THE POLICE FILM

[Music] [Music] [Applause] Can this be the man who less than 24 hours ago [Music] risked his life for less money per hour than this man earns. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] Is it possible for the same man who risked his life in this situation to act this way in another? It is possible. And that's why we have a lot to think about before we can get the right answer to this. That's why I say POLICE BRUTALITY HAS GOT TO STOP. AND THIS, WHAT DO you expect the police to do? They've got to defend themselves. Well, what do you think? Is it a simple matter of police brutality or self-defense? Either revolution or law and order. Is this police brutality or self-defense? What do you think? Unless you said you didn't know you were prejudiced either for or against the police, what you thought must have been based on your prior attitudes towards the demonstrators or towards the police. Why? Because in the film you saw it was impossible to tell how the violence started. Which may be why in this very complicated time of social change and controversy about the police, law and order, and the right to descent that we better get all the facts, as many facts as it takes to arrive at a real understanding of the police, their function, and their responsibility to all citizens. The idea of a police function and its responsibility to the group could be compared to what happened millions of years ago when the ancestors of these ants evolve their own version of a police function. So that now after millions of years of evolution, the ant has a social system in which certain ants stand guard and check out other ants trying to get into their antill home, checking to see if they are friend or foe by touching, smelling, tasting them for the familiar odors and taste of their own antill colony. If considered an enemy, these police or guard ants signal and other ants arrive and help destroy the intruder. Many species of insects, animals, apes, birds, and even fish have this police type of duty in which the group uses specific individuals to defend them from danger. And going way, way back to prehistoric man, the strongest male would protect the group from danger. And of course, the rest of the group would join in, fight off dangers too great for one person to handle alone. [Applause] When mankind grew more civilized, it became necessary to live by more elaborate rules, laws, laws to protect the weak from the aggressive strong. In this arrangement, the power and strength of the group was given to individuals to use in behalf of the group. This same principle applies to today's modern police force. So insects or mankind, the idea of a police force or function came out of necessity. Even the human body has its police force when in the event of illness or injury, white blood cells such as these protect us from harmful bacteria and other substances that threaten the body. Comparison: police and community. Bull. Bull. Bull. They're all pigs. Pigs. They're pigs. Pigs. Pig. They're all fascist pigs. They're mean. Well, we must have law and order in this country or the communists will take over. Why is everyone against their own police? You've got to support the police. Well, really, they're just doing their job. Why be against your own police? Police risk your life for you. Why is everybody picking on the police? Well, this keeps things from getting out of hand. Well, it doesn't look like we're all together about the policemen. What happened to the image of civilized mankind at its best? The one to whom society gives all its collective strength and authority. To those professionally trained men who are paid to enforce the laws that protect the weak from the aggressive strong with no regard to race, religion, or ethnic origin. Are you kidding? Are you kidding? Are you kidding? Are you kidding? Are you kidding? Are you kidding? Are you kidding? No, I'm not kidding. Or is he? LEGAL IS the police. As a matter of fact, no one is kidding about the police. Let's talk about the police going back about 10 years or so. It seemed that there was no real problem regarding the work and responsibilities of the policeman. It was obvious, more or less. He was a traffic cop, a crime fighter, saver of lives. a lawyer, psychiatrist, a doctor, and the most well-known representative of the government, its protection and authority. So, what's changed? He still is a traffic cop, a crime fighter. [Music] [Applause] Hold it. Police officers. [Applause] [Music] Okay, now you hold it right there. Come on. Come on. Out where I can see them. The saver of lives. OFFICER, HELP. MY DAUGHTER'S DROWNING. OH, HURRY, OFFICER. PLEASE. She's drowning. [Applause] [Applause] [Music] A lawyer. I asked for al dente. This isn't al dent. You order meatballs and spaghetti. That's meatballs and spaghetti. Officer, make them. I won't. Oh, okay. Take any steak. You look You ate about what? About a third of this. Ah, fourth. Okay. 25%. Pay 25%. That's what you ate. No. Come on. You look like a reasonable man. 25%. Right. All right. Okay. He's going to pay 25%. No. Look, be reasonable. He's willing to pay 25%. That's better than a total loss. All right. A doctor. It's going to be all right. Just relax, man. Just relax. You'll be all right. Easy. I've done this before now. Just relax. Yeah. Just relax. Everything's going to be fine. Just relax now. Make it easy. There we go. It's almost through now. There you go. Easy now. a psychiatrist. No, you come any closer. I'll talk. Okay. Okay. I'll do nothing. I just thought you want to talk about it. I can't hear you from here. No. No. What? I don't want to talk about it. Are you sure? You're thinking about ending your life and there's nothing you want to say about it? No. Wow. I'd want somebody to know. I mean, if I had that much bug in me and I was going to kill myself, I'd want to make darn sure somebody knew why. And especially whose fault it was. I mean, you don't kill yourself all by yourself. It's got to be somebody's fault. I'd want them to know. You tell her. WHO? WHO? WHO IS IT? WHO? WHO? My mother. my mother and your government representative on call. [Music] So what's happened? What's really changed? What's at the bottom of this problem? Well, at least two things have changed. The first change is the citizen of the United States himself who is better educated than before and who is not only more aware of his own rights but of the rights, responsibilities and limitations of the police force. The second change is that where in the past the policeman was rarely involved in political issues and go home, they are now used more than ever before in more and more frequent clashes with dissenting political, racial and ethnic groups. ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE. ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE. [Applause] To see how some of our leading law enforcement officials feel about the new and increasing demands made of our police force. Let's talk to Commissioner of Police of New York City, Patrick Murphy. At the police academy, all of our new officers receive a considerable amount of training and that includes uh reading assignments as well as lectures and classroom discussion uh concerning the constitutional guarantees of all citizens. uh plus a considerable amount of material on the problems of minorities and the uh role of the police officer in protecting the rights of all citizens whether they be of a minority group or poor or hippies or students. That all must be treated as citizens. And uh the police officer must always subdue his own biases and be objective in in dealing with people. But what about the older policeman's attitudes towards the hippie, the dissentive, the student, minority groups, blacks, Puerto Ricans, etc. In our training programs, which uh continue for all policemen during their careers, they spend several days each year in inservice training. Uh we don't ignore uh the problems of minorities, hippies, students, older people, poor people. Uh we uh attempt to reinforce the earlier training of the men and deal with new problems and new issues. So although our recruits as new policemen spend much more time in training, our experienced officers every year uh will have some kind of refresher training uh dealing uh with the important uh subject of being objective and dealing with all kinds of people. The most frequently asked question about police is why would anyone want to become a cop? Why would anyone want to become a policeman? Why would anyone want to become a policeman? Why would anybody want to become a policeman? Critics of the police say they become cops because they enjoy pushing people around. They just want the guaranteed authority of the uniform. They're sadists. They just like to beat up on people. Only aggressive personality types like ex-marines or ex- army would want to be policemen. They need a gun to feel masculine and strong. Yeah, it's the only way they can feel as good as someone with better education and more brain than they have. We asked cadets at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Academy why they wanted to become law enforcement officers. In the community where I grew up, there was a lot of kids in trouble. As I became older, I wanted to make sure that that didn't happen to my family. I also had a deep concern for my community and I wanted to help. In my senior year in college, I became interested in a public service career and uh after investigation, I decided that the sheriff's department offered me the greatest challenge as well as the greatest opportunities for advancement. I came on the department to do an interesting job. I didn't want to go to work at 8 and be bored until 5. And this is the type of job where things are always changing from minute to minute. Instead of talking about all the wrong in the world today, I've decided to get involved. I feel that there are a lot of citizens today that are turning their backs and saying, "Well, I don't want to get involved." I personally feel I do want to get involved. I thought it'd be great to represent my own minority group and feel law enforcement kind of help bridge the communication gap. That's right. Me, too. I also represent a minority and there is a lot of pressure and uh I feel that I'm opening the doors for all minorities for a better understanding. I wanted an interesting job where I wasn't doing the same type of work every day and I feel in law enforcement there are many interesting jobs for women. I agree. The sheriff's department especially has opened up many new fields to women. For instance, detective work. And this is the field that I'm interested in. I'd like to try to stop uh man's inhumity to man. It will be interesting to hear what the police officer with a few years experience has to say. I've learned that no matter how many times a week we save a stranger's life, there's always going to be somebody that causes. In place work, a lot of times you see the worst in people. The problem for myself and other law enforcement officers is to realize that all people are not like this. Since becoming a police officer, I found out that my civilian friends no longer trust me. So now I've resorted to having nothing but policemen as friends. You know, every day I risk my life to fight crime, but the judges and the courts just don't seem to back you up. The problem today is there are too many people who don't respect authority. Therefore, they don't respect the police uniform or the man who wears it. I just can't understand why kids who have had everything I never had would want a revolution that beats me. There are still black people who think that all black policemen are traitors. First, they complain there aren't enough of us. Then they complain that we're all selling out to the man. You can't win. We went to Atlanta to talk to Police Chief Herbert Jenkins about the Atlanta Police Department's approach to racial relations. Chief Jenkins, Atlanta has recently earned the reputation of having a positive and healthy police and community relationship, especially along racial lines. What is your basic policy that creates this result? Of course, the mayor of a city establishes overall policy and in Atlanta, Mayor Sam ML certainly points the way and sets the pace in community relations. And then again, uh the police department adjust its operations accordingly. But I think the real key to the success that we've had here in Atlanta is the very fine uh civilian leadership that we have here in Atlanta, both in the white community and the black community. We asked Chief Jenkins what is done about the day-to-day work of law enforcement and racial relations. We have regular rap sessions, you might call it. We have people from the community, from the ghettos to come in and talk to the police and recruit school. Then again, they have an opportunity to say anything they like to a police officer. And that's part of the police officer's training, his reaction to that from time to time. What about police training? What's being done to develop a professional law officer? Someone who is prepared by training and education to deal with today's racial and ethnic problems and the different types of dissent and dissenters. from this defense is legal. WATCH YOUR LOCAL POLICE TO THIS. [Applause] For an answer to what's happening in progressive police officer education, we talked to the director of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Academy, Captain Kenneth Cape. We uh use consultants for example from all of the universities and uh they visit us on a regular basis and they're very critical of us and uh uh we respond and and uh from all of this comes uh what we consider to be our enlightened programs. We also talk with people from the community from the various groups representative groups in the community. We have uh uh people from uh the so-called street people coming in and talking to us. Just a few short years ago, law enforcement was able to say we want our men to protect life and property. And that was a fairly simplistic way to look at it. And so we trained people in uh the mechanical skills necessary to protect life and property. Uh our current situation has changed. We have not been forgiven the requirement to teach them how to do these mechanical things. But in addition, we have to teach them how to function in what we term their developing role. Uh it's no longer as simple as just going out and uh patrolling and protecting people. You have other social responsibilities too. We wondered how the academyy's course in mob psychology related to disscent. Well, first of all, we make a distinction between crowds and mobs. Crowds are people who attend football games and uh uh athletic events. Mobs, on the other hand, are people who are demonstrating uh violent behavior generally and something with which the police must cope. Peaceful demonstrations, if properly handled, properly policed, can be just that, peaceful demonstrations. If we do not and if we overlook the obvious and if we let our own personal emotions run away with this and possibly we go from an area of no longer having a peaceful demonstrations but we have a mob and a potential civil disturbance situation on our hands. Identifying the distinction being able to tell when uh uh legal, lawful, acceptable, desirable dissent becomes moblike activity is the trick and the key. And uh recognizing that we spend an awful lot of time teaching the cadet how to make that distinction. We were interested in what the academy did to prepare its men for work with minority groups. We recognize that many of our cadetses come to us not having had any experience with ethnic groups and they are victims of the stereotypes they bring with them. Uh the classes are made up of representatives from all groups and very often we get some real discussions going between the different groups and out of all of this comes an understanding. The cadet is better equipped when he goes into the field to cope with it when he's confronted with it. When our cadets graduate at the end of 26 weeks they're not only trained but they are educated. In addition, they'll have 24 college units, which we hope will act as an incentive to take them in pursuit of additional education because it is our conviction that an educated officer is a better officer and more responsive to the public need. While the minority and desending groups may represent a special problem, the police are concerned with their relations with the entire community. With two policemen per thousand people in Los Angeles and four per thousand in New York, the police know that they cannot do their job without the help and support of the entire community. From large cities like Los Angeles and New York to small towns like Coina and Southern California. Community relations programs have been designed to bring the police and the community together for better communications and understanding. In the community of Van Ny, the Los Angeles Police Department has evolved a community relations program called a basic car plan in which police officers assigned to patrol cars meet with members of the community in which they patrol for an exchange of ideas as to what would help create better police and community relations. Price, I work the day shift from 7 to 3. I'm married. I have uh a wife, two boys, two girls, one dog, two cats, 16 fish, and a hamster. and I'm married, have two children. I live in Van Eyes and uh I like outdoor sports. Driver's license number. After the policemen introduce themselves, the meeting breaks up into smaller groups where many things are discussed. Stolen property, right? As far as the serial number goes, as the department says, what we do, we put in a number. Not only does the basic car plan help to fight crime, it also creates a stronger personal relationship between the community and the police. [Applause] [Applause] This is Coina. Population 31,000, give or take a dozen or two. To many police chiefs nationally, Coina is a model of what a progressive, community sensitive, responsible law enforcement agency can accomplish. Behind many innovative techniques of law enforcement and training is police chief Ferguson, who is in demand as a consultant and lecturer in police training methods in leading colleges and universities throughout the United States. Well, there are many police departments and many police chiefs who are involved in change and I'm very happy to be a part of that structure. I don't think we're typical here in Coina, but we are a part of something new that's happening and it's a kind of a of a move to look to new things to make policemen more effective in their particular community. I think that the obligation that I have is to make certain that I have educated policemen, men here who are able to cope with the different kinds of field situations. I don't think that we can have rules and regulations written for every possible kind of thing they might come up against anymore. It's just not possible. And so what I think we have to do is train policemen to think for themselves very carefully, be able to make field decisions. And the way that we do this is by having men in school. Now in Coina, we pay for the education. We encourage our men to go to school. We arrange the hours of shifts so they can continue in school. So education is a continuing thing here. I don't think that we have to hire educated men but educable men and then they have to understand that school is a part of the job right here in our town. And then I think we go beyond the education kind of situation because that's formal. I think some other things have to happen. We have to create experiences for our people, real life kind of experiences. So as they begin to happen naturally here, my men will be acquainted with them. We thought it might be important here for our men to find out what happens when we when we put people in jail. Now, that may sound kind of silly because we put people in jail all the time and we know a great deal about jail from the policeman's point of view, but nothing from the arresty's point of view and it can be very traumatic. We made arrangements with the Riverside County Jail and they permitted us to book all of our men in and all of our women too. We thought that was important. as prisoners. We made up a little story that they were a burglary forgery ring and we had told the people in in Riverside that we were working the case out there and would be making arrests and storing them in their jail. [Applause] Would you stop closer, please? They went through the booking process. They went through the mugging and the fingerprinting. [Applause] They were given jail clothing after a shower and being del was quite a leveling factor. I can tell you take a shower, wait a couple minutes, wait a shower on. They became very concerned with what time is it? Am I going to get dinner? Where am I going to sleep? And they begin to get extremely anxious. Now, we didn't want to place our men in the position where they wouldn't want to put anyone in jail, but we wanted them to understand the seriousness of jail. We wanted to make certain they were very, very careful in what they were doing when they made arrests. And I think we accomplished that. Obviously, there are many law enforcement officers who are sincere and dedicated to their profession, which is to serve and protect. However, and this is the real underlying problem behind police community relations, policemen are also a segment of the community. So, in a total population which includes dishonesty, we will be sure to find some men who make dishonest policemen. In a population that includes violence, we will find men who would make violent policemen. In a population that includes overaggressive personalities, we will find overaggressive policemen. So in spite of all the training and education a policeman may get, he still is like everyone else, merely a human being. A human being with a shortcomings and prejudices found in the total population. Meanwhile, not only are the problems of crime against people, like assault and robbery increasing every year, but the problem of disscent is increasing even more rapidly, at times involving hundreds of thousands of people at once, like the moratorum march on Washington. Let's talk to the police chief of Washington DC. Chief Wilson, Washington has become the scene of many marches and demonstrations. What is your attitude toward political disscent? Well, our purpose as police officers is is essentially to divorce ourselves from the from the politics of the descent. We we have to look at all types of defense descent both pro and con uh anti-war, pro-war or regardless of what the issue is. the the job of the police officer is to uh do his job as a professional and not get involved in the in the issues that uh that the dissenters may be involved in. So basically what you're doing is to see to it that certain laws are obeyed. What are some of these laws? Well, in in general, it is to our purpose is to preserve the public peace, to preserve uh domestic tranquility. uh to ensure that uh that individuals have their con can exercise their constitutional rights to peaceibly descent and yet at the same time to ensure that others have the right to do their work and go about their daily business without undue disruption of uh their normal day-to-day operations and work. It's essentially a peacekeeping job. Uh it involves keeping the traffic flowing in the city. It involves protecting uh uh persons and property. It involves uh protecting the right of everyone to to live in a an orderly society including those who are not dissenting at that time including particularly those who are not desenting. But it also involves protecting for example dissenters from counter denters which frequently uh crop up uh in in many demonstrations. group who will find counter demonstrators who uh will uh perhaps cause trouble of one sort or another. We asked Een Monroe, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which is one of America's oldest organizations dealing with social and political problems about the right to disscent and the role of law enforcement officers and these rights. We must all recognize that the role of the police in America today is a very difficult one. They are called upon to enforce local regulations, ordinances, statutes, community attitudes which may be in conflict with the highest law of the land, the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment of which guarantees to every American citizen the right of free speech, free press, free assembly, the right to petition his government for a redress of grievances. That's the highest obligation of the police. Demonstrators too must recognize uh these rights but their responsibilities in relation to that namely to submit to reasonable regulation of disscent, demonstrations, picketing and other forms of protest and expression. What steps should be taken by those persons or organizations planning a legal demonstration or march? Those who plan peaceful demonstrations should I think do two things at least. One is to seek the cooperation of the police to consult with the police about their plans to inform the police of what the demonstration is about where it will take place under what circumstances and to assure the police that it will be conducted peaceibly. Second, uh to inform themselves concerning those reasonable regulations, permits and and other restrictions, reasonable restrictions upon the right to demonstrate and to go through the processes that are required. If a permit is denied either by the police or the board of supervisors, city council, there are ways of recourse. uh the group can take the matter to court and the courts have been forthright in protecting the right of demonstration. In cases where police have acted in a manner which a citizen feels has been illegal, what determines the redress available to the citizen? The availability of redress depends I think very largely on the character of the elected officials in the community. If those officials are enlightened, if they understand and respect the problem of the relationship between the police and various groups, the blacks, the browns, the young people, other groups uh in the community, then they will provide some effective means by which individuals can report uh malpractice by police and can secure some kind of accounting, accountability and redress from such bodies. That'll take years. Who is dumb enough to believe there's enough politicians who are willing and able to take on the police? Listen, I get stopped and search for drugs three or four times a week just because I got long hair. Man, elections take too long. Please don't ask me to wait for myana. I'll had a lot of experience with the police. You live down here in the bario. They're all around to needle you and to treat you like you were nothing. And you better not answer back because then they'll get you a complete twerking over even before you get to the station house. Man, you think the pig is going to let us live to elect somebody to make them pull it? And how long you think that's going to take? Okay, if I vote for somebody who's going to tell police not to treat us like animals just because we don't speak English good, my children going to see it. The only thing the police understand is violence. They kill us, we kill them. Violence inevitably leads to counterviolence. It offers a pretext to agents of government to repress not only acts of violence but all other nonviolent forms of dissent. The Constitution guarantees the American people the right of free speech, free press, free assembly, the right to dissent vigorously, but not violently. America is going through and will continue to go through tremendous social and political change in the next 10 years. It would be reasonable to expect that there will probably be dissenting groups who want to bring their cause to the public. Our society's laws provide for this right. Rights we can lose through illegal violence. Whether it be demonstrator or policeman. That bomb killed three people. Only one of them was a policeman. The other two were members of so-called minority groups. One of them was a mother supporting two children. The other was the father of a 2-year-old child. and the policeman. I'd uh like to try to stop man's inhumity to man. That's what he said. What do you say?