By: Kaya Vyas
Growing up in a relatively normal Orange County suburb my interaction with the police consisted of field trips to the stations, the D.A.R.E program and waving hello to Officer Wong who sat in his police car drinking coffee and eating donuts outside the elementary school. Stereotypes aside, I always perceived the police as pillars of the community who protected law-abiding citizens from criminals. Following the law and trusting law enforcement was not a conscious decision, but rather a social normative. I never thought to challenge this notion until coming to Berkeley, which is not at all surprising, and took my first Legal Studies course. I was introduced to ideas such as race wars, police brutality, raced-space, and discriminatory policing. Through this course we have discussed at length different policing styles and how they strive to effectively maintain power with legitimate authority.
In the reading, the negative perception of the police was said to have led to mistrust and a loss of credibility. The Oakland Police Department in particular has an extremely negative perception in the community due to issues of race, lack of communication and understanding and the perception of being brutal. While not from this area, in my four years I have met and heard many stories that aligned with this characterization. Working for the ACLU-NC furthered my knowledge as to why the OPD had such a negative image. In relation to our recent discussion on urban youth and juvenile rights I wondered if negative police perception proliferated to the younger generations. My parents explicitly told me that police officers were good and to call 911 if there was an emergency. Hearing in class that communities found the police to be more trouble than help was shocking. The below table and link show what 800 Oakland high school students thought of the police.
The ethnicities with the both the highest representation in the survey also had two of the highest negative perceptions of the Oakland Police. Unsurprisingly these are two of the most across the board marginalized yet most represented minority groups in the CA prison system today, African-Americans and Latinos. With further research I found this study done in 2009 in the Western Criminology Review. The article speaks at length about the importance of studying youth, race and police perception in order to create a better system of policing. Much like a child’s first introduction to learning or a new skill, this initial interaction shapes future perception. “Abusive incidents involving police officers and young people are grossly under-reported (Adams 1996). In interviews with mostly Latino and African American youths living in poor neighborhoods in Hartford, Connecticut, Borrero (2001) recorded hundreds of allegations of police misconduct against juveniles, including physical abuse, verbal harassment, threats, and violent attacks. Not surprisingly, the victims of excessive police force, who are disproportionately young minority males, have the most negative perceptions of the police (e.g., Ben-Ali 1992; Flanagan and Vaughn 1996).”
Perhaps a viable solution to creating better police relations and rid the perception in certain communities that law enforcement is innately racist and brutal is to start with the youth. I recognize how this may be entirely idealistic, but any great change begins with a certain amount of idealism. What was your first exposure to law enforcement and did that shape your adult perception of the police? What solutions do you propose to abetting a more positive image of the police in areas where they are thought of so negatively?
I always had thought of police as the people who would drive or walk around the area (I live near a police station) or come across the street to deal with our neighbors. Still, the police were people to call if I were to get in trouble or feeling bad. This feeling led me to accidentally calling the police once as an elementary school kid. I quickly hung up the phone when it connected and, looking back on it, it was surprisingly easy for my mother to convince them that nothing was wrong and that nobody had actually dialed 911 once the police showed up. I'm not sure that I would've been so lucky if my mom had been one of the many Latino mothers in our neighborhood rather than coming off as a confused Asian woman.
ReplyDeleteMy lack of direct contact - particuarly the lack of negative contact - with police officers as a kid seems to be part of why I still seem them as important authority figures. I've realized there are more negative sides, but an overall trust in them is something that could definitely be helpful in communities where they seem to have lost their legitimacy. I quite like the suggestions from study you linked. Officers should be trained in effective techniques for dealing with juveniles and an open forum with young people and officers can encourage a more mutually acceptable resolution of grievances. After taking a Restorative Justice class, I really think that learning how to hear each other out is one of the big things that can help. Focusing on working with the youth could achieve great long term trust with the community, but I still think that these techniques could be used to work with adults as well.
Anita Wu
You do a good job of highlighting the importance of first encounters in creating and shaping perceptions of law enforcement. In order to change the negative perceptions of law enforcement, first encounters with youth, particularly marginalized youth, must become more positive. Changing perceptions among adults is also necessary, but is more difficult because often their first negative impressions have been reinforced by further interactions with police and the criminal justice system, as the Rios book demonstrates.
ReplyDeleteChristina A. Henriquez
Kaya,
ReplyDeleteI feel like even though the police force has become largely diversified, it still has a long way to go. If police had more in common with the youth or adults they deal with on a daily basis, they would be able to communicate much better with them as well as gain their trust. Particularly when dealing with youth in gangs, a police officer who has been there before and has changed his or her life would definitely be of great value because he will receive much more respect from the youth.
-Lissette Morales
Interesting story, Kaya. Personally, I have not experienced much interaction with public law enforcement aside from the occasional jaywalking warning and traffic violation sting operation. Police officers in my hometown are generally perceived as ticket mongers who enforce traffic codes. Our police force is quite diverse and I have not seen or heard much about racialized policing, although I do not doubt it exists. The first step to promoting the legitimacy of a police force is to establish acceptance by those who are policed. Law enforcement agencies must establish stronger ties and relationships to the community before they can improve their public perception. They can do so by increasing the diversity of the patrol force and creating more community involvement. Negative interaction, as Rios argues in his book, inevitably results in the resistance and rejection of law enforcement authority. Therefore, the nature of interactions between the police and those policed must change. Gaining the trust of the community is not easy, but doing so is imperative to the legitimacy of public policing.
ReplyDelete-Salena Tiet
My first exposure to law enforcement were the raids near my neighborhood. These tense situations reaffirmed my notion that the police really are pillars of the community since those raided were notoriously shady. To counter the negative image of law enforcers, the police should increase their visibility in communities, and should show genuine concern by getting involved in the everyday comings and goings of communities.
ReplyDelete-Sehun Lee
Interesting post. I think this can be related to Victor Rios' book, Punished, as it pertains to the youth's constant negative interactions with police, which alienate them from not just the police, but the community as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that a focus on the youth can help ameliorate perceptions of the police and lead to better relations. However, this may not be feasible in Oakland, or any other similarly situated urban police department, where officers have very few resources, are stretched thin, and have to constantly handle calls of violent crimes.
However, most police departments do have some youth programs that they run, mostly through their Community Relations/Affairs offices, where children and adolescents frequently interact with officers. I was one of those teens, and I obtained a great deal of life experience through the program and gained many mentors. I have a more-positive-than-average view of police officers because of my frequent involvement with officers and exposure to those in the field.
However, a focus on youth at the patrol level is much more difficult. It would require sufficient police resources, and a cultural change from both sides.
Ya I agree with Pedram in that resources are a problem for urban situated police departments like Oakland. I think more money needs to be put towards conducting research about police interactions with youth before we can come up with feasible, effective solutions. I think part of the solution may be that youth need interactions with police that are outside of questioning, searches, or any other combative interactions. That is my take.
ReplyDelete-Amir