Policing in America

The Winston Center hosted Dr. Rosa Brooks as its annual Chambers lecturer this spring. Brooks is the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Law and Policy at Georgetown University Law Center, where she also founded the Center for Innovations in Community Safety. In 2017, the center launched the Police for Tomorrow Fellowship Program with the Washington, D.C., Police Department to include police in discussions about the future of policing.

Brooks has served in numerous policy roles under multiple administrations, and is a frequently quoted political commentator. Many of her roles have delved into the intersections and complexities between law and violence in our society. In 2016, she authored How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything, about the ever-expanding role of the U.S. military. More recently, her focus has shifted to policing, leading her to spend five years as a reserve police officer in Washington, D.C. She drew on this experience while writing her most recent book, Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City, which examines some of the complexities of modern policing.

Brooks began her lecture by orienting students to how the past few years have created shifts in how people think and talk about policing. When COVID-19 prevented police from performing the usual high-contact nature of the job, people began to question whether it was even necessary. In May 2020, the murder of George Floyd, as well as police crackdowns in response to the ensuing protests, shook the nation and certainly changed the dialogue around policing. Again in 2021, the dialogue shifted with the Jan. 6 insurrection, when many policymakers switched to praising police as heroes. This series of events, as well as many interconnected occurrences, created a tendency for the vast majority of U.S. citizens to view police in binaries, Brooks said. She urged students to get more nuanced, and understand that police are not operating in a vacuum—most of the problems with policing are a mirror into much deeper societal injustices.

Drawing on her firsthand experience, Brooks discussed how the setup of modern policing creates officers who feel both powerful and powerless, and are constantly being expected to handle situations they are not trained to handle. Despite the complexity of the problems with the U.S. policing system, Brooks told students that she actually feels hopeful looking forward, as both police and those vehemently opposed to the institution understand there is a need for change. Rather than entering into a common debate of whether police are good or bad, Brooks urged students to think critically and start discussions surrounding how social institutions can be reshaped to make policing a more productive rather than harmful force. Instead of shutting down discussion, Brooks told students that in order to incrementally get to the changes to community safety that we need, citizens need to think about what that should look like, and what people, institutions, training, and funding we need to get to this better future.

Anna Lonnquist '23, Winston Ambassador