Blog | Ferguson aftermath: Most cops have witnessed police brutality but fail to report it; good cops still make big difference
As with most issues, those that fueled the unrest in Ferguson are multi-layered and complex.
A couple of things to consider:
More than 8 of 10 police officers surveyed by the Justice Department said they’ve witnessed fellow officers using excessive force - while 61 percent declined to report the abuse:
Seven reasons police brutality is systematic:
7. Police themselves say misconduct is remarkably widespread.
Here’s the real clincher. A Department of Justice study revealed that a whopping 84 percent of police officers report that they’ve seen colleagues use excessive force on civilians, and 61 percent admit they don’t always report “even serious criminal violations that involve abuse of authority by fellow officers.”
This self-reporting moves us well beyond anecdote into the realm of data: Police brutality is a pervasive problem, exacerbated by systemic failures to curb it. That’s not to say that every officer is ill-intentioned or abusive, but it is to suggest that the common assumption that police are generally using their authority in a trustworthy manner merits serious reconsideration. As John Adams wrote to Jefferson, “Power always thinks it has a great soul,” and it cannot be trusted if left unchecked.
The good news is that the first step toward preventing police brutality is well-documented and fairly simple: Keep police constantly on camera. A 2012 study in Rialto, Calif. found that when officers were required to wear cameras recording all their interactions with citizens, “public complaints against officers plunged 88% compared with the previous 12 months. Officers’ use of force fell by 60%.” The simple knowledge that they were being watched dramatically altered police behavior.
On the flip side, there are plenty of good cops making a huge difference even in the toughest circumstances:
FERGUSON, Mo. — Late Wednesday, two nights after rioting left blocks of this suburban city in smoldering ruin, a small but angry crowd assembled at the police station on South Florissant Road.
On previous nights, protesters hurled D batteries, bottles of urine and rocks at the police officers and National Guard troops who stood stern-faced behind steel barricades and concrete barriers.
But around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, an unlikely scene unfolded off to the side.
A teenage protester whose face had been hidden behind a ski mask lowered his headgear, approached a police commander and gave him a hug.
“Good to see you, man,” the commander, Lt. Jerry Lohr of the St. Louis County Police, said to the teenager, Joshua Williams. “How’ve you been? How’s your mom doing? I saw her out here earlier.”
Lieutenant Lohr, 41, had a scratch on his left eyelid from a scuffle that broke out during an arrest the previous night and a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth. He wore no riot gear — just a standard-issue brown uniform — and held not a baton in his hand but his knit cap.
“We going to have a good night?” he asked Mr. Williams.
“Yeah,” Mr. Williams, 19, said.
Wednesday was indeed a calm night for Ferguson, compared with the looting and arson Monday that came after the announcement that a grand jury had declined to indict the white police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, in August.
Before, during and after that first night of violence, few law enforcement officials have done more on the ground to ease the volatility of protesters than Lieutenant Lohr, who is white. And few of his white colleagues have been able to connect with the largely black crowds better than he has.
After embracing the lieutenant, Mr. Williams was back at the barricades, his mask again covering his face. “We were having a conversation one day out here, and he seemed like a pretty decent guy, so I grew to like him,” said Mr. Williams, who is black and lives in Ferguson. “He’s the only one I feel comfortable being around. The rest of them — no, I don’t.”
This story was originally published November 28, 2014 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Blog | Ferguson aftermath: Most cops have witnessed police brutality but fail to report it; good cops still make big difference."