Battered and Bruised

Earlier today, Susan Clemmer, a Los Angeles police detective who testified during the trial of the officers who brutally beat Rodney King, killed herself after walking into the lobby of a suburban sheriff's station. During the trial, Clemmer was among the first to testify in defense of her fellow officers. She rode in the ambulance with King after he was brutally beaten on the night of March 2, 1991. She testified that King was laughing and spitting blood on her uniform. Her testimony portrayed King as an unremorseful aggressor. She also testified that one of the officers who brutalized King was “in shock” after the assault occurred. She was a witness for the defense who was not involved in the assault and appeared disinterested. Much of her testimony was of events which were not captured on video. It was testimony which could not be independently verified. Her testimony was one of the reasons a suburban California jury felt justified in acquitting the officers involved. The acquittals lead to widespread riots in Los Angeles and called national attention to law enforcement abuses and the quotient of race in law enforcement tactics. The officers were later tried and convicted in a federal court for violating King’s civil rights.

Yet, here we stand over eighteen years after Rodney King was viciously beaten by Los Angeles police officers and little has changed. Race is still a dominant ingredient in our melting pot and all too often arouses the appetite of law enforcement officers to dine on the mistreatment of citizens. Many are still being battered and bruised by police.

On the night of March 2, 1991, Rodney King led police officers on a high-speed vehicle chase. He initially resisted officers. His decisions that night were unwise. His actions were reckless and justified his arrest. However, once King was subdued by police, shot with a Taser, and no longer resisting arrest; an Officer struck King with a baton, knocking him to the ground. Thereafter, multiple officers repeatedly struck King with their batons, stomped on him and kicked him while he was on the ground for almost a minute and a half. The entire assault was captured on video. King was taken to the Hospital immediately after his arrest. He suffered a fractured facial bone, a broken leg, and numerous bruises and lacerations. The officers later testified that they believed King was under the influence of the dissociative drug Phencyclidine (PCP), although King's toxicology results tested negative for PCP.

His beating was unjustified. Yet, without the video, nothing would have happened to the officers involved. And for a jury with ten whites and two non-black citizens in suburban California, nothing should have happened even with the video. That same jury could not convict any of officers of any charges. Since King’s beating, police brutality has continued. An extensive U.S. Department of Justice report on police use of force released in 2001 indicated that in 1999, “approximately 422,000 people 16 years old and older were estimated to have had contact with police in which force or the threat of force was used." A 2006 Department of Justice report SUSTAINED! that there were 2,000 verifiable cases of excessive force in 2002. Other studies have shown that most police brutality goes unreported.

Historically, police officers in America have been White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. As urban areas in America have raced to more diverse populations, police forces have failed to keep pace. Differences in race, religion, politics, or socioeconomic status often exist between police and the citizenry. Some police officers view people who are from a different group as being criminals based on their inclusion in that group. Racial profiling is evidence of this type of thinking. Driving while black is another phenomenon attributable to these differences. The problem is ubiquitous. Black people have been shot and killed by white officers in many different states. Following 911 many Arab-Americans in New York were repeatedly harassed by the New York City Police Department despite having been born and raised in this country. As a result, communities distrust police and are hesitant to look to them for help. Within the last few days, the largest police officer’s union in Houston urged Houston’s mayor to allow officers to question people about their immigration status during police encounters (citing the deaths of several officers allegedly at the hands of illegal immigrants as justification). The request is evidence that the Union seeks to stereotype citizens of Latin descent. It is this mind set that must be addressed and changed.

A 1997 survey conducted by the International Association of Police Chiefs found that more than 80 percent of police departments devote time to ethics education during recruit training, highlighting use of force and cultural diversity. However, such training is limited to the academy and has been ineffective to curb the problem. What is needed is a partnership between police and communities. Officers need to be in the trenches with citizens who what to better their communities instead of being in the community to arrest those citizens who live in the community (which is the function of the current model of community policing). Officers need to be involved in community functions. Representatives of law enforcement should be sent to homeowner’s association meetings, civic club meetings, community center functions, protest rallies and other community functions. Officers need to empathize with people's struggles. Police need to partner with people in communities to understand and appreciate the humanity of people who look different than them. Such a partnership can only exist with trust. Trust can only be earned. Stereotyping and racial profiling betrays the trust of every American and undermines the integrity of our system of Justice. Nearly twenty years ago Rodney King’s beating and the subsequent trial highlighted this major problem in law enforcement and the resistance to changing it. Trust for law enforcement is no higher today than it was then. It is time for change.