The truth behind police and lethal force
A comprehensive and exhausting Harvard study of police data indicates that the narrative of police targeting black civilians with lethal force is patently false while Police using non-lethal force on black suspects, however, is significantly higher than that used against white suspects. The most extensive study to date on police data regarding racial differences is contained in AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN POLICE USE OF FORCE by National Bureau of Economic Research’s Roland G. Fryer, Jr., Harvard professor of economics, July 2016. The study found that Blacks are 23.8% less likely to be shot at by police relative to whites. The rest of the study is equally revealing.
Some highlights of the Harvard study are: Black civilians are 30.9% less likely to be shot with a pistol (rather than a taser) relative to non-black suspects. Officers are 47.4% less likely to discharge their firearms before being attacked if the suspect is black; Blacks are 53% more likely to experience any use of non-lethal force; Blacks are 21.3% more likely to endure some form of force; Blacks are 19.4% more likely to be involved in an interaction with police in which at least a weapon is drawn than whites; Officers decisions to use lethal force are not correlated with the race of the suspect. There are no differences in the use of lethal force for black suspects compared with white. There is no evidence of racial differences of the officers who use lethal force.
Fryer Studied 1,332 shootings between 2000-2015 using detailed data from police reports in Houston; Austin, Tex.; Dallas; Los Angeles; Orlando, Fla.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and four other counties in Florida; 3.5 million arrests from New York City stop and frisk records 2003-2013; and 500,000 observations from 1996-2011 in the Police-Public Contact Survey by the Bureau of Justice. Fryer, an African American, concludes: “It is plausible that racial differences in lower level uses of force are simply a distraction and movements such as Black Lives Matter should seek solutions within their own communities rather than changing the behaviors of police and other external forces.”
Fryer said, “Much more troubling, due to their frequency and potential impact on minority belief formation, is the possibility that racial differences in police use of non-lethal force have spillovers on myriad dimensions of racial inequality.” This means that Blacks live in a form of soft tyranny that doesn’t allow them to feel as free and equal to others. As I have written before, it is a vicious cycle. Notwithstanding, the study demonstrates that lethal force is not racially motivated, but harassment may well be. It is in this where there is frustration and the perception to reality of being treated unfairly. What is our response as Christians? Jesus Christ said in Matthew 7:12, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” It’s the Golden Rule and we should employ it in all our relations-Black, White and Blue!
