Newark’s police force has been operating under a federal monitor after the Justice Department found police violating the civil rights of those they serve. The new U.S. attorney general’s ordered all consent decrees reopened and reconsidered, including Newark’s. But Newark is already far along in enlisting the community to advise and counsel when it comes to repairing police-community relations. NJTV News Correspondent Michael Hill sat down with Newark’s federal monitor Peter Harvey.
Harvey: Newark needs new technology and a lot of police departments needs new technology. I want you to think about it this way. Imagine you had an apartment building that you neglected for 25 years. You didn’t put a nickel into it, outside or inside, and then imagine that someone filed a lawsuit, brought you to court and a judge says, “You got to fix all of this.” You would have to fix security cameras, security systems, doors, kitchens, bathrooms, hallways, lighting, landscaping, roofs, everything. And it would be expensive because you didn’t put the maintenance in for the past 25 years. So you basically deferred your maintenance for 25 years and now you have to fix it in five. So it seems like it’s very expensive but it actually isn’t when you stretch it out the time period that you should have been putting money into the project. And that is what’s going around in Newark. You look at the 911 system that used to exist, it is being greatly improved now. That’s old technology. You have people literally walking around 911 calls from one desk to another, from one person to another. That isn’t how a modern 911 system works. If you want to evaluate a police officer, you have data that comes into the system, that allows you to put in a few commands and pull up a profile of every officer in the department. Newark doesn’t have that capability right now because it never bought the systems that allow you to do it. And in some instances, it doesn’t collect the data on the street and then input it into the system so you can retrieve it. So remember, it’s not just for disciplinary purposes. Don’t think of it that way. Sometimes it’s for counseling purposes. Sometimes you want to pull the videos for a particular officer because you are getting a complaint in a certain community. And you want to see what officers are doing on their day-to-day interactions. Sometimes it’s safety. Sometimes you want to say, “Look we just had an officer who got hurt in this particular manner, look at the techniques we are using when we stop people. This is not a good technique, let’s change the technique.”
Hill: So from your point of view, it’s quote, cheaper, to do it this way then to allow it to go on the way it has been going on.
Harvey: No doubt about it. And look at the cost benefit analysis. Even the cheapskate among us would come to the conclusion that it is far better to put money into education and training and to de-escalate scenarios with police then have someone be shot who shouldn’t be shot or someone killed who shouldn’t be killed. And I mean residents and I also mean police officers. Police officers who put themselves in harm’s way, because they have bad techniques and police officers, who inadvertently shoot someone, because they misperceived the situation due to a lack of training. You know, you can’t measure the trauma that comes into the lives of a police officer who comes to the conclusion that he made a bad shoot, and the family of a loved one who is wounded and injured for the rest of his life or dead. You can’t measure that in dollars. And my point is that let’s teach as much as we can, with respect to de-escalation. Let’s teach as much as we can with respect to the proper use of force. Let’s teach as much as we can with respect to constitutional requirements, both state and federal. New Jersey state constitutional requirements are in many ways more protective of citizens than the federal Constitution. And officers have to know that, which means you need constant education and training. Every other profession mandates it. Doctors have to undergo continuing education, lawyers have to undergo continuing education. We have to have it for police officers, who have the ability to use deadly force, and have the ability to deprive us not not only of liberty, our freedom, but of life. So it’s, to me, if you’re talking cost, there’s just simply no comparison. Spend the money. Most communities want a better relationship with police departments. In some cities, there never was a good relationship with the police department. Never. The community didn’t have it, the police didn’t have it for whatever reasons. Sometimes, segregation. Sometimes, racism. Sometimes just benign neglect. So you have to create for the first time, a positive interaction between the community because you need the community to help you police. That’s the kind of relationship we want people focused on. In other words, it’s not a warrior mentality, it’s them and us. It’s a protection and service approach, where it says we are all part of a collective, and we have to think about it that way. And the police have to think about it that way. But that requires training, education and engagement. And not kind of a standoffishness that keeps people whom the police are sworn to serve as anonymous entities, and potential bad guys.
Hill: Mr. Harvey, always a pleasure.
Harvey: My pleasure.