Police Seminar Explores Racism

"They don't approach 17-year-old black kids because they're scared shitless.' They don't want to get shot," Patrolman Joseph Green said last night at a seminar on police problems sponsored by the Law School's Center for Criminal Justice.

Green continued with a personal observation. "At three in the morning, I may see a hip-looking black guy. I would be suspicious. Why? Because he is black. This isn't justified, but sometimes it's hard to separate things in your head."

The seminar-which was the second in a series of four-was headed by James Vorenberg, professor of Law, and Lt. Joseph McNamara of the New York Police Department. It was designed to deal with the bureaucratic, organizational, and behavioral problems in police work.

Lt. McNamara, a Littauer fellow at the J. F. K. School of Government, moderated last night's seminar.

Green's comment on the handling of inner city blacks came in response to some remarks by Lt. William Kelly, also a seminar speaker, about his experiences as an officer in Harlem.

Noting a tendency among policemen to overlook many crimes, Kelly said, "When a police officer uses discretion, people go home. Otherwise, they may lay around in a jail for three months."He pointed out a stabbing between two Harlem blacks as a case where such judgement is necessary.

Green, however, indicates that such an attitude could be considered racist. "Allowing black people to get away with felonious assault is a racist policy. Many people don't like this double standard."

Institutional racism, as well as individual racism, was a recurrent theme in Green's talk. In explaining the recent massive recruitment drive in Washington, D. C., where he is now employed, Green said that the former ten per cent quota of black officers has been discarded. According to Green, the present total of the force is 35 per cent, but a quota no longer exists.

Promotions for black Washington policemen, before recent policy revampment, were difficult to obtain. Green attributed this to former "subjective ratings by superior officers which were the basis for promotion. Now, everyone must be promoted after a certain number of years."

Kelly said that the December 1970 New York police strike resulted from an influx of new policemen since World War II, most of whom had less than ten years experience.

These men, Kelly said, were younger, more idealistic and less inclined to listen to authority than the veteran officers. The other strikes, said Kelly, including the transit and teachers strikes, had a mobilizing effect on the younger policemen.