An ABC/Washington Post poll finds public confidence in police at new lows, in the wake of the Tyre Nichols case in Memphis. The Memphis police department disbanded its proactive patrol unit as a result. New Orleans, meanwhile, is reinstating its proactive patrols.
Loyola Professor of Practice, Criminology and Justice and former New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas says proactive policing can be done without police violating citizens' rights.
"Well I think we have proof here in New Orleans that you can," said Serpas. "The consent decree has been in place for more than a decade or thereabouts, and the police department's proactivity, which was very high, was being done so with the consent decree monitors."
Serpas said making sure special police units are effectively supervised is how you reduce the risk of cops brutalizing the people they're supposed to serve and protect.
"I think we're going to find out at the end of the day in Memphis it wasn't a question that the officers were trained not to be killers, the question is going to be how could they get that kind of behavior without supervisory intervention in these small units?" Serpas said.
