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| Life as a black cop: caught between love for the NYPD and the people they serve | Life as a black cop: caught between love for the NYPD and the people they serve |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| When Eric Adams was a lieutenant with the New York police department, he took a white rookie into public housing in their precinct. When they got on the elevator, they saw a puddle of urine in the corner. | When Eric Adams was a lieutenant with the New York police department, he took a white rookie into public housing in their precinct. When they got on the elevator, they saw a puddle of urine in the corner. |
| “You see, lieutenant,” the officer said to him, “these people are all animals; they don’t deserve anything.” | “You see, lieutenant,” the officer said to him, “these people are all animals; they don’t deserve anything.” |
| Related: Inside William Bratton's NYPD: broken windows policing is here to stay | |
| “Only one person pissed in the elevator,” Adams responded. “The people in this building are just as upset over that piss as you are.” | “Only one person pissed in the elevator,” Adams responded. “The people in this building are just as upset over that piss as you are.” |
| Adams, who is black, was an officer for 22 years. On the force, he spoke out against police brutality and served as president of the black fraternal NYPD Guardians Association; he was a captain when he left in 2006 to enter politics. | Adams, who is black, was an officer for 22 years. On the force, he spoke out against police brutality and served as president of the black fraternal NYPD Guardians Association; he was a captain when he left in 2006 to enter politics. |
| Now the Brooklyn borough president, Adams says officers and management must stop making assumptions about poor communities based on the “numerical minority” that commits most of the offences. | Now the Brooklyn borough president, Adams says officers and management must stop making assumptions about poor communities based on the “numerical minority” that commits most of the offences. |
| The majority of residents in every community, Adams says, want the “same thing as a millionaire”, that is, “an environment where they can raise a healthy child”. And most work hard. “They may not go to a high-paying job on Wall Street, but they go and clean the streets. But if the police don’t have interaction with the healthy people in that community, then they’ll never know how to properly police it.” | The majority of residents in every community, Adams says, want the “same thing as a millionaire”, that is, “an environment where they can raise a healthy child”. And most work hard. “They may not go to a high-paying job on Wall Street, but they go and clean the streets. But if the police don’t have interaction with the healthy people in that community, then they’ll never know how to properly police it.” |
| Ray Benitez, who retired in 2004 after 20 years, mostly in Bedford-Stuyvesant, agrees. He watched officers stereotype entire neighborhoods. “You’ve got to know that 95% of the people in the community have no dealing with the police at all. None.” That includes positive interactions, adds the Flatbush native who identifies as black Hispanic. | Ray Benitez, who retired in 2004 after 20 years, mostly in Bedford-Stuyvesant, agrees. He watched officers stereotype entire neighborhoods. “You’ve got to know that 95% of the people in the community have no dealing with the police at all. None.” That includes positive interactions, adds the Flatbush native who identifies as black Hispanic. |
| I just think that for a lot of officers, black men are viewed as something other than human beings | I just think that for a lot of officers, black men are viewed as something other than human beings |
| Benitez is blunt about how some officers view majority-black and Hispanic neighborhoods: “I’m talking about a thinly veiled disgust … simply because they appear to be in distress, with a different station in life. Maybe the sociological condition is that somehow those cops feel they’re more entitled, that they’re better.” | Benitez is blunt about how some officers view majority-black and Hispanic neighborhoods: “I’m talking about a thinly veiled disgust … simply because they appear to be in distress, with a different station in life. Maybe the sociological condition is that somehow those cops feel they’re more entitled, that they’re better.” |
| Both men say this often unconscious bias makes policing harder: those cops are not building relationships that, in turn, can yield the intelligence they need. When a cop tells a mother about a program for kids, or even says “good morning, ma’am”, she may reciprocate. “She’ll tell you, ‘You know, I saw somebody carrying a gun.’” | Both men say this often unconscious bias makes policing harder: those cops are not building relationships that, in turn, can yield the intelligence they need. When a cop tells a mother about a program for kids, or even says “good morning, ma’am”, she may reciprocate. “She’ll tell you, ‘You know, I saw somebody carrying a gun.’” |
| What an officer does, in essence, can make or break community trust – and even keep black applicants away from the NYPD. Even as the NYPD is more diverse over all than it’s ever been, in late June the police academy will graduate one of its smallest percentage of black males since the 1960s. | What an officer does, in essence, can make or break community trust – and even keep black applicants away from the NYPD. Even as the NYPD is more diverse over all than it’s ever been, in late June the police academy will graduate one of its smallest percentage of black males since the 1960s. |
| ‘We need you on this side of justice’ | ‘We need you on this side of justice’ |
| “Hello, this is Detective Yuseff Hamm calling you about the police exam.” | “Hello, this is Detective Yuseff Hamm calling you about the police exam.” |
| “I’m driving. Let me pull over,” the man answered. | “I’m driving. Let me pull over,” the man answered. |
| Hamm soon continued, “The reason I’m calling you is because you started the application process, but you didn’t quite complete it.” | Hamm soon continued, “The reason I’m calling you is because you started the application process, but you didn’t quite complete it.” |
| “Yes, yes, yes, I know!” the man answers. “I moved, and I changed my number, and I didn’t know who to call.” | “Yes, yes, yes, I know!” the man answers. “I moved, and I changed my number, and I didn’t know who to call.” |
| The black applicant was so thrilled that Hamm, the current president of The Guardians, had called to help usher him through the NYPD application process that he took off work the rest of the day and came straight in to get restarted. | The black applicant was so thrilled that Hamm, the current president of The Guardians, had called to help usher him through the NYPD application process that he took off work the rest of the day and came straight in to get restarted. |
| Hamm called others who just started crying – “tears of joy, tears of excitement”, he says. No small number of the 580 African Americans Hamm called this year as of 7 May had grown up with limited opportunities and little if any professional guidance, he says. His call was the first time anyone had tried to guide some of them to career success. Many black applicants do not share an advantage of many whites: a parent or an uncle on the force to mentor them. | Hamm called others who just started crying – “tears of joy, tears of excitement”, he says. No small number of the 580 African Americans Hamm called this year as of 7 May had grown up with limited opportunities and little if any professional guidance, he says. His call was the first time anyone had tried to guide some of them to career success. Many black applicants do not share an advantage of many whites: a parent or an uncle on the force to mentor them. |
| Hamm, who grew up in Harlem and returned to police there in 2002, is obsessed about getting black New Yorkers to soldier through the tough application and investigatory process to become an officer. “We must reach out to other African American men and women and tell them, ‘Listen, we need your help. We need you on this side of justice to police because our numbers are, country-wide, dwindling,’” he says. | Hamm, who grew up in Harlem and returned to police there in 2002, is obsessed about getting black New Yorkers to soldier through the tough application and investigatory process to become an officer. “We must reach out to other African American men and women and tell them, ‘Listen, we need your help. We need you on this side of justice to police because our numbers are, country-wide, dwindling,’” he says. |
| While increasing numbers of Hispanics and Asians, especially men, are joining the NYPD, the future looks bleaker for black applicants. One number in particular is jarring: black males make up only 6.86% of the 2015 police academy recruit class that will graduate this month, with black females just under 4%, for a total of 10.86%, while black residents total about 22% of the city’s population. | While increasing numbers of Hispanics and Asians, especially men, are joining the NYPD, the future looks bleaker for black applicants. One number in particular is jarring: black males make up only 6.86% of the 2015 police academy recruit class that will graduate this month, with black females just under 4%, for a total of 10.86%, while black residents total about 22% of the city’s population. |
| For comparison, black recruits totaled 7.3 % in 1970 at the end of the Civil Rights Movement, almost all of whom were men. | For comparison, black recruits totaled 7.3 % in 1970 at the end of the Civil Rights Movement, almost all of whom were men. |
| Commissioner William Bratton is blunt about probable causes. “We have a significant population gap among African American males because so many of them have spent time in jail and, as such, we can’t hire them,” he said in a 20 May interview. Because many black men have been convicted of a felony, they are automatically disqualified. | Commissioner William Bratton is blunt about probable causes. “We have a significant population gap among African American males because so many of them have spent time in jail and, as such, we can’t hire them,” he said in a 20 May interview. Because many black men have been convicted of a felony, they are automatically disqualified. |
| A complicating factor is what Bratton calls the “unfortunate consequences” of an explosion in “stop, question and frisk” stops in the last decade that caught many young men of color in a summons net. | A complicating factor is what Bratton calls the “unfortunate consequences” of an explosion in “stop, question and frisk” stops in the last decade that caught many young men of color in a summons net. |
| Those summonses are not automatic disqualifications. However, after passing the exam, a candidate moves to the more subjective background investigation, which includes criminal records. A pot arrest without indications of gang activity might not disqualify a candidate, but a series of summonses could. As a result, Bratton is concerned that the “population pool is much smaller than it might ordinarily have been”. | Those summonses are not automatic disqualifications. However, after passing the exam, a candidate moves to the more subjective background investigation, which includes criminal records. A pot arrest without indications of gang activity might not disqualify a candidate, but a series of summonses could. As a result, Bratton is concerned that the “population pool is much smaller than it might ordinarily have been”. |
| Bratton is often blamed for New York’s stop-and-frisk era – 4.4m stops; 92% non-white from 2002 until 2012. The controversial policy was struck down in 2013 by a federal judge, who called the practice blatant racial profiling. Bratton wasn’t in New York then, though: he left his first NYPD commissioner’s stint in 1996 and returned in 2014, immediately dropping the city’s defense of the practice. Instead, he embraced targeted quality-of-life stops of suspected violent criminals, rather than the random pursuit of high numbers of summonses. | Bratton is often blamed for New York’s stop-and-frisk era – 4.4m stops; 92% non-white from 2002 until 2012. The controversial policy was struck down in 2013 by a federal judge, who called the practice blatant racial profiling. Bratton wasn’t in New York then, though: he left his first NYPD commissioner’s stint in 1996 and returned in 2014, immediately dropping the city’s defense of the practice. Instead, he embraced targeted quality-of-life stops of suspected violent criminals, rather than the random pursuit of high numbers of summonses. |
| Bratton, however, did embrace broken windows policing, including “quality of life” arrests of many low-level criminals, arguably planting seeds for that decade-long “stop and frisk” crusade that Benitez calls “humiliation, maybe even emasculation, of a segment of society”. | Bratton, however, did embrace broken windows policing, including “quality of life” arrests of many low-level criminals, arguably planting seeds for that decade-long “stop and frisk” crusade that Benitez calls “humiliation, maybe even emasculation, of a segment of society”. |
| Alex Vitale, a Brooklyn College sociologist and critic of broken windows, challenges Bratton’s efforts at diversity as a way to help repair police-community relations, saying, “it’s not a diversity problem”. Instead, it’s a political one, he says. “It is about the scope and role of police, which has expanded way too greatly. We’ve come to rely too much on police to solve these problems, and we’re starting now to see the backlash to that,” he says. | Alex Vitale, a Brooklyn College sociologist and critic of broken windows, challenges Bratton’s efforts at diversity as a way to help repair police-community relations, saying, “it’s not a diversity problem”. Instead, it’s a political one, he says. “It is about the scope and role of police, which has expanded way too greatly. We’ve come to rely too much on police to solve these problems, and we’re starting now to see the backlash to that,” he says. |
| A historical trust issue | A historical trust issue |
| The NYPD is working with The Guardians and the NYU Stern Urbanization Project to communicate to black applicants that “we need you, we want you, and we desire you,” as Hamm puts it. | The NYPD is working with The Guardians and the NYU Stern Urbanization Project to communicate to black applicants that “we need you, we want you, and we desire you,” as Hamm puts it. |
| The emerging plan is to address many puzzle pieces separately: studying the exam design (that all non-white groups fare worse on, over all), tutoring applicants, mentoring them through the process, helping appeal background hiccups and cutting in half the four years the process can take. In addition, candidates from poorer backgrounds often can’t afford to appeal against a negative psychological assessment, which can cost $3,000. | The emerging plan is to address many puzzle pieces separately: studying the exam design (that all non-white groups fare worse on, over all), tutoring applicants, mentoring them through the process, helping appeal background hiccups and cutting in half the four years the process can take. In addition, candidates from poorer backgrounds often can’t afford to appeal against a negative psychological assessment, which can cost $3,000. |
| “It’s the idea of thinking creatively, not just accepting the fact that the whole country right now is having significant problems recruiting African Americans, a lot of it because of the anti-police sentiment,” Bratton says. | “It’s the idea of thinking creatively, not just accepting the fact that the whole country right now is having significant problems recruiting African Americans, a lot of it because of the anti-police sentiment,” Bratton says. |
| Hamm says police departments, including the NYPD, have never fully built trust with black citizens. “In the 1930s, African American police officers weren’t even allowed to arrest Caucasians,” he says. “In the south, police officers were used as the tool to enforce segregation, associated and connected to everything that would stop the African American from advancing.” Now, he says, black citizens ask: “Is the change really real?” The response is for him and others to “hold the door open and say, ‘come in’”. | Hamm says police departments, including the NYPD, have never fully built trust with black citizens. “In the 1930s, African American police officers weren’t even allowed to arrest Caucasians,” he says. “In the south, police officers were used as the tool to enforce segregation, associated and connected to everything that would stop the African American from advancing.” Now, he says, black citizens ask: “Is the change really real?” The response is for him and others to “hold the door open and say, ‘come in’”. |
| His Guardians workshops include real talk about the “pretty good penny” potential recruits can earn, helping them realize, “I can obtain that goal of getting a house, financial stability, my children can go to college.” Hamm wants systemic change: “We can put money back into the economy, give people a new opportunity to believe in themselves and have strong family structures.” | His Guardians workshops include real talk about the “pretty good penny” potential recruits can earn, helping them realize, “I can obtain that goal of getting a house, financial stability, my children can go to college.” Hamm wants systemic change: “We can put money back into the economy, give people a new opportunity to believe in themselves and have strong family structures.” |
| Besides, he tells them, “The first day you save someone’s life, you will never forget it.” | Besides, he tells them, “The first day you save someone’s life, you will never forget it.” |
| Bratton is adamant that the diversity initiative in no way lowers standards, saying he has already lifted the minimum age to 22, requiring two years of college. “We’re not hiring to a quota. We’re hiring to a skill. We’re effectively saying to people, we will provide you extra assistance; not just to minorities, to anybody. So the beauty of this system is it pushes back on anybody that says it’s lowering standards,” he says. | Bratton is adamant that the diversity initiative in no way lowers standards, saying he has already lifted the minimum age to 22, requiring two years of college. “We’re not hiring to a quota. We’re hiring to a skill. We’re effectively saying to people, we will provide you extra assistance; not just to minorities, to anybody. So the beauty of this system is it pushes back on anybody that says it’s lowering standards,” he says. |
| ‘When I take this uniform off, you just see a black woman’ | ‘When I take this uniform off, you just see a black woman’ |
| When Trevena Garel first applied to the NYPD in 1983, her application stalled. But she had a pristine record, excellent references and even a former NYPD detective as her dad. | When Trevena Garel first applied to the NYPD in 1983, her application stalled. But she had a pristine record, excellent references and even a former NYPD detective as her dad. |
| Her black, female investigator finally got the reason out of the white sergeant who was holding it up: Garel was raising a child alone. “They characterized me as unworthy, a step away from being a welfare mom,” she says now. The investigator was irate, asking the sergeant, “We have all these white officers who are single fathers; why aren’t we stopping them?” She got the case moved to a black lieutenant who green-lighted the application. | Her black, female investigator finally got the reason out of the white sergeant who was holding it up: Garel was raising a child alone. “They characterized me as unworthy, a step away from being a welfare mom,” she says now. The investigator was irate, asking the sergeant, “We have all these white officers who are single fathers; why aren’t we stopping them?” She got the case moved to a black lieutenant who green-lighted the application. |
| Garel served from 1985 until 2006, first on patrol in the Village, then mostly as an internal investigator. She supervised the NYPD’s side of a joint federal task force working with Loretta Lynch – now US attorney general – to investigate the case of Abner Louima, a Haitian man sodomized by officer Justin Volpe with a broom handle in a Brooklyn station house in 1997. Volpe is serving a 30-year sentence until 2025. | Garel served from 1985 until 2006, first on patrol in the Village, then mostly as an internal investigator. She supervised the NYPD’s side of a joint federal task force working with Loretta Lynch – now US attorney general – to investigate the case of Abner Louima, a Haitian man sodomized by officer Justin Volpe with a broom handle in a Brooklyn station house in 1997. Volpe is serving a 30-year sentence until 2025. |
| In 2006, Garel retired and moved to North Carolina, where she sells real estate. But, “to tell you the truth, I miss the NYPD about every day of my life,” she says on the phone. | In 2006, Garel retired and moved to North Carolina, where she sells real estate. But, “to tell you the truth, I miss the NYPD about every day of my life,” she says on the phone. |
| Most cops are good people, she says, but she witnessed bigotry. In her first job, officers decided she was the “dark-skinned female”. A female officer told her once: “You’re like us,” not the “few bad [black] apples” in Washington Square Park. Garel responded, “No, I am exactly like them. Don’t mistake that for a second. I am a black woman.” | Most cops are good people, she says, but she witnessed bigotry. In her first job, officers decided she was the “dark-skinned female”. A female officer told her once: “You’re like us,” not the “few bad [black] apples” in Washington Square Park. Garel responded, “No, I am exactly like them. Don’t mistake that for a second. I am a black woman.” |
| Garel watched one precinct push out a black woman who needed more training, while keeping an incompetent white man for 20 years so he could retire. White officers have told her they don’t see color, that “we’re all blue.” | Garel watched one precinct push out a black woman who needed more training, while keeping an incompetent white man for 20 years so he could retire. White officers have told her they don’t see color, that “we’re all blue.” |
| Her response: “Bullshit. When I take this uniform off, you don’t see blue; you see just a black woman.” | Her response: “Bullshit. When I take this uniform off, you don’t see blue; you see just a black woman.” |
| Continued deaths of unarmed black men in police encounters unsettle her: “I just think that for a lot of officers, black men are viewed as something other than human beings.” She is a member of a retired NYPD Facebook group, where “ugliness” includes white former cops calling black perps “animals” and “savages”, while not applying the same labels to white suspects. | Continued deaths of unarmed black men in police encounters unsettle her: “I just think that for a lot of officers, black men are viewed as something other than human beings.” She is a member of a retired NYPD Facebook group, where “ugliness” includes white former cops calling black perps “animals” and “savages”, while not applying the same labels to white suspects. |
| As much as she loved policing, Garel fears what police might do to her teenage son and grandson. She tells them to put their hands on the steering wheel, ask for an attorney and refuse to say anything if pulled over, remembering the Central Park jogger rape case where innocent black teens “talked their way into prison”. | As much as she loved policing, Garel fears what police might do to her teenage son and grandson. She tells them to put their hands on the steering wheel, ask for an attorney and refuse to say anything if pulled over, remembering the Central Park jogger rape case where innocent black teens “talked their way into prison”. |
| “I may piss off my law-enforcement colleagues, but I want to keep my son alive,” she says. “That’s something that, unfortunately, I have to do, and my white counterparts don’t have to do. That’s what America’s ugly history has taught.” | “I may piss off my law-enforcement colleagues, but I want to keep my son alive,” she says. “That’s something that, unfortunately, I have to do, and my white counterparts don’t have to do. That’s what America’s ugly history has taught.” |