Protest: A Forensic Concept

Today\u27s police administrators need administrative policy statements that can be easily followed by individual officers in reacting to civil disorders.\u27 Historical analysis reveals a system in which the police have deepened racial divisions in the United States by failing to cope with problems in ghetto areas. Employing careless policies, sometimes initiated by the police chief and other times initiated by the individual officer, the police have shown weaknesses in two major areas. First, the police have no established procedures to follow when civil disturbances erupt. Second, the police have over-reacted to civil disturbances, apparently manifesting anti-black fury by means of discriminatory police behavior. As a result, the police of this century have had little success in preventing racial unrest from escalating into racial riots