Former DOJ official says Jeff Sessions could learn a thing or two from Fox's new cops show

Associated Press/Frank Franklin II

(The Marshall Project) — At the end of my 30-year career in policing, I served in the Obama Administration as director of the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

The COPS Office is charged with partnering with police agencies across the country to advance community policing.

I worked with thousands of police officials across the country during my time as director and the overwhelming majority of them embraced the idea of building relationships in high-crime communities to address the underlying conditions that contribute to crime.

Unfortunately, the current head of the DOJ is turning his back on the model.

Since taking charge of the Justice Department, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has pursued policies that put more pressure on police-community relations.

He has made overtures to end the agency's interventions into troubled police departments, pulled back on investigations into potential police misconduct, and supported immigration law enforcement policies that push migrant communities further in the shadows.

His approach reveals a deep misunderstanding of the challenges of policing in a democratic society. And it ignores ongoing tensions between police nationally and many of the communities they serve.

Sessions could stand to learn something from an unconventional source— “Shots Fired,” Fox’s new police procedural. What the show understands about policing that Sessions seems to miss is that safe cities are only possible through collaboration between communities and law enforcement. Both parties must work together to overcome bias, ignorance, and their internal politics. And it’s the role of the DOJ to help local law enforcement broker that partnership.

“Shots Fired” explores the aftermath of a racially charged police shooting in a fictional North Carolina town. It begins with a traffic stop in which an unarmed white man is shot and killed by a black police deputy and kicks into gear when the DOJ sends an investigator, played by Sanaa Lathan, and special prosecutor, played by Stephan James, to investigate the shooting.

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The last episode of the show airs Wednesday, but I’ve been struck throughout the season at how well “Shots Fired” captures the complexity of community policing. As someone who has traveled to cities including Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore on behalf of DOJ in recent years, I was impressed by the show’s thoughtful exploration of the roles fear, race, culture, politics and intra-community relationships play in police-community relations.

One particularly memorable scene from the show’s first episode involves a press conference at which local and state officials join the DOJ investigator and prosecutor to announce the federal investigation into the shooting. “What I don't understand is why you're here,” a black pastor in the crowd tells the prosecutor. “All the murdering of unarmed black men by police across this country, and this is the one that the government is investigating?” One of the assembled reporters responds sarcastically, “So only black lives matter?” Ultimately, the DOJ prosecutor settles the crowd with promises to seek the truth in the shooting despite the many dynamics complicating the case. And he does exactly that.

Over the course of the season, the prosecutor engages members of the local law enforcement community and discovers internal tensions. By engaging the residents of the town, he also uncovers a history of police abuse and intra-community conflict that has gone unaddressed for years. I’ve witnessed these dynamics firsthand in cities across the country. I’ve also seen the positive outcomes achieved when both the police and communities embrace community policing.

The show makes clear something that I saw time and time again as a police officer and during my time at the DOJ: civilians are always the linchpin for public safety and the interaction within communities impacts almost everything done in law enforcement. Further, members of the law enforcement community have a responsibility to uphold the law and that work is inextricably tied to community trust and well-being.

ABC

It seems as though Sessions does not understand these important truths and instead is relying on ideology to guide his approach. Maybe if he and his team watched “Shots Fired” they’d obtain a much better understanding of why halting the agency's interventions into troubled police departments, threatening sanctuary cities and reigniting the War on Drugs all have a negative impact on public safety by making community policing nearly impossible.

Attorney General Sessions can only “make America safe again” when he learns the lessons of the past, embraces strategies that protect civil rights, respects all communities, and provides real support to law enforcement. That cannot happen until he learns what he does not know. And if his many years in criminal justice have taught Sessions nothing about the delicate relationship between law enforcement and the public, perhaps a TV show can do the trick.

Ronald Davis was the former director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and executive director of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing under the Obama Administration. Davis was the East Palo Alto Police chief from 2005 to 2013. Prior to that, he served more than 19 years with the Oakland Police Department where he rose to the rank of captain.

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