"Ididn'tdo nothing!" "Come on, man!" "I didn't do nothing!" "NARRATOR:" "Theypolice one of the most violent cities in America, and they're under fire for how they've been doing it." "TheNewarkPoliceDepartment has engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional stops..." "Yougottalookatitourway." "Suppose he has a weapon on him." "How would you confront the situation?" "Canthisbe doneina way that still respects people's rights?" "NARRATOR:" "Writer and historian Jelani Cobb is on the street with the Newark Police." "We'renotoutheresaying," ""We're gonna violate this person's rights."" "Soisthatagood stop , not a good stop?" "Byperception, by perception only, that would look like it was a bad stop." "By perception." "NARRATOR:" "And inside the politics of a city trying to change." "Youhaveto be apart of the community." "You have to be a stakeholder in the community." "Thiscityis movingforward with a whole different police culture, and you are the beginning of that." "NARRATOR:" "Tonight on Frontline," ""Policing the Police."" "♪O say,doesthat star-spangled banner yet wave ♪" "♪ O'er the land of the free... ♪" "JELANICOBB:" "In Newark, New Jersey, every city council hearing starts with Whitney Houston's version of the national anthem." "She's a hometown hero." "Goodevening, ladies and gentlemen." "Welcome to the Newark Municipal Council's public meeting." "COBB:" "Buttonightisnot just an ordinary meeting." "People have packed City Hall to speak up about the need for more police accountability." "It's a conversation happening in cities all across the country." "Hello,mynameis Laquan Thomas." "I done been robbed by the cops." "I done been assaulted by the cops." "Like, that's crazy." "Like, y'all supposed to be serving and protecting the community, but they serve and disrespect the community." "I'vebeenavictimofthem more than once." "I've been a victim of retaliation after reporting police abuses." "Idon'tknowaday that I walked outside and did not see police treat people injustice." "Are the criminals being dealt with?" "Maybe, but the ones doing the nine to fives, paying their taxes, why are we subject to the same punishment as the rest of them?" "(applause)" "COBB:" "I 'vebeengoing to meetings like this for years, writing about race and policing for The New Yorker magazine." "There seemed to have been, you know, really entrenched distrust for the police before." "I was in Ferguson, Missouri, after a white policeman killed Michael Brown, a young black man." "After the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore," "I took this cell phone video of cops trying to put down the protests." "I cover these stories because I see the tension between African Americans and the police as a gauge of race relations in this country." "And it's led me to wonder," ""What would it take for policing to ever be different?"" "In the summer of 2014," "I started looking at Newark, one of the more recent cities to be accused of abusive and discriminatory policing." "Threeyearsago, we announced that we were launching an investigation into whether the Newark Police Department had engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing." "COBB:" "TheJusticeDepartment found rampant misconduct." "...thattheNewarkPolice Department has engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional stops, searches, and arrests on the city of Newark's black residents." "COBB:" "The DOJ demanded reform, but I wanted to know how reform could happen in Newark, a poor city where last year, there were more than 300 shootings and 105 murders." "...morethantwicethe number of carjackings..." "COBB:" "A rateninetimes higher than New York City's." "Crimeison therise in this city..." "COBB:" "Gangsanddrugs drive the violence." "Threeteenswereshot..." "COBB:" "Andthedepartment is underfunded, overstretched, and under fire for the way they do things." "Detailsthismorningon a double shooting in New Jersey, a woman killed and a man wounded." "COBB:" "Atthestreetlevel, the effort to halt the bloodshed falls on the Newark PD Gang Unit." "...Newark's104thmurder by late December." "COBB:" "Afterwriting about the police for years from the outside," "I wanted to see things from the perspective of the cops themselves." "Comeon, let's have roll call." "COBB:" "Ittookmonths before they agreed to give us access." "Wehadagun robbery at 12:30 hours, 49 Fairview Avenue." "COBB:" "SergeantJoeConzentino is in charge." "Thevictim,Mr.Stokes, previously classified G-Shine," "Blood gang member." "We don't know if this ties into the active dispute." "Reach out for our informants in the area, see if there's a tie-in to this." "Fairview Homes, we will ride by and monitor that location during our tour of duty." "Carlos,yourradio." "Thanks." "COBB:" "Liketherest of the police department, the Gang Unit is predominately black and Latino, and so are most of the victims and perpetrators." "Comeon,Slim!" "(onradio):" "Letusknow  when you're ready." "We'regood." "Allright,son." "COBB:" "Ononenight, I rode with Ricardo Reillo, a former truck driver, and Wilberto Ruiz, an Air Force vet." "Both are from Newark." "Where'sbluepantsgoing?" "That'sa chick." "COBB:" "Theofficerssay  they're out here hunting for guns, drugs, and intelligence about gang rivalries." "(siren wailing)" "COBB:" "Astheyrollup on one of the worst streets in Newark, a guy starts running." "Stayrightthere!" "COBB:" "It'sjustthe start of a busy night." "Bunchofheroinbricks, bunch of marijuana." "COBB:" "Oneof manywespent with the unit." "Seeyourhands, see your hands." "COBB:" "I 'mstruckby what passes for normal out here." "There'stheweedman-- this is the weed man's car." "COBB:" "Theycallwhat they're doing "field inquiries,"" "basically stopping and frisking." "How does the decision get made to say," ""Okay, we need to stop that person,"" "or, "We need to do a field inquiry with that person"?" "Youasan officer,you  eventually build certain skills." "You start learning how to read people, their body language." "If one person doesn't want to take his hands out of his pockets, starts pulling away from you, starts walking away from you once he notices our police presence, obviously if he starts running, you know," "there's a reason behind it, usually." "Youknowmoreorless ." "When you pass them and they give you that look, you know." "COBB:" "Copsaresupposed to have what's called reasonable suspicion to stop someone, not just a hunch." "But that leaves room for discretion." "Wejustwanttomake sure  you're all right." "Theyrespectus ,we respect them, we treat them fair." "We have a rapport with them." "They know what we're out here for, and they don't give us... most of the time, they don't give us no problems." "Relax,myman." "How old are you?" "Allright,so whatyou ..." "Keepwalking,keepwalking." "That'swhatwe havetodeal  with in the city of Newark-- 13-year-olds talking back to the police." "COBB:" "Doyouthink he was justified to be worried about his brother?" "Oh,absolutely." "But he sees who we are." "We're police." "He shouldn't be afraid of police." "The young kids usually have all of the weapons, because the adults already know that it's a juvenile, so they're really not gonna get any hard time." "COBB:" "Fortheseofficers, it seems like almost everything and everyone looks suspicious." "Youain'tgotnoIDon you?" "COBB:" "Thereasonable suspicion in this stop?" "They say the guy clutched his waistband as he was riding his bike." "Enjoyyourmovie,sir ." "COBB:" "I can'thelpbut think of what the Justice Department found here-- that the Newark PD was stopping people without legal justification 75% of the time." "(onradio):20-31,20-31." "COBB:" "I'm starting to question what the Gang Unit's doing." "Then, it happens." "Two guys start running as the caravan pulls up." "Look,I don'tgotnogun." "Turnaround." "Yeah,that'saffirm, we got him." "Where's it at?" "Idon'tgotnogun!" "Inthatotheryard." "No,checkthatyard, where he came from." "Putyourhand behind your back, man." "He's bleeding, you want to be careful." "Idon'tgivea(bleep)." "You almost got shot, you stupid (bleep)." "Comeon,man,get up." "Yougottago around to that alley." "Youalmostgotshot." "Sitdown." "Here'stheweapon." "COBB:" "Almosteverynight we're out with the Gang Unit, they get a gun off the streets." "There's a moment of pride..." "Themostimportantthingis there's another weapon out the street." "Everybody's safe, everybody's accounted for." "COBB:...andthen they get back to business." "(indistinct radio transmission)" "COBB:" "Anothercall-- two kids running." "(siren wailing)" "Comeon." "Whyyourunning?" "Scaredofwhat?" "COBB:" "It'scleartome that there's no trust." "That's what happens when everyone assumes the worst of everyone else." "They find a small bag of cocaine on one guy, but nothing on the other one." "At the end of the night," "I talked to Officers Ruiz and Reillo about what I'd been seeing." "I'm just gonna ask you straight out-- is it possible to make the communities that we're talking about safe while respecting people's constitutional rights?" "Absolutely." "Absolutely, without a doubt." "We go out there every night." "COBB:" "ButtheDOJ  doesn't feel like that's what's happened here." "That'sanopinion." "I mean, we out..." "we go out there." "It's not any disrespect to anybody out there." "It's not about race, you know, or violating their rights." "It has nothing to do with that." "We have a job to do." "We live in this city, we care about this city." "This is what we do." "COBB:" "I haveto tellyou  something though, right?" "So I grew up in Queens, right?" "And my first experience with the police was that" "I was thrown up against a mailbox just like this one." "I was coming home from a baseball game." "I had my uniform on, I was carrying a bat and a glove." "And the guy said it was a crime that was committed and so on, and I was kind of like, "I'm coming from a game."" "The next experience I had was a few years later," "I was walking with a group of friends of mine and a cop pulled a gun on us and told us to get on the sidewalk." "Hepulledouthis weapon to make you comply with whatever he needed you to do at the time for his safety and other officers' safety, even for your own safety." "Youcouldpointyourweapon at somebody and give them commands to comply." "Once you feel like the threat's neutralized, like, you know, they're complying with you, then you put your weapon away, and, you know..." "Havea normalinteraction." "Yeah,haveanormal interaction." "COBB:" "Butcanyou reallyhave  a normal interaction if someone's pointed a gun at you?" "I don't..." "Yougottalookatitourway." "I mean, say there was five, six males, and one of them possibly has a weapon." "COBB:" "Mm-hmm." "Whatwouldyoudo as a police officer?" "You encounter a group of males." "One supposedly has a weapon on him." "How would you confront the situation?" "COBB:" "I 'mnotsure,but  that's why I asked the question about can you do this..." "Can this be done in a way that still respects people's rights?" "I think that's the question that everybody is wondering about policing." "Listen, we try to go out there and respect everybody's rights." "We're not out here saying," ""Hey, we're gonna violate this person's rights."" "That's not what we're here for." "I tell you, our main objective is to go home at the end of the night." "We have families, we have children." "We have wives, we have girlfriends, we have sisters, we have mothers, we have fathers." "COBB:" "TheGangUnit is supposed to write up reports for all the stops and arrests they make." "I thought these might help me get more insight into how they justify them, so I filed a public records request." "But I was told it would take awhile." "NewJersey, a state under siege." "COBB:" "Questionsaboutthe  Newark Police go back decades." "ThisistheWestSide ,where it all began Sunday morning." "COBB:" "Inthesummerof1967,  two white cops beat up a black cab driver, and the city exploded." "Worstraceriots rock New Jersey's largest city for five consecutive days and nights." "COBB:" "Newarkcops,State Police, and the National Guard were accused of using unjustified force to put down the riots." "Sniperfire from open windows." "Scores of police, troopers, guardsmen, and civilians are wounded." "COBB:" "By the time it was over, a white cop, a white fireman, and 24 black civilians were dead." "Back then, there was nothing the federal government could do to fix a troubled police department." "Ourtopstorythismorning comes from Los Angeles..." "COBB:" "Thatchanged in the early 1990s, after four white cops were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King." "Inthewakeofviolence spawned by acquittals in the Rodney King beating trial." "Acityundersmoke, a city, it's safe to say, under siege." "COBB:" "TheJusticeDepartment was given the power to investigate local police departments and, if necessary, impose reforms." "TheJusticeDepartment's Civil Rights Division says the Newark Police Department needs a major overhaul." "COBB:" "Newarkis one of 34 departments since then the DOJ has ordered to make reforms." "...toreverseapattern of police corruption that has permeated the department and poisoned... (chanting):" "Stop police brutality!" "COBB:" "The investigation here began after years of complaints about police misconduct from local activists and the ACLU." "(chanting):" "Stop police brutality!" "The Justice Department issued a 49-page report." "Whatwefoundwas that there were far too many uses of force that were excessive, they weren't appropriately documented, and then they certainly weren't investigated well at the end of the day." "As a result of the many, many, many complaints that we saw over a six-year period, there was only one complaint of unjustified use of force that was sustained by the Police Department." "And so one of the things that we're going to do now is retrain the police entirely-- getting training on force, getting training on stops and arrests, having the Police Department in Newark think differently about how it does its job" "and how it relates to the people that it serves." "FromWBGO, this is Newark Today, our monthly look at what's happening in and around New Jersey's largest city..." "COBB:" "TheDOJ'sactions are big news in Newark." "Andwelcometo NewarkToday." "We have some pretty weighty topics to get to tonight." "COBB:" "I satin  on a local radio show where the new mayor, Ras Baraka, talked about the DOJ findings with the man he picked to help change the department," "Eugene Venable." "Wereyousurprised at these findings?" "No." "I mean, I grew up in Newark." "I know that there are police officers who have done things that they have no business doing." "I know that, I've seen them." "Hanging out, you know, with a lot of guys, you got searched, you got stopped, you got put on the wall, you got put on the ground." "And I know how that feels-- it's traumatizing." "And being black in America, I know that our relationship with the Police Department has been untenable at best." "So it is not surprising, in fact, that people will find that police officers have violated people's rights, their constitutional rights in a community." "The only difference is now, we're going to do something about it." "COBB:" "I 'veactually been friends with Ras since we were student activists at Howard University in the late 1980s." "And I'd been a supporter of his." "His father was the radical poet Amiri Baraka, whose words propelled the Black Power movement of the 1960s and '70s." "Wearecommunities looking into the sky for a moment on the clear way to liberation." "We are cities readying brothers to lead us." "We are a nation..." "COBB:" "Duringthe'67 riots, he was beaten severely by Newark cops." "Today,I feelso good that I am from Newark, a boy from Clinton Avenue and Tenth Street!" "COBB:" "Rashimselfspent years protesting the police." "But as mayor, he's trying to bridge the gap between the cops and the community." "Everybodyhasto have a responsibility." "The mayor has a responsibility, yes." "The police have a responsibility, yes." "We all have a responsibility." "And the question is, are you living up to your responsibility?" "God bless you all, godspeed to y'all." "COBB:" "He'sbeenpushing to set up community oversight of the police, and he's also been making himself a regular presence with the cops." "I met up with Ras one day while he was touring some precincts." "So we've been out with the Gang Unit." "They're going around and getting guns." "Getting illegal guns requires you rolling up on folk." "How does that happen without being the same sorts of policing that people are protesting about?" "Intelligence." "Who is actually somebody you should probably stop, and somebody who's just Ms. Martha's kid going to the store with his hat to the back, right?" "So I mean, intelligence gets you that information, not just, like, random stops." "That's not how you police." "I mean, that right there is racism." "Buttheseare black and brown cops." "Yeah,sowhat?" "Diversepoliceforce." "It'snotthe"whodidit" that make it racism." "To me, it's the fact that overwhelmingly, it happens to one specific group of people is what makes it racism." "Isthereapointwhereyou look around and go, like," ""This is going to be even harder than I thought it would be"?" "Oh,yeah." "It didn't get this way in five years or ten years, and it's not going to take five or ten years to get out of it." "And then you got generational poverty, generational unemployment." "These buildings have been vacant for 30, 40 years, so..." "They didn't just get vacant when I became the mayor." "At the end of the day, there's no tax base like the way you need it, and you're trying to run the state's largest city in those kinds of conditions." "This is what we're dealing with, man." "COBB:" "I followedhim into the Communications Center, where they'd been having a lot of trouble fielding 911 calls." "Systemstilldown?" "Yes." "Crazy." "Whichoneof thesecomputers don't work?" "They'renotup , they're just not up." "Allthoseoverthere,they ..." "Allarenotup,  they're not up." "Newark Police, may I help you?" "Allofthosecomputers over there, they should be... every time I come in here, they ain't never on." "We put more people in here, they could be on those computers over there." "They don't work, though, right?" "They'redownrightnow ." "Whatyoumean,they'redown ?" "So you could turn it on and it'll work, if we turned it on?" "I'mnotsure,but the last I heard, it wasn't working." "Areyousayingit'snot working, or it's down?" "Which one?" "It'sdown,it 'snotworking." "Thecallsthatcomeinnow, take me through the process now." "Okay." "Sohowlongwerey'alldown?" "Friday." "But the system is messed up for a long time." "And these supervisors, they don't know what's going on." "They're not really supervising this stuff like they should." "They'llreceivethecalls." "They're prioritized by color." "The higher priority calls go on a pink card." "They'll put the assignments on here." "We have a runner who will take the card over here." "Alotof peoplethink response time sometimes has to do with the police not responding, but a lot of it has to do with communications-- when they call the police and come pick up the phone and being able to get to an officer," "all that stuff like that." "The first part of it is trying to get this communications office correct." "And right now, it's not where it should be." "Thentherunner will take it from here, walk it over here." "We'vejustgottorun this thing efficiently and make sure all the equipment works." "Like Monday, they're going to put in a new system, because right now, they're doing all this stuff manually." "Therunner,whenshe  comes back over here, the runner will take the card, bring it back over here." "Whatwearegoingtodo  is get these police officers out of here." "COBB:" "Oh,so they'dbeout on the street?" "Yeah." "I don't think any police officer should be in here." "I think it's a waste." "You've got people with guns in here." "I don't know what they..." "I don't think anybody's coming to rob this place, so..." "Somebodyrobsthisplace, you'd have big problems." "Yeah,man,it 'slike, come on." "It's like 1,000 cops in here, man." "There's too many damn cops in here." "This stuff is a disaster, man." "Overtime." "Normally, that overtime figure is red; now it's blue." "COBB:" "Everywherewe went with the mayor," "I could see his frustration, even with his hand-picked police director." "Wespentmoremoneylast week  than we ever have." "We spent $140,000 in overtime." "And every category that we have, we was down in crime because of the expenditures that we put out." "Weweredowninshootings this Thanksgiving as from last Thanksgiving?" "Yes,byone." "Byone?" "Byone." "And we was down by one murder." "Sowehadtospend a hundred-something thousand dollars to get down one?" "Yes,Mayor." "That'snotprettyefficient, man." "I just think that we need better intelligence, and it's not working." "Instead of targeting random individual people hoping we, you know, get somebody, we target individuals who we know are known violent felons who've done crimes and are involved in this kind of stuff." "Iagreewithyou ." "It's the intelligence that we need." "We don't have the intelligence." "None of us can really figure out or have the intelligence on which people are going to commit crimes, murders, and we need to do better at that." "COBB:" "One murder in particular was bothering the mayor." "A week earlier, a young man died in a gang-related shootout across the street from the police headquarters." "Didanypoliceofficers from the precinct come outside when that thing was going on?" "Isawthemcomeoutside." "Theycameoutside?" "Yeah,buttheydidn't get out there instantaneous as the shootings happened." "Those people that's in the precinct, they don't have a vest on, Mayor." "They don't have anything." "So if there's shots fired outside, I mean," "I know they're gonna risk their lives." "However, they're not gonna go to the extreme where," ""I'm just going to run outside."" "They've gotta find out what's going on." ""Oh, there's somebody out there shooting."" "So then they run outside." "Oh,wow." "They started shooting on Madison Avenue back and forth." "They came all the way down the street." "The guy emptied his gun out." "Another guy shot him." "A series of bullets." "They're sitting in the precinct." "Nobody heard any of that." "You're saying they sat in there because they were afraid?" "No,I 'mnotsayingthat." "Whatareyousaying?" "I'mtalkingaboutwhether they were on the scene instantaneously to stop these guys from doing the shooting." "Okay,let'sstop." "Let's stop." "All right." "COBB:" "Twoweekslater, Ras demoted Venable and put him in charge of the communications center." "Sticktopolicework." "COBB:" "A worldaway from that conference room, the Gang Unit was still trying to make a dent in all the shootings." "Raymond,lookat him!" "Comeon,bro." "Lookathim!" "COBB:" "Wewentout  with Tremayne Phillips, a second-generation Newark cop, and Nate Lhowe, a New Jersey state parole officer assigned to the unit." "Right out of the gate, they get a tip." "(onradio):" "Yeah,pullover  so I can give you guys the info, and then we've got to roll." "Allright,allright, received." "Oneofourguysissaying they might have heard info relating to someone having a handgun." "So we'll come up with a plan." "Blackmale,bluejeanjacket." "He's on Nutman walking toward New Street, so he'll probably be on New Street." "Showtime." "(shouting)" "Guys,wegotit, wegot the weapon, we got the weapon." "Cuffhim." "Cuffhim,cuffhim ." "Cuffhim,andthat'sit." "Allright,allright, all right." "Clear,weaponclear." "Bringhimback, bring him back." "All right, sir, you dropped a gun, okay?" "Probablynot." "Hesayshe 'sgood." "Allright." "Six." "Onewasin thechamber, right?" "So the gun was ready to fire?" "Justinthepastmonth, we've gotten numerous guns off that same block, that same area right there." "COBB:" "Intelligencepaysoff ." "But later that evening, I see what happens without it." "Holdon,holdon!" "Stop,stop,stop." "Youwantto pullaway from me, man, you're going to get hurt." "Allright, just cuff him for safety." "Juststop,sir." "Just stop." "Sir,you'renotunderarrest." "This is just for your safety and our safety." "All right, bring him up to his feet." "Standup,man." "Why are you acting like a jerk, bro?" "We stopped you to talk to you." "Youcan'tpullaway from a cop." "Yes,youdid,sir ,okay, you pulled away from me." "Bro,I said, "Don't touch me, please."" "Because y'all pulling up-- what the (bleep) did I do?" "Nothing, I'm walking home." "We'llexplaineverything to you." "Youdon'tevenknowwhat the hell's going..." "I'm going home." "Yeah,that'swhywe're stopping to talk to you." "When you start pulling away, it's on." "Ididn'tpullaway from nobody!" "Look,weain'tgonnadothat." "If you want to do that, we could do that." "Dowhat?" "Listen." "Where you live at?" "Do you understand the reason why you're cuffed?" "No." "Allright." "Now, when we came and approached you, what did you do?" "You automatically pushed away from us." "No,I said,"Don'ttouchme,"  and kept walking." "Listen,you'remakingus think you have a weapon the way you ran away, okay?" "Understand that." "Oh,man,okay." "Listen,justrelax." "Yougotit ?" "Find out who he is." "Turnaround, we're going to walk, okay?" "It's not wise to pull away from us like that, you hear?" "Notmyfault,man ." "Allright?" "Youweredrinkingtoday?" "Yes,I was,actually." "Letmeaskyou , if you were to drink less, would this ever happen?" "Ionlyhadone beer, and yes it would have, because we see so much violence going on in the hoods right now." "And not just the hoods-- everywhere." "You know, the violence from police is crazy right now." "And the way y'all approached me, all I was doing was walking home." "If y'all would have said, "Young man, what are you doing?"" "Whatareyoudoingtoday?" "Goinghome." "I don't care about the..." "Youseehowfastthat was?" "Donotstereotype,because that's what y'all did to me." "Wehavean arrest." "Againstwho?" "Him!" "Narcotics." "Who?" "Thedudeyouwas  walking with." "No!" "What do you mean, he had drugs on him?" "No, he didn't!" "Yes,hedid." "Whatdoyoumean?" "He was with me all day." "He'sinthecar withus." "Hehasdrugstoday." "Comeon,bro." "I don't know what y'all trying to pull." "Y'all ain't find no drugs on me, right?" "That'swhyyou'refreetogo , that's why you're not in cuffs!" "Have a good day, sir." "Y'allbeeasy." "Thankyou,Terrone." "As soon as I approached him, he was immediately hostile, so I basically went to just control his hand in case, you know, fearing that he might have had a weapon or something or, you know, just to basically" "get a little physical control over him." "And at that point, he pulled away from me, so I decided to take him to the ground and just get him under control and then determine what was going on with him." "I didn't deal with the other kid, but it looked like the other kid was arrested for possession of CDS, so I mean, they were involved in something." "I mean, it might have been fairly minor, but it was something." "COBB:" "Whiletheofficers seemed certain about that stop," "I remained troubled by it." "I requested the report on the incident, and also wanted to know what the unit's supervisor," "Sergeant Conzentino, thought of how it went down." "I wanted to kind of go through something that we shot the other day, and it's of an encounter..." "WiththeGangUnit?" "WiththeGangUnit." "Yo!" "Don'ttouchme ,bro." "Don't touch me." "Hold up!" "Getonthe(bleep)ground!" "Holdup,holdup, holdup!" "I'm not doing nothing!" "Come on, man!" "Stop,stop,stop,stop,stop ." "You wanna pull away from me, man, you're going to get hurt." "All right, just cuff him for safety." "Ididn'tdo nothing." "Juststop,sir." "Just stop." "Sir,you'renotunderarrest." "This is just for your safety and our safety, okay?" "I'mgoinghome." "Yeah,that'swhywe're stopping to talk to you." "When you start pulling away, it's on." "Ididn'tpullaway from nobody!" "COBB:" "So was that a good stop?" "Not a good stop?" "Youknowwhat?" "It starts at the point where they encountered him." "I would have to read the report to see exactly how that unfolded, but I understand that by perception, by perception only, that would look like it was a bad stop, by perception." "COBB:" "I thinkwhat disturbed me most about that video was that" "I think if I had been in that position," "I would have pulled away too." "Almost by human instinct, if you're surrounded by people who are coming at you in a rush, you're going to back up." "And that was kind of seen as justification for..." "See,I understand what you're saying, but see, this is where we differ." "See, my thing is... and again, if I get stopped by the police-- and I am a police officer-- I listen." "I routinely put my hand, if I'm in the car, up on the roof." "I take all the precautions, too." "But in that situation there, or any situation," "I think I would have complied." "I understand what your instincts are, but when you say you're being surrounded, you're being surrounded by officers that you can clearly see are officers." "I don't believe it had to go there, if he would've just..." "COBB:" "Butsee, this is the thing, like, the key difference, which is that, you know, kind of being surrounded by police is not a position in which you feel like you're safe for someone like me." "Iunderstandthat." "COBB:" "I wouldsay,you know," ""I don't know what's happening here," ""I don't know what the agenda of these people is." "I know I'm surrounded."" "The idea of complying is like, sure, that may be your second thought." "Your immediate thought is, you know, "I'm in jeopardy."" "Like, "What's happening here?"" "I think that fundamentally the difference is, do you... if you are surrounded by police officers, do you feel more safe or less safe than you were two minutes earlier?" "Right,andwhatneedstobe  is that you need to feel like you're safe, and that you can explain, and then the situation's over." "It's not that way right now." "COBB:" "Inthatmoment you're actually about to make a stop of this person, where's your head?" "I'lladmitthere'stimes when I have fear, and I think fear is probably one of your best friends." "And there are times when you hear gunshots and we have to run to those shots." "Most people can't equate or understand what that's about." "Your heart rate, when it starts to increase, and, you know, you're running..." "And then you're gonna encounter someone, and you may ultimately have to wrestle with that person." "You've got some bad people out there that have no problem going to the mat with a police officer and trying to take their gun, and maybe even using it against them." "So I don't think anybody could ever understand the stress of the situation." "COBB:" "I 'veheard about the stress of the job over and over again." "Many cops today feel like they're under siege from all sides." "Especially James Stewart, the president of Newark's largest police union." "I'ma fourth-generation police officer here in Newark." "My great-grandfather started in 1890, my grandfather, my father, who retired in 2003, and now me." "And I'm in my 21st year." "I don't know that too many more guys want their family members to follow in their footsteps the way this profession's going, and specifically the way things are going here in Newark." "Somewhere along the line, we have become the bad guy." "Everybody's against us." "You know, "F the police."" "That's become the way of the community now." "You know, I mean, who is the guy that's going to say," ""I want to go be a Newark cop"?" "They have minimal starting pay." "We're gonna take away half of your benefits." "We have our own administration against us here, and you got the Department of Justice overseeing your department." "Who's gonna want the job?" "After Taco Bell says no and after Sears says no and McDonald's won't have you," ""Well, maybe the Newark Police Department's hiring."" "You know, "Let me go see what they've got to offer."" "COBB:" "Whatdo youthinkthe prospects for reform are here?" "Iknowit 'sanecessity." "I don't know where the problem started, but there is an animosity or a lack of trust." "You know, as soon as there's any sort of physical force exerted by a police officer, everybody's got their cell phones out." "You know, they want to catch us doing something wrong." "You know, no one's jumping in to help us subdue this guy that just robbed a woman down the street, but they want to catch us doing something wrong." "And when you got the cop out there in the street facing all this negative opposition day in and day out, does there come a point when the police officer's going to say, "You know what?" "Maybe he doesn't have to go to jail."" "You know, "Maybe I'll take the path of least resistance," ""maybe I'll put the blinders on as I'm driving by the corner where the ten guys are hanging out."" "You know, is that what the community wants, too?" "Ican'timagine too many folks in Newark would just want the police to stand down." "But I did want to talk to people here about how they feel about the department." "So I went to visit an old friend of mine" " Ryan Haygood." "Sir!" "Howareyoudoing?" "COBB:" "Goodto seeyou ." "Can'tbelievethatIsawyou in the Mini Cooper." "COBB:" "I know,that'sme." "That is me, the Mini Cooper out there, yeah." "I love that thing." "He's an attorney and a longtime resident who hosts a regular block watch meeting of his neighbors." "He invited some of them over to meet with me." "Were you all surprised to find that the Police Department was under investigation by the Department of Justice?" "No,I wasn't." "COBB:" "Whynot?" "BecauseI knowthehistory of the Newark Police Department." "I'm 65, so I'm probably a littler older or might be the oldest thing in this room." "And the Newark Police Department-- and we're talking about the '70s and, I guess, the '60s-- they treated African Americans very unfair." "Truly unfair." "There's a culture, and particularly dealing with white policemen." "They see young black men or black men as thugs." "So for me, in order to survive, you have to know the system." "There's certain clothes I won't wear." "I will never fit the profile." "I taught my son and my daughter that." "Itdepends on the socioeconomic or the profile of the individuals in how you experience the police." "I certainly believe that there is an expectation that the police are going to crack down on the level of murders, the violence, the robberies that are taking place." "Iteachfirstgrade, so seven-year-olds." "And so I have little boys in my classroom who are like," ""Oh, no, I don't like the police."" "They're saying to me that, you know," ""Well, the police came in my house and they got my dad."" "Or, "They stripped someone from my house."" "And it's, like, a violent encounter with the police." "When seven-year-olds have a repulsive response to the police, you have a problem." "COBB:" "We'vebeenout  on patrol with some officers who are making a major initiative to get guns off the street." "And you know, they're kind of stopping people." "They're pulling over, frisking people in some instances." "And I have to say that what I saw was very disturbing." "This is what people have said is necessary in order to get guns off the street." "Idon'tseeaninconsistency with respecting people's constitutional rights and protecting public safety." "In our area, we do have neighbors who have been victimized in violent ways by crime." "But it doesn't mean that police officers can, in three out of four of the stops, violate people's constitutional rights." "And police officers, as they've been under investigation in Newark for many years, when they were violating rights, the city wasn't safer." "So it's not the case to say that if you violate constitutional rights it's a safer society." "Butthat'stheposition that they put us in, our communities in." "They make it seem like," ""Well, this is the way we have to do it."" "We know it's not true." "I mean, if you watch Cops, the television show, you see white people going off on police officers, and nothing happens to these people." "And it's really bad that we are in a position where you say," ""Well, Mother, do you want this to raise your child in a safer neighborhood?"" "And what do you think we're gonna say?" ""Do whatever you can do to keep my neighborhood safe."" "It's bad when they put us in a position to say," ""Do you want this, or do you want that?"" "COBB:" "InNewark, you're reminded of that bind all too often on the local news." "A couple of months after I was out with them, the Newark Gang Unit was a top story." "EighthgraderJamodWatkins was allegedly assaulted by undercover officers in Newark-- officers his attorney says failed to initially identify themselves." "Thesepoliceofficers knocked him down and grabbed his left arm and pulled it behind his back with such force that it cracked it in half." "COBB:" "Itturnsout one of the officers is Wilberto Ruiz." "Theygetconfusedwhether we're actually criminals." "They say, "Oh, I thought you guys were the stickup guys,"" "or, "I thought you guys was gonna rob me."" "COBB:" "Thedepartmentis investigating the allegations, but he has already been disciplined for not filing a report about the incident." "We also found out that another officer we'd met in the Gang Unit," "Kenneth Gaulette, was suspended and charged for allegedly coercing a woman to perform oral sex in exchange for leniency." "He's pled not guilty." "Let'sgiveahand for our mayor, Ras J. Baraka." "(applause)" "Thankyou." "20 percent of the neighborhoods is experiencing the majority of the violence in the city." "So if you live in that 20 percent area, it feels like hell to you." "This systemic cycle..." "COBB:" "Over the past two years," "Ras has been struggling to clean up the department." "After demoting his first police director, he hired back a man who had led the department a decade earlier-- Anthony Ambrose." "...becauseoffearing retaliation." "I think that if you see something, say something." "COBB:" "I wassurprised that Ras turned to the old guard of the Newark police." "In the midst of reform, you brought in a public safety director from a previous time in Newark." "He's been here when, you know, many of the problems occurred." "And so I didn't understand how that lent itself to reform." "Ithinkourproblemislarger than just an individual, though." "So it's a systemic problem that we have." "I think that he had the demeanor, the respect of the people in the department." "And we obviously... the direction that we're going in is not a backward direction, but a forward direction." "And if he can go in a forward direction with us, then we welcome him to be a part of that." "Unfortunately, it's not a very easy process." "It's difficult." "Any change is difficult." "You know, especially in an entrenched institution like a police department." "COBB:" "Wetalkedwithalot  of people on the police force who don't really seem to see a problem here." "Sure." "You know, it's a fresh wound." "It's like, it's not..." "I mean, there's going to be a level of denial." "You're talking about people who have to admit that there was some wrongdoing." "If they don't see that at all, then it's difficult to change them." "And so most of the work is about, how do you change the culture of police officers to prevent this?" "COBB:" "Rassaysthatchange is already starting to happen." "So I went for one last ride-along with a cop I was told represents a different kind of policing that's not just about making arrests, but building trust and relationships." "We'regoingto go over to Riverview Court." "For the past few months, there has been a spike in violent crime, specifically shootings." "We had a few murders within the complex." "So we can start gathering up intelligence." "COBB:" "Sergeant Rasheen Peppers works in the Criminal Intelligence Unit." "Becauseweknowintheword "community," there's unity." "That'sright." "Prayforunity in our community." "COBB:" "Whenwe arrived, there was a vigil for a man who was murdered the day before." "Youwillseethatthesedrugs  in our community is the enemy." "That they were set up to destroy our people." "COBB:" "AndPeppers worked the crowd for leads." "Howyoubeen?" "Goodtoseeyou ." "Youcanseejustbeinghere for a few seconds how, because of relationships, people," ""Oh, Peppers is here," you know, "Peppers, you can talk to her."" "Stoptheviolence." "Stoptheviolence!" "COBB:" "Afterjust a few minutes, a woman agreed to speak to him in private about what she'd seen." "Shegaveme everything from what happened." "She says, "I was there," "I was right next to the person, this is what took place."" "You just don't get that from being a cop." "You get that from relationships." "So if I wasn't a guy who was part of the community and I only came out just to do policing, right, that might be an issue if someone trusted to tell me this information." "So you have to be a part of the community." "You have to be a stakeholder in the community." "COBB:" "I mean,Ithink that's notable to me, because that's so distinct from what the Department of Justice report said about the Newark Police Department." "What's in that report and the Department of Justice investigation is not policing that looks like that." "Okay,andIagree,right?" "What's in the report, no." "It shows that, you know, we were violating people's rights." "You know, and granted, some officers were." "COBB:" "Sowhatdoyouthink  the biggest challenge is to creating the type of police force that you are describing in Newark?" "Changingtheculture." "That's the biggest challenge." "Getting officers to buy in to," ""There's a new way of policing, policing has evolved."" "That's the hardest part." "You know, and that's with anyone that's been stuck doing one thing one way for 20 years, and saying, "Look, this is how it should be." ""We've done it wrong." "Now we can get it right."" "COBB:" "Wedroveon to a different neighborhood, where Peppers was looking for intel on yet another murder." "We'regoingto go up here." "They had a murder yesterday of a female, early 40s." "She was shot in the head." "She just had her earphones on." "She didn't even see it coming." "COBB:" "GoodLord." "Butattheend oftheday, it could be our moms, you know, our sisters, it could be any of us." "COBB:" "Butwhilehetries to work with the community, the community doesn't always want to work with him." "Hey,what'sup ,man?" "Can I talk to you for a second?" "(bleep)." "Go ahead, bro." "Go ahead, (bleep)." "Go ahead, (bleep)!" "Now,onereasonI'm glad that happened is because, you know, that goes to show you how they don't want you... there's those that don't want you in the community, right?" "There's those who think it's uncool to speak to the cops, but it's cool to have shrines like this up and down a block." "You know, this to them is cool, okay?" "And, you know, how do we change that mentality?" "ThisisthetraintoNewark, Penn Station." "COBB:" "Afterspendingayear  in and out of Newark, there are no easy answers." "Recently, the Gang Unit we'd spent so much time with was disbanded." "Most of the guys were put on desk jobs." "And more changes are coming." "The city and the Department of Justice finally reached an agreement that mandates new policies and training, requirements for body cameras, and standards for punishing officers for misconduct." "Ain'tnopowerlike the power of the people, 'cause the power of the people don't stop." "Saywhat?" "COBB:" "The DOJ also demanded some form of civilian oversight of the department, which Ras had been pushing for, too." "In March, the City Council voted on his plan to create a panel of civilians with the power to investigate cops." "Iamgoingtoask the long line of citizens who wish to speak in support of the ordinance itself, would you please raise your hands?" "Is there anyone who is opposed?" "For50years, the people of Newark have been calling for the creation of a civilian review board." "For 50 years, those calls have gone unanswered, until tonight." "(cheers and applause)" "Motiontoclose the public hearing and adopt." "Councilor..." "Yes." "Jenkins?" "Yes." "MacAllen?" "Yes." "Osborne?" "Yes." "Quintana?" "Yes." "Ramos?" "Yes." "PresidentCrump?" "Unanimously,yes." "COBB:" "The hope is to overcome a historic lack of transparency, something I've gotten a taste of myself." "When the department responded to my request for records from the nights we'd been with the gang unit, they shed little light on what we'd seen." "They gave me some arrest reports, but nothing related to the stops..." "What'supwithy'alltonight?" "Spreadyourfeetapart." "COBB:" "Thefrisks..." "Idon'thavenothing,sir." "COBB:...oreventhe incident when the young man was thrown to the ground." "Holdup,holdup!" "I'm not doing nothing!" "Come on, man!" "COBB:" "First,theysaid they couldn't find the reports." "Then they said they couldn't give them to us because of privacy concerns and ongoing investigations." "Hello,Officer." "(repeating):" "Hello, Officer." "Whatyouwanttobe,eh?" "(repeating):" "What you want to be, eh?" "IntheNPD!" "(repeating):" "In the NPD!" "Company,halt." "COBB:" "Reformingthepolice in Newark is clearly going to be a long haul." "And the problems go beyond the police alone." "But Ras has no choice but to believe that change is possible." "Thiscityis movingforward with a whole different police culture, and you are the beginning of that." "COBB:" "A belief he wants to instill in this graduating class of 43 Newark rookies." "Peoplebeginto believethat their community is safe simply because you showed up." "Where you walk, justice walks with you." "When you walk in a neighborhood, goodness follows you wherever you go." "And show up clean so we can get rid of this cloud over our head of wrongdoing." "You're the first class-- my class." "And those who come after you are going to follow your lead." "The question is, where are you going to take them?" "(applause)" "Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen." "Welcome to the Newark Police Department." "(cheers and applause)" "Wecreatedchaos, we abandoned that chaos, we created ISIS." "Zarqawiwasresponsible for attacks in 2003." "Zarqawicandirect his network in the Middle East and beyond." "Itmadehim an international rock star in the Jihadist community." "Zarqawiwasours for the taking." "Andweweren'tdoinganything about it." "Zarqawi achieved what he wanted to achieve." "NARRATOR:" "Nexttime on Frontline." "Gotopbs.org/frontline for more on policing in Newark and the efforts to reform." "Explore the Justice Department's investigations of police departments nationwide." "More from Mayor Ras Baraka..." "Anychangeis difficult." "Andfromcorrespondent Jelani Cobb about the making of this film." "Canthisbe doneina way that still respects people's rights?" "Connect to the Frontline community on Facebook and Twitter." "Then sign up for our newsletter at pbs.org/frontline." "Formoreon this and other Frontline programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline." "Frontline's" Policingthe Police" is available on DVD." "To order, visit shopPBS.org." "Or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS." "Frontline is also available for download on iTunes."