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why do police officer use unnecssary force to handle very small situations especially with African Americans?

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Community Relations Service
U.S. Department of Justice

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A CONCILIATION HANDBOOK FOR THE POLICE and THE COMMUNITY

June 1999 (Updated June 2002)

Community Relations Service

The Community Relations Service (CRS) is a U.S. Department of Justice agency created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to help resolve community racial conflict through non-coercive, third party intervention. CRS is called upon to assist communities to resolve disputes arising from alleged police use of excessive force. As a result, agency conciliators have developed extensive experience with the issues involved in those incidents.

When the parties request, CRS conducts formal negotiations to determine whether the differences between the police and the community can be resolved. In addition to formal negotiations, CRS provides a wide range of informal assistance that attempts to keep communications open among the affected parties and to facilitate a mutually acceptable resolution of the conflict. CRS offers its services either upon request or on its own initiative, when is threat of disruption to peaceful community relations.

The Community Relations Service (CRS) is headquarted in Washington, D.C., and has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle. Assistance may be requested from any of these offices.
Preface
Community disturbances resulting from the police use of excessive or deadly force continue to plague many American communities. Law enforcement is an important societal function and its effectiveness is hampered when tensions exist between the police department and the public it serves.

Over and over, one thing we have learned, is that good policing practices are essential to developing community support. Other elements include trust and confidence in the administration of justice. With this foundation, the prospect of successfully dealing with the potential for violent disturbances in the community is greatly enhanced. Moreover, a healthy relationship between the police and the community diminishes the prospect of the police using excessive force at all.

From Community Relations Service's (CRS) 35 years of conciliation experience in the area of race relations, we are convinced that incidents of police use of excessive and lethal force can be prevented, and the turmoil in the communities in the aftermath of such an incident can be reduced; civil unrest and disorder is not a necessary consequence of such a terrible tragedy.

This guidebook was developed to give the police and community groups options for addressing any controversy surrounding the police use of excessive or deadly force. Even after pursuing formal avenues like criminal prosecutions and civil litigation, we are still left with the need to address the underlying, unresolved concerns.

We have laid out some practical guidelines for resolving community disputes involving excessive or deadly use of force disputes. A conciliation approach is an effective method for resolving police-community conflicts. Thus we would like to share CRS' professional conciliators' collective experience.

The original handbook was published in May, 1982. In that publication, we tried to capture the essence of a meeting that CRS co-sponsored with the National Urban League and the League of United Latin American Citizens on police-minority community cooperation. Others present at that meeting included representatives of minority organizations, police executives, line officers, public officials, and civic leaders from across the country.

While the 1982 document has served CRS well over the years, this edition reflects some updates. In the Spring of 1999, CRS brought four nationally recognized chiefs of police together with experienced CRS conciliators and staff to review the 1982 handbook. As a result, this guidebook includes recent developments in community policing and other police/community dynamics. This handbook also focuses on steps that have the most potential for bringing about beneficial change in police/community relationships.

CRS has produced many other useful and informative publications over time. One in particular, Principles of Good Policing: Avoiding Violence Between Police and The Community, is a lengthier publication with a more detailed discussion of the same topics and issues in this guidebook. It contains sections on police policies, training modules, and examples of how some police departments and community groups address the use of force issue. CRS has also developed a Bulletin entitled Police Use of Force - Addressing Community Racial Tensions, which highlights best practices, as illustrated by CRS' casework.

CRS' mission is to help promote communication between the police and the community. Toward these ends, we hope you will find these materials useful, and we hope to continue working in cooperation with you to provide a quality service in reducing racial tensions in communities across our nation.

There still is a large gulf between how the criminal justice system is viewed by Black and White Americans. There is no other area where the potential for misunderstanding can have such dangerous consequences.

Acknowledgments
CRS wishes to thank the police chiefs who participated in the review of the 1982 handbook. They are: Commissioner Paul Evans, Boston (Massachusetts) Police Department; Chief John S. Farrell, Prince George's County (Maryland) Police Department; Chief Reuben Greenberg, Charleston (South Carolina) Police Department; and retired Superintendent Matt Rodriguez, Chicago Police Department. CRS also recognizes the contributions of the staff who participated in this updating effort; namely, Byron Wong, Special Advisor to the Director; Patricia Glenn, Regional Director; Marty Walsh, Regional Director; and Tommy Battles, Senior Conciliator. CRS also acknowledges Mark A. Cunniff, Executive Director of the National Association of Criminal Justice Planners, for his editorial work in incorporating all the recommended changes of the participants in this process into the revised handbook.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction
II Community Policing: A Framework for Managing the Use of Force
III. Police Community Bridge Building IV. Policies on Use of Force V. Responding to Civilian Complaints & Excessive Force CRS Customer Service Standards "Law enforcement and community leaders agree that simply reducing the nation's crime rate cannot be the only barometer of police success. The means used to accomplish crime reduction must be as important as the results themselves. The success of crime reduction is diminished if community trust declines as well. Crime reduction strategies must be consistent with democratic principles. The two are not mutually exclusive. The end does not justify the means. As community leaders and law enforcement professionals, we will not tolerate inequity in our departments, or in the treatment of our citizens. We will not tolerate the use of excessive force or discrimination in any form."

Thomas C. Frazier
President, Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)
& Commissioner of Police, Baltimore, Maryland
April 8, 1999

I. Introduction

The scenario is a now familiar one: a police officer, attempting an arrest, fatally shoots an African American, Hispanic American, or other minority person. Word spreads quickly through the deceased's community that the person was unarmed. Crowds gather and rock-throwing begins. There are injuries and arrests. The following day, minority leaders charge that the shooting was unjustified and demand the immediate arrest and indictment of the police officer involved. The police chief refuses to arrest the officer involved, the prosecutor does not indict the officer on grounds that there is insufficient evidence of any wrongdoing, and the next several days are marked by demonstrations, stepped-up police patrols, and further arrests. Finally, the reaction subsides, and the police and protestors settle into an uneasy truce.

Few police officers or minority members, given the option, would choose the state of affairs depicted in this composite incident to characterize their relationship. Even though deaths are not always involved in incidents of police officer use of excessive force, unfortunate incidents similar to this occur all too frequently. These incidents raise the central question addressed in this handbook: is it possible for police and minorities to find means of dealing with their differences short of legal or legislative actions?
The Conciliation Approach
The answer clearly is yes. The power of conciliation to produce a mutually desirable outcome in even the most difficult circumstances is well established. Conciliation brings opposing parties together to hear each other's point of view and to find common ground. Because the parties may never have engaged in such a dialogue, the act of coming together may itself help to ease tensions and reduce misunderstandings. When conciliation produces a lasting solution to troubled police-minority relations, everyone benefits - aggrieved minority residents, the police, and the entire community. If conciliation efforts fall short, on the other hand, neither the police department nor minority community will have lost their options to pursue other courses of action available to them.

A conciliation effort requires that the police department and minority community look at their overall relationship. While a single issue, such as the department's firearms policy, may be the immediate cause of such a dialogue, no single issue exists in isolation from other departmental policies and practices. Minority leaders and the police chief, preferably with the support of city officials, have to approach each other with the willingness to pursue actions that offer the prospect of creating constructive change in the entire police-minority relationship. In the following pages actions are proposed for police departments and community organizations to break down the barriers to good relations and to deal constructively with the issues surrounding disputes of police officer use of excessive force.
Police-Community Relations
Controversy over firearms policy and use of excessive force is inseparately tied to the overall quality of relations between the community population and the police. Where police and all groups in the community develop good relations, friction generally is minimized. The perception of the police as concerned, professional, and fair leads to greater respect throughout all segments of the community. Likewise, police officers' confidence that they can count on the support of all the community population in the performance of their duties gives them a greater sense of confidence in doing their job. An effective police-minority relationship can contribute to the reduction in incidents of excessive police force. However, in the event, an incident of excessive force does occur, the public is more likely to respond with an open mind due to the positive relationships and trust built up with the police through daily experience.

Community organizations might consider two other possibilities as an aid to improving relations with police. Explore the establishment of communications links to professional police associations as well as with the police union, and institute an annual award for the police officer believed to have contributed most significantly to positive police-community relations. While it might seem at first glance that the two programs have few common interests, in many situations there are mutually beneficial grounds on which to cooperate.
Cultural Pluralism
American society has always been characterized by change in its racial and ethnic composition. At the start of the Twentieth Century, the U.S. population was largely made up of persons with a British Isles heritage and with the African American population concentrated in the southern part of the country. The immigration patterns at the start of the century brought an influx of southern and eastern Europeans. The industrial production precipitated by two world wars contributed to the migration of African Americans from the south to northern cities. The change in immigration laws in the 1970's, along with refugees from southeast Asia, broadened the representation of Asian Americans that had immigrated from China, Japan, and the Philippines during the preceding century. Job opportunities brought many immigrants from Mexico. Political turmoil in Central America also contributed to the growth of the Hispanic population in the country. Today, the United States is more diverse in religion, race, nationality and cultures than at any other point in its short history.

Racial and ethnic diversity is one of America's strengths, but this diversity also represents a challenge to policing. A police officer's lack of familiarity with the customs and mores of various ethnic and racial groups can lead to misunderstandings and conflict. Cultural parochialism wherein police officers are only familiar with their own heritage does not provide a solid foundation for effective policing. Cultural colonialism wherein the values of the dominant ethnic group in the department become those of the department is a prescription for friction between the police and the communities that they serve.

Police departments have to work hard to become familiar with the various ethnic and racial groups that they serve, to understand their languages, customs and traditions, and to establish mechanisms for communicating with them. A component of such communication ought to be in the department's articulation of its values in interacting with the community.

"Police officers have one of the hardest jobs there is. A police officer is charged with ensuring public safety, but she or he is also empowered to use force and, if necessary, to take a life to protect others from death or great bodily harm. The police are there to protect us from crime, but they must protect our rights at the same time. And to do their work effectively, the police must have the trust and confidence of the communities they serve. They must develop a partnership and a relationship with the citizens they protect.
Crime is a problem that all of us must work together to solve because no one of us can solve it alone. It is now time for all of us to come together in our communities, with citizens from all parts of the community, to build the trust and confidence of all Americans in law enforcement."

Janet Reno
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
National Press Club, Washington, D.C.
April 15, 1999

II. Community Policing: A Framework for Managing the Use of Force

One of the tenets of policing in the current era is the requirement for a cohesive community working with a responsive police department. (1) Violent confrontations between police and their service population does not support a cohesive community or a responsive police department. Unfortunately, unjustified violence between police and minority members is not something from an era of policing that is behind us, as evidenced by recent, well publicized cases across the county.
Community Policing
Some agencies never lost a community orientation in their policing. Some agencies may have recently regained their community orientation that was previously sidetracked due to the technological developments of the squad car and the two way radio. Other agencies may have never had a community orientation. Regardless of departmental history, community policing is a philosophy in which the police engage residents to solve problems in their communities.

Community policing is a broad concept that can take on many different forms among the host of local police agencies operating in the United States. Nevertheless, there are common elements that characterize a community policing approach. Community policing emphasizes the view that the community is a partner in the performance of the police mission. Community policing does not view the minority neighborhood as a territory to be occupied. The community has a role in keeping neighborhoods safe and free of the fear of crime.
Community Partnering
Departments operating under a community policing philosophy endeavor to understand the concerns of the community. This approach requires that line officers move from such narrow functions as writing up incident reports to developing interpersonal skills that enable them to engage people of all backgrounds, listen to their concerns and to devise collaborative responses to those concerns.

Eliciting community concerns can be accomplished through a variety of means, including: one-on-one contacts between the police officer and the public; the attendance at, and participation in, community meetings; and surveying residents about their concerns and priorities through the mail or on the phone. Collective problem solving is the key to effective community policing.

When police departments address issues that concern the community, better relations can develop between them. Being a good community police officer can also mean being a more effective crime fighter. Community policing makes residents partners for the police not only in their crime control efforts, but also in making improvements in the community's quality of life.
Problem Solving
Community policing creates a positive atmosphere for police community relations and provides the foundation for effective partnerships, even for assertive crime control initiatives. Assertive, however, does not have to mean abusive. A department can set objectives (reduce complaints, police shootings, and injuries to civilians) and then set out to shift the culture to accomplish these objectives by developing policies and procedures, training it officers and monitoring them for compliance.
Values and Culture of Policing in the New Millennium
The primary focus of this handbook is to assist police agencies and communities reduce violent confrontations between police officers and the public. The successful accomplishment of this objective should produce two major benefits. First, this would enhance the safety of both police officers and the residents whom they serve. Second, this objective will foster an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual respect between the police and the community. To initiate this process, a police department must determine whether its organizational culture is conducive to reducing violent confrontations between the police and the public.
The Police Culture
The "culture" of a police department reflects what that department believes in as an organization. These beliefs are reflected in the department's recruiting and selection practices, (2) its operational policies and procedures, its training and development, its reward systems, and ultimately the actions of its officers in delivering services.

Clearly all police departments have a culture. The key question is whether that culture has been carefully developed or simply allowed to develop without benefit of reflection or guidance. There are police agencies, for example, where the use of force is viewed as abnormal. Thus, when force is used in such an environment, the event receives a great deal of managerial and administrative attention. Such scrutiny reflects the department's culture: the use of force is viewed, and responded to, as an atypical occurrence.

Contrast such a department with one that does not view the use of force as abnormal. In such a department, there may be minimal written rules providing officers with policy guidelines regarding the use of force. There may be a lack of clearly articulated administrative procedures for tracking and investigating officers' use of force. Finally, and most importantly, the culture of these departments is such that officers may view the use of force as an acceptable way of resolving conflict with the public.

Over the past few years, there has been significant progress in improving police-community relationships. However, the major continuing source of friction between the police and the community today, especially in minority communities, is police use of deadly force. This is an age-old problem that continues to command national attention. The fact that this problem persists can be attributed in part to the culture of certain police departments.

There are ways to recreate or change the "culture" of a police department. In order to do so, one must analyze and understand the currently existing culture. Analyzing and understanding the past and current culture may mean acknowledging that "business as usual" has not always equated with "good business." Any organization that overvalues pride and tradition to the exclusion of sensitivity toward community values would find it difficult to acknowledge and rectify shortcomings. In order to move forward and to redefine their cultures, however, police departments have to learn how to operate differently. Change is not always comfortable or easy. Just as police chiefs have challenged their officers and supervisors to shift their philosophy of policing, so too must police executives challenge themselves to diagnose and understand their agencies' culture and to manage it differently.
Developing a Set of Values
The starting point for establishing a departmental culture is to develop and articulate a set of values. Such values serve a variety of purposes, including:

Setting forth a departmental philosophy of policing;

Stating in clear terms what a department believes in;

Articulating in broad terms the goals of the department;

Reflecting the community's expectations of the department;

Serving as a basis for developing policies and procedures;

Establishing the parameters for organizational flexibility;

Providing the basis for operational strategies;

Setting the framework for officer performance;

Establishing the framework for departmental evaluation.

The development of a set of values for a police department does not necessarily entail a lengthy list. Rather, a few values, when taken together, can embody what the department considers to be important. For example, if the department wants to create a service oriented culture, then that desire should be reflected in its set of values. The importance of values is qualitative, not quantitative. Values permeate the department, being reflected in its policy making decisions, written into its rules and procedures, incorporated into its training and providing the foundation for its goals. The values of a department are important because they set the standards for the quality of its performance.
Developing a Mission Statement
A mission statement describes the fundamental role of an organization in support of its vision; i.e., why it exists; its constancy of purpose, with a single overriding goal statement.

The role of government is to provide a wide variety of community services, including health, education, recreation, library and public safety services. The police department is one of the most important governmental services offered to the community. The mission of a police department should include such activities as: crime prevention; victim assistance; providing for the public's safety; protection of property; and the enforcement of the law.

III. Police Community Bridge Building

"In Boston, the department has been engaged in a comprehensive strategic planning process over the past several years. As part of that process, community stakeholders are identified and brought to the table to include their input on developing crime fighting strategies, as well as identifying neighborhood problems. Since 1994, every district station has opened this strategic planning process to supporters and critics of the police department, enabling both to voice their concerns and offer their remedies. Citywide surveys were taken in 1995 and 1997 to measure levels of fear and enable the department to act upon recommendations for better policing voiced by Boston's residents. Among those suggestions was a desire that the department personnel better reflect the neighborhoods they police. A commitment to diversity in recruiting efforts, coupled with special certifications for languages, has led to a department that is more representative of our various minority residents.
Since 1994, nearly 300 officers have been added to the department, while at the same time complains against officers have declined nearly 50 percent . . . Training, both recruit and in-service, has also emphasized respect and civility while interacting with members of the public . . . Boston's three pronged approach to violent crime (prevention, intervention and enforcement) has led to major decreases in violent crime throughout the city, especially among Boston's youth. A huge part of this success is due to continued education, and open lines of communication between the department and the communities it serves."

Paul Evans
Commissioner of Police
Boston, Massachusetts
April 9, 1999

Recruitment and Selection
Every police department benefits from a work force that reflects the racial-ethnic makeup of the community that it serves, but even the most sincere efforts to recruit minority police officers have sometimes met with only marginal success. Nevertheless, police departments should make every attempt to attain this objective.

Police and Personnel Roles

The police department's minority recruitment program needs to be well-organized and closely coordinated within and outside of the department. Aggressive recruitment at local colleges has proven to be a very effective technique for minority recruitment.

Responsibility for recruitment is sometimes split between a police department recruiting team and the locality's human resources agency (Civil Service), with no attempt to coordinate its efforts with that agency. In addition, personnel agencies have often limited their efforts to posting job announcements on bulletin boards and placing occasional advertisements in newspapers and law enforcement journals, an approach not likely to produce the desired results.

Within the police department, best results occur when responsibility for recruitment efforts are assigned to a specific, high ranking officer. An ideal recruiting team would be diverse in race and gender, reflecting the type of persons a department wants as police officers. Furthermore, the recruitment effort would be more effective if all members are thoroughly trained in the application and selection procedures so they can better assist applicants in preparing for, and complying with, these procedures.

Publicity is important too. The department should use all available communications channels, including neighborhood newspapers, public service announcements on radio and television, displaying posters where they are likely to be seen by the largest numbers of minority residents, and announcements at public meetings. In addition, minority community organizations can publicize the recruiting effort through their formal and informal communications channels.

Finally, in its efforts to recruit more minorities, the police department must remove unnecessary obstacles to the application process. For example, application forms are sometimes available only from the city personnel agency or the police department recruiting team. Efforts can be made to distribute the application forms, along with statements of required qualifications, to all police department facilities. These materials would be readily available to anyone who requests them.

Community Involvement

The police department's recruiting team work includes establishing ongoing relationships community organizations to establish liaison with the community's applicant pool. If there are several interested organizations, they could set up a working group to pursue common objectives, perhaps drawing on the expertise and resources of a local minority police officers' association. If such a local association exists, the community organizations may also explore the possibility of working cooperatively to establish a tutoring program to help applicants prepare for examinations and other aspects of the selection process.

Outreach to Youth

Each police department must determine the specific components of its minority recruitment program, but a key target group is minority youth. The relationship between a police department and the youth, especially minority youth, is a critical factor for the success of its recruitment efforts. There are several options that a police department may wish to consider in focusing on youth, such as implementing a cadet program or working with community organizations that sponsor youth activities.

Psychological Testing

The importance of the police function argues for keeping persons emotionally unsuited for the job from entering or remaining in police work. The predictive capacity of psychological tests may be limited, but even if such tests reveal only the most pronounced cases of emotional instability, psychological evaluations serve a purpose. Every police department benefits from the capability to evaluate applicants and officers already in the ranks.
Training
Police training should start with the department's mission statement and the training program should incorporate the values of the department. Training can have a positive impact in addressing negative relations between police and minorities. The department and its officers are best served with training that addresses real life situations and that the tactics being taught have demonstrated their effectiveness in meeting those situations that they are intended to address.

Community Cultural Diversity

To promote a better of the communities the recruits will be serving, police departments have incorporated human relations training specifically geared to understanding the cultural patterns and characteristics of these communities. Many veteran police officers talk about difficulties they experienced in minority and immigrant neighborhoods before learning about the ways and mores of the people who lived there. This is an area where the training could benefit by including members of the community in the program.

Aside from the question of content, there is the matter of how much time is devoted to human relations compared to other categories or training. What does it mean, for example, if a department's training academy devotes 75 of 250 hours of recruit training to firearms, but only 10 hours to human relations? While it may not be possible to draw a direct cause and effect inference, such a department may decide to reevaluate its situation, especially if it has been plagued by excessive force controversy and habitually poor relations with the minority community.

Communication Skills

Language problems may also represent an important training need. Where there are substantial Spanish-speaking populations, or other large language-minority groups, such as Asian refugees, the police department may need to develop a minimum language competency among its officers, at the same time attempt to hire individuals with the requisite language skills.

The objective of any language program would not to make officers fluent in a particular language. That would be impractical within the framework of available time and resources. Rather, the emphasis would be on learning key words likely to come up in police call situations.

Less than Lethal Tactics

Modern police training includes techniques to use the least amount of force necessary to overcome the subject. Consequently, there is a need to train police officers in the use of non-lethal weaponry. This might include use of such items as pepper spray, rubber bullets, "bean bags," and tasers. Police departments should also provide training in tactics that are useful in averting violence where confrontation is necessary. Some departments, for example, have developed "officer survival," "hostage negotiation," conflict resolution, and verbal skills courses. These courses have been credited with preventing physical conflict and saving the lives of many people, including officers and suspects. Such tactics reinforce the highest departmental priority of preserving life.

Community Involvement

In addition to involving community representatives in delivering parts of the training program, departments might also want to consider inviting interested residents to observe parts of the training program. This sends a message of police openness to the community and can contribute to breaking down some of the barriers between the police and the community, especially the minority communities.

IV. Policies on Use of Force

"Many believe that complaints automatically increase when enforcement increases. Our experience with a focused complaint reduction initiative challenges that belief. Intense officer training must precede aggressive enforcement. Strong supervision reinforced our strict emphasis on courtesy during citizen contacts. Professionalism mandated that the community was clearly informed of our mission to reduce crime; critical community outreach and support must be engendered. Our results are impressive; citizens complaints did not increase, but significantly decreased during a time period when traffic stops, investigative person checks, and arrests increased by 66%."

John S. Farrell
Chief of Police
Prince George's County, Maryland
February 1999

"Similarly, the police must respond to citizen perceptions regarding the police use of force. Although our data tell us its actual use is quite low, we must recognize that citizen fears and perceptions of the police must be taken seriously and dealt with on their own terms, lest they undermine trust and confidence in the police. Ultimately, the greatest guarantee of citizen safety is a relationship with the police based on mutual trust and respect. The greatest guarantee of officer safety is citizen support and approval."

Edward A. Flynn
Chief of Police
Arlington County, Virginia
April 8, 1999

The use of force by law enforcement officers is an unusual, but at times necessary, aspect of police officers' arrest and detention of alleged law violators. The absence of the use of force by law enforcement in performing its functions is the norm. Consequently, force is viewed as a necessary, but rare, occurrence.
The Legal Use of Deadly Force
Prior to 1985, a majority of the 50 states had laws that authorized the so-called "any-felony" policy - essentially, that police could use firearms or any other means of deadly force to arrest a person suspected of committing any felony. Some states permitted police officers by law to shoot fleeing persons, including those suspected of such property offenses as check forgery and auto theft. Other states had slightly more restrictive variants on the use of deadly force, limiting its use to persons suspected of having committed "forcible" felonies, such as a robbery. About 12 states had no statute at all on police use of deadly force.

In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Tennessee v. Garner (471 U.S. 1) placed restrictions police use of deadly force. The ruled that: "deadly force may not be used unless it is necessary to prevent the escape and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others."

Garner established a key legal parameter on the use of deadly force, but this decision does not resolve all of the issues surrounding the use of deadly force. Police departments still have a substantial responsibility in developing their own policies on the use of deadly force, training their officers in following these policies to carry out their duties, monitoring officer compliance with these policies, and establishing standard operating procedures for investigating all instances involving the use of deadly force.
Use of Firearms Policy
The question of firearms policy is central to the excessive force controversy. Many minority organizations and individuals consider a strict defense-of-life policy an absolute necessity; that is, they argue that an officer should shoot only to protect his life or the life of someone else. Some in the law enforcement community would argue that only minimal restrictions be placed on police discretion to judge when the use of lethal force is necessary, citing concern for the safety of police officers and the public.

The difficulty of determining the optimum firearms policy is described in a 1978 staff memorandum to the Seattle, Washington, City Council, as the Council prepared to enact new policy by ordinance:

As with many issues, the greatest difficulty public officials may have in dealing with the deadly force issue is that the differences of opinion do not arise from differences in fact, but from differences in basic values. The Council's task is to make an informed judgment tempered by competing interests, as expressed by the police, the community, the American Civil Liberties Union, and other interested groups. (3)

Regardless of state law restrictions on police use of deadly force, police departments retain the option of placing tighter restrictions on their own officers. Moreover, available evidence suggests that the establishment of a policy emphasizing a respect for the sanctity of human life reduces shootings without negative effects on law enforcement or public safety.

A key factor in how police officers use firearms is the attitude of the police chief. If the chief stresses conduct that respects the sanctity of human life, and follows up through close administrative review, line officers will respond accordingly.

The chief must take such a stand because there is little hope of alleviating hostile community relations if minority residents think that the police use deadly force against them indiscriminately. In this matter of deadly force, perception is as every bit as important as reality. If the community perceives that police officers can use deadly force indiscriminately, then that perception can be just as destructive to police/community relations as if that was the reality of the situation.

The critical nature of deadly force strongly suggests that police departments conduct thorough periodic reviews of their firearms policies and make changes, as necessary, to reduce the number of shootings. When police chiefs send the message of their concern over this issue to both the police and the community, officers will know that "the chief means business," and people in the community will not wrongly perceive the chief as uncaring.
Less Than Lethal Force
Providing officers with options for less than lethal force is strongly encouraged. However, the application of any less than lethal force or device should be managed and monitored in the same way as if that force could cause serious injury or even death. There is a need to proceed with caution in establishing the threshold for police use of less than lethal methods or devices when they are introduced into the department. Furthermore, officers should not be allowed to deploy any of these methods until they have been trained in their proper use.
Analyzing the Use of Force
Police departments benefit from a comprehensively review and analysis of each use of force by their officers. The purpose of such review and analysis would be to discern patterns in incidents and/or officer behavior that may have contributed to the use of force. Such analysis could be helpful in improving officer training or in revising departmental policies and procedures. The purpose for this type of review and analysis is to improve police response to occasions that can give rise to the use of force. This type of tracking can also help to identify officers who have a history of complaints, so that the department can take corrective actions with them. This type of review and analysis would be over and above any disciplinary or criminal investigation into officers' use of force.
Use of Persuasion
Persuasion can be an effective instrument in obtaining the suspect's cooperation in the criminal investigation and court processing of the case. There are options available to police officers when they need to arrest someone. Perhaps the most common option is the issuance of a citation for the suspect to appear in court. Such an approach is an effective means of having persons suspected of minor offenses to report voluntarily into custody and thus reducing the potential for the use of force to obtain a suspect's compliance.

V. Responding to Civilian Complaints & Excessive Force

The manner in which a police department responds to civilian complaints establishes a tone in police community relations. If the tone is negative, the community atmosphere can be very hostile when an incident of police use of excessive or lethal force occurs. On the other hand, if the tone is positive, the prospects of preventing any civil unrest arising out of an incident of lethal or excessive force is greatly enhanced. Before examining the issues surrounding the investigation of civilian complaints and incidents of excessive force, there is the need for the public to understand the authority of police officers.
Public Education
Discussion and analysis of previous controversies between the police and minorities have revealed a general need for a better community understanding of the "nuts and bolts" of the police department's mission and responsibilities. Community organizations can contribute to better police-community relations by educating their constituencies about the difficulties confronting officers on the street. No doubt most police departments could be counted on to cooperate with such a campaign.

Citizen academies have been initiated by police departments, providing residents with the opportunity to learn about local law enforcement, while providing community input to the departments about law enforcement issues that exist in their neighborhoods. With greater understanding of the police officer's role and responsibilities, minority members who have encounters with the police may be less likely to react in ways that could have negative consequences, perhaps reducing the number of incidents in which the use of police force ever becomes a factor.

For example, take the situation in which a person, who has done nothing wrong, is suddenly stopped by an officer. He or she may resent it. Consider the position of the officer, however, who is acting because the civilian, or his car, matches a description from a burglary or armed robbery a block away. In most cases, the officer will probably soon discover his mistake and be on his way. However, if the detainee resists physically, the situation could deteriorate and generate a complaint to be filed against the officer. While the police expect the subject to be cooperative in these situations, the public also expects the police to be courteous on such stops.
Civilian Complaint Process
Even the best department will receive complaints. The absence of faith in the legitimacy of the department's complaint procedure has figured prominently in many cities that have been troubled by allegations of excessive force. Police chiefs generally recognize the need for an open honest vehicle for members of the general public to seek the redress of their grievances involving alleged police misconduct. Most chiefs know that when a department conveys to the public that it is open to criticism and to examining allegations of abuse, officers can expect to gain the public's confidence in their policing efforts. The department's complaint procedure should be set forth in writing regardless of the size of the community or the department.

An open complaint process provides the aggrieved person with access to a responsive listener who will carefully record essential details of the allegation, explain pertinent requirements of the procedure, and advise of the options available to the party. The process should be relatively simple for the complainant to activate and should require a minimum of forms. Persons assigned to the complaint intake function should be carefully chosen for their patience, understanding and objectivity.

The chief should also consider whether the office responsible for receiving civilian complaints would benefit from being located away from the headquarters building to a location without any other police units. The public should feel free to file a legitimate complaint without fear of unwanted confrontation with officers who might be hostile to their reason for being there.

While the police carry the major burden in establishing and operating a fair investigatory process for civilian complaints, the public also has responsibilities in this matter as well. Police have voiced frustration over frivolous complaints as well as with the reluctance of complainants to comply with the legitimate requirements of the complaint process, such as the need in some instances to reduce allegations to a sworn statement. Until there is a wider understanding that such requirements are often valid, some residents will continue to blame the police department for an unwillingness to take action when the real problem may be the person's refusal to meet requirements of the process. Community organizations can make dissemination of such information a part of a public education campaign.
Internal Affairs
The majority of American communities have some form of police internal review of complaints against police officers. In small departments, a police officer, possibly a sergeant, will be responsible for receiving and investigating a civilian's complaint of abuse by an officer. Large police departments will have an internal affairs division (IAD) with several officers receiving and investigating civilian complaints of abuse. The chief of police reviews the internal reports and their recommendations. The chief then decides whether any disciplinary action will be taken, including, in the event there was a departmental trial board, acting on its recommendations.

There may be some confusion among community organizations about the purpose of the internal affairs division (IAD)of a police department. The key point to remember is that IAD does not have the responsibility to file criminal charges. That responsibility rests with the local prosecutor. Rather, the IAD investigation determines whether accused officers acted wrongfully and in violation of departmental policy. This is an administrative, not a criminal procedure.

A common criticism of internal affairs units is that someone who files a complaint often never hears anything further about the case. Providing a written response to complainants on all complaints filed is standard operating procedure for most departments. When the investigation is a long one, reports may be necessary at intervals to keep the complainant informed about the status of his or her case. Ultimately, however, each complainant should receive in writing the disposition of the complaint.

Because of such factors as confidentiality of employee records, the full investigative report may not be completely available. Nevertheless, the complainant can be provided with as much of the report as the law permits. At a minimum, however, the police department should inform the complainant whether the complaint was upheld or dismissed, and, if dismissed, why.
Civilian Oversight of Complaints
The availability of a legitimate and sound civilian complaint process offers a means for addressing accusations of police misuse of force in a fair manner. Community members, remembering previously unresolved complaints, may harbor expectations that the police department will discredit and dismiss the immediate complaint. Being without community support in the process at a moment of crisis runs a very high risk for the immediate crisis to escalate.

In an effort to enhance the credibility of the complaint review process, larger cities, and a few medium sized communities, have chosen to expand the complaint process from being a purely departmental review to one involving civilian input. There are a variety of forms that civilian review can take: from using community representatives to conduct systematic reviews of complaints to identify needed improvements in the internal review process to a hybrid approach that uses a board of review composed of police officers and civilians either to hear and adjudicate the complaint or to select police officers to serve as investigators for an all civilian review board. Each civilian review mechanism reflects that community's judgment of how best to meet the community's needs.

When a community explores the possible approaches for reviewing civilian complaints, the public debate can generate adamant positions for and against civilian involvement in the process. Fortunately, there is a growing body of research and anecdotal information about civilian and police review systems that provide options for addressing a community's concerns.
Investigations of the Use of Force
It is recommended that each use of force by officers be comprehensively reviewed and investigated to determine compliance with law and departmental policy, with appropriate action taken when needed. Determining the facts is critically important to the successful investigation of any police use of lethal or excessive force. There tends to be many units within the department, as well as agencies outside the department, that play a role in gathering the facts surrounding the case. There are also provisions prescribed by state and local laws that can circumscribe the investigative process. Finally, there are multiple audiences that have a stake in finding out what the investigation has uncovered.

Fact Collectors

The investigation of a police officer's use of force, especially deadly force, cannot be an ad hoc process. Police departments must have written procedures for identifying the roles and responsibilities of the various supervisors and specialized units that are to be involved in the investigation. These written procedures provide guidelines to supervisors as to their duties and responsibilities at the shooting scene.

For example, the officer's immediate supervisor is generally the first superior officer at the scene. The immediate supervisor is trained in, and given responsibility for, taking such rudimentary actions as protecting the integrity of shooting scene, separating the officer involved in the shooting from any other officers present, securing any weapons that were involved in the incident, etc.

There may be other public agencies, such as the medical examiner, that have to be notified about the incident. Where multi-agency involvement occurs with police shootings, it is advisable to enter into Memoranda of Understanding (MOU's) with the involved agencies, so that roles and responsibilities are delineated before an incident occurs. These MOUs can build community faith in the process and avoids the appearance that the police and the justice system are making up the rules as the investigation progresses.

Legal Provisions

Police officers have the same constitutional protections as any other individual; i.e., the right to an attorney, the right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures, and the right not to self incriminate. The police officer is also an employee who may have protections under the state's labor laws. These laws may limit the requests that the employer can make of the employee as well as the actions that the employer can take to secure the cooperation of the employee in an investigation.

With investigations of police use of excessive force, especially force that results in a fatality, there may be two distinct investigations occurring simultaneously: one for assessing whether the officer followed departmental policies in the use of force (internal); and another for assessing whether the officer committed any criminal offense (external). The results of an external investigation can be shared with an internal investigation. Information from an internal investigation, on the other hand, can be privileged, and so, may not be shared with the external investigation.

Agency and Justice Audiences

There are multiple parties that have an interest in the information generated at the scene both within the police department and outside of the department. Within the police department, chiefs need to know the facts so that they can brief local officials, the community and the media. In addition, the unit responsible for investigating the shooting needs the facts to undertake its investigation to determine whether any wrongdoing or violation of departmental policies has occurred. Other units, such as the training division, may also need the facts of the shooting in order to identify issues that might be addressed in recruit or in-service training.

Outside of the police department, there are other criminal justice agencies that have an interest in knowing the facts of the shooting, most notably the prosecutor. Generally the prosecution will involve only the local district attorney, but in some cases there may be a need to coordinate with state and/or federal prosecutors.

Public Information

There is a tension between informing the public about an incident and getting the facts on that incident. The release of incorrect information, however, can severely undercut the credibility of the police department. The department should have procedures for identifying who can make public statements, along with procedures for verifying information before it is released to the public.

Silence on certain aspects of the investigation may be viewed as stonewalling, when in fact, the department simply does not yet have the information. The department that is prepared to explain why certain information is not yet available, but makes assurances that when it does materialize, it will be disseminated to the extent permitted by law, will be regarded as responsive to the community's concerns.

Departments might wish to consider establishing some protocols on information dissemination. For example, there could be a meeting within the first 24 hours that would focus on where the department and other agencies are at with the investigation and what processes are in play. Another meeting could then be scheduled within a couple of days of the incident that would be more formal and would share what facts are known about the incident. From then on, meetings would be held on an as needed basis up to the report of the formal findings of fact from the inquest. Processes such as this can counteract negative community perceptions of the police trying to hide information.

Community's Role

Minority community organizations have an important role in assuring police integrity and accountability. They can assist police in gathering the facts from all sides of the incident, and monitoring the investigation process. If there is dissatisfaction with this fact finding process, there are still other options to pursue.

The police claim that community groups often want answers before there has been an opportunity to make even a preliminary investigation of the situation. The police believe that minority community organizations at times "go public" with their allegations after a questionable incident before getting the facts. Some police chiefs feel that once a public attack has been made on the police, the damage to their department has been done - even if subsequent information shows conclusively that the allegations were groundless.

When a controversial police-minority incident occurs, a community organization's response should focus on feasible solutions to the problems that gave rise to the incident. Too often a confrontational approach is taken that involves premature demands or impractical remedies, i.e., calling for the immediate indictment of the officer involved in the incident or the immediate firing of the police chief before the facts are known.

A more positive approach might be to try and identify the sequence of events where decisions have been made by the police, prosecutors, or other parties involved in the investigative process. The purpose of this monitoring is to identify actions that were right or wrong - from the minority community's perspective - and to problem-solve solutions that will remedy bad decisions and prevent future problems. The advantage of this approach is that it could give the police department practical resolutions which can be implemented.
Preventing Civil Disorder

Flash points

Whenever an incident of excessive police force occurs, especially one involving the loss of life of a minority individual, a potential for civil disorder or unrest exists. The incident itself, and the events that follow, form a continuum of potential flash points or triggering incidents that may lead to civil unrest or disorder. The Community Relations Service (CRS) definition of a flash point or triggering incident is a tension-heightening event that catalyzes discontent and turns it into civil disorder.

An incident of police use of excessive force and the subsequent events can contain the following major potential flash points, each of which may be discrete or overlap with one another:

The incident itself

The investigation of the incident

The community reaction to the incident

The announcement of the results of the investigation

The announcement of court decision(s)/jury verdict

New incidents or grievances

There are several variables that influence the reaction to an incident of excessive use of police force by the public, especially the affected minority community. Among the factors impacting the level of public discontent and anger are:

In instances where civil disorder has occurred, is occurring, or may occur, police managers and other authorities are continually seeking ways in which to reduce the violence or disorder, contain and manage it, or prevent it. As with other aspects of law enforcement, the law enforcement response is most effective when the police form a partnership with the community.

One of the principles governing law enforcement response to civil disorders is its continuous seeking to avert or reduce the violence by bringing the issues underlying the violence into a negotiation or other non-violent process for resolution. A corollary to this is that negotiations to end the violence continues, even if the initial efforts fail and law enforcement is using force and arrest to control the civil disorder. Community leaders and groups can play an essential role in this negotiation process that seeks to avert or reduce violence.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police recommends several steps a police department can take in such matters as an excessive force incident. Among these steps are:

Arrange for community leaders to accompany police on patrol in their neighborhoods in order to interact with residents, letting the community know that the police care about community concerns;

Arrange for precinct commanders to meet with elected local officials, advise them of the potential for violence, and request their assistance in keeping their areas calm;

Arrange for representatives of the Mayor's office and the police department to contact community and religious leaders, requesting these leaders to talk with their constituents to maintain peace and calm;

Request government officials to walk the streets with community leaders and police to talk to residents about their concerns;

When demonstrations or marches are planned, arrange for authorities to meet with organizers to establish ground rules; when these are agreed upon, the police should offer to provide security and facilitate the orderly conduct of the demonstration.

It is advisable for law enforcement agencies to contact any person or group desiring to organize and conduct a public demonstration and/or meeting regarding alleged verbal, physical abuse or discrimination by police officers in order to inform them of the avenues available to them for the review and investigation of such complaints.

If community groups desire to organize or conduct public demonstrations after having been informed of the available options of addressing those complaints, the police agency maintains open communication with the community by offering its complete assistance in developing a time, place and manner of conducting a peaceful demonstration. The agency should also offer items as speaking platforms, public address systems, barricades and traffic control.

Whenever possible, the police agency can offer advice to the march organizers on how to avoid flash points, such as routes of travel that might unnecessarily bring divergent groups into close physical contact. The demonstrating groups should also be advised to set up a plan to handle, in a legal and peaceful manner, the disruption of the event by non-group participants.

Sometimes a confrontation is impossible to avoid, but a police department may save itself a lot of potential problems if officers are trained in techniques to maintain or restore control over large groups without exacerbating the situation. In addition, contingency planning is a fundamental part of the department's operations. Regardless of size, a department will be better off if it has considered in advance how it will respond to civil disturbances rather than trying to organize its response in the heat of the moment.

CRS Customer Service Standards

Our goal is to provide sensitive and effective conflict prevention and resolution services. CRS will meet the following standards:

We will clearly explain the process that CRS uses to address racial and ethnic conflicts and our role in that process.

We will provide opportunities for all parties involved to contribute to and work toward a solution to the racial or ethnic conflict.

If you are a participant in a CRS training session or conference, you will receive timely and useful information and materials that will assist you in preventing or minimizing racial and ethnic tensions.

We will be prepared to respond to major racial or ethnic crisis situations within 24 hours from the time when your community notifies CRS or CRS becomes aware of the crisis.

In non-crisis situations, we will contact you within three days of when your community notifies CRS or when CRS becomes aware of the situation to discuss your request for CRS services.

(August 2001)
. . . there is little question that the justice system faces a crisis of legitimacy that is particularly acute in communities of color. The crisis is based on increasing racial conflicts over the fair administration of laws. The public debate is indeed currently dominated by heated arguments over the appropriateness of racial profiling and the unchecked use of excessive force by law enforcement. The most vulnerable source of racial conflicts remains strained police minority community relations. A review of the history of race riots, reveals that there is no more volatile a trigger point than police use of excessive force incidents, and the failure to make accountable officers who violate use of force policies. There are untold social and economic consequences of civil riots, and as you know, the greatest costs are the tears in the social fabric that hold our democracy together. Footnote
1. Hubert Williams and Patrick V. Murphy, "The Evolving Strategy of Policing: A Minority View," Perspectives on Policing, No. 13, January, 1990, National Institute of Justice and Harvard University, U.S. Department of Justice.

2. It is useful to note the role that a locality's civil service can play in advancing or hindering police efforts in its recruitment initiatives.

3. Maryann Huhs, "Police Use of Deadly Force," Seattle, Washington, City Council Staff Memorandum, January 16, 1978 (unpublished).

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June 1999 (Updated June 2002) Community Relations Service The Community Relations Service (CRS) is a U.S. Department of Justice agency created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to help resolve community racial conflict through non-coercive, third party intervention. CRS is called upon to assist communities to resolve disputes arising from alleged police use of excessive force.

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(Challenges) "George Floyd, police, race, racism"

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(Challenges) "George Floyd, police, race, racism"

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Hiram Reisner

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Does America have a "racist cop" problem?

It's easy to believe so when watching the disturbing videos of the deaths of George Floyd, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice at the hands of the police. But do horrific, high-profile cases like these accurately reflect the treatment of black Americans by the police?

Many observers say no.

Since 2015, The Washington Post has maintained a comprehensive database of fatal police shootings. The Post database shows that fatal shootings by police have run steadily at around 1,000 per year since 2015: 995 (2015); 963 (2016); 987 (2017); 998 (2018); and 1,004 (2019).

About twice as many white people as black people are killed by police. "In fact, in about 75 percent of police shootings, the decedent is not black," says Andrew McCarthy, a columnist with the National Review.

"This pandemic of civil violence is more widespread than anything seen during the Black Lives Matter movement of the Obama years, and it will likely have an even deadlier toll on law enforcement officers than the targeted assassinations we saw from 2014 onward," McCarthy wrote. "It's worse this time because the country has absorbed another five years of academically inspired racial victimology."

While the current national narrative is that black Americans are, as some Black Lives Matter advocates claim, being "targeted" by police, Rafael Mangual, deputy director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute, says that view is backward.

"It is certainly fair to say that police have had a target on their backs for some time," he told InsideSources.

"I believe the number is that police officers are eighteen and a half times more likely to be killed by black males than unarmed black males are to be killed by police officers," he said. "And studies have shown that the odds of a black man being killed in police custody are about one in 1,000.

"And I think that the people holding the microscope - the special interests pushing for criminal justice reform - have found success in casting nuance and context aside to make police out to be this violent cog in a racially oppressive criminal justice system and I think it's really problematic," Mangual said.

According to The Washington Post database, there were nine cases in the U.S. last year in which unarmed African Americans were fatally shot by police. Meanwhile, 48 police officers were murdered in 2019 in felonious assaults, according to FBI data.

The Post also notes that the number of citizens killed by police has remained steady despite changing circumstances.

"Even amid the coronavirus pandemic and orders that kept millions at home for weeks, police shot and killed 463 people through the first week of June - 49 more than the same period in 2019," the Post reports. "In May, police shot and killed 110 people, the most in any one month since The Post began tracking such incidents."

But critics say the Post and other media outlets promoting the "racist cops" narrative are misreading the numbers. For example, it's frequently reported that 23 percent of those shot and killed by police are black, but black Americans only make up 13 percent of the population.

However, it's also true that, as Heather Mac Donald reports, African Americans make up 53 percent of known homicide offenders and commit about 60 percent of robberies.

Mac Donald, a Manhattan Institute scholar and author of the book "War on Cops," writes in the Wall Street Journal: "However sickening the video of Floyd's arrest, it isn't representative of the 375 million annual contacts that police officers have with civilians. A solid body of evidence finds no structural bias in the criminal justice system with regard to arrests, prosecution or sentencing. Crime and suspect behavior, not race, determine most police actions."

Other studies, however, indicate biases remain.

For example, a Stanford University analysis of 100 million traffic stops conducted across the country found that black drivers were less likely to be stopped after sunset. Because police can't identify the race of the drivers after dark, researchers say this data suggests bias in their decisions about who to stop. Their research also found the bar for searching black and Hispanic drivers was lower than that for searching white drivers.

Still, Mac Donald argues, saying that police practices can be improved and reformed doesn't legitimize violence - either on the streets or targeting cops.

"Officers are being assaulted and shot at while they try to arrest gun suspects or respond to the growing riots," she said. "Police precincts and courthouses have been destroyed with impunity, which will encourage more civilization-destroying violence. Floyd's death should not undermine the legitimacy of American law enforcement, without which we will continue on a path toward chaos."
- Hiram Reisner is Policy Editor for InsideSources.

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Does America have a "racist cop" problem? It's easy to believe so when watching the disturbing videos of the deaths of George Floyd, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice at the hands of the police. But do horrific, high-profile cases like these accurately reflect the treatment of black Americans by the police?

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(Explains) “10 CFR § 1047.7 - Use of deadly force.”

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(Explains) “10 CFR § 1047.7 - Use of deadly force.”

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Cornell Law School

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Electronic Code of Federal Regulations - (e-CFR) - Title 10 - Energy > CHAPTER X - DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (GENERAL PROVISIONS) > PART 1047 - LIMITED ARREST AUTHORITY AND USE OF FORCE BY PROTECTIVE FORCE OFFICERS > General Provisions > § 1047.7 Use of deadly force.

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(Supports) "Fatal Police Shootings of Unarmed Black People Reveal Troubling Pattern"

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(Supports) "Fatal Police Shootings of Unarmed Black People Reveal Troubling Pattern"

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Cheryl Thompson

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Ronell Foster was riding his bicycle through the hushed streets of Vallejo, Calif., one evening when a police officer noticed that the bike had no lights and that he was weaving in and out of traffic.

The officer, Ryan McMahon, went after Foster with lights flashing, siren blaring and the car's spotlight pointed directly at him. Foster stopped. The pair exchanged words before Foster, who was on community supervision for a car theft conviction a month earlier, fled, eventually ditching the bicycle. McMahon caught up with Foster and jumped on top of him. The two struggled. McMahon, a rookie on the force, used a Taser on the father of two and struck him several times with his department-issued flashlight. Gunfire erupted - seven shots total. When it was over, Foster, 33, lay dying in the bushes in a darkened courtyard near an apartment complex.

Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams declined to bring charges against McMahon, who is white, saying the February 2018 fatal shooting of Foster, who was Black and unarmed, was justified. In a Jan. 31, 2020, letter to the Vallejo police chief, Abrams said that Foster "posed an immediate and extreme threat" to McMahon and that it was "objectively reasonable for Officer McMahon to defend himself and open fire on Foster."

A year later, he shot again.

This time, the slain man was aspiring Black rapper Willie McCoy, who was asleep in his silver Mercedes CLS500 outside a Taco Bell shortly before 11 p.m. on Feb. 9, 2019. An employee called 911 to report that McCoy was slumped over the steering wheel and blocking the drive-through. When McMahon and other officers arrived - six in all - one of them spotted a semiautomatic pistol in McCoy's lap. As McCoy slowly awoke, he moved his hand to scratch his chest, according to a report by an expert the city hired to review the shooting. Officers believed he was reaching for the gun, so they fired 55 shots in 3.5 seconds. McMahon said he fired after believing that the officers and residents were in "imminent danger." Officials cleared him over his role in that killing, too, but he was fired in September 2020 for violating department policy during the shooting "by engaging in unsafe conduct and neglect for basic firearm safety," a department official said.

"It's a very sad situation," McMahon said in a brief interview with NPR. "It's something I'm still dealing with. It hasn't gone away."

The deadly shootings of unarmed Black men and women by police officers in the U.S. have increasingly garnered worldwide attention over the last few years. The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., sparked a week of protests that catapulted the Black Lives Matter movement into the national spotlight. Since then, tens of thousands of people across the country have taken to the streets to protest police brutality of Blacks by mostly white officers.

Since 2015, police officers have fatally shot at least 135 unarmed Black men and women nationwide, an NPR investigation has found. NPR reviewed police, court and other records to examine the details of the cases. At least 75% of the officers were white. The latest one happened this month in Killeen, Texas, when Patrick Warren Sr., 52, was fatally shot by an officer responding to a mental health call.

For at least 15 of the officers, such as McMahon, the shootings were not their first - or their last, NPR found. They have been involved in two - sometimes three or more - shootings, often deadly and without consequences.

Those who study deadly force by police say it's unusual for officers to be involved in any shootings.

"Many officers will go their entire career without shooting - sometimes without pulling their gun out at all," said Peter Scharf, a criminologist and professor in the School of Public Health at Louisiana State University and co-author of The Badge and the Bullet: Police Use of Deadly Force. "It's rare."

Not every law enforcement agency releases detailed information about police shootings. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, for example, refused to release specifics such as officer names or their race, citing open investigations.

Still, NPR reviewed thousands of pages of job applications, personnel records, use-of-force reports, citizen complaints, court records, lawsuits, news releases, witness statements and local and state police investigative reports to examine the backgrounds of the officers and analyze details of each shooting. We also interviewed use of force experts, criminologists, police, lawyers, prosecutors and relatives of victims.

Among NPR's other findings:

At least six officers had troubled pasts before being hired onto police departments, including drug use and domestic violence. One officer had been fired from another law enforcement agency, and at least two others were forced out.

Several officers were convicted of crimes while on the force, such as battery, and resisting and obstructing, but kept their jobs. In one instance, officials in a tiny Louisiana parish repeatedly fired and rehired a deputy who got into trouble with the law: three times over 30 years, records show.

More than two dozen officers have racked up citizen complaints or use-of-force incidents. A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., police officer had 82 reviews over use-of-force incidents but was never found in violation; a Vineland, N.J., officer had more than three dozen use-of-force incidents over a five-year period.

Several officers have violated their department policies and been cited for ethics violations, including a Hollywood, Fla., officer accused of trying to steer business to his company, and an Arizona state trooper accused of misuse of state property.

Nineteen of the officers involved in deadly shootings were rookies, with less than a year on the force. One was on the job for four hours, another for four days. More than a quarter of the killings occurred during traffic stops, and 24 of the dead - 18% - suffered from mental illness. The youngest person shot was a 15-year-old Balch Springs, Texas, high school freshman who played on the football team. The oldest was a 62-year-old man killed in his Los Angeles County home. Nearly 60% of the shootings occurred in the South, with more than a quarter in Texas, Georgia and Louisiana, NPR found.

The killings have led to at least 30 judgments and settlements totaling more than $142 million, records show. Dozens of lawsuits and claims are pending.

An examination of individual cases reveals the myriad ways that law enforcement agencies fail to hold officers accountable and allow them to be in a position to shoot again. In many instances, the criminal justice system refuses to prosecute, often resulting in departments putting officers back on the street instead of desk jobs where they have little contact with the public. Other times, police unions protect officers from accountability. And sometimes, departments are so desperate to recruit officers that they ignore warning signs such as an officer's troubled past and hire them anyway.

"Why do they get passes on killing people?" asked Paula McGowan, Foster's mother. "If the system was right ... they would hold these people accountable."
"Unnecessary and unreasonable"
Nathaniel Pickett II was walking back to his $18-a-night room at the El Rancho, a seen-better-days bungalow motel along historic Route 66 in Barstow, Calif. It was shortly after 9 p.m. on Nov. 19, 2015, and Nate, as his family called him, often took evening walks. As the 29-year-old former engineering student crossed the street, he caught the eye of Kyle Woods, a San Bernardino sheriff's deputy. Woods made a U-turn into the motel parking lot, jumped out of his cruiser and approached Pickett, police records show.

He demanded Pickett's name and birthdate. Pickett complied. In fact, he did everything Woods asked of him, including taking his hands out of his pockets. When Woods asked him if he lived at the motel and where he was from, Pickett said he didn't know. When Pickett asked if he had done something wrong, the deputy said he just wanted to talk to him.

"What's the problem?" Pickett asked Woods nine times as the deputy peppered him with questions about whether he had ever been arrested (yes), if he had lived in Barstow all of his life and where he was going.

"There is no problem," Woods responded.

Pickett asked if he could go to his room where he had lived since moving to Barstow seven weeks earlier. Woods would later admit under oath that he knew he had no probable cause to arrest him and that Pickett had the right to walk away. But when he tried, Woods grabbed him and told him to "stop resisting." Woods threatened to use a Taser on him. Pickett put his arms up and was running toward his room - Room 45 - when he tripped and fell in the breezeway. As he scooted backward from Woods, the deputy caught him. The two scuffled while a male citizen volunteer on patrol with Woods watched from a few feet away. Woods punched Pickett 15 to 20 times before pulling out his service weapon and threatening to shoot him. He fired, hitting Pickett twice in the chest - once with the barrel of the gun pressed against the man's chest.

"Ow," Pickett moaned. One of the bullets pierced his heart and left lung. Pickett was pronounced dead at the scene.

Woods, on the force for two years at the time but on the street for just a few months, said he shot him because he feared for his life.

Woods, who is Black, didn't give a statement to police about the incident for 28 days. And when he did, he said that he stopped Pickett after seeing him hop the motel fence. He thought Pickett was trespassing, and he was fidgety, like he might be under the influence, Woods said. Pickett had marijuana in his system, and his blood alcohol level was 0.01%, far below the level to be considered legally impaired, records show.

The deputy never faced criminal charges in Pickett's death, but the victim's family filed civil charges. And when he testified under oath at the civil trial, Woods told a different story: He said he never saw Pickett jump over the fence and that the gate actually was open. He also said it never occurred to him that Pickett could be mentally ill. Pickett was diagnosed with mental illness during his freshman year at Hampton University in Virginia and had been treated through the Mental Health Court in San Bernardino in 2012 after a conviction for resisting a peace officer and "false personation," records show.

Scott DeFoe, who spent two decades with the Los Angeles Police Department, testified as an expert witness at the civil trial. He said that Woods' use of force was "unnecessary and unreasonable."

"This is probably one of the worst cases I have looked at because of the mental health component," DeFoe testified. "There was no crime. ... He ran as he had a lawful right to do."

The jury in the civil trial was unanimous. Jurors agreed that Woods had no right to detain Pickett; used unreasonable or excessive force against him, which caused his death; and delayed getting him medical care. They awarded Pickett's family $33.5 million, one of the largest amounts ever in an officer-involved shooting case.

Nathaniel Pickett Sr., 65, said that Nate was the only child he had with Dominic Archibald, a two-time combat veteran and retired Army colonel. After their divorce in 1990 when Nate was not quite 5, the boy went to live with his mom. He became a Boy Scout and fancied Frank Sinatra music, art and sports - except football because he didn't like getting dirty. Archibald eventually enrolled him at the Fork Union Military Academy, an all-boys college preparatory boarding school in Virginia. She agreed to let him transfer in his senior year to Woodrow Wilson High School, a public school in Washington, D.C.

"We just wanted him to be happy," Pickett said.

Less than three years after Pickett's death, Woods was involved in a second on-duty shooting of another unarmed man.

Minutes after starting his 7 p.m.-7 a.m. shift on Jan. 14, 2018, Woods noticed the man, Ryan Martinez, driving his black Jeep in Barstow without an illuminated license plate. He activated his lights and siren, and hit the gas. During the pursuit, Martinez lost control of the car and ran off the road into a drainage ditch, police records show. The car flipped. Woods said he ordered Martinez to show his hands. He refused. Woods fired two shots at him but missed. Afraid that Martinez might have a gun, Woods used a Taser on him unsuccessfully before drive-stunning him in his leg. Woods then shot him in the chest and hand when he said the man "reached for his waistband area." Martinez, 27, survived. No gun was found at the scene, according to police records.

Woods was not wearing a body camera. Martinez did not respond to a request through his mother for an interview.

"He was shot 3" times, his mother, Kathy Searcy, said in a Facebook message to NPR that included photos of his bullet wounds. "Plus, he was being tased at the same time."

Michael Ramos, the San Bernardino County district attorney at the time of both shootings, declined to charge Woods, saying the deputy was justified in shooting both men. He said in a recent phone interview with NPR that he doesn't remember the cases but said he always adhered to the law when deciding whether to charge an officer with killing someone.

"Each case is different," said Ramos, who was the district attorney from 2003 to 2018, when he lost his reelection bid for a fifth term. "But when you apply the facts to the law, that's what you look at."

Ramos defended officers, saying that they have an impossible job.

"Taking someone's life is not easy," he said. "It's not something they brag about or high-five each other about. It's the last thing they want to do."

When asked if officers who kill unarmed people should be taken off the street, Ramos said that decision should remain with the departments.

"They should be given the resources, counseling and time off, but it's up to the chiefs," he said.

Authorities said that Woods "reasonably believed he had to use deadly force to protect his own life." He was placed on paid administrative leave for at least three days after each shooting, which is routine for officers involved in deadly force, said sheriff's department spokeswoman Jodi Miller.

Woods, 28, could not be reached for comment.

Vincent Ewing, the attorney who represented Woods and the county in the Pickett lawsuit, declined to comment on the record.

Pickett's father said he remains haunted by his son's killing.

"It doesn't ease with time," he said. "It still bothers me."

The most difficult time, he said, is when he occasionally sees Woods at the courthouse in Victorville, where the deputy is now assigned.

"He didn't show no remorse," Pickett said. "If he was remorseful, he would have said, 'Hey, I'm sorry.' "
Little accountability
The decision not to charge Woods is common. Authorities failed to charge officers in more than 80 cases, records show.

Of the officers involved in the deadly shootings of unarmed Black people over the last five years, 13 were charged with murder. Two were found guilty.

Three others charged with murder were acquitted, and one was found not guilty of murder but guilty of aggravated assault, false statements and violation of his oath of office. Seven murder cases are pending.

Of seven officers charged with manslaughter, two were found guilty.

In 33 shootings, officers were fired or resigned. At least three got their jobs back, and five went on to work for other law enforcement agencies, records show.

Philip Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and former police officer in Virginia and New Hampshire, said it's difficult to prosecute officers charged with murder or manslaughter from an on-duty shooting because juries often sympathize with them.

"The courts are very reluctant to second-guess the split-second decisions of police officers in potentially violent street encounters that might be life-or-death situations," Stinson said. "They somehow seem to take everything that's been presented in the case, in the trial, and just disregard the legal standard."

Ronald C. Machen Jr., the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia for more than five years during the Obama administration, said that prosecuting police officers who gun down unarmed Black men and women will continue to be challenging until there are more "minorities in the system."

"This is why you need Black prosecutors and Blacks on juries - to hold people accountable," Machen said. "For police officers to have the credibility to do their jobs, they have to be held accountable."
One officer, five shootings
The decision not to hold officers accountable doesn't rest solely with prosecutors. Police unions often make it all but impossible to remove an officer from the force despite repeated shootings and other infractions.

Jerold Blanding was involved in five shootings - two off-duty and three on duty - during his 24-year career with the Detroit Police Department, a review of more than 1,700 pages of agency records shows. One was fatal. He also shot a pigeon and was investigated over assaults on police officers, improper conduct, harassment, excessive use of force, domestic violence and threats. Yet he kept his job.

Known for having a temper, Blanding started having trouble three years after his March 1994 hiring when he shot a man while off-duty at a Detroit nightclub, police records show. The victim survived. A year later, he was involved in another off-duty, nonfatal shooting at an ATM after a man who was confused mistakenly tried to get into Blanding's car. Blanding was exonerated in both cases.

An internal affairs investigation in 2001 found that he displayed improper conduct after assaulting a female cop he was dating at the time. In 2002, Blanding was accused of making threats, and a year later, internal affairs launched another investigation - this time, into his excessive use of force. He had a third shooting in 2004 while working in drug enforcement. That man survived.

In August 2015, Blanding fired 16 shots at a man inside a car during a domestic dispute. The man, DeMar Parker, had gone to the home of his ex-girlfriend, with whom he had a young daughter. An argument erupted, and a Detroit police officer, her son's father, was called. He then called for another officer to meet him at the house. That officer brought along Blanding. When Blanding and the other officer arrived, Parker jumped in his silver Cadillac and sped off. He returned minutes later waving a pistol, police records show. Blanding saw the gun and opened fire on Parker's car, claiming he thought Parker was going to shoot one of the other officers or run him over. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office declined to bring criminal charges against Blanding, though the department found he violated policy. Parker sued and settled with the city for $97,750, according to the city attorney's office.

In February 2017, in the backyard of an abandoned home, Blanding, who is Black, fatally shot 19-year-old Raynard Burton.

Blanding and his partner were patrolling a neighborhood of mostly burned-out and boarded-up houses and overgrown lots on Detroit's west side when a green Pontiac Bonneville whizzed past. The car spun out of control and crashed into a building. Burton, the driver, ran. When Blanding eventually caught him, he claimed he saw the teen "grab at his waist as if he had a weapon," records show. Blanding grabbed Burton with one hand while holding his department-issued weapon in the other. The pair struggled, and Blanding shot him once in the chest before yelling for his partner and calling for a supervisor - and his union steward. Burton, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was unarmed.

Blanding was not charged in that case either and returned to his job.

"I don't think there's an excuse for keeping people like that," said Geoffrey Alpert, a police use-of-force expert and criminology professor at the University of South Carolina, after hearing the details of Blanding's case from NPR. "That's just ridiculous."

Alpert said that retaining troubled police officers is risky and "has enormous consequences."

"The point is you want to get good cops and not fill your coffers with these questionable cops," he said. "Because in the long run, they're going to cost you more money."

Richard Rosenfeld, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said police unions play a major role in shielding officers.

"The most immediate obstacle is the union contract," Rosenfeld said. "The unions, all in the name of due process, have made it difficult to remove officers whose records indicate they engaged in serious misconduct."

Isaiah McKinnon, Detroit's police chief from 1994 to 1998, agreed. He said that city officials and police supervisors involved in negotiating the contracts also are to blame for a department's inability to get rid of officers who repeatedly violate policy.

"You terminate them and see if they will fight their way back, and most do because of the union contract," said McKinnon, who also served as the city's deputy mayor. "The unions are there to protect officers, but often they're contributing to what the officers are doing."

Blanding's troubles continued to mount without consequences, records show. In December 2017, he was accused of being intoxicated on the job and having his gun taken from his lap while he allegedly slept. The weapon was returned "without further action." Two days before Christmas in 2017, he called 911 after a domestic violence incident. He told the dispatcher that he was carrying a gun and to "send someone before he is back on the news."

But in early 2018, while out on stress leave and ordered not to carry a gun, Blanding showed up at the scene of a pedestrian accident and refused to answer questions about who he was or comply with orders given by other officers, records show. He reeked of alcohol and had slurred speech, one officer said. A preliminary breath test indicated Blanding's blood alcohol content was 0.18%, more than twice the legal limit in Michigan. They found two weapons on him along with his department identification card indicating he had "no gun status," records show. He cursed at officers, called them rookies, was handcuffed and put in the back of a squad car. They arrested him for possession of a weapon while intoxicated and violating the concealed pistol license.

Blanding was charged with eight counts of assaulting, resisting and obstructing, eight counts of felony firearm and three counts of possession of firearms while under the influence of alcohol. He pleaded guilty to one felony count of assaulting, resisting and obstructing. He was fined, given probation and ordered to do community service and attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, according to Chris Gautz, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections. Blanding retired in September 2018 with a full pension, according to a police department spokesman.

When reached at his home recently, Blanding, 51, declined a request for an interview.

"I'm still seeking therapy," he said.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig declined through a spokeswoman to discuss Blanding or why he allowed him to stay on the force after multiple shootings.

"Unions have got to understand that they can't continue to have people over and over again who are doing these things continue to be police officers," said McKinnon, the former chief.
"He just wasn't the best pick"
Zechariah Presley wanted to be a police officer because it offered him a chance at a career where he could "make a difference." So, in May 2016, he applied to the St. Marys Police Department, a 32-member force in a town of 18,500 residents in southeastern Georgia, not far from the Florida state line.

Officials found that he "did not respond truthfully" to several questions during a truth verification exam and did poorly during candidate interviews, internal reports show. Department officials rejected him, saying he was "not a good candidate" and "very weak." He also acknowledged he lost a conditional job offer with a law enforcement agency in Texas after making a "sexual innuendo," records show.

"He just wasn't the best pick," Timothy Hatch, who was St. Marys police chief at the time, said in an interview with NPR. "He didn't come across in our interview process as someone who needed to be behind the badge."

Presley went 8 miles to the next town over and applied at the 40-member Kingsland Police Department a year later. He acknowledged on his background questionnaire of being involved in domestic violence, assault, buying or selling drugs, and other incidents. An internal report found Presley had 10 red flags and recommended officials review them before deciding whether to hire him.

They hired Presley anyway in July 2017.

Within months, residents filed complaints about him.

In a complaint, one 43-year-old Black man wrote that one day after he'd complained to the chief about the officer's conduct, Presley came and parked in front of his house. "I'm living in fear of my life," the man wrote, because of the abuse of power and constant harassment on traffic stops.

A Black female resident wrote that Presley followed her for about a mile and then stopped her for failing to use a turn signal when she changed lanes. She alleged that Presley racially profiled her. Presley is white.

Presley had seven use-of-force incidents in six months, three involving Tasers, records show. He once used a stun gun on a substitute teacher at the county Board of Education office. He was investigated internally twice within two days for misconduct. He received departmental warnings about violating policies and was suspended without pay for a day.

Yet he stayed on the force.

While on patrol one night in June 2018, Presley pulled into a convenience store parking lot and spotted a white Chrysler Pacifica and a man he recognized, Anthony Green. The two had a previous run-in, and he knew Green didn't have a valid license. As Green drove off, Presley followed him. Green ran his car onto the shoulder, prompting Presley to activate his blue lights. Green and a passenger jumped out and ran, but Green left his phone and went back to retrieve it, law enforcement records show. He took off running with Presley in tow, who unsuccessfully used a Taser on Green. When Green pushed him, Presley fired eight shots from his .40-caliber Glock, striking the 33-year-old Black man at least five times, including in his chest and back, according to records from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which handled the case. Green died at the scene.

Presley was charged with voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, and fired from the department. A jury of 11 whites and one Hispanic found him not guilty of manslaughter but guilty of violating the oath of public office in October 2019. A judge sentenced him to one year in prison and four years' probation, and ordered him to pay a $1,500 fine. Presley was released in May after serving seven months in prison.

Presley, 29, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

"The hiring of Zechariah Presley probably would not have taken place in my administration given the information I have," said Kingsland Police Chief Robert Jones, who took over the department in 2019.

Jones and others acknowledged that departments often hire officers such as Presley because they're desperate to recruit and are willing to ignore red flags.

"We need bodies," Jones said. "Some places have been willing to lower the standards and bring bodies in, and it's a recipe for disaster."

Rosenfeld, the criminology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said that departments, mostly small ones that lack resources, are "more willing to look past misdeeds."

"Small departments that are strapped for officers take them where they can find them," he said.

Green's death has prompted changes in the Kingsland department, including mental health treatment for officers and a hiring board to review candidates, Jones said.

"It's more important for us to move forward, train properly and to show that the stigma of what happened with Presley will not be tolerated," he said.

LaMaurice Gardner, a police psychologist in Detroit, said the toll that one shooting - or more - takes on a police officer can be devastating.

"People don't realize the psychological effects a shooting takes on an officer and their family," said Gardner, who has worked as a reserve officer for 26 years in suburban Detroit. "You're investigated like you're a perpetrator. You can't work on the street. You can't get overtime. Your peer support is pulled away."

Gardner acknowledged that departments face difficult issues now with police shootings, including of unarmed Black men and women.

"Are there bad cops out there? Hell, yeah, there are," he said. "Policies need to be changed."
NPR's Emine Yücel contributed to this report.

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Fatal Police Shootings Of Unarmed Black People Reveal Troubling Patterns

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Since 2015, police officers have fatally shot at least 135 unarmed Black people nationwide. The majority of officers were white, and for at least 15 of them, the shootings weren't their first or last.

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Police who use unnecessary fatal force should not be able to hide behind the laws that protect their badge.