CAPTIVE TO OUR BIASES
When a white cop takes down a black youth, snap judgments kick in, warns Aisha Sherazi.
When death or serious injury involving the police occurs, a public outcry and a breakdown in trust often follow.
When police officers hurt or kill someone, the public, especially visible minorities and Indigenous people, feel vulnerable.
The police have their own perspective. How the story is reported also has a part to play in the way the public perceives these incidents. For instance:
A NIGHT OUT
Lionel is out with friends. It’s late, but his mother is probably fast asleep by now. She may not even notice he is gone. Hanging out at a friend’s house was unplanned on a weeknight, and she wouldn’t be happy if she knew. She insists he get good grades, and is a teacher herself; she’s about to be nominated for an award for professional excellence.
Lionel and his friends sit around smoking pot for a while, then head out for a walk. He isn’t good friends with every member of the group. But he is young, and happy to feel accepted among peers. One friend wants to check on another friend. It’s a crazy idea at 3 a.m., but they don’t often think things through. Out they go into the dead of night, snow crunching beneath their feet.
One spots a blanket in the back of a nearby car, and on a dare, tries to open the door to grab it. Some laugh, some walk on, eager to get out of the cold. Then one of the boys turns and sees a patrol car. He panics, worried the group will be stopped. He has a little weed on him, and is not keen on being searched. The group runs. Confused, Lionel goes along.
He’s panicking now, because he’s not supposed to be there.
AN OFFICER ON PATROL
Const. Joe Blogs is out on patrol. He’s heard that cars have been broken into in the area, but so far, things are quiet. As he turns the corner, he spots a group of black youth walking down the street, away from him. His spider sense kicks in, and he wonders: What are these young men doing out at this late hour?
He doesn’t usually see them there. As he gets closer, his instincts prove right. The boys are running away. Guilt.
He speeds up, but when it is clear the group will disperse and he can’t chase them in his car down alleyways, he pulls over and continues the chase on foot. He calls for backup.
One of the kids is within his reach. As he grabs hold of him, they both slip on the ice. The boy goes down first, his face gashed by ice.
The boy struggles further, blood runs everywhere in the snow, and Blogs struggles to restrain him.
He’s yelling and screaming. Backup arrives, and both officers work hard to restrain the boy.
A NEIGHBOUR, AND A CAMERA
A woman in the house opposite is awakened by the noise and peeks out from behind her curtains.
The woman, an upstanding citizen, is appalled at what she sees: two officers hitting a young man, who appears to be black. They outnumber him and she is confused.
She calls 911, she runs downstairs, turns her porch light on, then begins recording the incident on her phone.
A REPORTER GETS THE VIDEO
The following morning, a reporter on the city desk reads that a young black male is being charged with assault, theft and drug possession. Interesting, he thinks, but not front-page news. Nothing that will get readers going crazy. Nothing that will go viral.
He shrugs his shoulders and sees what else is going on at the courthouse. It isn’t until a few days later that he receives a video from a local resident. He looks at it, and although it isn’t clear, he sees that a young man is being beaten. The blurred image moves in, closer to the scene.
The shaky-handed woman appears to be asking officers why they are beating the young man, and as they grapple with him, the reporter can see blood everywhere. The officers yell at her to go back inside.
The reporter digs deeper, and finds out the boy is the son of a local teacher, an award-winning teacher no less. He grabs his jacket, swallows the remaining cold coffee in his cup and follows whatever leads he can.
The story is reported every way possible. The headlines imply police brutality and raw racism.
It’s juicy stuff and the public is drinking up every version of it.
The online comments are mounting, as the community and politicians chime in about the case. The police say they can’t comment, as Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit is looking into it.
WHO’S THE GOOD GUY?
In a movie, the director might present the story with the cop as the hero. He has boyish good looks and charm, and we believe that he is the good guy, trying to do his job the only way he knows how. He’s cleaned up the streets of our city.
Sometimes, the hero is the black teen. He didn’t mean for things to go so far, and he was beaten badly. He’s from a good home. His face has been left scarred, and our hearts ache for his mother, as she cries in pain at the fate of her young son.
Sometimes, it’s the reporter, who grips us with his ability to bring things to our attention; we want him to expose racism so we can address it as a society. The video footage of that night goes viral and haunts us, as it should, right?
TRUST OF COMMUNITY IS VITAL
When injury or death occur and the police are involved, social trust is severely shaken. The only way it can be restored is to have true oversight of the police. This would protect the police because, contrary to popular belief, they really are the good guys keeping us all as safe as possible.
If oversight is clear and transparent, their stories will come out. The community will learn to trust both the process and law enforcement agencies. Order will be restored. And we won’t be left to try to understand the process with the snippets of information we are fed from time to time in the media. All too often, the police version of an incident rarely gets told.
Police culture has to change as well.
Yes, the vast majority of crimes are solved based on the amazing instincts of incredible police officers, but people who are traditionally marginalized wonder if those instincts and subsequent actions aren’t often formed by personal biases, with stereotypical ideas of who criminals are.
Crime can’t be fought on instincts alone. It requires community partners and trust to ensure the true essence of serving and protecting is upheld.