The first nine months of 1967 gave rise to 164 civil disorders around the country, largely in minority communities. These ranged from small-scale disorders to full-out riots. The United States appeared to be out of control. On July 27, 1967, President Lyndon Johnson signed Executive Order 11365, thus creating the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorder.
The Kerner Commission, as it came to be known (chaired by Otto Kerner, then governor of Illinois), was charged with discovering the root causes for the disturbances and making suggestions for remedying these problems. During the course of its investigation, the commission studied twenty-four of the major disorders in twenty-three cities across the country. The study was accomplished through testimony before the commission, site visits, and interviews. As common grievances emerged, the commission created a three-tiered ranking system for these grievances and ranked the twelve most common grievances accordingly. At the top of the most serious tier was police behavior.
Not only was police behavior listed at or near the top of the grievance list in every city under study, police behavior was often cited as the immediate precursor to the riots. In many instances the police behavior in question was routine, such as a traffic stop. In one case it was a raid on an illegal drinking establishment in a black neighborhood.
The problem with the police was not just about the police officer. In many ways it was found to be about what the officer represented to the ghetto resident. The police represented the entire criminal justice system and all of its faults. Police were caught between those who demanded more enforcement to deal with increasing levels of crime and those who saw the police as a repressive invading force.
Major areas of concern in the realm of policing included the conduct of officers and patrol practices in the minority neighborhoods. Issues over police protection and use of force also emerged. In each area the issue was the difference in treatment afforded to blacks as compared to whites.
Beginning with police conduct and patrol practices, the commission found that blacks believed brutality and harassment were rampant. Police were accused of treating citizens with disrespect, targeting interracial couples for harassment, and spending an excess amount of time ordering groups of teens to move on or disperse. These actions were seen as degrading to the community members and unnecessary for crime prevention. Early warning-type systems were recommended to ensure that officers who developed a pattern of misbehavior could be disciplined effectively.
Further aggravating this problem were issues surrounding patrol practices. Increases in crime in the ghetto areas were often responded to with intensive patrol levels. This increased dramatically the number of police-citizen contacts and thus the chances that contact would be unsatisfactory. The commission also found that motorized patrol had contributed to these problems by isolating the officer from the members of the community. The officers in the patrol car went rapidly from one call to the next, giving the impression that they had little concern for the community beyond the one they would arrest next. Contacts with the police became formal, occurring only when there was a complaint or when the officers found something to intervene in. Stationing officers in the same area for lengthy periods of time and removing them from patrol cars would remedy this problem by allowing the officer and the community residents to get to know each other.
In the midst of this increase in patrol, ghetto residents also lodged complaints about a perceived lack of police protection. Police were seen as tolerating many crimes including drugs and prostitution in ghetto areas but not in white areas. They were also seen as placing a much lower priority on calls for service in the ghetto areas. Response times were slower and police were more interested in crimes that involved white victims. Much of this perception related to the need for the police to prioritize the calls they received in these areas. There were simply not enough officers available to handle the volume of calls received. Redistribution of the patrol force, and increased communication with the public about priorities, were recommended to address this problem.
Use of force was a particularly acute issue in the ghetto communities during the riots. The commission discovered that police were frequently involved in massive firefights with unseen snipers. These snipers turned out to be nonexistent. In one case the police opened fire in a massive display, only to discover the sniper they thought they were facing was a member of the National Guard who had fired a warning shot at a fleeing suspect. Police use of force during the riots was found to contribute to the ongoing outbreak of violence rather than to contain it.
The commission spent some time discussing how use of force issues were related to the technology available to the police; generally, a revolver or a nightstick were the only options. Chemical agents and other less-than-lethal weapons were more available to the army, but tensions between communities and the police were found to inhibit police exploration of these options. The commission recommended increasing police use of these alternative weapons and development of new options.
Another significant recommendation repairing the relationship between the police and the public was the creation of an easily accessible grievance procedure. Police departments needed clear written policies and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance. If the grievance procedure was handled with less secrecy, public trust in the police department would be increased.
In the years since the Kerner Commission report, some of the recommendations have become a reality. Many departments have citizen review boards and other forms of open grievance procedures. Community-oriented policing practices have been developed to create a better relationship in the community. Tasers, pepper spray, and many other less-than-lethal weapons have been developed. Even though evidence may exist that shows that police still have some of the same problems in the minority community, progress has emerged from the commission’s work.
