A Great and Big MATTER of TRUST Realistically >>>>> Gallup polling between 2012 and 2014 showed that a majority of blacks, or 64 percent, had only some, very little or no confidence in the police, while the majority of the whites questioned, or 58 percent, had either a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the police. Between 2009 and 2011, Gallup found 61 percent of blacks only had partial or no confidence in police, while 62 percent of whites had a lot of confidence in the police.
One factor that breeds distrust is racial disparity between police and the communities they serve. Ferguson is nearly 70 percent black, while the police department is more than 90 percent white.
Distrust is also fueled by a perception of unchecked police violence through the ages: the 1992 acquittal of four white Los Angeles police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King; the 1967 beating in Newark, New Jersey, of cab driver John Smith; Miami in 1980, after the acquittal of six white police officers in the beating death of black motorcyclist Arthur McDuffie; Cincinnati in 2001 after 19-year-old Timothy Thomas was shot and killed by a police officer. Rioting followed each of these cases.
"More African-Americans and Latinos believe police stop people without due cause, use excessive force and engage in verbal abuse than white Americans," said Ronald Weitzer, a George Washington University sociology professor who has studied race and policing in the U.S. and internationally. "So they not only tend to see the police as having some racial biases, but also in their day-to-day activities behaving in ways that are more obtrusive and maybe unjustified in dealing with citizens."
Brown was shot multiple times by Wilson on Aug. 9. Police have said little about the encounter, except that it involved a scuffle in which Wilson was injured and Brown was shot. Witnesses say Brown had his hands in the air as the officer fired multiple rounds.
Tensions boiled over after a candlelight vigil the next night, as looters smashed and burned businesses, while police fired tear gas and smoke bombs. Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol, who is black, was placed in charge of security, a move that was cheered in Ferguson. He ordered his officers to abandon the body armor and gas masks and instead ensure the public's right to peaceably assemble.
But things escalated again Aug. 15, after Ferguson police released Wilson's name along with video they said showed Brown robbing a store shortly before he was killed. Brown's family condemned the revelation, with lawyer Anthony Gray calling it a "sideshow."
Related: 'Don't know' if Missouri teen shot with hands up
A Great and Big MATTER of TRUST Realistically >>>>> Gallup polling between 2012 and 2014 showed that a majority of blacks, or 64 percent, had only some, very little or no confidence in the police, while the majority of the whites questioned, or 58 percent, had either a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the police. Between 2009 and 2011, Gallup found 61 percent of blacks only had partial or no confidence in police, while 62 percent of whites had a lot of confidence in the police.
ReplyDeleteOne factor that breeds distrust is racial disparity between police and the communities they serve. Ferguson is nearly 70 percent black, while the police department is more than 90 percent white.
Distrust is also fueled by a perception of unchecked police violence through the ages: the 1992 acquittal of four white Los Angeles police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King; the 1967 beating in Newark, New Jersey, of cab driver John Smith; Miami in 1980, after the acquittal of six white police officers in the beating death of black motorcyclist Arthur McDuffie; Cincinnati in 2001 after 19-year-old Timothy Thomas was shot and killed by a police officer. Rioting followed each of these cases.
"More African-Americans and Latinos believe police stop people without due cause, use excessive force and engage in verbal abuse than white Americans," said Ronald Weitzer, a George Washington University sociology professor who has studied race and policing in the U.S. and internationally. "So they not only tend to see the police as having some racial biases, but also in their day-to-day activities behaving in ways that are more obtrusive and maybe unjustified in dealing with citizens."
Brown was shot multiple times by Wilson on Aug. 9. Police have said little about the encounter, except that it involved a scuffle in which Wilson was injured and Brown was shot. Witnesses say Brown had his hands in the air as the officer fired multiple rounds.
Tensions boiled over after a candlelight vigil the next night, as looters smashed and burned businesses, while police fired tear gas and smoke bombs. Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol, who is black, was placed in charge of security, a move that was cheered in Ferguson. He ordered his officers to abandon the body armor and gas masks and instead ensure the public's right to peaceably assemble.
But things escalated again Aug. 15, after Ferguson police released Wilson's name along with video they said showed Brown robbing a store shortly before he was killed. Brown's family condemned the revelation, with lawyer Anthony Gray calling it a "sideshow."
Related: 'Don't know' if Missouri teen shot with hands up
Related: Strong DOJ response to Ferguson seeks truth, calm ..... /-