FBI Director Says Cops Do Make Assumptions About Blacks, But Not Because of Racism
FBI Director James Comey said law enforcement officers often make assumptions about blacks that they would not make about whites, but said he doesn’t believe such assumptions are based on racism.
“Police officers on patrol in our nation’s cities often work in environments where a hugely disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color,” Comey said Thursday at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “Something happens to people of good will working in that environment. After years of police work, officers often can’t help but be influenced by the cynicism they feel.”
Comey addressed a range of topics about law enforcement and race, brought into sharp light after police confrontations ended in the deaths of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri and New York City over the summer, followed by the point-blank shootings of two NYPD officers in their patrol car.
“A mental shortcut becomes almost irresistible and maybe even rational by some lights,” Comey said. “The two young black men on one side of the street look like so many others that officers has locked up. Two white men on the opposite side of the street, even, in the same clothes, do not. The officer doesn’t make the same assumption about the two white guys, whether that officer is white or black.”
Comey said the problem won’t be solved solely by outfitting police officers with body cameras — devices now spreading across the country — but with police and the communities they serve having more empathy for one another.
“Why has that officer locked up so many young men of color? Why does he have that life-shaping experience? Is it because he is a racist?” Comey asked. “Why are so many black men in jail? Is it because cops, prosecutors, judges and juries are racist because they are turning a blind eye to white robbers and drug dealers? I don’t think so.”
