Police and Community Relations Notes

Two Major Concerns with Police
1.​ Concerns with the way in which police perform certain duties (e.g., arrests and
interrogations)
2.​ Concerns with the prevalence of police brutality

Concern #1
●​ Use of coercive tactics during an interrogation
○​ Maximization
○​ Minimization
●​ Terry Stops
○​ Racial Profiling
Concern #2
●​ Police Brutality: The unwarranted or excessive and often illegal use of force against
civilians by US police officer
●​ Police brutality has been around for decades
History of Police Brutality
●​ 1920s
○​ Brutality against members of Italian-immigrant communities
●​ 1940s
○​ Zoot Suit Riots in LA against Mexican American youths
●​ 1960s
○​ Harassment of homosexuals and transgender individuals & the Stonewall Riots
●​ 2001
○​ Harassment of Muslim Americans

Police Brutality
●​ Police brutality has, historically, mostly been aimed at Black men
●​ The Great Migration (916-1970s)
●​ Watts Riots of 1965 (Los Angeles)
●​ Detroit Riot of 1967
●​ LA Riots of 1992

Contemporary Examples of Police Brutality
●​ Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri (2014)
●​ Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland (2015)
●​ George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2020)
●​ Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee (2023)

Consequences of Police Brutality
●​ Perceptions that procedural justice is lacking
●​ Police Legitimacy is questioned

How can we improve?