Why there is no let-up in police brutality in US

IN 1849, French satirist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote in his journal Les Guepes (The Wasps), “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” (The more things change, the more they stay the same). That seems to be true of police reforms in the US and India.

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A case study of the US, where police brutality shook the nation with the death of two Black men — George Floyd in 2020 and Tyre Nichols this year — would offer some comparison. Nichols was killed in Memphis by five Black officers who were part of a special squad named ‘Scorpion’. While the Floyd murder was a deliberate act, the Nichols killing seems to be due to the use of excessive force.

British India, which followed the Irish constabulary system, kept the local community away from having any role or relationship with the police, except as ‘supplicants’. Police lines and quarters were built away from the public domain. Unfortunately, even after 1947, the tradition continued. Police-public relations were reduced to a slogan.

In the US, the police systems are traditionally rooted within the local community. As a result, the US has nearly 18,000 federal, state, sheriff, county and municipal police systems, each with their own individual rules. Also, the local American community organisations have significant roles in supervising the police. Besides, no police system goes beyond the law and procedure while making arrests etc. If so, why is there so much police brutality in the US?

Verywell, a health website maintained by 120 experts in the US, quotes statistics of police brutality in its report dated January 23. In 2018, only 2 per cent of the 61.5 million people who had encountered the police systems had “experienced threats or use of force.” However, most of these were during traffic violations. The problem comes during political demonstrations or race-related incidents. The report quotes the Washington Post’s database on police shootings which says that, on an average, the “police shoot and kill roughly 1,000 persons a year in the US.”

Yet, the report says that only 110 officers since 2005 have been charged with murder or manslaughter and only 42 have been convicted. As a result, “the use of force becomes legitimised because everyone does it and nobody says anything about it.”

In 2014, the then President Barack Obama constituted a task force on 21st-century policing to suggest ways for reducing police-community friction. This was announced after the killing of Michael Brown, an African-American youth, by a White officer in Missouri on August 9, 2014. Obama criticised the use of excessive force on the protesting crowds. The protest demonstrations and riots went on for nearly a year.

The task force, which was chaired by the then Commissioner of Police, Philadelphia, comprised 10 members, including police union leaders, academics and civil rights organisations. The task force formulated six ‘pillars’ of future policing — impartial policing, community supervision of policing, respecting individual dignity and human rights, police participation in community events, use of technology and ensuring physical and mental health of police officers.

The state, county and municipal bodies were asked to revise their SOPs (standard operating procedures) keeping these guidelines in mind. The police were asked to attend community meetings, church gatherings and other events to create an environment where the community knew that they would listen to them. The police higher management was asked to “listen to its officers” too. Above all, the police should use formal and informal mechanisms, such as surveys, focus groups, social media and interviews, to gain insight into community concerns.

Unfortunately, the task force recommendations did not seem to have prevented further deaths due to excessive force. Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was killed on March 13, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky, when the police fired 32 rounds while trying to serve a search warrant in retaliation to Taylor’s boyfriend firing a warning shot at the police.

Verywell feels that many of the officers who use excessive force need treatment for what is called ‘implicit bias’ syndrome, which is an unconscious association, belief or attitude against any social group. Implicit biases operate almost entirely at an unconscious level. While explicit biases and prejudices are intentional and controllable, implicit biases are less so. Also, many of these officers need therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder as, normally, all are not able to tackle stress in equal measure.

In my opinion, all these studies have missed the basic problem of the absence of gun control laws in the US, where every citizen feels that it is a constitutional Second Amendment authorisation which guarantees that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

Compared to the US, the politicisation of the police system and laws is the problem in India, and not so much police brutality. There is a mistaken feeling here that a perfect police system will emerge if all states implemented the seven measures ordered by the Supreme Court in 2006: state security commission, selection of DGP on merit, police tenure, separation of investigation from law and order, setting up of police establishment board, setting up of police complaints authority and national security commission for senior officers’ selection.

Unfortunately, none of these measures would ensure justice to the common citizen. The basic aim of freeing the police from politicians was not achieved even after many of these measures were adopted, as media reports have highlighted.

In a way, Indian police officers are better off than their American counterparts as they are offered alternative ‘stress-relieving’ assignments like state intelligence departments or Central deputations where they need not daily handle law and order situations. Compared to that, a patrol officer does not ordinarily alternate with a desk job in the US. That is, perhaps, the reason why such police brutalities do not occur in India as in the US. We should be grateful for that.

Views are personal