Assignment: Predicting Precedent Based on History
STUDENT REPLIES

STUDENT REPLY #1 Stephon Johnson

One significant event of modern era policing is law enforcement establishing a relationship with the community. A relationship between law enforcement and the citizen in the community is important; it not only builds trust, but it makes the citizens feel safe. It allows law-abiding citizens to know who’s working in their community or neighborhood. I live in a small town in Virginia where each year before the kids go back to school the local police department and county sheriff will host an event called national night out. During the event, the local law enforcement will come together with the community and provide them with food, games, and gifts. Law enforcement officers would also allow the children in the neighborhood to take a tour of their patrol vehicles and play with the sirens. Since the start of the event law enforcement has grown closer to the community.

After researching national night out, I learned that it was created in bigger cities like Boston in 1984 as a crime prevention program that emphasizes building a partnership between the police and the community. I believe Virginia saw how it worked in different cities and decided to give it a try not knowing how it would turn out. Being from a neighborhood where citizens didn’t get along with law enforcement. I think the system as a whole was looking for a way to bring law enforcement and the community together and build a bond and trust.

I do believe that the local law enforcement in my neighborhood didn’t think that the national night out would turn out to be as successful as it has. Although in the past citizens in the community didn’t get along well with law enforcement, as the years past there is a better and better turnout each year.

STUDENT REPLIES

STUDENT REPLY #2 Tika Gray

In modern-day policing, a significant event is racial profiling. In 1960 during the riots to present-day policing have continued to profile minorities. During the Civil Rights movement, I truly believed that law enforcement thought things would become better because of the passed laws to protect minorities. Also, minorities were being hired to be police officers. Community policing was put into place, but not all community members trusted the police, and not all police trusted the people in the community. We can race forward to the present day; minorities are still being racially profiled because of the color of their skin.

Historically, racial targeting by police did not start in the late twentieth century. Nevertheless, it has constituted a fact of life for African Americans as long as organized police forces in the United States. Thus, it is not new; more to the point, it is not gone.

Reference

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/criminal_justice/publications/criminal-justice-magazine/2020/winter/racial-profiling-past-present-and-future/