At this week's Round Table, Madeline and guest podcaster Kenisha spoke with NPR Correspondent Martin Kaste, who has been covering law enforcement and privacy over the past seven years. The big story, as he sees it, is the gap between perception and reality when it comes to understanding the complexities of law enforcement and public safety--and the galvanizing impact of video and social media. Seeing something fundamentally changes the dynamic, and throws lighter fluid on the issue. This has radically changed what the public perceives as acceptable use of force. Video illuminates--and it also distorts. Public perception of the number of people shot by police is FAR higher than the reality. There are about 800,000 police officers in the US, and many millions of criminal contacts per year. The vast majority of officers never shoot their guns. That said, of course ANY unnecessary killings are tragedies to be avoided to the greatest extent possible. So what can we do? What are we as a society willing to accept? With 18,000 independent police departments across the U.S., Martin encouraged us not to think of the police as a monolith but rather to think about systems of policing, so that’s what we strove to do in this conversation. Thank you for joining us!
