Profs on Cops

In 2016, Georgetown University Law Professor Rosa Brooks joined the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department as a reserve officer. She served part-time from 2016 to 2020 and wrote a book about her experiences, Tangled Up in Blue. Find out why patrol officers avoid kitchens, why they discourage suspects from sitting on sofas, and why they clank when they walk. Prof. Brooks argues that police officers face real but exaggerated threats to their personal safety, and she attributes much of their behavior, good and bad, to the expectations of politicians and constituents.

Body-worn cameras are now deployed by more than two-thirds of all police departments in the U.S. Patrol officers commonly use them, but increasingly detectives, meter maids, and even police dogs are being equipped with BWCs. Professor Michael White of Arizona State University testified on this subject before President Obama’s Commission on 21st Century Policing. Hear what he has to say about how body cameras work in practice and the effects they have on complaints by citizens, the use of force by police officers, and other outcomes.

Interview was conducted on March 6, 2024

Although China is an authoritarian regime, its local police officers are surprisingly weak. They have high caseloads and lots of paperwork to complete and do not carry guns. When political protests arise, however, China enlists the People’s Armed Police to suppress dissent, speedily and forcefully. Suzanne Scoggins, Associate Professor of Political Science at Clark University, discusses how the tedium of everyday policing changes dramatically when social unrest poses a threat to regime stability and the appearance of social harmony.

Interview was conducted on March 5, 2024

Prof. Michael Sierra-Arevalo of the University of Texas discusses the “danger imperative” that frames the daily activities of police officers throughout the U.S. Learn about a deeply-embedded fear of violence that shapes numerous decisions police officers make – whether to confront a group of idle teenagers, whether to engage in a high-speed car chase, whether to wear a seat belt. The author of a new book on this subject discusses the culture of policing, why it matters, and how it might be changed.

Interview was conducted on February 6, 2024