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>F.B.I. Director Speaks Frankly About Police View of Blacks >By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT >FEB. 12, 2015 > >WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, on >Thursday delivered an unusually frank speech about the >relationship between the police and black people, saying that >officers who work in neighborhoods where blacks commit crimes >at higher rates develop a cynicism that shades their attitudes >about race. > >He said that officers — whether they are white or any other >race — who are confronted with white men on one side of the >street and black men on the other do not view them the same >way. The officers develop a mental shortcut that “becomes >almost irresistible and maybe even rational by some lights” >because of the number of black suspects they have arrested. > >“We need to come to grips with the fact that this behavior >complicates the relationship between police and the >communities they serve,” Mr. Comey said in the speech, at >Georgetown University. > >While officers should be closely scrutinized, he said, they >are “not the root cause of problems in our hardest-hit >neighborhoods,” where blacks grow up “in environments >lacking role models, adequate education and decent >employment.” > >“They lack all sorts of opportunities that most of us take >for granted,” Mr. Comey said. > >Mr. Comey’s speech was unprecedented for an F.B.I. director. >Previous directors have limited their public comments about >race to civil rights investigations, like those of murders >committed by the Ku Klux Klan and how the bureau wiretapped >the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. > >The surveillance of Dr. King is considered one of the >F.B.I.’s greatest overreaches of power. Mr. Comey, who has >led the F.B.I. for about 18 months, has said that as part of >his job, he wants to foster a national debate about law >enforcement issues that state and local authorities across the >country are facing. > >He said that he decided to give the speech because he felt >that in the aftermath of the shooting of Michael Brown, an >unarmed 18-year-old black man, by a white police officer in >Ferguson, Mo., the country had not “had a healthy >dialogue,” and that he did not “want to see those >important issues drift away.” > >One remedy, Mr. Comey said, would be for the police to have >more interactions with those they are charged to protect. >“It’s hard to hate up close,” he said. > >Mr. Comey said there was significant research that says all >people have unconscious racial biases. Although people cannot >help their instinctive reactions, law enforcement needs “to >design systems and processes to overcome that very human part >of us all,” he said. > >“Although the research may be unsettling, what we do next is >what matters most,” Mr. Comey said. > >He said that law enforcement agencies across the country >needed to be compelled to report shootings that involve police >officers so there can be a baseline to measure the issue. > >“It’s ridiculous that I can’t tell you how many people >were shot by the police last week, last month, last year,” >Mr. Comey said. > >In addressing race relations, Mr. Comey was trying to do >something that politicians and law enforcement leaders — >including his boss, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. — >have failed to do without creating significant backlash. > >After the fatal shooting in Ferguson, Mr. Holder was widely >criticized by police organizations and Republicans for a >series of comments he made that were seen as unfairly critical >of the police. Before the results of an investigation into the >Ferguson Police Department were complete, Mr. Holder said that >the department needed wholesale changes, that he stood with >the people of Ferguson and that he had been profiled by the >police. > >Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York faced a crisis with his >police department for comments he made after a grand jury on >Staten Island declined to indict a police officer whose >chokehold led to the death of an unarmed black man. Officers >also stopped enforcing low levels crimes. > >Mr. de Blasio said that he and his wife, Chirlane McCray, had >instructed their son, Dante, who is biracial, “on how to >take special care” during his interactions with the police. >The mayor said that he worried about whether his son was safe >at night. The police responded by turning their backs on Mr. >de Blasio at the memorial services for two police officers who >were killed in December. > >Mr. Comey has shown a willingness to weigh in aggressively on >race issues as far back as college. > >As a student at the College of William and Mary, Mr. Comey was >a co-author of a 1980 editorial in the school’s newspaper >that took the college to task for its lack of efforts to >foster diversity. He said that the college had set aside >millions of dollars to improve its athletics programs, but >that it had not dedicated nearly as much money to its >recruiting budget for members of minority groups. > >“So, if the college wants to enroll more black students, >what is the holdup?” the editorial said. “Is the college >unable to provide the resources necessary for an effective >recruiting program? Unable, no. Unwilling, yes.” > >It added: “We think that a lack of commitment is the >problem. The college, it seems, is only committed to staying >out of the courtroom. We wish we attended a college committed >to its social responsibilities.” > >http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/us/politics/fbi-director-comey-speaks-frankly-about-police-view-of-blacks.html
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