CJ-120- Project Two Speaker Notes
Chase Mabou
04/21/2022
Over-Policing of Certain Races and Ethnicities
Much of the segregation that is reflected in residential patterns emerged from decades of
discrimination, and is built on a combination of racial violence, zoning laws, racial restrictive
covenants, and redlining. All of which has herded many black city residents into neighborhoods
that are often overlooked by local governments, and unsurprisingly biases in how policing is
done in these neighborhoods has furthered the racial disparities. Whether under-policed or over-
policed, both sides perpetuate harmful stereotypes either by neglecting black residents, or
associating them with inherent criminality based on their culture (Smyton, 2020). Biases on both
sides have led to a very us vs. them mentality, where police officers see black residents as a
constant threat, which is likewise how many black residents see police officers (Weir, 2016). The
only way to break this never ending cycle of bias against one another is to actively work towards
greater levels of cultural competency and rebuild the trust between law enforcement and the
community that they serve.
Militarization of Police
The militarization of police has grown rapidly in light of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
however it actually began long before that in 1997, during the heyday of the War on Drugs, in
which the 1033 program was enacted , which served as a way for the Pentagon to send surplus
military equipment to various police departments around the U.S. Research into the 1033
program by Ryan Welch, a political scientist at the University of Tampa (2017), found that when
community police officers are given military equipment, they are more likely to resort to the
mindset that everyone around them is a threat, and are thus more likely to resort to violence far
faster than officers without (Barrett, 2020). Ultimately it works to create a spiral where law
enforcement responses to situations are violent, then dissidents and protesters are more likely to
act violently, which leads to even more violence from law enforcement (sage). While crime rates
have indeed dramatically decreased, the amount of force that police are allowed to use has
likewise increased, to the point where society has become more comfortable seeing SWAT teams
arrive to low-level crime scenes.
Field Decisions
There are many ways that implicit bias can impact field decisions for officers,
particularly new officers who are frequently taught that hesitation can be fatal. These failures
have shown that officers can incorrectly perceive a threat, due to the misperception of an object
or an action, which in the cases of shootings of unarmed African Americans compared to
unarmed whites, it seems likely that officers are subconsciously more guarded around African
American suspects (Mitchell & James, 2018).
Diversity Issues Mental Illness
Policing the mentally ill is a very big challenge as it has led to those who are mentally ill
to be 16 times more likely to be killed by police officers. They will get calls due to disturbing
the peace or erratic behavior and police