Policing Tactics Are Inherently Racially Biased
The training for all police officers requires them to adapt a certain level of racial bias whether they are immediately aware of it or not. According to a report from Vox, policing is much heavier in predominantly poor, segregated neighborhoods with predominantly Black residents. The concentrated efforts in these particular neighborhoods leads to a disproportionate number of arrests in the Black community and drastically skews the way the entire police culture treats Black suspects.
Racial Bias Is, in a Sense, Contagious
Systemic racism plagues many branches of the justice system, but even on an individual, personal level racial bias is a problem among police officers and can spread to their colleagues — even Black ones. “Over time, police officers are effectively conditioned toward implicit bias,” Vox reports. “When cops are thrown into situations every day in which black people are viewed as criminal suspects, they begin to identify people’s race as an indicator for crime and danger.”
