Ghetto Mentality in Policing @ Occupy Oakland

This an excellent article. It will give you some real insight

On Occupy Oakland and the Policing of America

BY ABIGAIL CAPLOVITZ FIELD | OCTOBER 27, 2011

Police brutality has sparked riots many times in American history, most famously the 1960s race riots. But the problem isn’t merely historical; remember how in 1992 Los Angeles burned because the Rodney King cops were acquitted. In 2001 Cincinnati went up in flames because cops had again killed an unarmed young black man.

One movement—Dr. King’s—was able to transform police brutality into greater social justice, through the alchemy of nonviolent but confrontational protest in the face of state violence. For example, brutality against the people marching for voting rights in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965 led to the Voting Rights Act. The confrontation came on the Edmund Pettus bridge. The videoed violence shocked the nation’s conscience. To the extent most people were aware of people brutality, they’d always assumed it was justified in an eye for an eye kind of way. Alabama cops were sending the message: You shall not pass. You will not get a meaningful right to vote. But the police violence backfired.

Perhaps the brutality against Occupy Oakland in the early hours of October 26, 2011  will have a similarly catalytic effect.  The Oakland cops’ reprised Alabama thus: You shall not be here. You will not rock the boat.

Brutality Against Protestors Exposes Underlying “Ghetto Mentality” in Policing

Professor Skolnick and I interviewed a NYC Precinct Commander. The Commander was a veteran officer and a thoughtful guy. I think he had his Master’s, did it at John Jay. Since I graduated law school in 2001, we must have done the interview in either 2000 or 2001.

That means the anecdote I’m about to tell is ten years old and may not accurately describe New York cops today. And since this essay is very critical of police, I’d also like to point out that the New York City I experienced as a child in the 70s and 80s was a very dangerous place, and the city of the late 90’s and 2000s, was safe. The contrast couldn’t be starker, and based on what I’ve experienced and studied, smarter policing had a lot to do with it. I’ve done things in NYC that were once unthinkable, like take a stroll at night in Central Park with a friend (also female), or wear visible jewelry on the subway. And I’m very grateful for the change. So I’m generally a fan of New York City cops.

Back to the interview.

Skolnick asked the Commander: “What’s the difference between Manhattan cops, Bronx cops, Queens cops, Brooklyn cops, and Staten Island cops?”

The Commander replied (to the best of my recollection):

“Well, Queens cops are veterans, nearing retirement. They use their seniority to get the placement. They live in Nassau, they like the commute, and they don’t want to get hurt. They’re lazy.

“Bronx cops, well, they’re the roughest, newest cops.

“The Manhattan cops are the most professional. They can turn on a dime from ghetto mentality to letter writer mentality.

Brooklyn…”

I have no idea what he said after the word Brooklyn. I’d been fixated by “They can turn on a dime from ghetto mentality to a letter writer mentality.”

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