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Posted 12/23/21, updated 1/22/22

WHAT’S UP WITH...POLICING?

After one and one-half decades it seems that
 everything’s changed.  And nothing.

     For Police Issues by Julius (Jay) Wachtel. Would you accept candy from this cop? Sans the holiday treat, this perhaps forgettable image was the centerpiece of our banner for “Liberal Pig,” the blog’s name when we kicked things off in 2007. Alas, in academia-land (teaching was our then-gig) the oinker got little respect, so we promptly renamed the site. But our indifference to the ideological winds remains. So you can expect that this essay will as usual be rough on everyone, including the cops.

     Incidentally, it’s also our four-hundredth post. Pop a cork!

     So where have our peace-keepers landed? For a hint, let’s consider Torrance. Located in the southwest corner of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the city of 143,592 residents (2019 ACS) seems a prosperous place. It boasts a robust household median income ($93,492) and a low poverty level (6.9 percent) that have its immense neighbor (HMI $62,142, pov. 18 percent) decidedly beat. Its crime rate is also comparatively modest. According to the FBI Crime Data Explorer’s “offenses known to law enforcement” download, Torrance had 2,935 property crimes and 274 violent crimes during 2020. Its property crime rate of 20.5/1,000 seems well in line with the nation’s 19.6 and L.A.’s 21.5. And its violent crime rate, 1.9, literally sparkles: it’s only half the national 4.0 and less than one-third L.A.’s eye-popping 7.2.

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       Thanks to Torrance’s favorable situation, its cops wouldn’t be expected to repeatedly come under Federal watch. Yet grab a look at that recent searing editorial in the L.A. Times. A “rot in the police culture” is how the blunt piece assesses things. And it’s not just about a single foul-up. Indeed, Torrance has been under the gun for more than two decades.

     Torrance P.D.’s current predicament dates back to 1993, when the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit alleging that the city’s hiring process for police and firefighters unlawfully discriminated against Blacks, Hispanics and Asians. Torrance P.D.’s then-233 officer force had three Blacks (1.3%), six Asians and fifteen Latinos (6.4%). Fire department ranks were also minority-thin. What’s more, the Feds alleged that this wasn’t for a lack of candidates, but on purpose. Two aspects of the police hiring process were said to unfairly exclude minorities: the writing literacy exam and the background investigation. More ominously, the department was also accused of tolerating “a racially hostile environment” within its ranks.

     It wasn’t just Torrance. DOJ had advanced similar allegations against three other L.A.-area communities: El Monte, Alhambra and Pomona. Each ultimately settled with the Feds and paid damages to unsuccessful minority applicants. But although only one year had passed since the 1992 Los Angeles riots highlighted the sorry state of police-minority relations, Torrance said “no” and dug in for a fight.

     Promptly more stuff happened. On May 27, 1994 three 17-year old boys from L.A. were in a car on their way home after celebrating graduation. Two, both Black, were in front, and the third, who was White, was lying down in the back. Their path took them through Torrance. Suddenly a police car began to follow. After a time, a pair of White officers stopped the teens for “defective taillight” and “seat belt” violations. According to the youths, the cops ordered them out at gunpoint and brutally searched them. (And we mean, brutally.) Their car was also searched but nothing was found, and ultimately all were let go.

     What the cops didn’t know was that one of the kids’ parents was an assistant city attorney. A Federal lawsuit was promptly filed. It claimed that the stop and search were illegal and the force used was completely unnecessary. And as one pores through the appellate decision, a strong whiff of racial animus is clearly evident:

...when the officers first decided to make a U-turn and follow the plaintiffs' car, all they had seen were two young African American males driving down a major boulevard in an unremarkable manner...The officer asked [the White teen] whether he knew the two black teens, whether they were actually his friends, and how long he had known them...No comparable questions were asked of the black plaintiffs. Instead, [the officer] asked [the Black teens] “What are you doing out here?” The officer also told [one of the Black teens] “You're not supposed to be here.”

     That brought back the Department of Justice for another look. And what they discovered wasn’t pretty. Many Blacks were indeed leery of Torrance’s cops. According to a local NAACP head, Torrance police had “one of the worst” reputations for “harassing minorities.” Activists and civil libertarians considered the city’s cops as “among the most racially biased and militaristic in Southern California.” But Torrance officials disputed those assertions. Instead, they pointed to their community’s relatively low crime rate and bragged about residents’ “exceptionally high” support for the police. Mayor Dee Hardison agreed that good police departments do get “some heat from time to time.” But she insisted that her cops cops made it all work. “We catch ‘em, and the community likes that.”

     Perhaps so. But some former officers, including minority group members who failed probation, offered troubling observations. Racial epithets were supposedly in common use. Training officers spoke of the difference between “street (epithet)” and “upstanding black citizens.” And so forth.

     Even so, the Feds apparently didn’t find enough to open a “pattern or practice” investigation. And three years later, in September 1998, the judge overseeing DOJ’s hiring practices lawsuit fully absolved Torrance of wrongdoing. Not only that, but he ordered the Feds to fork over $1,714,727.50 to cover the city’s litigation expenses. His actions were affirmed on appeal.

     On the other hand, the youths’ lawsuit against the cops yielded a $245,000 judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. It, too, was upheld on appeal.

     According to the Washington Post’s “Fatal Force database,” five persons have been shot and killed by Torrance police officers since January 1, 2015. Except for the most recent episode, which appears to remain under investigation, each is linked to the OIS investigative report prepared by the L.A. County D.A.:

• October 31, 2016: Michelle Lee Shirley (Black, 39, resident of Los Angeles). Ms. Shirley, a law school graduate, suffered from severe mental problems. Police opened fire after a prolonged encounter in which Shirley purposely crashed into other vehicles, including police cars, then allegedly tried to run down officers who intervened. The D.A. concluded there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that officers used unreasonable force.
   
• October 14, 2017: Michael David Lopez (Hispanic, 44, resident of San Gabriel Valley). Mr. Lopez had reportedly served two prison terms: one for assault with a deadly weapon, and another for “felony reckless evading.” Torrance police began to pursue Mr. Lopez, who was thought to be drunk, after he evaded officers in an adjoining city. Mr. Lopez sped through multiple intersections and against traffic signals but was ultimately stopped with “PIT” maneuvers. As officers approached on foot, he reached down as though going for a weapon, then revved his pickup. Two officers opened fire as the vehicle lurched towards them. According to the D.A. they acted in lawful self-defense. Three other officers also fired; the D.A. concluded they also acted legally, in defense of their colleagues.
   
• June 1, 2018: Juan Carlos Perez-Victor (Hispanic, 38, residence unknown). Police were called to a commercial area where Mr. Perez-Victor was reportedly acting bizarrely and flaunting a knife. He had supposedly run up to a car and placed the knife to the driver’s window. When officers arrived Mr. Perez-Victor was uncooperative and aggressive, and they responded with pepper spray and impact munitions. Neither stopped him, and he soon charged at them with a knife. They responded with gunfire. Meth and a second knife were found in his pockets. The D.A. concluded that the officers acted lawfully, in self-defense and in defense of their colleagues. (Mr. Perez-Victor’s entry lacks his name and incorrectly identifies him as White in the Washington Post database.)
   
• December 9, 2018: Christopher Deandre Mitchell (Black, 23, resident of Los Angeles). Mr. Mitchell was approached by two officers as he sat at the wheel of a parked car that a citizen had just reported stolen. Mr. Mitchell, who wore gang-like tattoos on his face, had what seemed to be a firearm on his lap. During the encounter he allegedly reached for it and persisted even when told to stop. Both officers fired their guns. It turned out that Mr. Mitchell had an air rifle whose stock had been cut into a hand grip. The D.A. concluded that the officers “acted lawfully in self-defense.” (But they’ve since been charged. See 4/14/23 and 9/10/24 updates)
   
• March 8, 2020: Desiree Nicole Garza (Hispanic, 28, resident of Torrance). In this incident, which apparently remains under D.A. review, police were summoned by “multiple” neighbors who reported “a person was breaking items inside a home and refusing to let go of a knife.” Exactly what happened when they arrived is unknown.

     Mr. Mitchell’s killing caught fire with the Black community. Termed “The South Bay's Biggest Story of the Decade” by Black Lives Matter, the tragic episode sparked demonstrations and prompted demands that the officers who shot him be fired and prosecuted. During his recent election campaign, L.A.’s new D.A., George Gascon, pledged to reopen his office’s inquiry. In June 2021 he formed a special team to “re-examine” this incident and other past uses of force. Its progress is unknown.

     Dug in or not, Torrance’s lid soon blew, big-time. On January 27, 2020 the owner of a vehicle that had been impounded by the city’s cops discovered, to his horror, that “a happy face had been spray painted on the front passenger seat and a swastika symbol on the rear seat.”  To the department’s credit, an internal investigation was promptly launched. Within a few months, two officers, including one who had shot Mr. Lopez, were no longer on the force. Both have been referred for prosecution. (See 1/22/22, 3/21/23 and 4/11/25 updates.)

     After reporting on the vandalized car, the Los Angeles Times came in for a closer look. What it uncovered (we assume, with help from a friendly insider) was appalling. It seems that during the investigation of Mr. Lopez’s death, police detectives and D.A. investigators came across years of online chatter among thirteen Torrance officers and a cop from nearby Long Beach. It featured numerous messages and images that “championed violence against Black people and members of the LGBTQ community, joked about beating up suspects and mocked the idea of internal affairs investigations into racial profiling.”

     That finally proved too much. Fifteen Torrance officers whom the Times connected to “at least seven serious or fatal uses of force against Black or Latino men since 2013” have been placed on leave. In addition, “at least 85” criminal cases in which they participated have been dismissed, and literally hundreds of prosecutions are in peril.

     After all, would you trust the truthfulness and accuracy of these officers’ reports?

     On December 8, 2021, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that his office has opened a formal investigation of Torrance P.D.:

California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced launching an independent review of the Torrance Police Department (TPD) as part of an effort to identify and correct potential systemic failures in the department’s policies and practices. The review comes amidst deeply concerning allegations of excessive force, racist text messages, and other discriminatory misconduct, and follows a request for assistance by the Torrance Chief of Police. More broadly, the review will aim to promote public safety and rebuild trust between TPD and the community it serves.

City police chief Jay Hart is supposedly onboard. So a full reckoning seems on the horizon.

     One and one-half decades ago, when our oinker came to be, cops weren’t running around wearing body cameras. Text messaging and such was a distant dream. So just when Torrance PD’s culture began to rot we’ll never know. In any event, simply blaming cops feels like a sell-out. Torrance has more than two-hundred officers in uniform. Should all be labeled “racists”?

     As we’ve emphasized over the years, police personalities differ. When it comes to explaining officer behavior, such differences really, really matter. Let’s self-plagiarize from a couple of prior posts:

Officer temperament is crucial. Cops who are easily rattled, risk-intolerant, impulsive or aggressive are more likely to resort to force or apply it inappropriately. (“Three Inexplicable Shootings”)

When it comes to shaping outcomes, officer personalities and skill sets, the availability of human and material resources, and the quantity and quality of information are clearly important. And that’s not all. We’ve often mentioned “confirmation bias,” the all-too-human tendency to interpret things in a way that’s consistent with one’s pre-existing understandings and beliefs. That can affect what both cops and citizens do. (“Want Happy Endings? Don’t Chase”)

     On December 18, long-serving L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez likened Torrance’s police scandal to L.A.’s history of racial discrimination. His piece drew a letter from Torrance High School District’s first-ever Black principal. Mr. Sidney Morrison wrote that he received “outstanding support” from the police over the years. And both times that he was pulled over, he “quickly mentioned my relationship to the school district” and was treated cordially. But he pointed out that “those perceived as outsiders were treated differently.”

     Who might these “outsiders” be? Torrance sits next to LAPD’s Harbor Division, which serves about 171,000 residents in the communities of Harbor Gateway, Wilmington, Harbor City, San Pedro and Terminal Island. Between January 1, 2020 and December 18, 2020 – not quite a full year – this area logged 1,149 violent crimes. That produced a violent crime rate of 6.7/1,000, more than three times Torrance’s full-year rate of 1.9. Just Northeast of Torrance lies LAPD’s South Bureau. As every cop in Southern California knows, it’s been besieged by violence for decades (for a detailed account see “Location, Location, Location.”) Consider, for example, the violence-prone 77th. Street Division. Serving a population of about 175,000, it logged 3,369 violent crimes between January 1 and December 18, 2020. That yields an astronomical per/1,000 rate of 19.3, more than ten times Torrance’s.

     Switch to murder. For that we turn to the L.A. Times’ “The Homicide Report,” which tracks deaths reported by the Los Angeles County coroner. During the twelve months preceding this essay – more or less the year 2021 – Torrance suffered two murders – one by gunshot, the other by stabbing. In contrast, the largest community served by Harbor Division, San Pedro (pop. 78,900), reported four homicides, each from gunfire. During the same period Watts (pop. 175,000) lost twenty-three of its citizens to murder; twenty-one from gunfire and two by a knife.

     Below is a chart with this data. Violence is per/1,000 pop., and homicide is per/100,000 pop. Demographics are from the Statistical Atlas of the U.S. (its numbers for Torrance vary slightly from the Census.)

     Let’s return to the ex-principal’s observation that “outsiders” were more likely to catch heat from the cops. Torrance’s officers work in a tranquil city whose residents are primarily White or of Asian descent. They know there are less peaceful communities nearby. They’re fully aware that these places, which are populated by substantially larger proportions of Blacks and Hispanics, are far less prosperous if not outright poor. Torrance’s good cops – and we’re convinced they’re in the vast majority – understand that, as our “Neighborhoods” essays repeatedly emphasize, it’s not race but economic conditions that drive crime. So when danger lurks they set aside any biases or preconceptions they might have formed and strive to avoid acting on impulse. That’s what the craft of policing is all about.

     Alas, thanks to text messaging and such, we’ve learned that some Torrance cops can’t possibly meet that standard. What’s most concerning is that their hideous notions could easily affect the complex decision-making calculus that good policing requires, distorting the response to everyday incidents and placing both cops and citizens at needless risk.

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     In “Third, Fourth and Fifth Chances” we discussed the consequences of ignoring officer misconduct.  Here they are in money terms:

• Chicago: About $253 million since 2015
• Dallas: $3.7 million since 2015
• Detroit: $28.5 million since 2015
• District of Columbia: More than $40 million since 2016
• Los Angeles County: More than $238 million since 2015
• New York City: More than $1.1 billion since 2015
• Minneapolis: Incalculable

But it’s not all bad news. Torrance now has the opportunity – yes, opportunity – to fix its cop shop before...well, scan the list. Second chances don’t come around real often. They ought not be missed.

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Confirmation Bias can be Lethal     Piling On     When Worlds Collide     In Two Fell Swoops

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Location, Location, Location

FULL STOP AHEAD

Floyd and the virus upend policing. Some cops react poorly.

     For Police Issues by Julius (Jay) Wachtel. Rebelling against shots was once consigned to society’s fringes. No longer. Two months ago, as municipalities across the U.S. struggled with their vaccination refuseniks Southern California’s progressives stepped to the plate. On July 27th. Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council President Nury Martinez announced that Los Angeles city employees would be required to “either submit proof of [COVID-19] vaccination or a weekly negative test.” An ordinance to that effect was enacted in August. Approved on a 13-0 council vote, it requires that city employees be fully vaccinated by October 19 “unless approved for an exemption...as a reasonable accommodation for a medical condition or restriction or sincerely held religious beliefs.” Exempted employees, however, will be required to submit to weekly testing.

     San Diego soon followed with a similar law. Its deadline for employees to get vaccinated or exempt is November 2.

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     Well, that’s as it should be. Vaccination has long been an integral part of a “social contract” which calls on citizens to give up certain freedoms in exchange for the benefits they accrue from society and the state. So job done, right? Not exactly. You see, it seems that in both Los Angeles and San Diego an aversion to (literally) roll up one’s sleeves “infected” a goodly number of emergency responders. As of the first week of September, 53 percent of Los Angeles’ police officers and 41 percent of its firefighters reportedly lacked their full complement of shots. And many remain ill-disposed to get poked. Insider data obtained by KNX-1070 radio reveals that over 3,000 LAPD employees – about one out of every four in a force of 9,000 officers and 3,000 civilians – intend to seek exemptions.

     What’s more, some aren’t just asking. With assistance from a legal nonprofit that peddles the notion that vaccination mandates “are unreasonable and impede on the religious rights of individuals,” six LAPD employees filed a Federal lawsuit that seeks to block the ordinance. Calling it an “overbroad and unwarranted intrusion into the confidential medical conditions of Plaintiffs and thousands of employees,” they argue it violates “fundamental Constitutional rights to bodily integrity, including, especially, to be free from unconsented to or coerced medical treatment.”

     Coercion seems the key concern. According to the plaintiffs, the vaccines’ emergency-use approval affords individuals the choice “to accept or refuse administration.” But the ordinance makes full vaccination “a condition of employment.” So police employees really have no choice. To keep their jobs they must either submit to poking or, should they gain an exemption, endure “onerous” and “intrusive” weekly testing. Several plaintiffs revealed that they’ve had COVID, thus acquired a natural immunity that’s supposedly better than what vaccination offers. Yet the ordinance ignores this advantage. It’s also alleged that the city failed to outline a detailed process and allot “a reasonable time” to prepare and submit requests for exemption.

     Ditto San Diego. In an online rant, a cop urged his colleagues to “stand up for our God given freedoms” and reject the mandate. Nearly half of San Diego’s 2,000 police officers remain unvaccinated. Ninety percent who responded to a union survey oppose mandatory shots, and sixty-five percent indicated they would consider resigning if vaccination was required.

     L.A.’s powerful officer union, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, seems to support officer vaccination. However, it worries that enforcing the ordinance would lead to even more cops leaving and could have a “debilitating and catastrophic impact” on public safety. Instead of shots, it suggests that weekly testing would create “an appropriate balance” between personal rights and public health. Same-o, same-o in San Diego, whose police union has drawn a “line in the sand against mandatory vaccinations.” But its president, Jack Schaeffer, says that the alternative of weekly testing is fine. So far both cities seem to be sticking with their deadlines. So we’ll see.

     To avoid such battles other communities have considered fully exempting the police. After warnings from the police union that a mandate would “exacerbate an already dangerous staffing crisis,” Portland moved to exempt officers from a regulation requiring that city workers get poked. Cincinnati, which is supposedly “struggling to retain and attract enough police officers,” is leaning towards the substitute of weekly testing. Struggles between cities and their cops are also underway in San Jose, New York City and Chicago, whose police union leader likened mandatory vaccination to the Holocaust. (He apologized.)

     Yet doesn’t the “social contract” cut both ways? Officers chronically complain about citizen non-compliance. So shouldn’t the badge-carriers set the example? Problem is, vaccination mandates are coming at a time of severe disruption to the police workplace. George Floyd’s killing brought on a flurry of rulemaking that sought to limit officer discretion and insure that cops got penalized for the blunders they did make. Consider, for example, the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act”.  Although it never made it out of the Senate, the proposed Federal law would have abolished the defense of qualified immunity, which protects officers from private lawsuits. It would have also required that jurisdictions receiving Federal law enforcement funds adopt Federal use-of-force standards and participate in a national police misconduct registry.

     Meanwhile, California State Senate Bill 2 sits on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. [See 10/1/21 update.] If he signs it, State authorities could investigate alleged police wrongdoing anywhere in the Golden State and, should they find misconduct, revoke officers’ peace officer status – meaning, put them out of a job – no prosecution necessary. According to the measure’s author, a Los Angeles-area State Senator, “we’ve seen 150 years of police policing themselves and it doesn’t work.”  There have even been moves to do away with police departments altogether. Minneapolis voters will have a chance this November to “replace” their police force “with a Department of Public Safety which could include licensed peace officers (police officers) if necessary...” (emphasis ours).

     “Replacing” cops, though, seems an incomplete remedy. What the Minneapolis initiative wouldn’t “replace” is criminals. If it takes effect – and we doubt it will – and if crime keeps taking place – and we’re sure it will – someone will still have to interact with suspects and witnesses, gather evidence and make arrests. They’ll quickly discover what their badge-carrying forerunners well knew: policing doesn’t come close to providing the clarity that practitioners of more peaceable occupations take for granted. Is that citizen reaching for a cell phone or a gun? Would being “nice” gain compliance or encourage flight? Essays in our “Compliance and Force” section frequently refer to the reluctance by some members of the public to voluntarily comply with officer orders and requests. Check out “Dancing With Hooligans.” It’s somewhat colorfully subtitled “For street cops every day’s a reality show.  And that reality is often unpleasant.”

     No, officers don’t always behave wisely. As we’ve often pointed out (e.g., “Speed Kills”) rushed, “split-second” decisions can easily precipitate tragic endings. Cop personalities also vary. Some officers are chronically impulsive; others seem unwilling to accept even a smidgen of risk. Still, deciding whom to stop or chase, when to use force, and, most importantly, how much and of what kind, requires that cops exercise considerable autonomy. Yet the trend is clearly to tighten that leash. Consider Chicago’s mammoth new foot-chase policy. Characterized as a “no-foot-chase policy” by the leader of the police union, the new rule was adopted without significant officer input. Coming in at (our count) 5,777 words, three times the length of its predecessor, it forbids foot chases when, among other things, “the established reasonable articulable suspicion or probable cause is solely for a criminal offense less than a Class A misdemeanor (a sentence of less than one year of imprisonment) and the person...poses no obvious threat to the community or any person [or] has no obvious medical or mental health issues that pose a risk to their own safety.”

     Got it? Now implement that on the street!

     Something else accompanied the pandemic and the killing of George Floyd. As rulemaking soared, so did homicide. Milwaukee had 190 murders in 2020. That’s supposedly “the most ever recorded” and nearly twice its previous year’s toll. Notoriously violence-fraught Chicago endured half-again as many murders in 2020 as in 2019 (there’s been an appalling 558 so far in 2021.) Los Angeles and New York City endured steep 2019-2020 increases as well (47 percent and 38 percent respectively). And our nation’s violence-troubled capital experienced a lesser but still considerable jump of 19 percent.

     Why did murder sharply increase? Some attribute it to an exit of cops. “Elevated police turnover following the summer of George Floyd protests,” a recent article in Criminology & Public Policy,  confirmed that an exit did occur. We were able to readily gather the number of sworn officers pre- and post-pandemic for Milwaukee, New York City and Los Angeles. Data for 2019 came from the UCR. Since its 2020 release is not yet in, we used city-linked websites for more recent numbers. (Click here for Milwaukee’s 2020 numbers, here for New York City’s 2021 numbers, and here for L.A.’s 2021 numbers.) Sworn employee staffing modestly declined in each city; all were in the five-percent range. Milwaukee reported 1832 sworn officers in 2019 and 1738 in 2020 (-5.1%). New York City went from 36,563 in 2019 to 34,770 as of September 2021 (-4.9%). Los Angeles, which had 10,002 officers in 2019, reported 9,432 as of August 2021 (-5.7%). [Note: See 9/29/21 update for 2019-2020 comparo using newly-released UCR data]

     Cause and effect, right?

     Well, not so fast. While the “elevated turnover” article did mention that “fewer officers per capita have been linked to higher crime rates,” it didn’t probe further. And to complicate things, another article in the same issue, “Crime, quarantine, and the U.S. coronavirus pandemic” reported that property crimes, drug crimes, robberies and aggravated assaults went down. At some point, a reduction in sworn staff would likely lead to more crime, of whatever kind. But whether a relatively small decline (five percent) would precipitate a spike in murder seems questionable. After all, the ninety-five percent of cops who remain are still doing their jobs, right?

     Well, not so fast. To be sure, intensively patrolling afflicted areas to discourage gunslinging and other loutish behavior had become a popular police practice. “Geographically focused” and “hot spots” have been deemed successful at preventing crime by both NIJ and independent scholars (“Hot spots policing and crime reduction”, Journal of Experimental Criminology, 2019). Unfortunately, when these approaches are implemented, productivity pressures and the uncertainties of the street can create an abundance of “false positives” – meaning that lots of citizens get needlessly hassled (“Turning Cops Into Liars” and “Driven to Fail”). High-crime areas are often predominantly populated by citizens of color, so they bear the brunt of these errors (“Scapegoat I” and “Scapegoat II”). Bottom line: by the end of the last decade, blowback over alleged racial profiling led police departments – New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, to mention three – to throttle back. That easing became even more pronounced after George Floyd.

     Something else might also be at work. In a recent assessment, the typically “progressive” New York Times blamed an increase in the Big Apple’s gun violence on a purposeful slowdown by disaffected cops. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time that officers have held back. Intense criticism and heightened oversight brought on by controversial shootings propelled “police slowdowns” in Baltimore, Chicago and Minneapolis during the mid-2010’s (see “Police Slowdowns”). Now consider all the negative, anti-police sentiment that followed the killing of George Floyd. All those new, complex rules. Really, one would expect cops to become at least somewhat disenchanted. Who wouldn’t?

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     And let’s look beyond police behavior. “Has COVID-19 Changed Crime? Crime Rates in the United States during the Pandemic,” a recent article in the American Journal of Criminal Justice, suggests that increased stress and reduced personal mobility brought on by the virus created a “rampant opportunity for intimate partner violence, serious batteries, and homicides.” So throw that in as well. Somewhat fewer, decidedly less-enthusiastic cops applying less-than-optimal strategies at a time when citizens are going bonkers. Are we closer to explaining the severity of the murder spike?

     Well, back to the future! LAPD recently brought back that “bad old” hot spots approach for another go-round. Ditto, Chicago and New York City. And we’re happy that a proven approach is getting a second look. Applying effective strategies while assuring that targets are selected with great care is a perfect mission for those highly autonomous public servants we call “cops.” As to that, we cut them no slack.  While the “exchange agreement” entitles them to certain benefits – like a good salary – it doesn’t give them the right to “slow down” or otherwise slough off. Police officers have awesome responsibilities. They must strive to do their best no matter how often managers and public officials change their ever-loving minds. In the end, if a cop can’t do their daily best on the street, it really is best that they resign.

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Use of Force section     Stop & Frisk/Hot Spots section     COVID-19 section     George Floyd section

De-Prosecution? What’s That?     Punishment Isn’t a Cop’s Job (I)  (II)  (III)     Massacres, in Slow-Mo

In Two Fell Swoops     Is the “Cure” Worse than the “Disease”?     Regulate. Don’t “Obfuscate”

Turning Cops Into Liars     R.I.P. Proactive Policing?    Scapegoat (I)  (II)    Driven to Fail     Speed Kills

Police Slowdowns (I)  (II)     Dancing With Hooligans     Making Time     When Cops Kill

Of Hot-Spots and Band-Aids

ANOTHER VICTIM: THE CRAFT OF POLICING

Ronald Greene succumbed to police abuse one year before
George Floyd. How they perished was appallingly similar.

     For Police Issues by Julius (Jay) Wachtel. “Let me see ‘em...let me see your [curse] hands...[curse]...” Louisiana State Trooper Dakota DeMoss’ body camera graphically captured what happened (and what was said) during the early morning hours of May 19, 2019 when he and a colleague forcefully extracted the driver of a recklessly-driven vehicle that crashed after a prolonged pursuit. (Click here for LSP’s video channel, here for the full bodycam video of the initial encounter and here for our edited clip of the arrest.)

     Ronald Greene, 49 isn’t armed. Neither does he forcefully resist, at least in any conventional sense. But his confused mental state, clumsiness and immense size (shades of George Floyd) clearly irritate the officers, and one promptly shoots him with a Taser. That rough handling – and virtually non-stop cursing – continues as troopers drag Mr. Greene from the car and place him on the ground, belly down. That’s when the impaled dart comes into view (left.) An officer – according to news reports, DeMoss – tells Mr. Greene to “put your hands behind your back, [curse]” but the scared, disoriented man seems unable to comply. Arms outstretched, he whimpers “I’m sorry.” After some blows and a long string of unproductive curses, a trooper delivers another jolt through the Taser (right). Mr. Greene continues whimpering and begging for mercy, but troopers ignore his protests and, handcuffs affixed, order him to lay on his stomach.

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     Unlike what happened to George Floyd, once Mr. Greene was handcuffed he wasn’t constantly pressed into the ground. Still, troopers repeatedly warned him to stay on his stomach and occasionally applied force to that effect. Our top image, taken at 5:40 am, about twelve minutes into the encounter, depicts an officer pressing on Mr. Greene as he orders “don’t you turn over, lay on your belly, lay on your belly” (click here for a brief video clip.) But a few moments later another bodycam video (click here) shows two troopers watching over Mr. Green as he partially sits up.

     Many other aspects of this encounter resemble what happened to George Floyd. Troopers handled Mr. Greene very roughly, especially at first. They forcefully extracted him from his car, delivered multiple blows with their fists and jolted him repeatedly with a Taser. Mr. Greene. like Floyd, behaved oddly, mumbling supplications to Lord Jesus in a high-pitched tone of voice. As it turns out, he was also under the influence of a powerful drug: in his case, cocaine. Rough treatment, frail mental and physical health and chemical intoxication comprise the bedrock of the syndrome known as “excited delirium.” A Minneapolis cop thought that it applied to George Floyd. Louisiana’s Union Parish Coroner reportedly identified it as the underlying cause of Mr. Greene’s death: “cocaine induced agitated delirium complicated by motor vehicle collision, physical struggle, inflicted head injury, and restraint.”

     Throughout the first fifteen minutes or so Mr. Greene was conscious and talkative. But as time passed he became unresponsive. This image, taken about 5:46 am, depicts troopers as they begin rendering aid. An ambulance was called. Unlike what happened to Mr. Floyd, troopers closely attended to Mr. Greene after his collapse (click here for a clip.) Alas, it proved too little, too late.

     It’s not that Mr. Greene shouldn’t have been arrested. He was mentally and physically unwell, under the influence of a narcotic, and in no shape to drive. Mr. Greene reportedly ran a stop sign and a traffic light, and during the chase a trooper anxiously radioed that “we got to do something” as Mr. Greene’s car was speeding down the “wrong side of the road” and “could kill somebody.” Yet watch that video clip of the arrest. Mr. Greene’s handling by the two troopers who first encountered him was abominable. Here’s what one of these officers (we think, DeMoss) told another trooper by radio as an ambulance rushed Mr. Greene to the hospital (click here for the clip with audio):

Well, I think this guy was drunk...and I think he was wet...and I beat the ever-luving ‘fuck out of him, choked him and everything else trying to get him under control...and we finally got him in handcuffs when [someone else] got there, and the sonofabitch was still fighting with me and still wrestling with me...gotta hold him down since he was spittin’ blood everywhere. And all of a sudden he just went limp. Yeah, I thought he was dead. We set him up real quick...he’s on an ambulance enroute to...and I’m haulin’ ass trying to catch up to them.

Tragically, the recipient of that transmission, Trooper Chris Hollingsworth, an 18-year veteran, reportedly perished in an off-duty auto accident “shortly after learning he was being fired for his role in Greene's death.”

     If all we expect from police is to handle recalcitrant persons however they wish, our “Selection and Training” section – indeed, our entire website – is superfluous. When it comes to the arrest of George Floyd and Ronald Greene, my non-police neighbors would have done better. Of course, so would most other cops. Officers run into clearly troubled characters such as Mr. Greene as a matter of course. And as a matter of course they apply patience and some good-natured persuasion to avoid needlessly turning to force. When involved in fraught encounters, most cops follow the rules of their intricate and demanding craft. They brush off intrusive thoughts such as anger and frustration because they know that getting emotional can poison their decisions. As we’ve said before, there’s absolutely nothing new about the trendy concept of “de-escalation”; cops who respect their craft – and we assume they’re in the vast majority – have faithfully practiced its precepts since the times of Robert Peel.

     Yet cops are human, so exceptions keep popping up. Minneapolis was one. We quickly “diagnosed” ex-cop Chauvin’s actions as an effort to discipline and humiliate. It’s why our essay, posted eleven days after the tragedy, was entitled as shown. What happened to Mr. Greene in Louisiana seems equally appalling. Whatever notions of “craft” the first officers on scene might have had were instantly extinguished by waves of anger.

     But the troopers were experienced cops. This wasn’t their first pursuit. They weren’t assaulted or shot at. So why all the rage? In “Angry Aggression Among Police Officers” (Police Quarterly, March 2003) Sean P. Griffin and Thomas J. Bernard surmise that the chronic stressors of policing can make officers aggressive, and that they’re prone to take it out on the most vulnerable. So who might that be? As Jeannine Bell argues in “Dead Canaries in the Coal Mines: The Symbolic Assailant Revisited,” (34 Georgia State University Law Review 513, 2018) citizens who fit a certain Black male stereotype may be at particular risk. She cites the examples of Tamir Rice, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. And now we can add George Floyd. And Ronald Greene.

     We’re not arguing that police abuses are inevitable. Officer personalities vary, and at least in this writer’s experience, most cops seem to handle the burdens of their craft rather well. Unfortunately, agencies have failed to correct officers who repeatedly goof up. As we discussed in “Third, Fourth and Fifth Chances,” failure to reign in errant cops can easily lead to disaster. And we have a ready example. On February 8, 2021, nearly two years after his force-rich, expletive-laden confrontation with Mr. Greene, Trooper DeMoss and two LSP colleagues were booked by their own agency on misdemeanor charges of “simple battery and malfeasance in office” for using excessive force and turning off their body cameras during a 2020 traffic stop.

    And just as we “go to press” the craft of policing suffers additional blows:

• Washington State authorities announced the arrest of three Tacoma police officers on murder and manslaughter charges for needlessly pummeling, choking and Tasering Manuel Ellis, a 33-year old Black man, during a seemingly minor encounter on March 3rd. Mr. Ellis complained that he couldn’t breathe, and then he died. (See 1/18/24 update)
   
• Los Angeles prosecutors filed perjury charges against a promising L.A. County sheriff’s deputy for lying during a preliminary hearing. Deputy Kevin Honea, 33 testified that he found a  handgun in the front of a vehicle. Its ready availability helped bind over the car’s occupants on robbery charges. In fact, a motel security camera showed that another deputy found the weapon in a box in the car’s trunk.

      Would Trooper DeMoss be facing charges over a year-old traffic stop had Mr. Greene’s death not  become a matter of national interest? Would the speedy decision to prosecute the Tacoma officers – we haven’t looked into their culpability, but things look bleak – have happened in the absence of Derek Chauvin’s trial and conviction? Ditto, Deputy Honea. While his superiors ascribed his testimony to “sloppiness” and levied a brief suspension, L.A. County’s new, progressively-minded D.A., George Gascon, took a far sterner approach.

     Examining policing under a microscope is no longer a thing of the “future.”

     What’s our takeaway? As we pitched in “More Rules, Less Force?” positive change can’t be accomplished by simply making more rules. Instead we must focus on “craft.” Police must redouble their efforts to advance the practice of their demanding vocation. In “Why Do Officers Succeed?” (Police Chief, July 2020, p. 26) we suggested that agencies collect examples of good work within their own ranks and use them “to stimulate dialogue about quality policing and the paths to that end.”

Officers could be asked to describe recent episodes of fieldwork whose outcomes they found especially gratifying. Examples might range from the seemingly mundane, such as gaining critical information from a hostile resident, to the more noteworthy, say, peacefully and safely taking a dangerous and combative suspect into custody. To learn how these successes came about, officers would be asked to identify the factors they believe helped produce such good results.

Imagine roll-call sessions that focus on craft. And supervisors and senior officers who convey their perspectives about what makes for quality policing to young cops. And should the “uncrafty” take place, promptly step in.

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     No, that’s not dreaming. And while we don’t discount formal training, the actual workplace seems to exert the greatest influence on how things actually get done. It’s where craftspersons – nurses, physicians, soldiers, plumbers, automobile mechanics and, yes, cops – get “broken in” to their demanding occupations. Naturally, agencies would have to pitch in. Most importantly, they would have to reel in pressures to make “numbers” that, as we’ve repeatedly complained, can stretch the notion of quality to its breaking point.

     Or we can keep driving down this unimaginative, bleak road. It does have an end. It’s called “defunding.”

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THIRD, FOURTH AND FIFTH CHANCES

Some cops repeatedly avoid meaningful sanctions.
Then disaster strikes.

     For Police Issues by Julius (Jay) Wachtel. Let’s begin with a colorful quote:

Lots of times some skell [a mope] is fighting a cop tooth and nail, then a cop loses control, which is easy to do, and then you lose your temper and somebody videotapes you, and the next thing you know you’re losing your job.

      Retired NYPD sergeant Mike Bosak’s words aptly describe the potentially career-busting perils his former colleagues faced on the morning of April 10, 2009 when a horde of student protesters burst through the doors of The New School, a local university. Video footage taken inside the institution depicted officers going about their business calmly as students staged a sit-in. But what happened in the chaos of the streets was something else, with officers chasing  protesters in a helter-skelter fashion reminiscent of the Keystone Cops.

     That’s what worried the former sergeant. Watch as that angry cop aggressively approaches a student who’s yelling “shame on you!” and shoves him to the ground. Fortunately the shovee was not seriously hurt. But imagine the consequences had the young man’s head forcefully struck the pavement. Such as what happened to the senior citizen protester in “Gold Badges”.

     Your writer can personally attest that officers habitually shrug off taunts and worse. Yet many cops are burdened with colleagues who repeatedly manifest poor self-control. As headlines regularly remind us, when armed humans lose their cool the consequences can be dreadful. In a recent investigative piece, “The Bad Cops: How Minneapolis protects its worst police officers until it’s too late,” the Minnesota Reformer reviewed records of citizen complaints against Minneapolis officers between 2013-2019. It found 1,924. Sixty percent were closed without action. Thirty-five percent led to “coaching”; two percent to “mediation.” Discipline was imposed in three percent of cases. Those 53 included 24 suspensions, 22 letters of reprimand, one demotion, and a relatively measly six firings.

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     Over the years Minnesota news outlets have chronicled the saga of a certain veteran officer and police union functionary. We’ll refer to him as MPD1. According to Minnesota Public Radio MPD1 was the subject of “more than 30” complaint investigations between 2000-2016. While most were apparently closed without action, he received two letters of reprimand in 2012 and was suspended twice in 2013.

     MPD1’s first incident of note happened in 2011, when he and another officer severely kicked a man whom they suspected had a gun. Their target, whom they rendered unconscious, turned out to be unarmed. He sued, and the city eventually paid out $85,000. Yet that didn’t slow the officer down. One year later an online video shows MPD1 choking one activist and dousing others with pepper spray. Those scenes are followed by a clip that depicts his rough handling of a news photographer during an earlier encounter.

     Fast-forward to December 2013. That’s when MPD1 allegedly kicked a handcuffed prisoner in the face as he sat in a patrol car, breaking the eighteen-year old’s nose and jaw and knocking out his two front teeth. Again there was litigation. And again officer MPD1 remained on active duty. Eight months later, in August 2014, he and a partner responded to a domestic disturbance call. A video of the encounter shows MPD1 pushing a woman to the ground right after she opens the front door, then again once he’s inside (top photo). He also allegedly called her a profanity.

     That proved too much for Chief Janee Harteau. She placed MPD1 on leave. Her words clearly foretold her intentions:

Public trust and procedural justice is vital in our ability to effectively protect and serve, and as a result I have lost all confidence in [MPD1’s] ability to serve the citizens of Minneapolis due to his poor judgment and his lack of integrity.

MPD1’s behavior does seem awfully heavy-handed, and he was fired. But in October 2016 an arbitrator decided that his conduct, while out of line, didn’t warrant termination. Punishment was reduced to a week’s suspension and MPD1 was awarded back pay. Chief Harteau promptly communicated her displeasure:

I am disappointed in the arbitrator's decision. These rulings hinder my ability, as a Police Chief, to create an effective culture of accountability within the Department.

     So she took another tack. Minneapolis had paid $360,000 to the victim of the 2013 kick-in-the-face. But its internal investigation of MPD1 was set aside when he was fired for pushing the woman. Keeping MPD1 on paid leave, Chief Harteau reopened the earlier case, and in February 2019 fired him again. This time the arbitrator (same one as before) saw things differently:

This amounts to six serious use of force violations in the period from 2012 to 2015. This pattern of continued use of force violations poses a significant problem for the MPD. This conduct damages police-community relations and subjects the City to the potential of significant civil liability.

     MPD1’s termination was final in November 2019. But he’s not the reason why Chief Harteau lost her job. That can be blamed on another officer. We’ll refer to him as MPD2. In July 2017 he shot and killed Justine Damond Ruszczyk as she walked up to his idling patrol car. MPD2 didn’t realize that Ms. Ruszcyk was the 9-1-1 caller and found her unexpected approach frightening. At the time MPD was already in the hot seat over a series of incidents, including the killing of Jamar Clark two years earlier. So after promptly agreeing that “Justine didn’t have to die” Chief Harteau resigned. State agents assembled a case against MPD2. He was convicted of murder and manslaughter in 2019 and sentenced to 12½ years. Minneapolis settled the family’s wrongful death lawsuit for $20 million.

     MPD2 had only two years on the job when he killed Ms. Ruszczyk. During that time he amassed three complaints: one led to a lawsuit, and two remained under investigation. If that doesn’t seem like much, consider keeping up that pace for, say, nineteen years. That’s how long former MPD officer Derek Chauvin had served when he was filmed kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. By then he had accumulated eighteen complaints. But “only” two led to discipline! Update: During the hiring process two psychiatrists questioned MPD2’s “fitness for duty,” in part because he seemed more likely to become impatient with citizens over minor matters. MPD2 had also “reported disliking people and being around them.”

     It’s not just Minneapolis. Troubled officers have been linked to tragic events across the U.S. “Should Every Town Field Its Own Cops?” offered several examples. Among them is the well-known 2014 episode where a rookie Cleveland cop shot and killed Tamir Rice, a 12-year old boy who was playing with a toy gun. Cleveland hired the officer even though his former agency asked him to leave after only one month for behavioral reasons. His applications were rejected by a long string of departments, but Cleveland took him on anyways.

     Litigation over police misconduct has bedeviled American cities. Recent pieces in the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal reveal that local governments have been forking over eye-popping amounts to settle claims of officer abuse:

• Chicago: About $253 million since 2015
• Dallas: $3.7 million since 2015
• Detroit: $28.5 million since 2015
• District of Columbia: More than $40 million since 2016
• New York City: More than $1.1 billion since 2015
• Los Angeles County: More than $238 million since 2015

     Neither article tracks the damage caused by cops with dodgy histories. However, according to the Washington Post, five D.C. settlements since 2015 involve the same cop. One payout, for $25,000, was supported by video that “shows [the officer] pinning [the complainant’s] arms with his knees, pummeling him and showering him in pepper spray.” This officer was also twice accused of harassment in 2016. Both complaints were sustained and he got “additional training.” And yes, he’s still on the job.

     Thanks to all the attention, the issue of so-called “bad apple” cops may be gaining more traction. But one well-traveled expert isn’t holding his breath. “The review process,” says former police chief Daniel Oates, “is staggeringly favorable to bad cops.” Mr. Oates, a lawyer who commanded NYPD intelligence and led the Ann Arbor, Aurora and Miami Beach police departments blames chiefs’ powerlessness on “a combination of state and local laws, union contracts, and past labor precedents.” State peace officer “bill of rights,” as in Florida, and civil service commissions that seem eager to reverse disciplinary decisions only add to the difficulties.

     On the other hand, strict controls have reportedly led to officer “slowdowns.” It’s not just about rogue cops. Citizen fears about overly passive officers can erode a chief’s standing as well. In fall 2020, as she prepared to assume the prestigious mantle of IACP President, then-Santa Monica police chief Cynthia Renaud came under withering fire over her alleged failure to unleash the troops so they could effectively counter the “widespread looting and vandalism” that beset the coastal enclave. Indeed, the pressure became so pronounced that Chief Renaud reluctantly retired.

     So what can be done about “bad apples”? At present, the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training maintains a national, non-governmental index that identifies officers who have been decertified by state peace officer licensing authorities. It’s for agency use only. In June 2020 President Trump issued an executive order directing DOJ to develop a database that, in addition to decertifications, includes on-duty criminal convictions “and civil judgments against law enforcement officers for improper use of force.” That remains a work in progress.

     USA Today has also stepped in. Working with the Citizens Police Data Project, which focuses on Chicago cops, it has assembled information on “at least 200,000 incidents of alleged misconduct” involving about 85,000 law enforcement officers across the U.S. At present, searches are limited to decertified officers.

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     According to the Los Angeles Times, a national registry of officer misconduct was first proposed in the 1994 Federal crime bill. However, we found that the enacted provision restricts using data to “research or statistical purposes” and prohibits including “any information that may reveal the identity of the victim or any law enforcement officer.” So its utility in controlling rogue cops seems nil.

     Policing is a craft whose proper exercise requires a great deal of skill and courage. Good cops – and they’re the vast majority – don't want to work with thoughtless, impulsive colleagues. No doubt there are many officers, managers and chiefs who would very much like to improve things. But given our deeply polarized sociopolitical environment, substantial improvements will likely have to wait. For the foreseeable future, third, fourth and fifth chances will in many places remain the norm.

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