Policing In America In The Age Of Black Lives Matter

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day — police and their communities now, in the era of Donald Trump and Black Lives Matter.

On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department delivered a blistering report on Chicago policing. On Thursday, Baltimore agreed to a federal consent decree demanding police reform. Are American police cleaning up their act in the era of Black Lives Matter? A big new survey says many are hunkering down. Donald Trump has called police “the most mistreated people in this country.” This hour On Point, on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the realities of American policing now. — Tom Ashbrook

Rich Morin, senior editor at the Pew Research Center. Co-author of the Pew’s new study “Behind the Badge." (@richmorin)

Eugene O’Donnell, lecturer at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Former police officer in the New York City Police Department.

Wesley Lowery, Pulitzer Prize-winning national reporter covering law enforcement, justice, race and politics for The Washington Post. Author of "They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement." (@WesleyLowery)

Pew Research Center: Behind the Badge -- "Police work has always been hard. Today police say it is even harder. In a new Pew Research Center national survey conducted by the National Police Research Platform, majorities of police officers say that recent high-profile fatal encounters between black citizens and police officers have made their jobs riskier, aggravated tensions between police and blacks, and left many officers reluctant to fully carry out some of their duties."

Chicago Tribune: Justice Department report rips Chicago police for excessive force, lax discipline, bad training -- "A damning U.S. Department of Justice report released Friday morning excoriates the Chicago Police Department for failing to discipline officers who too often resort to force, including shootings. 'The failure to effectively investigate officers' use of force or discipline police 'has helped create a culture in which officers expect to use force and not be questioned about the need for or propriety of that use,' the Justice Department said."

ABC News: Baltimore Police to Tackle Deep, Systemic Failures -- "The scathing findings of a federal investigation into Baltimore police practices after the death of a shackled man in a transport van and the court-enforceable agreement to improve policing in the city speak to much broader failures rooted in the culture of the long-troubled agency."