Where to Go From the Anger in Charlotte

By CHARLES H. RAMSEY,

On Wednesday, I spent the day here teaching a workshop for senior police leaders from around the country — deputies and sheriffs who are one step away from taking control of police departments of their own. That night, I went back to the Omni Charlotte Hotel. From my window, I could see lines of police officers assembled, and I could see protesters throwing various objects. I watched the officers release tear gas into the crowd.

All week, I’d been talking to police leaders from around the country about the challenges they face in building trust in their communities, getting accurate information out when misinformation flies so quickly on social media, and how to keep people safe. It was a coincidence that our training workshop took place in Charlotte last week, but what is happening in this city is a lesson for everyone.

I’m no stranger to police officers in riot gear. I came up in the Chicago Police Department in the late 1960s. In my early career, you had your helmet in your trunk all the time. I was chief of police in Washington, D.C., for nine years, where we had World Bank and International Monetary Fund protests, and I was the police commissioner in Philadelphia for eight years, during Occupy Wall Street and other large events.

I was a police chief in major cities for 17 years before I retired in January. This is the most challenging period I have ever witnessed.

People are angry. A lot of the anger is directed toward the police, though a lot of what causes that frustration and anger does not lie solely at the feet of the police.

The events I saw unfolding in Charlotte are a clear example of that.

The protests began on Tuesday after the fatal shooting of a man named Keith L. Scott. At that point, in my view, the facts around the shooting didn’t indicate that we were going to have the kind of response that is taking place. The chief of the Charlotte Police Department even came to speak, briefly, to our group that evening.

But unfounded information spread quickly, and it inflamed anger. Protesters who legitimately have grievances, and want to express concern about police use of force, grabbed hold of a narrative here — that Mr. Scott was holding a book, not a gun when he was shot — that has not definitively proved to be true.

The death of Mr. Scott came a day after the police department in Tulsa, Okla., released video of a police shooting there in which a man named Terence Crutcher was killed. If you just look at those two cases and ask which one would probably result in civil unrest, most people would say Tulsa.

In both cases, a black man lost his life after being shot by a police officer. In Tulsa, the officer was a white woman, who has now been charged with manslaughter. Before it was released to the public, video of the incident was shared with Mr. Crutcher’s family. The department was very transparent in discussing the events.

That, too, is an important lesson.

We used to have a little more time to take a deep breath, and we don’t anymore. Everything is instantaneous, and any hesitation on the part of authorities can erode trust.

We need to focus on developing a national standard for how information such as police videos is released, and how prosecutors, politicians and law enforcement work together in a consistent and fair way. No one can be seen to be hiding information, or to try to cover up unflattering truth.

How do we keep people safe? How do we ensure that laws are enforced clearly and impartially?

I helped lead President Obama’s task force on 21st-century policing and have dedicated my career to thinking about these questions. One answer I keep returning to is a greater commitment to partnering with community groups. The police must not be seen by residents as quasi-military occupiers, but rather as allies and partners.

This will require significant efforts by police departments around the country to develop training that goes far beyond learning the criminal code, filling out an incident report or firing a gun.

It’s not an abstract notion. I have seen it in action.

As police commissioner in Philadelphia, I sent recruits fresh from the police academy into the most challenging neighborhoods on foot patrol for six months to a year. They learned how to talk to people, something you’re never going to get driving down the street at 40 miles per hour in a police cruiser. I wanted the young officers and the neighborhood folks to actually “see” one another. At the end of the day, officers and citizens who interact on the streets should both be able to go home safe.

… a diverse force is only part of the solution. The police need training programs aimed at producing better educated, more empathetic officers. We need to recognize that implicit bias exists in everyone, it is part of human nature. But with the unique role the police play, we can’t afford to let bias enter into our decision making.

Police officers carry a lot of baggage. They have not always been on the right side of justice as we define justice today. In some cases, they were enforcing unjust laws of a different era. When I went into the Chicago Police Department in the late 1960s, it wasn’t the most popular thing a young black kid could do.

There are consequences to that difficult history that will take time to repair. But this challenging moment is also a tremendous opportunity to make real improvements. I hope none of us squander it.

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