ADMISSIONS EACH DAY AND ABOUT ONE HUNDRED DISCHARGES. STATISTICS SHOW BLACK PEOPLE
ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE ARRESTED
THAN WHITE PEOPLE IN THE US.
COLORADO IS NO DIFFERENT.
WE KNOW IT ISN'T RIGHT BUT IT
GETS COMPLICATED WHEN YOU START
TO ASK WHY IT HAPPENS AND HOW
TO CHANGE IT RIGHT HERE.
TALK TO COLORADO'S WHO LIVE
THIS REALITY EVERYDAY PEOPLE
WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN SHAPED BY
THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH POLICE.
THEN RYAN HAD A CONVERSATION
WITH POLICE.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS CAN HAVE AN
IMPACT.
THAT LAST A LIFETIME I'M COMING
DOWN THE STEPS IN.
ABOUT FOUR POLICE OFFICERS DREW
THEIR FIREARMS ON ME.
JUSTIN COOPER REMEMBERS HIS
FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH POLICE.
WHILE I LIVED IN THE FRONT
OUTSIDE OF THE NORTHEAST
OF MONTBELLO AND WAS PULLED
OVER WASN'T GIVEN A REASON WHY
I WAS PULLED OVER WERE SHOT.
THOMAS DOES TOO.
A REMINDER OF WHY THEIR PATHS
HAVE BEEN COMPLICATED AND
I REMEMBER SHEIKH LITERALLY
SHAKING PULLED OUT OF THE CAR
WHILE WAS SNOWING 20 BELOW.
MY MOTHER HEARS IT AND SHE
COMES OUT OF THE APARTMENT
SCREAMING LIKE YOU KNOW THAT'S
MY SON.
THAT'S MY SON.
AND WE'RE IN SHORTS BECAUSE WE
STILL HAD OUR BASKETBALL GEAR
ON LEFT TO SIT ON THE CURB MORE
THAN OUR FREEZING COLD
TEMPERATURES NEVER GIVEN A
,
, NEVER
, NEVER ARRESTED. TOTALLY TOLD YOU GUYS CAN GO. AND IT WAS A CASE OF MISTAKEN
IDENTITY.
THEY WERE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE
BUT THEIR INITIAL APPROACH TO
ME WAS TO DRAW THEIR FIREARMS.
I WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD WHEN THAT
OCCURRED.
THOSE DRAMATIC FIRST
INTERACTIONS WITH POLICE WOULD
BE THE BEGINNING OF MANY FOR
THESE TWO IN MONTBELLO.
THEY FEEL BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS
IN DENVER HAVE ALWAYS BEEN
SATURATED WITH POLICE.
RASHAD WAS ARRESTED SEVERAL
TIMES IN HIS EARLY YEARS AND
SAYS CHARGES WERE ALWAYS
DROPPED.
BUT THE REPRECUSSIONS LAST IT'S
FOR ME TO BE TAGGED, YOU KNOW,
LIKE YOU CATCH ANNABLE AND YOU
YOU TAG YOU KNOW, SO THAT WE
KNOW WE HAVE A RECORD OF WHO
YOU ARE, WHAT YOU DO AND WHERE
YOU GO AND WHAT IT CREATED WAS
A RECORD OF ARREST.
AND SO JUSTIN HAS SIMILAR
STORIES MOTIVATING HIM TO WORK
ON REFORMING THE SYSTEM.
HE'S NOW DEPUTY DIRECTOR WITH
THE COLORADO CRIMINAL JUSTICE
REFORM COALITION.
YOU KNOW, THE DATA SHOWS THAT
THERE'S SOME FORM ASPECT
OF IMPLICIT BIAS OCCURRING AS A
REVERSE AS IT RELATES TO
POLICING ESPECIALLY IN
COMMUNITIES OF COLOR,
SPECIFICALLY
OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS.
AND THIS ISN'T JUST A DENVER
ISSUE.
THE COLORADO DIVISION
OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE HAS BEEN
KEEPING DATA ON RACE AND
ARRESTS SINCE 2015.
MOST RECENT DATA SHOWS
AFRICAN-AMERICANS ARE
DISPROPORTIONATELY ARRESTED IN
COLORADO.
THEY MAKE ONE OF EVERY 25
COLORADANS BUT ONE IN EIGHT
OF THE ARRESTS IN THE STATE.
THAT MEANS THEY'RE TWICE AS
LIKELY TO BE ARRESTED THAN A
HISPANIC COLORADAN AND ABOUT
THREE AND A HALF TIMES MORE
LIKELY TO BE ARRESTED THAN A
WHITE PERSON.
I THINK THE FIRST THING THAT
I WOULD SAY IS THAT DISPARITY
DOES NOT NECESSARILY BIAS.
CERTAINLY AS A CONVERSATION
STARTER CERTAINLY WOULD SUGGEST
THAT WE NEED TO DIG INTO OUR
NUMBERS ARE REALLY KIND OF GET
AN UNDERSTANDING WHY THERE IS
SUCH DISPARITY.
DENVER POLICE DIVISION CHIEF
RON THOMAS EXPLAINS HE DOESN'T
FEEL IT'S AS SIMPLE AS POLICE
TARGETING BLACK PEOPLE.
TO HIM IT'S MUCH MORE INTRICATE
SOCIAL ISSUE.
I DO THINK THAT THERE IS A
CORRELATION BETWEEN POOR
NEIGHBORHOODS AND PRISON.
I DO THINK THAT THERE'S A
CORRELATION BETWEEN LOW
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, LOW
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND
CRIME AND PRISON.
AND SO THAT'S ONE OF THE
REASONS WHY WE HAVE ENDEAVORED
TO REALLY ADDRESS THE SOCIAL
CORRELATES AND NEIGHBORHOODS SO
THAT WE CAN AGAIN BUILD
NEIGHBORHOODS UP RATHER THAN
TEAR DOWN.
BUT THAT'S NOT TO SAY HE
DOESN'T THINK THE DEPARTMENT
NEEDS TO MOVE OFF A SUMMER
OF NATIONWIDE UNREST MADE THAT
CLEAR.
MANY MINORITY COMMUNITIES ARE
NOT HAPPY WITH THE WAY THEY'RE
BEING POLICED.
ON ONE OCCASION I WAS STOPPED
TWICE BY THE SAME OFFICER FOR A
LIGHT OUT ON MY LICENSE PLATE
ON MY SAME BLOCK AT THE HEART
OF THE ARGUMENT FOR MEN LIKE
RASHAD AND JUSTIN IS A FEELING
THEY'RE BEING PROFILED.
WHAT REALLY PUSHED ME TO COME
INTO THIS WORK OF REFORM HAVING
THOSE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
OF BEING SLAMMED THE POLICE
CARS, YOU KNOW, ARRESTED
WITHOUT BEING MIRANDIZED.
I THINK THERE'S AN IMPLICIT
BIAS THROUGHOUT SOCIETY.
I THINK THAT PEOPLE COME WITH
IMPLICIT BIAS AND CERTAINLY
PEOPLE COMING TO THEIR POLICE
DEPARTMENT HAVE THEIR OWN
IMPLICIT BIASES.
CHIEF THOMAS SAYS IMPLICIT BIAS
TRAINING IS AN IMPORTANT PART
OF TRAINING.
BUT HE SAYS THE DEPARTMENT IS
COMMITTED TO A BIGGER SELF
REFLECTION THAT STARTED LONG
BEFORE THIS SUMMER THREE YEARS
AGO THOMAS BECAME PART OF A
TASK FORCE COMMITTED TO
COLLECTING DATA ON WHO THEY
STOP AND WHY INCLUDING AGE,
GENDER, RACE AND ULTIMATELY HOW
THE INTERACTION ENDED.
ITS DATA CURRENTLY BEING
COMPILED BY THE CENTER FOR
POLICING EQUITY AND WHEN
RETURNED.
THOMAS HOPES THE DEPARTMENT
CANNOT TAKE ACTION HE HOPES
WILL BRING A COMMUNITY AND
OFFICERS TOGETHER FOR AN
UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATION.
I THINK THEY TAKE THIS JOB FOR
ONE REASON AND THAT'S TO HELP
PEOPLE BECAUSE THAT'S THEIR
INTENT.
THE DIVIDE I THINK STARTS WHEN
WHEN WE DON'T NECESSARILY
LISTEN TO OUR COMMUNITY IN
TERMS OF WHAT IT IS THAT
THE COMMITTEE WANTS TO SEE HOW
DO THEY WANT TO BE POLICED?
I AM NOT A PROPONENT
OF DEFUNDING POLICE.
I DO THINK THAT DOWNSIZING AND
RECONFIGURING HOW RESOURCES ARE
ALLOCATED AND POLICING IS
IMPORTANT.
RASHAD AND JUSTIN COUNTERED BUT
RECOVERED FROM THE WORST
OF WHAT THEY FEEL IS AN
OVERPOLICED COMMUNITY OVERCAME
HAVING TO ANSWER.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ARRESTED ON
APPLICATION ARE BARRIERS TO
GETTING JOBS OR BARRIERS TO
GETTING HOUSING THERE BARRIERS
TO GETTING POST-SECONDARY
EDUCATION.
AND I THINK THAT THAT FACTOR
ALSO PLAYS INTO WHEN THERE ARE
OVERPOLICING, THEIR SUBSEQUENT
CONSEQUENCES, THOSE COLLATERAL
CONSEQUENCES MATTER PEOPLE'S
LIVES.
IF HISTORY TELLS US ANYTHING.
SOLUTIONS TO THESE PROBLEMS
WILL NOT COME EASY.
JUST THE SAME KOSLOF.
IT'S YOU KNOW, IT'S TALK A GOOD
GAME.
YOU KNOW, ULTIMATELY YOU HAVE
TO SHOW ME YOU HAVE TO SHOW
THE COMMUNITY AND THE PEOPLE IN
THE COMMUNITY WHAT CHANGES ARE
BEING MADE.
BUT RASHAD AND JUSTIN HOPE THAT
AFTER CENTURIES OF HISTORY
REPEATING ITSELF THAT THIS
CURRENT RACIAL RECKONING LEADS
TO LASTING CHANGE.
YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME TYPE
OF HOPE.
BUT IN A BLACK