Cases of police violence against African-American men have captured more national attention in the last several years, but the traumatic incidents are nothing new. They could also have a lasting impact on the safety of the neighborhoods were they occur.
Following a high-profile beating of a black man in Milwaukee in 2004, a new study shows that 911 calls in the city dropped by 20 percent, particularly by black residents. The decrease resulted in a net loss of more than 20,000 calls for help from law enforcement, with the lower volume lasting for over a year.
“An important implication of this finding is that publicized cases of police violence not only threaten the legitimacy and reputation of law enforcement; they also — by driving down 911 calls — thwart the suppression of law breaking, obstruct the application of justice, and ultimately make cities as a whole, and the black community in particular, less safe,” the study found.
It examined the pattern of 911 calls following the beating of Frank Jude, an African-American man who was accused of stealing the badge of a white off-duty police officer from a party. Jude was beaten by a group of on- and off-duty officers, who kicked his head and groin, shoved pens into his ear canals and bent his fingers until they snapped. He was left lying in a pool of his own blood, naked from the waist down.
When he was finally taken to the hospital, a doctor took photos of his injuries because they were too extensive to document in writing. They included a concussion; broken nose; cuts on his head, ears, eyes, neck, face, legs and back; and a swollen eye that bled for 10 days. Milwaukee was shocked by the case when a photo of Jude appeared on the front page of the city’s paper nearly four months later, revealing that police were suspected but law enforcement had done nothing to hold those responsible to account.
The outrage apparently went beyond protests in the streets, having a lasting impact on the black community’s relationship with law enforcement. When examining the rate of 911 dials following the Jude case, they controlled for crime rates, weather, previous calling patterns and several neighborhood characteristics. Over half — 56 percent — of the drop in calls took place in largely African-American neighborhoods.
“It is one thing to disparage law enforcement in your thoughts and speech after an instance of police violence or corruption makes the news,” the study authors wrote. “It is quite another to witness a crime, or even to be victimized, and refuse to report it.”
Seven officers were eventually federally convicted in the case, but the damage had already been done. Homicides in Milwaukee went up in 2005 by 32 percent, and the study authors suggest unreported crime went up as a result of Jude’s beating.
“Our findings confirm what the people of Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore and other cities have been saying all along: that police violence rips apart the social contract between the criminal justice system and the citizenry, suppressing one of the most basic forms of civic engagement, calling 911 for help,” the study authors wrote in the New York Times. “The promotion of public safety requires both effective policing and an engaged community. We cannot have one without the other.”