Much of the furor over the O.J. Simpson case has been directed at the Los Angeles Police Department. With high-profile scandals rocking other police departments as well, CNN begins a five-part series on the problems plaguing today's law enforcement officers.
October 9, 1995
Web posted at: 7:04 p.m. EDT
From National Correspondent Bonnie Anderson
NEW YORK (CNN) -- They vow to protect and serve,
Virtually all of the more than 600,000 municipal and county officers will risk their lives at some time during their police careers. Some will die. Last year, 157 police officers were killed in the line of duty; bulletproof vests saved nearly 200 others.
The men and women in blue are expected to be friendly and stern, impartial yet compassionate, therapists in domestic disputes and arbiters of right and wrong. At the same time, police, especially in the cities, face more crime, more violence, more drugs, more guns, more pressure and more accountability than ever before.
"If you think about the cop as sort of a referee of the social order, the social order in cities has changed very dramatically," said Jim Fyfe, a criminal justice professor and former New York City police lieutenant.
Fyfe said the stress is taking its toll on officers. "I think they're angry about several things," he said. "One has to do with problems they can't solve: 'Go straighten out the inner city.' 'Well, I'm trying but it ain't working.' They're held accountable for crime rates when there's really very little police can do about crime rates."
And inside most police departments, out of the line of fire, racial and gender tensions course through what were once the preserves of white men.
Thirty-five percent of police departments now operate under court orders or forced agreements to hire more minorities to reflect the populations they serve. It's been a slow, painful process for all.
"The community obviously loses," said one officer. "They don't know who to trust."
Added to that are reports of corruption and the Mark Fuhrman tapes detailing brutal beatings, the planting of evidence and racial bias.
"You just don't know who to trust anymore, you don't know who to believe," said one young woman on the street.
"You begin to eye them with a skewed eye," said an older man. "And sometimes you hesitate to approach them."
But the real watershed, the first major shift in public opinion came in 1990. Before the Rodney King beating came to light, said Fyfe, people tended to give police the benefit of the doubt on accusations. "That changed," he said. "That (was) the real turning point."
Indeed, the majority of 800 jurors polled after the King incident said they wouldn't trust the testimony of a police officer. And now? Experts say public opinion is even worse, although Fyfe contends this distrust may pay off in the long run.
"Police really don't change very much unless they get hit in the head with a big crisis," he said. "When policing has changed in the U.S., it has changed as a result of big corruption scandals or brutality scandals or riots. And that has brought pressure on police to bring themselves up to date."
For the big city cops who haven't been caught up in the scandals -- people such as Officer Kenneth Dean -- change is just part of the job. He's seen a lot of it in his 35 years on the New York City police force: more crime, more danger, less respect.
"Years ago, when you gave someone a summons for an unlicensed car, it was a big deal," Dean said. Now, he said, teenagers laugh at the notion of homicide. (108K AIFF sound or 180K WAV sound)
Less than 100 miles away in Ellenville, New York, policing also has transformed over the years. The department prides itself on combining the best of old-fashioned hands-on police work with the latest technology.
While half of the sworn officers in the country work in cities, 91 percent of police departments serve towns like Ellenville. They comprise fewer than 50 police men and women and represent a community interaction model often envied by the big cities.
"We have the luxury of knowing basically who we deal with every day," said Ellenville Detective Bill Riley. "Our bad guys are known to us, our good people are known to us."
In fact, Ellenville has seen only one murder in 10 years.
In the absence of violent crime, Riley said, small-town cops can still be officers of the peace. The town's 13 full-time officers make maybe one arrest a day, mostly traffic or drug related, and spend the rest of their shifts patrolling and helping the public. They even deliver medication to the elderly, who call the precinct daily to let officers know they're all right. (190K AIFF sound or 190K WAV sound)
Still, Riley, a 20-year veteran, maintains big-city police problems have had an impact on small-town departments. After Rodney King, he said, many people paint all police officers with the same brush.
"It's going to take another five years for the public to get back whatever little trust they had in us to begin with," Riley said. "Although we're not directly related to that incident out in California, it still comes back to haunt you."
What can police departments do to regain that trust? Small town, big town, the veterans agree that their best bet is to communicate with their constituents.
"One of the problems with policing is that it has tended to investigate itself and discipline itself," Fyfe said. "And I think police disciplinary systems have to be wide open. There's the old cliché that sunlight is the best disinfectant."
Most big-city police departments now have civilian review boards, but their recommendations are rarely binding, leaving common men and women to wonder, just who's being protected and served?
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