All Black Cops Needed In Inner City Black Neighborhoods

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Written by A. Peter Bailey |

Fifteen years ago, in response to a series of homicides by Black teenagers in Richmond, Virginia, I made the following suggestion in a column written for the Richmond Free Press. “I have a suggestion on how to more effectively combat street crime in Black neighborhoods in Richmond. Put all-Black police officers in our neighborhoods…. The use of all Black cops would eliminate race as a factor in crime control in our neighborhoods by taking this cover out of the hands of that minority of neighborhood residents who indulge in criminal behavior, mainly against their own people.” Many Black people, for legitimate historical reasons, just don’t trust White police officers. Black criminals are acutely aware of this situation and take advantage of it.

Black Cops Need In All Black Inner City Neighboorhoods 2

My suggestion, which I still believe is valid, was based on the premise that many, if not most, Black cops either live in an inner city Black neighborhood or have relatives or friends who live in one. Thus, they have a much more vested interest in safety in such neighborhoods than their White counterparts. By the way, I also believe that if all cops, Black and White, had to live in the cities from which they draw paychecks, it would have a significant impact on lowering street crime rates.

Also, there’s the harsh reality that the overwhelming majority of homicides in urban Black neighborhoods involves low-income Black males killing other low-income Black males. And, in most cases, the perpetrator and the victim know each other. Which raises the issue of how to stop people who know each other from killing each other, often for absurd reasons.

Then there is the reality that in most cases, the perpetrators are not, as too often portrayed, strangers invading a neighborhood and killing people. More often than not, the perpetrators are the sons, grandsons, brothers, nephews, cousins or homeboys of people who live in that particular neighborhood or at least nearby.

For all these reasons, I believe is that Black police officers have a much better chance of sifting out information from people in the neighborhood than White cops, most of whom probably don’t give a you-know-what about inner city neighborhoods. Their chief goal seems to be to prevent inner city street crime from spreading into other areas of the city. It must be admitted that they have been very successful in doing this. It doesn’t take being a rocket scientist to know that if Black street criminals were killing or otherwise brutalizing Whites, on any income level, from street All Black Cops Needed In Black Neighborhoods bums to corporate executives, the way they kill and brutalize each other, they would be stopped by any means necessary. Even if they were killing children of Black middle-income parents, those people have to know-how and resources to stop them. As long as it’s low-income Black males killing other low-income Black males or occasionally other low-income persons in their neighborhoods, “Too bad, that’s life” is the general response.

Hopefully, Black cops, supported by other concerned Black people, can assist in limiting the number of young people who often know each other, from killing each other. What the young thugs and wanna be thugs fail to comprehend is that their destructive behavior towards each other and towards their communities is allowed, sometimes even encouraged, by a system for which they don’t really matter that much.

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written by billy, February 25, 2010

I could not agree more with the idea. Let's expand it - ONLY WHITE COPS in white neighborhoods, only white servers in white restaraunts, only white people using water fountains, etc....

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written by Richard Senior, February 25, 2010

For whatever reason we will always have the bad apple(s) in the barrel when it comes to selecting and hiring police officers in any of our thousands of communities. There will be rogue cops, cops just wanting a job, racist cops, corrupt cops and cops who simply don't have a clue as to their true calling when it comes to enforcing the law. We still loose a lot of police officers, some from simply being out gunned, some from out right murder and still others from applying basic sense when they are about to enter into an unknown situation. My contact, both direct and indirect with police officers has been less than pleasant. My first encounter was a pleasant one, I was trying to cross a busy street on a bicycle whith a bum rear wheel. The traffic almost lurched forward while I was in the middle of the street. A foot patrol officer saw the event unfold and walked me to my house. My second encounter was 180 degrees from the first. Myself and a friend drove to a local police department to inquire about an arrest that had occured just moments before. I will give this much, it was a hot August day, we weren't on our best behavior due to the reason we were their in the first place. It happens however that this was what called a TAC Squad arrest, there were over a dozen officers milling about between the parking lot and the precinct. Happens that the first officers to engage us were White. They detected our state of mind but still stood with us to find out the reason we were there. While engaged in converstion with theswe tow White officers two Black officers approached us and the first thing one of them said was to, leave the parking lot now! Did not make an effort to hear what the conversation was about between my friend and the two white officers, just leave the parking lot now. Before I knew it we were surrounded by officers and a skrimish erupted. I had six officers jump me while I saw my friend rear back to throw a punch as one of the Black officers reared back with his night stick. This city over time became predominatley Black but with still a large number of White residents in various pockets. I was carried to a back door of that precinct with so many officers on me that they couldn't get me through the door with a few of them releasing their hold. Once inside I was layed down on the floor and a fairly young Black officer, I assume, he was in civilian clothes, grabbed another officers night stick and balanced himself on my throat trying to choke me out. A background check on me still draws out a document charging me with assualt. This is not about my personal experiences as much as it is about the fact that I have experienced what I still today. The Black officer who's going to show the White officer how to handle African Americans in the inner city. If you want to explore ideas about handling crime I beleive the first thing we need to do as a Nation is create a uniformed way to handle situations by all law enforcement agencies.

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written by Dave Blank, February 26, 2010

OK, call me naive, but could not the black officers complain that " Only Black officers get the worst jobs that are the high crime areas" and the White officers get all the Gravy Jobs" in the less dangerous areas? Law enforcement should be less a color thing and more a law item. People need to change their outlook. I agree the caliber of our law enforcement must be kept high. When I need help, I care less of the color of a mans skin and more of the quality of his devotion. Whether Police, Firefighter, or whatever help provider. People need to start to trust a little more on the caliber of the individual and less on the color of his skin. Bad eggs do not seem to care the color of there shells, as much as the temperature of the environment. When I go outside, I care less if the man/woman with the shield is black or white. As long as he is there to help.