Can US police change from within?

Milwaukee recently became the latest US city to erupt in protest over the police killing of an African-American. Since a white police officer fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri two years ago this month, deaths like these have sparked a national movement demanding law enforcement reform. That some cases were caught on video, and have resulted in non-indictments or acquittals, has helped widen a perception of police as racially biased and acting with impunity. In 2015 and 2016, African-Americans were more than twice as likely to be killed by law enforcement officers than whites. At least 70 US police departments have been found to arrest African-Americans at a rate 10 times higher than people of any other ethnic group.

In part two of our conversation, we hear from a roundtable of active and retired police officers who have joined the calls for change. They address the unprecedented wave of protest over police conduct, the day-to-day challenges of being an officer, and efforts to change the system from within. Join us at 19:30 GMT.

On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:  

Graham Weatherspoon
Retired detective, New York City Police Department

Derick Waller
Detective, New York City Police Department

Betty Taylor @tay2500
Criminal justice professor, Chief of police, City of Winfield, Missouri 

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