What Are the Next Steps if Filming the Police Can’t Help?

By Zosha Millman | LXBN | July 8, 2016

Both Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were shot and killed by police this week. And both incidents happened around cameras.

Holding police officers accountable by filming them or requiring them to wear body cameras is without a doubt a necessary practice. Though there are varying accounts of how prevalent the problem is—The New York Times states that officer use of force has been “low for many years”, but ProPublica puts young black males at 21 times more likely to be shot dead by police than their white counterparts—this week’s deaths are just the latest in years of increased attention to excessive use of force by police officers towards people of color, and black men in particular. And statistics has shown that when a police officer is being recorded there’s a drastic decline in reports of bad officer behavior—like in Rialto, Cal. where there was a 60 percent drop in reports of force, and an 88 percent drop in complaints against officers.

The problem is, these videos don’t seem to be as conclusive when a citizen (of color) dies. Cell phone footage like that in the Rodney King’s, Walter Scott’s, and Eric Garner’s deaths all changed the narrative and attention given. But not many of them resulted in convictions. Against all odds, many would argue. It seems that while body cameras an immensely important step in fighting police brutality, they’re far from a perfect fix.

Photo Credit: Johnny Silvercloud cc

So what is there to do? How can people step up and start trying to break this wheel of violence?

For many, like Chuck Peterson of the Idaho Criminal Defense Blog, it’s a time for lawyers to step up:

This is every persons nightmare, but it is every black person’s reality.

It must stop. Prosecutors must get brave. They must prosecute officers who needlessly and unlawfully shoot and kill persons who have done nothing to justify the use of deadly force. Prosecutors must act – if only to show us that all lives matter.

…Police officers need to get back to being our protectors, our friends, part of our lives. A traffic stop should not result in the death of a passenger asked to produce identification.

For those who aren’t prosecutors the “what’s next?” steps are a bit less direct, but arguably no less important.

• Know your rights around the police—and be careful: With last month’s SCOTUS decision about unlawful stops still lingering in the air, the events of this week are a solemn reminder to understand your rights in polce encounters. When a cop stops you there are certain things you should and shouldn’t do. Know them.

• Start listening to the extent of the problem: Understand that sometimes, like in the case of Philando Castile, confirmation bias may override rights—even when Castile was being very clear about his actions in an attempt to put the officer at ease. This problem is bigger than just one traffic stop, or one man selling CDs in a gas station parking lot. Efforts like Campaign Zero and The Washington Post have done a good job of attempting to catalogue this issue. 
  “So many of these writers—black and otherwise—write beautiful, tragic and true prose in the aftermath of these offenses about the fallacy that is being both safe and black in America,” said Kara Brown for Jezebel. “Their articles are shared and lauded and discussed and responded to and built upon. Then we wait for another—another shooting, another lost life. And we write again, and wonder: is this just the way of things now? How much time will I spend finding the correct words to say that the color of a person’s skin is not justification for ending their life? And how much time will elapse until those words mean anything to the people who actually kill us?”

• Then start trying to make a change: Correcting these injustices will take time, but it can never be “too big” to attempt to solve. This problem is only “too big” when it’s made up of thousands of smaller issues, pockets, and individuals. Put pressure on local governments to address the issue; you can make a change at the local level, no matter what your skin color. “Racism is [white people’s] problem, not because white people are uniquely predisposed to racial bigotry (it’s a horrible trait we all share), but because the power structure of White Supremacy upholds it. It’s your system and whether or not you personally built it, you live in it, maintain it, and benefit from it. It is your house, and you need to clean it,” said Ijeoma Oluo in the Huffington Post. “The police conduct review process is often one of the biggest shelters for police misconduct and brutality. The process that holds police accountable for their actions is often shaped or heavily influenced by police unions, who are beholden to cops—not civilians.”
• Take action wherever you can: Write to representatives, in Congress and in city councils, and find out what they’re doing. Support those you think are acting virtuously in this area with your vote (and more, if you’re able). Nag those who are merely giving lip service to the issue.
  And remember: Money talks: Actions speak louder than words. And you know what can help an action multiply? Funding. Support legal defense funds where possible.

“To admit we’ve got a serious problem in no way contradicts our respect and appreciation for the vast majority of police officers who put their lives on the line to protect us every single day. It is to say that as a nation we must do better to institute the best practices that reduce the appearance or reality of racial bias in law enforcement,” said President Obama on the shootings this week. “But regardless of the outcome of such investigations, what’s clear is that these fatal shootings are not isolated incidents. They are symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system, the racial disparities that appear across the system year after year, and the resulting lack of trust that exists between law enforcement and too many communities they serve.”

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