Monday, July 18, 2016

POLICING IN AMERICA - The Questions

"What is it like to be a black police officer in America?" PBS NewsHour 7/15/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  NewsHour's Hari Sreenivasan sits down with the President of the Black Police Association of Greater Dallas for a deeper look at police misconduct, the code of silence, and what it is like to be both a police officer and an African American in 2016. 

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  How long do you think until this community heals itself from this?

LIEUTENANT THOMAS GLOVER, President of the Black Police Association:  I'd like to say we're on our way to healing now but all it takes is the next bad actor to upset that…

HARI SREENIVASAN:  We went to see Lieutenant Thomas Glover in Dallas two days after the police shootings.  He's the President of the area's Black Police Association and has the perspective on what it's like to be a police officer and an African American.  I started by asking him if it's possible to want criminal justice reform while at the same time valuing the life of every police officer.

LIEUTENANT THOMAS GLOVER:  I think it is, as an individual I'm that way, as an African American man, in America with over 35 years on the police department, I am that way.  The majority of the police officers that I know, we all want to see behavior that is improperly exhibited by a police officer criminalized.  You have to do your job as a police officer and then, on the other hand, when you remove your uniform and badge and you go home many of us spend our times in the black community.  The social organizations we tend to become members of are black, the fraternities, sororities, alumni associations so we go from being police officers who work in a process where its our duty to do what we were sworn to do and that's uphold the laws but then you have some very heinous things that happen.  I will not compromise my convictions, as an African American male for the convenience of being a police officer, just can't do it.  I have reported misconduct.  I have reported what I believe was to be excessive force and I have vigorously tried to call out people who openly practice what I would say were discriminatory acts or racist acts of treatment of people of color.  And so that crossroads is very evident as an African American police officer because first of all you are a part of the community.  There's nothing I will ever be able to do that will dissolve my black skin, nothing. 



"A long, violent battle over policing meets hope for change in Newark" PBS NewsHour 7/15/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Forty-nine years ago this week, Newark, in New Jersey burned in rebellion against police brutality and racial injustice.  Today, activists and authorities continue to grapple with many of the same issues.  In this segment, hear perspectives from protesters and police at a Newark rally in the wake of the shootings in Dallas, St. Paul and Baton Rouge. 



"Social media plays major role in national debate on police violence" PBS NewsHour 7/15/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Last week, news broke on social media on the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and of police officers in Dallas.  Platforms like Facebook Live provided audiences with a front row seat to violent and graphic imagery that sparked national debate about police brutality and race relations in America.  At the same time, social media provided a platform for messages of support and pleas for unity.  Hari Sreenivasan reports. 



"Would eliminating low-level offenses stop police shootings?" PBS NewsHour 7/15/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Newshour Weekend special correspondent Chris Bury reports on new efforts in the Twin Cities of Minnesota to change how and when police interact with residents.  In almost an opposite theory to what's been called “Broken Windows” policing, there is an organized move to eliminate many low-level offenses.  This approach raises the question:  Would many of the police shootings of young men of color happen, if they were never pulled over or stopped in the first place?



"Finding common ground amid civil unrest" PBS NewsHour 7/15/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Monifa Bandele, the senior campaign director of MomsRising.Org; Journalist Ian Tuttle, a fellow at the National Review; and retired NY police detective Marquez Claxton, director of the Black Law Enforcement Alliance, discuss their thoughts on how to find common ground on policing, protest and race.

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