'It's Top-Down': Three Generations of Black Officers on Racism and Police Brutality

[SummerMadness]

'It's Top-Down': Three Generations of Black Officers on Racism and Police Brutality

Three officers, each from a different generation, weigh in on Derek Chauvin's murder conviction and other recent acts of police violence.

Isaiah McKinnon became a police officer for the city of Detroit in the 1960s, and eventually became chief of police. He also served two years as the city's deputy mayor starting in 2014.

Cheryl Dorsey is a retired Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who first joined the force in the 1980s.

Vincent Montague is president of the Black Shield Police Association, which supports officers serving in the Greater Cleveland area. He's been in law enforcement for 13 years.

McKinnon advocates more use of de-escalation:
De-escalation training can potentially reduce police shootings, says former Detroit police chief

Isaiah McKinnon, former chief of police and deputy mayor of Detroit, explained the importance of de-escalation training and how it can save lives as tensions rise between police and residents across the U.S.

"De-escalation is the potential answer... I had almost a similar circumstance, where I stopped a person, a young kid who had a weapon, and I pulled my gun on him. He had the gun out; it turned out it was a toy gun," said McKinnon. "It could have been awful for this young man, and certainly for myself, but you have that split second you want to de-escalate as much as possible."

Dorsey is less optimistic than McKinnon, but sees there are still major issues within the system:
Individual accountability can’t solve systemic racism, says USC professor Jody Armour

Dorsey says she’s unsure whether internal law enforcement culture in the LA area will change after Chauvin’s case.

"We have errant officers still on the Los Angeles Police Department who are enjoying the shelter and cover of the Los Angeles Police Protective League. … And let's take a look right next door with the LA County Sheriff's Department, where you have 17 internal gangs within that department. And it's not like Sheriff Alex Villanueva doesn't know about the Executioners and the Vikings and the Regulators and the Jump Off Boys who all go out and get tatted up and have celebratory barbecues when they kill folks or maim people in South Central Los Angeles. And so the fish rots from the head. And while there may be some baby steps going forward, there's still much to be done."

Montague recognizes the need of change and is working toward that goal in policing today:
White Supremacy in Police Leadership

The case of Lt. Col. Troy Doyle of the St. Louis County Police Department is a reminder that Black police officers, and even high-ranking police commanders, face racism on a daily basis.

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Speaking at the 16th Annual Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America at John Jay College, Montague told theGrio that the racial tensions in police departments have become more public in recent years.

"And things like that are real. And you do see Caucasian officers, particularly Caucasian male officers, they show more empathy to people, whether it's an insurrection, whether it's a homicide, whatever. You definitely see that, and you see the lack of empathy they show towards a Black person that could have just been arrested for a misdemeanor crime."