Many people were surprised to learn the recent killing of a 29-year-old Memphis Black man came at the hands of five Black police officers.

In a 2018 Harvard Law Review article, “The Black Police: Policing Their Own,” Dennis Carbado (UCLA School of Law) and L. Song Richardson (UC Irvine School of Law) examine the structural, psychological and sociological aspects of this phenomenon.

To begin, numerous police departments in big cities with large Black populations have a significant number of Black officers: Chicago (24.7%), Houston (22.8%), New York (16.1%), Philadelphia (33.4%) and New Orleans (57%). The more Black officer-Black citizen encounters, the more likely some will result in violence.

More than 40 years of research reveals that both Black and white Americans unconsciously associate African-Americans with negative values, attitudes and behavior (including stereotypes that they are criminally inclined, violent and dangerous) and white people with positive values, attitudes and behavior. The authors note that Black officers are not immune to implicit biases and there is no good reason why we should expect them to be. “Intra-racial biases” can result in Black officers focusing more attention on African-Americans and dealing with them more aggressively than they do with other racial and ethnic groups.

The authors state that as “a result of implicit racial biases, officers are more likely to focus their attention on Black, rather than white individuals. This is true even when the officers are consciously egalitarian, reject racial profiling, or are Black themselves.”

Carbado and Richardson argue that even if Black officers do not have “intra-racial biases” there is a strong incentive for them (especially rookie officers, I would add) to fit into the workplace culture. In law enforcement, wherein group cohesion and the ability to work with one’s partner are critical elements of policing, peer pressure is likely to shape “not only Black officers’ experiences in the workplace but also their sense of legitimacy and authority as police officers.” If a police subculture considers taking an aggressive posture with Black people appropriate, Black officers are likely to internalize this norm and act accordingly.

Another psychological factor that influences police officers (in a male dominated, quasi-military profession) of any race is the “masculinity threat.” That is, the threat of being regarded as insufficiently masculine. Masculinity is different from simply being born a male in the biological sense. Rather, it’s about the social construction of a male identity — what it means to be a man in a given society and/or subculture.

From a sociological perspective manhood is not just a label, but a status that is legitimated via one’s performance. This performance is ongoing as one has to consistently behave in a manner that proclaims: “I’m a man, and don’t you forget it.” In a hyper-masculine environment such as law enforcement where displays of physical strength and aggression are expected and rewarded, any threat to masculinity is likely to be met with violence. One study reported that the more officers were insecure in their masculinity the more likely they were to use greater force against Black people relative to other racial groups.

Given this hyper-masculinity, I would argue that police violence is most likely to occur when officers confront a badly frightened individual (especially a male) in an agitated state of mind. The chances this person will fight, take flight or freeze are high. Both fighting and running are likely to escalate into violence as officers interpret these behaviors as a threat. Freezing can also result in violence as not immediately obeying an officer’s command can also be perceived as a masculinity threat.

Police commands can be confusing, contradictory and impossible to follow. Videos of Tyre Nichols’ arrest show the same moment one officer shouts “Give me your f***ing hands,” a second officer is pinning his arms behind his back, a third officer is gripping his handcuffed wrist and a fourth officer is punching him in the face.

Police work has always been difficult and potentially dangerous, today more than ever in a country awash with guns. It’s reasonable that police want to take control of situations as soon as possible. However, an officer’s display of dominance can amplify an individual’s sense of anxiety and fear increasing the likelihood this will be interpreted as a challenge to his authority and masculinity. Police may have no sense of the role they are playing in a dynamic that can turn violent in a heartbeat.

Regarding the structure and organization of police work, Carbado and Richardson state that across the nation modern policing has turned into a numbers game with departments focusing on the “objectification and quantification” of police work. Job performance — and the reward for that performance, promotion, for example — is a function of the number of arrests officers make, how many stops they log in and how many tickets they write.

Some police departments are run like businesses with quotas and bottom lines that have to be met. After the 2014 killing of an 18-year-old black man by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri (near St. Louis) the Department of Justice investigated the Ferguson PD. The city made “revenue production” the department’s top priority as patrol officers were pressured to increase productivity by writing citations to enforce the municipal code. This measure of “productivity” was one of the main criteria in promotion decisions. The DOJ found that productivity practices occurred primarily in Black neighborhoods.

In his 1985 book “The Evidence of Things Not Seen,” African-American writer and social critic James Baldwin (1924-1987) stated: “Black policemen were another matter. We used to say, ‘If you must call a policeman’ — for we hardly ever did — ‘for God’s sake, try to make sure it’s a White one.’ A Black policeman could completely demolish you. He knew far more about you than a White policeman could and you were without defenses before this Black brother in uniform whose entire reason for breathing seemed to be his hope to offer proof that, though he was Black, he was not Black like you.”

As Carbado and Richardson note, “African American police officers have to negotiate and reconcile two historically distinct strivings — the strivings to be ‘blue’ and the strivings to be ‘black’ — in one ‘dark body.'”

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George J. Bryjak lives in Bloomingdale and is retired after 24 years of teaching sociology at the University of San Diego.

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Sources

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Baldwin, J (1985) The Evidence of Things Not Seen, Holt Paperbacks: New York

Carbado, D. and L. Richardson (2018) “The Black Police: Policing Our Own,” Harvard Law Review, Vol 13, https//.harvardlawreview.org

Mcintire, M. and M. Keller (2021) “The Demand for Money Behind Many Police Traffic Stops,” November 2, New York Times, www.nytimes.com

Stein, R., A Carida and N. Reneau (2023) “71 Commands in 13 Minutes: When Tyre Nichols Couldn’t Comply With Impossible Orders, Police Assaulted Him.” January 30, New York Times,

www.nytimes.com

Simerman, J. (2016) “NOPD” diversity decreasing as more recruits hired, numbers show; police chief unconcerned,” September 3, NOLA, www.nola,com