Excerpts from the DC Black
United Front’s position paper on police-community relations issued in 1968. From the DC Gazette, forerunner of the Progressive Review
DC Gazette, 1968 - During
1967, four black men were killed by white policemen in the District of
Columbia.
During the first 10 months of 1968, seven black men have already been killed by white policemen.
It is clear that official violence against the black community is increasing.
In no instance in the history of the D. C. Police Department has a white policeman ever been convicted, indicted or dismissed for killing a black man.
"Justifiable homicide" has become the official phrase of the District police department for whitewashing the killing of black men by white police officers.
The Black United Front, the most representative black group in the nation's capital, has been charged with the responsibility of presenting the facts of white police actions and non-actions in the black community with recommendations for change in the form of possible legislation to be enacted by the City Council.
To this end, the Black United Front held public hearings in six police precincts.
Let us emphasize one fact: these hearings were the only public forums in the District of Columbia which sought and obtained a cross-section of public opinion concerning white police-black community relations.
While white police brutality against black citizens is now a national problem of crisis proportions, it is particularly critical in Washington, D. C. because 1) this is the nation's capital and 2) this is the largest major city in America with a black majority and in fact, the largest black majority of any major city.
The D. C. white policeman is seen by the majority of black citizens in their communities as the perpetrator of violence rather than as the protector of the peace. The slaughter of black citizens by white policemen must either be brought to an immediate and final end or the ultimate horror of a full-scale civil war in this city will be realized.
The proposals which the Black United Front presents in this paper is an effort to prevent such a violent confrontation.
The problem starts with the police having no interest in the community which they patrol and no interest in the well-being of the citizens they are hired to protect. When citizens do complain to the precinct structure — the captains and other officers — they are subjected to various forms of harassment, the most frequent being police investigators visiting the complainant at his place of employment to create the impression that it is the complainant who is under investigation.
Testimony during the BUF hearings revealed that in several instances, complainants had actually had their lives threatened by white policemen after complaints had been filed against the police or fellow officers.
Several meaningful questions were raised at the hearings: Why is the police force 80 percent white in a city which is 68 percent black? What accounts for this discrepancy? Why are the police recruited from outside cities and states? Why are there so many low educated white racists on the D. C. police force? Not only did the BUF hearings reveal a pattern of police oppression, police abuse of black citizens, sloppy law enforcement in the black community (with the crude exception of writing traffic tickets) and stationhouse police brutality, there are literally thousands of instances of wanton and savage white police actions which are never reported or even listed.
The American Civil Liberties Union in a recent report estimated, on the basis of a survey and investigation, that there are approximately 5,000 cases of police brutality a year.
During the hearings, these were some of the incidents of police abuse reported: A cab driver stated that policemen have a habit of getting into cabs and ordering the drivers to transport them from one place to another, without payment.
Several witnesses showed scars as the result of excessive force used by policemen during arrests.
One woman in her mid-40's spoke of being teargassed while sitting on her front steps. The reason? "I was black. " Several witnesses complained of the irresponsible use of the chemical Mace.
Many complained of "false arrests" with no means of rectifying the record.
A local minister stated that he had been arrested three times himself for merely intervening between police and community in those situations.
One youth complained of officers "talking bad" and taking off their police badges during an assault in order not to be identified.
One black man was picked up and told he should not have been in "this part of town after dark." The "part of town" was an all-white section of D. C.
Another man was arrested for merely sitting in his car and later released.
These were only a few of the many who testified.
The 11 black men who have been killed by white police-men in the last two years were silent witnesses at these hearings. Their deaths were their most eloquent statement.
As a result of the hearings and testimony taken by several hundreds of witnesses, the Black United Front offers the following recommendations to be enacted by the D. C. City Council.
- All District policemen must be required to live in the District. This is both a logical and healthy requirement. It would have the double effect of involving the police in the protection of their own community and making them more sensitive to the needs of District residents.
- All-white patrols in black communities would be prohibited. An unwritten law now exists that all white patrols are assigned to certain predominantly white sections of the city. In the alternative, all black policemen should be assigned to the black community.
- Establish Precinct Citizens' Selection and Review Boards. Each Precinct Board will be made up of residents of the respective precincts. The Board members will be elected by the citizens in the corresponding Precincts. These Boards will have the power
During the first 10 months of 1968, seven black men have already been killed by white policemen.
It is clear that official violence against the black community is increasing.
In no instance in the history of the D. C. Police Department has a white policeman ever been convicted, indicted or dismissed for killing a black man.
"Justifiable homicide" has become the official phrase of the District police department for whitewashing the killing of black men by white police officers.
The Black United Front, the most representative black group in the nation's capital, has been charged with the responsibility of presenting the facts of white police actions and non-actions in the black community with recommendations for change in the form of possible legislation to be enacted by the City Council.
To this end, the Black United Front held public hearings in six police precincts.
Let us emphasize one fact: these hearings were the only public forums in the District of Columbia which sought and obtained a cross-section of public opinion concerning white police-black community relations.
While white police brutality against black citizens is now a national problem of crisis proportions, it is particularly critical in Washington, D. C. because 1) this is the nation's capital and 2) this is the largest major city in America with a black majority and in fact, the largest black majority of any major city.
The D. C. white policeman is seen by the majority of black citizens in their communities as the perpetrator of violence rather than as the protector of the peace. The slaughter of black citizens by white policemen must either be brought to an immediate and final end or the ultimate horror of a full-scale civil war in this city will be realized.
The proposals which the Black United Front presents in this paper is an effort to prevent such a violent confrontation.
The problem starts with the police having no interest in the community which they patrol and no interest in the well-being of the citizens they are hired to protect. When citizens do complain to the precinct structure — the captains and other officers — they are subjected to various forms of harassment, the most frequent being police investigators visiting the complainant at his place of employment to create the impression that it is the complainant who is under investigation.
Testimony during the BUF hearings revealed that in several instances, complainants had actually had their lives threatened by white policemen after complaints had been filed against the police or fellow officers.
Several meaningful questions were raised at the hearings: Why is the police force 80 percent white in a city which is 68 percent black? What accounts for this discrepancy? Why are the police recruited from outside cities and states? Why are there so many low educated white racists on the D. C. police force? Not only did the BUF hearings reveal a pattern of police oppression, police abuse of black citizens, sloppy law enforcement in the black community (with the crude exception of writing traffic tickets) and stationhouse police brutality, there are literally thousands of instances of wanton and savage white police actions which are never reported or even listed.
The American Civil Liberties Union in a recent report estimated, on the basis of a survey and investigation, that there are approximately 5,000 cases of police brutality a year.
During the hearings, these were some of the incidents of police abuse reported: A cab driver stated that policemen have a habit of getting into cabs and ordering the drivers to transport them from one place to another, without payment.
Several witnesses showed scars as the result of excessive force used by policemen during arrests.
One woman in her mid-40's spoke of being teargassed while sitting on her front steps. The reason? "I was black. " Several witnesses complained of the irresponsible use of the chemical Mace.
Many complained of "false arrests" with no means of rectifying the record.
A local minister stated that he had been arrested three times himself for merely intervening between police and community in those situations.
One youth complained of officers "talking bad" and taking off their police badges during an assault in order not to be identified.
One black man was picked up and told he should not have been in "this part of town after dark." The "part of town" was an all-white section of D. C.
Another man was arrested for merely sitting in his car and later released.
These were only a few of the many who testified.
The 11 black men who have been killed by white police-men in the last two years were silent witnesses at these hearings. Their deaths were their most eloquent statement.
As a result of the hearings and testimony taken by several hundreds of witnesses, the Black United Front offers the following recommendations to be enacted by the D. C. City Council.
- All District policemen must be required to live in the District. This is both a logical and healthy requirement. It would have the double effect of involving the police in the protection of their own community and making them more sensitive to the needs of District residents.
- All-white patrols in black communities would be prohibited. An unwritten law now exists that all white patrols are assigned to certain predominantly white sections of the city. In the alternative, all black policemen should be assigned to the black community.
- Establish Precinct Citizens' Selection and Review Boards. Each Precinct Board will be made up of residents of the respective precincts. The Board members will be elected by the citizens in the corresponding Precincts. These Boards will have the power
- determine and establish the criteria for the policemen
assigned to their Precinct and present such criteria to a city-wide Citizens'
Police Personnel Board,
- approve or disapprove the assignment of all policemen
in their Precinct (receive applications from the city-wide Citizens Police
Personnel Board),
- act as a complaint and review board for all confrontations
between the police and citizens and recommend disciplinary action against such
officers where it deems appropriate.
- Establish a city-wide Citizens' Police
Personnel Board. This board would be composed of the Chairman of each Precinct
Citizens' Selection and Review Board. This city-wide board would have the power
to: a) recruit, process, approve, and hire all policemen— in accord with the
criteria presented it from the Precinct Citizens' Selection and Review Boards, and
b) act as a trial board on each case brought before it by the Precinct
Citizens' Selection and Review Boards for disciplinary action.
This
city-wide Citizens' Police Personnel Board would have its own staff of
investigators and attorneys. In each case brought before it for disciplinary
action, one of the city-wide Board attorneys would act in behalf of the complaining
citizen(s). The police officer(s) involved and brought before the Board for
discipline would be represented by an attorney provided by the District
Government. Each such case brought before the city-wide Board would have to be
heard by the entire city-wide Citizens' Police Personnel Board.
This Board would have final say on the dismissal of an officer.
- Establish a mechanism for the selection of each Precinct Captain by each corresponding Precinct Citizens' Selection and Review Board. This could perhaps be done through the use of lateral entry from other agencies.
- A psychologist should determine if a person is racially prejudiced.
- Stop all outside-the-District recruiting now.
- Eliminate the procedure of not allowing those with police records to become policemen and judge each case on its merits.
- Cease all promotions in the Police Department and upgrade present black policemen.
- Develop a mechanism to get rid of those undesirable hard-core establishment police presently on the force.
- Replace Police Chief John Layton with a black police professional .
13. Eliminate the Coroner's jury which as functioned as a device for ratifying the murder of black citizens by white police officers through consistent findings of "justifiable homicide.
This Board would have final say on the dismissal of an officer.
- Establish a mechanism for the selection of each Precinct Captain by each corresponding Precinct Citizens' Selection and Review Board. This could perhaps be done through the use of lateral entry from other agencies.
- A psychologist should determine if a person is racially prejudiced.
- Stop all outside-the-District recruiting now.
- Eliminate the procedure of not allowing those with police records to become policemen and judge each case on its merits.
- Cease all promotions in the Police Department and upgrade present black policemen.
- Develop a mechanism to get rid of those undesirable hard-core establishment police presently on the force.
- Replace Police Chief John Layton with a black police professional .
13. Eliminate the Coroner's jury which as functioned as a device for ratifying the murder of black citizens by white police officers through consistent findings of "justifiable homicide.
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