NYTimes | The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, on Thursday delivered an unusually
frank speech about the relationship between the police and black
people, saying that officers who work in neighborhoods where blacks
commit crimes at higher rates develop a cynicism that shades their
attitudes about race.
He said that officers — whether they are white or any other race — who are confronted with white men on one side of the street and black men on the other do not view them the same way. The officers develop a mental shortcut that “becomes almost irresistible and maybe even rational by some lights” because of the number of black suspects they have arrested.
“We need to come to grips with the fact that this behavior complicates the relationship between police and the communities they serve,” Mr. Comey said in the speech, at Georgetown University.
While officers should be closely scrutinized, he said, they are “not the root cause of problems in our hardest-hit neighborhoods,” where blacks grow up “in environments lacking role models, adequate education and decent employment.”
“They lack all sorts of opportunities that most of us take for granted,” Mr. Comey said.
Mr. Comey’s speech was unprecedented for an F.B.I. director.
He said that officers — whether they are white or any other race — who are confronted with white men on one side of the street and black men on the other do not view them the same way. The officers develop a mental shortcut that “becomes almost irresistible and maybe even rational by some lights” because of the number of black suspects they have arrested.
“We need to come to grips with the fact that this behavior complicates the relationship between police and the communities they serve,” Mr. Comey said in the speech, at Georgetown University.
While officers should be closely scrutinized, he said, they are “not the root cause of problems in our hardest-hit neighborhoods,” where blacks grow up “in environments lacking role models, adequate education and decent employment.”
“They lack all sorts of opportunities that most of us take for granted,” Mr. Comey said.
Mr. Comey’s speech was unprecedented for an F.B.I. director.
