How to actually stop police brutality, according to science

[Judi Lynn]

By Stephanie Pappas - Live Science Contributor 15 hours ago



An aerial view shows people gathering to pay tribute at a makeshift memorial in honor of George Floyd, on June 3, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
(Image: © CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Cities across the U.S. have been rocked by nightly protests against police brutality following the May 25 killing of a Black Minneapolis man named George Floyd by a White police officer.

And as videos proliferate of police arresting or tear gassing seemingly peaceful protestors, the issues raised by the protestors seem more insurmountable than ever. But researchers and activists say that solutions are no mystery: Evidence-based changes to policy around policing can reduce deaths at the hands of the police. These steps alone can't end racism overnight or erase the myriad inequalities in American society, but they can save lives.

Here's what the science says on how to combat police bias and killings.

1. Track the problem
There is no comprehensive government clearinghouse for data on police killings or police use of force. After the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, several private and nonprofit groups began keeping their own databases. These include Mapping Police Violence, an effort led by data scientist and activist Samuel Sinyangwe, Fatal Encounters, a catalog by journalist D. Brian Burghart, and efforts like the Washington Post's Fatal Force database.

Thanks to databases like these, it's clear that Black people are killed at a disproportionate rate by police officers, making up 24% of deaths despite being only 13% of the population, according to Mapping Police Violence. But the databases rely on media reports of deaths, not police department, city, state or government data, for the simple reason that many police departments are not forthcoming with this information.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/evidence-police-brutality-reform.html

[3Hotdogs]

1. Requiring intervention of officers who observe excessive force.

[jaxexpat]

3. Not a great bet.

Police who police police have a real challenge.
They have been demonized into comic characters by popular media ever since before Rodney King. How often is the Internal Affairs Division characterized positively in American TV/movie culture?
And there's the question, "what do you do when the bad guy wears a white hat?"

[Wawannabe]

2. Kick em in the balls??

HARD!

[Igel]

4. You'd make a good cop.

Okay, let's rephrase that to a "good bad cop."

"De-escalate" is a key.

That means you don't escalate.

Much escalation is when the person you're trying to exert authority or control over resists and doesn't comply (or isn't seen as complying). Then the immediate reaction when you're faced with a challenge to the authority you're entitled to is, well, "kick them in the balls."

Most cops I've known--not a large number, to be sure--prefer cooperation to control. Then again, if the people they were in charge of dealing with were into cooperation, there'd be no problem.

[Wawannabe]

5. You make some good points

Taking my reply apart. However the title of OP was “How to actually stop police brutality...” That is my reference point.

I can guarantee that a good hard kick in the balls will stop any policeman from brutalizing me! Or in the nethers for a female occifer. That’s how I would react. De-escalation is their job in first place. They get pushy or grabby or something then that’s when fight or flight will kick in and I’ll do it everytime.