Transcripts For KQED Frontline 20240712 : comparemela.com

Transcripts For KQED Frontline 20240712

Public bsting. Major support is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful wor. The Ford Foundation working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. Ti adal support is provided by the abrams foundation, committed to excellence injo nalism. The park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awaren critical issues. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. And Additional Support fro ura debonis and scott nathan. Policing the police 2020 is supported by chasing the dream, a public media iniative from the wnet group in new york that examines poverty, justi, and Economic Opportunity in america, with funding by the jpb fountion. Please. Please please, i cant breathe get up, get in the car i cant move itin the whole wailing just get up and get in the car mama. Get up and get in the car ght mama. I cant video continues on comput jelani cobb the minneapolis lllice had responded to a that a man had tried to use a fake 20 bill at a cornestore. Youre stopping his breathing right now, bro, you think thats cool . Cobb they pulled him from his car. Put a knee on his ck. Hs not even resisting arrest right now, bro. Obb some eight minutes later, george floyd was dead. Is he breathing right now . Check hipulse im not gonna have this conversation. Check his pulse cobb i watched the video at home in new york. George Floyd George Floyd cobb i watched the unrest in the streets. people screaming . T. Outbursts of violence. people shouting . And the president send in federal officers. I am your president of law and order. Cobb all in e midst of a pandemic in which blk people have died at more than twice the rate of whites. Lackives matter black lives matter cobb the angry tabn the streets is a reckoning with the fact that, in this country, race is a shorthand for a set of life probabilities. Whats his name . George floyd whats his name . George floyd cobb the odds are different in black america. Of dying of covid. Ofeing poor. No justice no peace cobb of being incarcerated. Of being abused or even killed by the police dont shoot hands up dont shoot hands up dont shoot people shouting cobb six years ago, when i was covering theast uproar over Police Brutality for the new yorker. People have been out here w for, you know, ten nights, 11 nights in a row. In fergus and baltire. Ive talked withoung people here, there seemed to have been, you know, rely entrenched distrust for the police before. And at the dawn of the blacki s matter movement. If youre simply relying on the mechanisms of kind of behalf, its not going ton your happen. I teamed up with frontline to report on what it take for policing to ever be different. A i went to ace with a history of deep distrust betweea polind African Americans newar new jersey a city that still bore the scars of a violent rebellion in 1967, after white cop beat up a black cab driver. Race riots rocked new jerseys largest cit newark, nights. E consecutive days and at least 24 persons are killed. Cobb five decades later, the problems persisted. When i arrived, the ci had just been singled out by the department of justice for abusive and discriminatory policing for routinely violating peoples civil rights. Racial profiling. Unconstitutional stops. Stop and frisk, Excessive Force. Cobb particularly blackle peop. But newark was also becoming a laboratory for ways to improve licing. The Justice Department had begun to mandatehanges, and residents had recently elect a mayor who was a longtime advocate for Police Reform. He was also an old friend of mine ras baraka. Wed gone to college together. Wed been activists together. I wanted to know howe planned hi, mrs. Baraka, how are you . E. So good to see you. His mother, amina, answered thes door on this v in november of 2015. Ive been coming over here, and sitting around and reading yalls books, and eating your food and allhat. I had visited the baraka house ny times over the years, first as a friend and classmate, and then later as a young historian to interview his father, amiri baraka, who was a legendary poet and leader in the black power movement. Here comes the mayor, on me. Cobb that is amazing isnt it . Ob c mayor baraka. Wed seen each other occasionally over the years. We can sit down and start talking. But decades had passed since college. You came in 86. 86. Cobb it was the start of a series of conversations we had about transforming policing. laughter we began with a shared memory. Im pretty sure you remember this. In 1991, youme, four other people, we were in cortlandt, new york, to have an activist retreat. Re we decided we oing to go hike up this mountain. D, an um, six of us walking down this road, and theres a police car for each of us. They want us up against th cars, and that experience, in some ways, it waformative. Like, this is the function. Of the police. O cobthe police. Yea yeah. I remember i didnt go back ouide, either. That was. Its crazy. That was just a crazy situation. But all of those kinds of in know, growing up as a black boy in newark, you get thrown on the wathe wall, yt searched, you get put on the ground. Those kinds of things i weth ugh regularly. As a kid, you think their job is to come and disrupt and cause, um, you know, havoc, almost. And the real dichotomy othat is that we still thought that they should be doing theirob in the community at the same time, right . S ething happened, you call the police. And, um. So its like youre cobb weve talked about those formative experi that, that we had as young people. Om and then youhome and become involved in politics. Was there an idea that policing could be different . That this was something th there was a means of changing it . Hat the polices function is in the community, how they relate to the community. All of those things i can behanged. Its difficult and its, like, a heavy lift, but i would rather be involved in a process of doing that than sitting around being the viim of it. Cobb baraka had only been in power for a short time, but he was already taking big steps to transform the relationship between e police and the community. No justice no peace no justice no peace rs cobb for y. Welcome to the newark Municipal Councils public meeting. Cobb . People in newark had been calling for civilian oversight of the police. Ro i been ed by the cops, i done been assaulted by the cops. Ive been a victim of them more than once. Ive been a victim of reliation after reporting police abuses. A cob in 2016. Motion to close the public hearing. Cobb . Baraka helped push the idea through the cy council. Unanimously, yes. cheers and apause cobb . Creating a uniquely pordrful civilian review boa with the power to subpoena and recommend discipline. But that vote was just a first and at the time, there was concern and opposition among the poce rankandfile. I wanted to understand their perspective. To ee firsthand what policing looked likin a poor city, long plagued by violence. Details this morning in a sedouble shooting in new j a string of murders in newark. Ten of them in as many days. Al Violent Crime in genera has risen to more than 3,000 incidents annually. Cobb . And to see for myself what the mayor and justice departnt were trying to change. We had a gun robbery at 12 30 hours. 49 fairview avenue. The victim, mr. Stokes, previously classified gshine, blood gang member. Fairview homes, we will ride by and monitor that location. Ob i went out with the gang unit back then, one of the departments most problematic divisions. Ey were notorious for their aggressive tactics trying to get guns off t street. In newark, most of the victims and perpetrators were black and latino good to see you, man. Likewise. Likewi. Cobb so were most of the cops. R eady . Come on, slim c car alarping all right, son. A cobb one night, i rode with ricardo reillo, former truck driv, and wilberto rui an air force vet. Both from newark. radio chatter wheres he at, you see him . Isnt he out right there . Come here come here, man. He cobb the officers said were out there hunting for guns, drugs, and intelligence about gang rivalries. You guys dont know anythingh about shootings going on do here . Cobb they were conducting what they called field inquirs. See your hands. See your hands got something in your pants, man . No,ir. So then why are you shaking like that . Cobb basically stopping and frisking. chatter, radio chatter is, how does the decision get made to say, okay, we need to stop that person, or we need to do a field inquiry with that person . You as an officer, you eventually build certain skills. You start learning how to read people, thr body language. If one person doesnt want to take his hands out of his pockets, starts pulling away from you. Obviously, if he starts nning, you know. You kw more or less, when you pass them and they give you that look, you know. Cobb police are supposed to have whats called reasonable suspicion to stop someone, not just a hunch. Theres room for discretion. We just wanna make sure youre all right. Step off. Cobb but in its report on newark, the justice ment wid found that police were stopping people thout legal justification roughly 75 of the time. Hes only ten years old,t . Ri hes my little brother, yo. Relax, little man. How old are you . 13. Walking. Ght, so what you. Keep walking. Thats what we have to deal with inhe city of newark. 13yearolds talking back topo ce. Cobb do you think he was justified to be worried about his brother . A olutely. But he sees who we are. Were police. He shouldnt be afraid of police. Spread your feet apart. Cobb as troubling as all this appeared to me. Right there, right there. people shouting got it, got it. We got the weapon bleep we got the weapon cuff him cobb . Almost every night that we were out with the gangey unit, ot a ghe streets. Welcome to the fbi, pal. laughter cobb at the end of one night, i talked to officers ruiz and reillo about what id been eing. Im just going to ask you straight out. Is it possible to make the communities that were talking about safe while respecting absolutely. Itutional rights . Absolutely. Without a doubt. Cobb but the d. O. J. Doesnt feel like thats whathappened here. Thats an opinion. Spmean, we go out there. Its not any dist to anybody out there. Its not about race, you know, or violating tir rights. It has nothing to do with that. We have a job to do. We live in this city. Is we care out ity. This is what we do. Cobb i have to tell you so, i grew up in queens, right . And on. My First Experience with the police was that i was thrown up against a mailbox just likeis ne. I was coming home from a baseball game, had my uniform on, wacarrying a bat and a glove. The guy said it was a crime that was kind of, like, im coming from a game. The next experience i had was a few years later. I was walking with a group of friends of mine, and a cop pulled a gun on us, and told us to get on the sidewalk. You can point your weapon commands to complyve them once you feel like the threats neutralized, like, you know, theyre complying with y, then you put your weapon away, and you know. Have a normal interaction. Yeah, have a normal interaction. Cobb but can you really have a normal interaction if someones pointed a gun at you . I dont, i dont. You got to look at it our way. S i mean, th there was five or six males, and one of them possly has a weapon. What would you do as a Police Officer if you encounter a group of males, one supposedly has a weapon on him . W would you confront the situation . Cob im not sure. But thats why i asked the question about, can you do this can this, can this be done in a way that still respects peoples rights . I think thats the question that everybody is wondering about policing. Listen, we try to go out there d respect everybodys ghts. Exactly. Were not out he saying, hey, were going to violate this persons rights. Thats not what were here for. I ll you, our in objective is to go home at the end of the night. Cobb no matt what their critics said or what the federal authorities found these cops seemed to have no doubts about the way that they did their job. radio chatter that was most clear to me in how they handled one particular st. Adio chatter yo. Yo. Hey, hold on hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up stop, stop, stop, stop. You want to pull away from me, man . Youre gng to get hurt. Stop resisting. No sir, i did cuff him for safety. All right, sir. Cuff him for safety. I dnt do nothing just stop. Sir, you not under arrest. This is for your safety and our safety, okay . All right, bring him up to hisf tand up, man. Why are you acting like a jerk, bro . We stopped you bleep . You cant pull away from a cop. Yes, you did, sir, because you pulled away from me. Bro, i said, dont touch me, please. Because yall pulling up, what the bleepdo . Nothing. Im walking home. You dont even know what the hells going. Im goinho. Yeah, and thats why were i am going homeo you. When you start pulling away, its on. I didnt pull away from nobody shh. Look, we aint going to do tha if you want to do that, we could do that. Listen. . Do you understand the reason why youre cuffed . No. All right. Now, when we came and approached you, what did you do . You automatically pushed away from us. No, i said, dont me, and ke walking. Listen. Listen, youre making us think you have a weapon, the way you ran away. Yall are worried about me . Oh, n. Okay . Listen, just relax. Relax. You got it. You got it . Find out who he is. My man, its not wio pull away from usike that, you hear . Not my fault, man. All right . You know, the violence from and, and the way yallnow. Approached me, all i was doing was walking home. Ifngall would have said, y man, what are you doing . What are you doing today . Going home. I dont care about. You see how fast that was . Do not stereotype, because thats what yall d to me. Hav, sir. Yall be easy. Cobb theops were supposed stop. Ite a report about that dinner of champio here. He cobb but when i later tried to get a copy, tepartment told me they had no record of it. Thats lunch. About to shut it down. Cobb it spoke to a larger problem in newark. I just need you to sign these files out. Cobb thank you. According to d. O. J investigators, hundreds of allegations of illegal stops or Excessive Force largely involving black residents had igver been propey invested many had not even beenwark pd. Documented. Whats going on . How you ing . Good, good, good, good. Cobb i talked to the mayor about what id been seeing. How you doing . Yeah, yeah. Im visiting the precincts, man, letng them see people in here working, you know. Cobb we met up one day while he was touring the cys police precincts. Weve been out with the gang unit. Theyre going around and getting guns. Getting illegal ns requires you rolling up on folk. Yeah. Cobb how doethat happen without being the same sorts of policinghat people are protesting about . Intelligence. Who is actually somebody you dshould probably stop, an somebody whos just ms. Marthas kid going to the store with his hat to the back, right . I mean, intelligence gets you that information, not just, like, random sps. Thats not how you p i mean, that right there is racism. Cobb but these are black and brown cops. O yeah,at . Cobb diverse Police Officer, police force. Its not the who did it thate t racism. To me, it is the fact that, overwhelmingly, it happens to one specif group of people is what makes it racism. It becomes systemic, and most of the problems come from like that. They believe that everybody must be a gang member, im going to grab you, and, and itwrong, its unconstitutional. Cobb ot long after we spoke, the gang unit was disbanded, and one of the officers we rode with, wilberto ruiz, was fired following multiple complaints against him. You need the right people t doing the of stuff. Cobb at the same time, the mayor wawelcoming the d. O. J. s help to fix the systemic problems here. A lack of resources and expertise and the friction of local politics have long made it difficult for cities like newark to reform their own Police Departments. Thats why, more than 25 years ago, Congress Gave the department of justice extraordinary powers to police local police deparents. It happened in the wake of the infamous beating of rodney king by four white cops in l. A. Not guilty of the crime of assault by force. W cobb n the officers were acquitted. You bleep piece of ble pig n i hope you bur hell cob. The city exploded. Congress decided to act. The crime control and Law Enforcement act is adopted. Cobb . Adding a provision to the 1994 crimbill that gave the department of justice the power to investigate local police dartments and force them to reform. Congress thought it waspo ant for the Justice Department to have a way to really address and engage systemic reform in Police Departments around the country. Cobb vanita gupta ran the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department under president obama. We are here today to announce a landmark Settlement Agreement between the Justice Department and the city of albuquerque. An exhaustive revieof the Cleveland Division of police. The challenges related to policing in the city of cobb the office used its power aggressively, opening 25 new investigations into Law Enforcement agencies for civil Rights Violations. All but a few ended up in agreements to carry out reforms. Many of those were court enforced Consent Decrees. How effective have these decrees been . So theyve been really effective. And look, theyre not. The net result of our work in a policeepartment does not result ia Perfect Police dont think there is such a thing as a Perfect Police department. But we have seen in Police Departments over and over again small and big that even where theres deeply entrenched discriminatory policing, or problems with use of force, or lack of accountability, that those are changeable over time. Cobb on the day we spoke in 2016, gus in newark to sign the

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