Racism in Law Enforcement

The brain is a fascinating muscle.

When some people taste chocolate, they fall in love.  When others have a drop on their tongue they recoil in disgust.

The interpretation of that flavor is different for every brain-type.  The functions can be easily distinguished from the below chart.

 

The brain, broken down

That sensation of taste is largely controlled within the parietal lobe.  The parietal lobe interprets the taste as positive or negative and sends messenger impulses through the brain’s synapses and into the mouth where it either causes increased saliva to aide in digestion, or a gag reflex to rid the body of a potential threat.

What we know about the brain and implications in law enforcement

Upon hearing of the recent “racist” law enforcement  issues facing the country, we decided to take a scientific look utilizing what we already know about the brain.

Just as the parietal lobe controls your taste and interpretation of chocolate, your propensity for what is referred to as “natural bias” is also controlled by a portion of the brain.

“Natural bias” is something deep within the human psyche.  It is the cause for the term “birds of a feather flock together” and why one may see certain religions and demographics sitting with “their own kind” in cafeterias and at social gatherings.

If you don’t think you have natural bias, think again.  If you’ve ever been seated alone on a plane or a bus, what do you think when people walk by?  A handsome, chiseled featured man standing at 6 foot 3 may be more appealing on a long voyage than someone of lower stature, lower IQ and lower hygiene standards.

That level of natural bias shifts from the most Liberal of personality-types to the most conservative.  It is a mechanism of the frontal lobe to assess judgment calls, from calling a black person the “N” word, to inversely feeling they have every right as a white person.  The level of racism a person exhibits is not a result of environment, it is a result of a genetic wiring of the brain.

The racist tenets held by most law enforcement agents closely aligns with the duties they are assigned to.

“If you don’t think you have natural bias, think again.  If you’ve ever been seated alone on a plane or a bus, what do you think when people walk by?  A handsome, chiseled featured man standing at 6 foot 3 may be more appealing on a long voyage than someone of lower stature, lower IQ and lower hygiene standards.”

As you can see from this chart, black and hispanic people are statistically more likely to commit crimes than white people.  By staggering percentages.

The “why” behind the “what”

The synapses that fire in the brain for an officer who identifies high on the racism scale are more likely to target problematic ethnic groups than the synapses that fire in the brain for an officer who identifies much lower on the racism scale.  The officer is already more likely to take a “fight” rather than “flight” approach, so if you throw natural bias that most closely aligns with the national statistics into the equation, we’re left with an officer that may show aggression toward ethnic minorities.

As we can see in the above graph, this is not necessarily a bad thing.  If a black person is more than 500% more likely to commit a prisonable offense than a white person, there is a case to be made that they should be treated as such.

It’s science.

After the recent “attacks” on the black population by law enforcement officers we contacted a psychologist who directly counsels law enforcement officers after deadly force incidents.

“The officers exhibit extreme remorse following the incidents,”  Dr. Jamal Brown explained, “it is our job to explain that a normal function of the brain is really taking over.  That they may think they have control, but something more primal is truly taking over.”

He went on to explain that these officers are in a position where they must try and live with making decisions that are, in most cases, the correct one.

Police officers are chosen for their aggressive propensity.  It is a function of their job, their livelihood and oftentimes their brains to carry a more intuitive sense of natural bias than the average person on the bus.