What is the historical and current status of police community relations (particularly as concerns minorities), and what are some underlying reasons for that situation?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Tension between police and citizens is both historical and current, particularly when it comes to police-minority relations.

Police-minority relations were especially strained during the 1960s. Throughout the 1960,s there were many violent protests that included riots in several cities across the United States. In 1967, there were 75 civil disorders involving African Americans and police, with at least 83 people killed. The race riots during the 1960s, such as the one in Watts, California, often pitted the police against protesting members of society. The 1980s and early 1990s, police-community relations were also strained by riots, looting, and burning in Florida, Washington D.C., California; and several other places across the United States.

With the arrival of the new millennium additional issues arose between police and the community. Bias-based policing, also known as racial profiling or “driving while black or brown” became a major issue. A study completed by the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2007 found that while white, Hispanic, and black individuals were equally likely to be pulled over by the police, black and Hispanic individuals were more likely to be searched, arrested, and experience use of force or threatened use of force by the police.

Negative police-community relations continues to be a problem, specifically between police and minority members of the community. The 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri resulted in riots that raged for a week, which led to the National Guard being deployed and two police officers being shot. Throughout 2015 and 2016 there were additional officer involved shootings that resulted in the death of several African American men. The U.S Department of Justice issued a report about the wide-spread racial biases by the police towards African American community members in Ferguson. An additional issue regarding police-community relations is the concern of the state’s using the National Guard and military style equipment.