveal that concerning trends in policing persisted in 2022, even while fewer people interacted with police than in prior …
— Read on www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/12/19/policing_survey_2022/

10 years after the targeted killing of 2 NYPD officers, policing in NY has changed – Gothamist

Ten years ago today, two NYPD officers were shot and killed while sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn.

It was a shocking act of violence that came on the heels of citywide protests over police brutality in the wake of Eric Garner’s death. Garner had been placed in an prohibited chokehold by an NYPD officer who was never charged with a crime.

The 2014 killings of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu as they sat in their patrol car marked a turning point in New York City’s relationship with law enforcement. Law enforcement experts said the tragedy caused police to put new safety measures in place for officers, and public sentiment about criminal justice reform has swung back and forth over time. Families of the men killed said there is more work to do to improve police-community relations.
— Read on gothamist.com/news/10-years-after-the-targeted-killing-of-2-nypd-officers-policing-in-ny-has-changed

US appeals court reverses ruling that Arizona police used excessive force against anti-Trump protesters – JURIST – News

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that qualified immunity applied to the police interactions because the protestors did not cite a case that “‘clearly establish[ed]’ that Defendants’ use of force … was objectively unreasonable.” The appeals court explained that qualified immunity is granted to government officials “unless (1) they violated a federal statutory or constitutional right, and (2) the unlawfulness of their conduct was ‘clearly established at the time.’”

Protestor Ira Yedlin was part of a crowd aggressively pushing a fence separating the Free Speech Zone from another security zone distancing the anti-Trump protestors from the rally. The police fired pepper balls that struck and bruised Yedlin. The court found that the police did not use excessive force because the breach would have been “an immediate and substantial threat to the safety of the officers, nearby members of the public, and potentially [Trump’s] motorcade.”
— Read on www.jurist.org/news/2024/12/us-appeals-court-reverses-ruling-that-arizona-police-used-excessive-force-against-anti-trump-protesters/

2024 George L. Kelling Lecture: Re-Grounding Criminology in Reality

Over the past decade, criminology, like many academic fields, has drifted away from rigorous science rooted in evidence. Ideological narratives—about race, identity, and the expendability of the criminal justice system—have gained so much dominance that bias has crept into university departments, think tanks, and even groups like the American Society of Criminology. This bias doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and the net result harms the safety of our most vulnerable communities—and creates agencies and strategies that are less efficient, resourced, and innovative. The 2024 George L. Kelling Lecture features three of America’s leading criminologists, who discuss what this ideological sway looks like from inside the academic world. They discuss how this translates into the types of research that gets funded and promoted, how this impacts public safety, and how criminologists, practitioners, policymakers, and citizens can move criminology back toward a scientific grounding.

Access the video HERE

Interview with Michelle Phelps – The Majority Report

This is the first time I listened to a podcast from “The Majority Report”. The interview was with Michelle S. Phelps, professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, to discuss her recent book The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America. The interview begins at the 20:15 minute mark and can be access HERE. The interview ends at the 48:00 minute mark.

The podcast topic is what happened with policing in Minneapolis, MN. and police reforms more generally.

To be clear the Minneapolis Mayor and legislature (or any municipal executive and legislative branch) can end policing at anytime they want. This is unless police are part of the municipalities (or State) constitution, charter, or some other legislative prohibiting the dissolution the police department. The bottom line is that if the Mayor and Legislators have the votes they can put a end to policing in their municipality. This is true across America. Phelps said that many of the legislatures wanted to defund/dissolve the Minneapolis PD. Knowing that the Minneapolis government could have moved forward and cancelled police funding or more radically dissolved the police.

Why didn’t the Minneapolis government eliminate the police? Phelps said that Minneapolis has a large base of community activism which is highly coordinated. The “activism majority” leaned towards defunding or eliminating the police. It should have been easy for the Minneapolis government to defund or eliminate the police. Phelps said that people that vote most often were against the idea to reduce or eliminate the police and this influenced government officials.

What happened is that the rhetoric about the issue of defunding or dismantling the police eventually the turned into reality. Therefore the Minneapolis government had to stop being controversial or edgy and had to do what was the best for Minneapolis, which is keep the police and maintain funding.

There is no other municipal agency or other organization that can replace the police to fulfill it’s mission. Schools, Mental Health Services, Department of transportation, etc. none of these organizations can replace the police. Phelps said that police are only useful for being present at scene of a potential crime (deterrence) or to make arrests (but arrests are bad). Phelps forgot that police are authorized to use of force (most of the time the threat of force) which is necessary to make persons acting outside of societal norms to comply. There is no other organization better equipped, trained, or with authority than the police.