Are Political Charges Of Police Brutality And Racism Supported By Data?

Police Officers

Highlights

There are charges of police brutality and institutionalized racism by Democratic candidates Biden, Sanders, and others.

Per the US Department of Justice, among people who had face-to-face contacts, about nine out of 10 residents felt the police were respectful or acted properly.

Per the same study, police used or threatened to use force in less than two percent of contacts.

Author

Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.

Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of award-winning public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of criminology and public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Aspiring drummer.

Article

The collective data (see below) clearly state that most Americans have a favorable opinion of law enforcement. Yes, there are differences when it comes to African Americans, Hispanics, and other groups, but regardless, most blacks, Hispanics and others are supportive.

So why are presidential candidates suggesting that you are going to get shot in the back of the head during police stops or claiming police systematic institutional racism?

Are their claims backed by data?

Is it possible that anti-cop charges are having a profound effect on cops leaving, police levels of substance abuse, suicides, and PTSD?

Does it impact increasing violent crime and crime reporting?

CBS News

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders found himself in a social media storm Saturday night after video surfaced of a statement he made at the Second Step Presidential Justice Forum earlier in the day. When a black student asked Sanders how he should handle getting pulled over by a police officer, Sanders responded “respect what they are doing so that you don’t get shot in the back of the head.”

I know of people who are telling their police officer family members to, “Get out of law enforcement. And get out now.”

There are endless stories of officers being shot, shot at and beaten. New York City has dozens of incidents where people are brazenly throwing water and other substances on cops as they patrol. In Baltimore, Chicago, and many other cities, officers are facing extremely hostile community members while making arrests.

Cops are being berated for misuse of social media in a variety of newspapers.

Years ago, I became a cop based on my pride in the job and the satisfaction that the vast majority of citizens appreciated what I did. Take that away and many believe that being a police officer is meaningless.

We are losing a ton of officers. Proactive (self-initiated) contacts are down. Violent crime and serious violent incidents are going up per the US Department of Justice.

There may come a time, and it may happen sooner than we think, where we see more dangerous communities and increased threats to families and loved ones.

We’ve been very hard on cops and yes, some of the negative publicity is accurate. There is a long and disastrous history of police abuse of power. We in the justice system need to own our history and acknowledge the pain. We need to do better.

But presidential candidates who accuse “all” current cops as brutal or are engaging in systemic institutionalized racism are guilty of the sins of group prejudice. If you can stigmatize “all” cops, you can stigmatize any group.

There are 700,000 cops and 300,000 civilian police employees. About 1 in 4 officers, and 1 in 5 first-line supervisors, were black or Hispanic. About 1 in 8 full-time sworn officers, and about 1 in 10 first-line supervisors, were female, Bureau Of Justice Statistics.

Is it ethical to state that “all” cops, regardless as to groups they represent, are part of the problems mentioned by the Democratic candidates?

Is it proper to suggest that “all” officers are unsupported by the American public when the data says otherwise?

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See more articles on crime and justice at Crime in America.

Contact

Contact us at leonardsipes@gmail.com.


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