WHAT COMES NEXT?
YWCA opens series on race by talking with police Pottstown Police Chief Michael Markovich, center, walked down High Street Sunday with the those calling for equality of treatment by police during a march June 7. Trooper Ismail El-Guemra works in the state
Worldwide protests that have spread like wildfire across the world in the wake video footage of the death of George Floyd while in police custody have focused attention on the issues of bias and institutional racism.
But now that the world is focused on the issue, what comes next?
That’s a question YWCA TriCounty Area wants to answer.
Legislative Action
Certainly, legislation is one answer to that question and nationally, and in Harrisburg, the wheels are rolling in that direction.
On Wednesday, two police reform bills passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives unanimously.
• H.B. 1841 would require sharing of employment records and establish a statewide database of officer misconduct so municipalities can make fully informed hiring decisions for law enforcement positions. It also would require a law enforcement agency which hires an officer with prior disciplinary or criminal issues to explain the reasoning for the hire.
• H.B. 1910 would require mandatory training to help police officers detect and report child abuse, interact with individuals of diverse backgrounds and address implicit
bias, and with appropriate use of force and de-escalation techniques. The bill also contains protocols for post-traumatic stress disorder evaluations of law enforcement officers under certain circumstances and provides for additional training of minor judiciary regarding the identification and reporting of child abuse.
“Today’s unanimous votes are a significant first step toward addressing social justice issues that have driven a divide between law enforcement and the community,” state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist., who cosponsored the legislation, said in a press release announcing the result of the vote.
“To bridge that gap, we have much work still to do,” Ciresi said. “This legislation marks the beginning of necessary work we all must do — as a commonwealth and as fellow human beings — to rebuild trust and fulfill our obligation to equal justice under the law.”
And in Washington, the House of Representatives, which has a Democratic majority, approved a far-reaching police overhaul called the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
A week earlier, the GOP-controlled Senate proposed its own policing bill.
But even if they pass, is it enough?
A YWCA Tri-County Area six-part online summer advocacy series titled “Racism, Trauma, & What’s Next??” wants to take those next steps of listening and learning about all sides of the issue.
What’s Changed?
The series kicked off Wednesday with a discussion with police, how they view their role and what George Floyd’s murder has changed.
YWCA directors from Pottstown, Bucks County, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh gathered electronically to put questions to four law enforcement officers: Pottstown Police Chief Michael Markovich, and State Troopers William Butler, Ismail El-Guemra and Kelly Smith.
Floyd died handcuffed while a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes.
“That act was horrific and not acceptable,” said ElGuemra, who added that the State Police Commissioner issued a statement to that effect. “If it happens here, the person who did it will be dealt with accordingly.”
Before Floyd was killed, El-Guemra was one of only two heritage affairs liaison troopers who worked parttime in the Heritage Affairs Section within the state police’s Equality and Inclusion Office. The section is charged with “preventing, monitoring, responding to, and investigating occurrences of hate crimes in Pennsylvania.”
Now there are four such officers who work full-time on these issues. “This is good,” said El-Guemra. “We all have different backgrounds and different language abilities.”
In Pottstown, the first response came from outside the police department as people staged two peaceful protests.
“I thought they were great. It was to say that black lives matter and to show we all believe George Floyd was murdered,” said Markovich. “Police officers are held to a higher standard, and they should be.”
“I’m proud of the fact that instead of putting up barriers between us, the protesters embraced us as part of the solution and we were proud to walk with them,” he said.
Diversity on the Force
Markovich said his department includes eight minority officers — which he described as four women, two AfricanAmericans, one Pacific Islander and one Native American on the 46-officer force, which is currently down to 43 officers due to retirements.
While it might seem like a good opportunity to recruit more minority officers, Markovich said they try, including posting openings through the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.
But, “not a lot of minorities want to be cops right now,” said Markovich. Despite requirements he described as “very lax,” Markovich said only 72 potential candidates showed up to take the civil service exam in October.
“Twenty-three years ago when I took the test, 350 people showed up to take the exam,” he said. “So that’s our biggest problem right now. It’s not recruiting, I think we’re getting the message out there, we just don’t have a large return.”
“We do believe we should reflect the diverse community we serve,” said El-Guerma. He said currently, 13.61 percent of state police troopers are minorities and they are actively recruited from the historically Black colleges and universities.
The incoming class from the police academy “will be one of the most diverse ever,” he said.
His office teaches cadets cultural awareness, racial profiling awareness and implicit bias.
Smith said she had just attended “unconscious bias training and found it “so eye-opening,” but noted she volunteered to take the training and it is “not mandatory” for troopers.
Mental Health
Smith said being a police officer “is very stressful. The things we experience are very, very hard.”
As a result, she does not believe there is a stigma attached to using the “Mental Assistance Program” offered by the state police.
Seeking help through that program “is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of great strength, recognition that you can’t keep those emotions bottled up inside you. You need to talk it out.” Markovich said mental health “is one of the most overlooked issue with police. Departments get busy, they ask officers to work harder, and that means more stress.”
His department has a psychologist and a chaplain to help officers deal with mental health issues, he said.
When coronavirus hit “all the other agencies in borough hall shut down, but not the police. So in addition to answering police calls, we were also answering calls about licensing and inspections and the finance office. That makes for longer hours. Harder hours,” Markovich said.
And as protests and marches following in the wake of Floyd’s death, “there were several weekends that I didn’t allow officers to be off, even though they were scheduled to be off,” he said.
Markovich said he sat down with the department’s minority officers after Floyd’s death to ask them if they needed time or assistance “and they were almost offended when I asked them. They don’t want to be considered separate in any way.”
Bias Training and Screening
El-Guemra said before hiring anyone as a tropper, the state police do extensive psychological screening for bias of any kind, as well as checking any tattoos an applicant has to “see if they are associated with any known hate groups.”
Butler added that state police applicants also take a polygraph test in an effort to screen out those who may have biases.
“The psychological evaluation is key,” said Markovich. “It normally brings out any issues,” He added that a “stress interview” vets candidates
for ethics and honesty “and the polygraph test usually bring out any biases candidates have.”
El-Guemra said state police cadets are also provided with classes in cultural competency, racial profiling awareness and hate crime recognition.
Markovich said he is looking for ways to expand that training for Pottstown officers and is trying to get the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to come to Pottstown and offer training as well.
El-Guemra said if state police receive a complaint that is bias-related, it is investigated by a special discipline office that is trained to “look for patterns of racial profiling.”
Use of Force Vs. DeEscalation
Butler described what state police call “the use of force continuum” for the panel.
First, he said is “our mere presence. We represent an authority figure.” Next comes verbal commands, followed by “control holds to gain compliance.”
This is followed by “less lethal force” and, finally, “deadly force.”
“All steps are progressive and depend on the circumstances, which are always changing,” Butler said.
Markiovich said Pottstown has a “very strict” policy about the use of force and reviewed it in the wake of Floyd’s death. He also said “chokeholds” are not permitted by Pottstown officers and prisoners are regularly checked on to prevent “positional asphyxiation.”
Officers who violate the use of force policy are put on a progressive discipline path that starts with counseling and, if not corrected, proceeds to reprimand and suspension.
When a citizen makes a complaint about an officer, and the complaint is found to be warranted, the citizen is informed of the discipline, said Markovich.
“Using force is very rare in police work,” said Smith. “We’re trained to defuse a situation without using any of the tools on our belt.”
De-escalating a situation often comes with prior work establishing relationships, the police officers said.
“I grew up in the West Oak Lane section of Philadelphia and I knew people who had a very negative view of law enforcement,” said Butler. “But sometimes, something as simple as a handshake can do the trick.”
“I always encourage our officers to get out of the car and do foot patrols, to talk to people,” Markovich said. “It helps break down the ‘us versus them’ mindset. When I was on patrol, kids would approach you, but with some hesitancy. They want to talk to you.”
In fact the department had teamed up with ArtFusion 19464 for a new program called “Create With a “Cop,” which would pair officers with children to create an art project, “and then cornavirus put that on hold,” Markovich said.
Smith said she has used Big Brother/Big Sister programs to pair children with police officers.
“My sister is in an inner city school and when I first got there, all the kids were like ‘uh oh, somebody’s in trouble,’” she said. “But now they look beyond the uniform and they just call me Kelly.”
Smith added, “the little things help break down those barriers.”
The speakers also advocated for people to attend citizen’s police academies when
offered, “to take a walk in our shoes,” said Butler. “I believe that knowledge empowers the community.”
Name Two Things That Will Help
As the session wrapped up, Angela Reynolds CEO of the Greater Pittsburg YWCA asked the panel for some help.
She has been named to that city’s task force on police reform and asked the panelists to make two suggestions for positive change.
“Education and engagement,” said El-Guemra.
“Compassion,” said Butler. “If you operate from a position of compassion, you won’t have misconduct.”
He and Smith advocated for “more listening, more conversation, more inclusion,” as Smith described it.
“There’s a reason we have to ears and one mouth,” said Butler.
“Communication is the key to everything,” said Markovich. “As a police department, we have talked to a lot of people and a lot of people in the community know our officers by name.”
Noting there are all kinds of policing strategies and methodologies, Markovich said he wished there was one called “‘Do the Right Thing Policing.’ You don’t always have to be the authority figure and stand over people. Just treat people the way you would want your family to be treated.”
“As citizens, the number one thing we can do is stay involved, even as the headlines fade,” he said.
The YWCA’s next session is July 8 when participants will discuss the book “White Fragility:Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism,”” by Robin DiAngelo.