police reform

The City of Troy hosted a community discussion with police this week, a culmination of two years of work to build relationships with lower-income and minority communities. But, local activists say their voices are going unheard.

After years of discussion, the City of Saratoga Springs now has a fully-formed Civilian Review Board to foster communication between the public and city police department. The new CRB held its first meeting Thursday night.

The Board of Police Commissioners has struggled in its first year

"Walk the Walk: How Three Police Chiefs Defied The Odds and Changed Cop Culture" by sociologist Neil Gross, brings readers deep inside three unusual departments—in Stockton, California; Longmont, Colorado; and LaGrange, Georgia—whose chiefs signed on to replace that aggressive culture with something better: with models focused on equity before the law, social responsibility, racial reconciliation, and the preservation of life.

Reforming police has been much more political than it ought to be. Too many treat it as part of a for-them-or-against them conversation. That’s nonsense and naïve. Police are like the rest of us. Whether folk are in blue jackets, white coats, overalls or suits, some are great and some are terrible. If we protect the group willy-nilly despite misbehavior, or allow them, their departments and unions to gang up against the public as if we’re the enemy, we’re authorizing armed men to become tyrants. Police need to be scrutinized, held in check and prevented from misbehavior, particularly because we let them carry guns. Treating them as beyond control is a large part of the problem.

Gregory Mitchell is Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Williams College. He joins us to discuss his new book, “Panics without Borders: How Global Sporting Events Drive Myths about Sex Trafficking.”

On Sunday, the Berkshire County Chapter of the NAACP held a rally in downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts to demand police reform after the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis earlier this month.

The Saratoga Springs police department will have additional oversight when the new Community Review Board is up and running after a protracted process. The city is also preparing to hire a new police chief later this year.

No municipality has been under court oversight to reform its police department as long as the city of Oakland. In "The Riders Come Out at Night", Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham shine a light on the jackbooted police culture, lack of political will, and misguided leadership that have conspired to stymie meaningful reform. The authors trace the history of Oakland since its inception through the lens of the city’s police department, through the Palmer Raids, McCarthyism, and the Civil Rights struggle, the Black Panthers and crack eras, to Oakland’s present-day revival.

New four-year deal gives 400 patrol officers 15 percent pay hikes