Follow up on race and crime

By Stephen Hanisch

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Where's the front-page article beginning, “Cedar Rapids black people committed crimes disproportionate to their percentage of the population in 2010”? We would never see that, because it sounds ignorant and racist.

Yet Sunday's front-page article implied that Cedar Rapids police officers are targeting black people disproportionately and deploying their Tasers in a reckless manner against them. That was pretty ignorant and racist, too. When can we read the companion article about why African-Americans do commit crimes disproportionate to their percentage of the population? Plenty of statistics support that statement.

I also can state from experience that Cedar Rapids police officers don't choose the individuals they come in contact with any more than Maytag assembly line workers choose the next washing machine they build. The average citizen has no idea how law enforcement officers conduct their duties or how stressful and dangerous their job is. I wonder if many people know, for instance, how many male and female Cedar Rapids officers have been beaten by “unarmed” criminals or how many serious injuries are suffered during foot chases and tussles with unarmed criminals.

I also am troubled by the implication that the young man who ran from officers in the park after being discovered with marijuana did not need to be Tased. Someone who is running from police can be the most dangerous type of individual for police to deal with.

Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission Director Karl Cassell was quoted, “ ... African-Americans would probably end up being Tasered more quickly because of the perceived violent nature of African-Americans in general.” Is it possible that African-Americans are Tased more often because African-American criminals are more violent with police in general? It's just a question referring to people who commit crimes, not African-Americans in general. Shouldn't that question have been raised in this article?

There's a fundamental misunderstanding and a major disconnect between reality and the public perception on this subject.

I request a follow-up article that presents a fair and balanced interpretation of how and why African-Americans disproportionately come in contact with law enforcement and are subsequently charged with crimes.

Stephen Hanisch of Walford, a University of Iowa and Kirkwood Community College graduate and certified by the Cedar Rapids Regional Police Academy in 2006, worked four months for the police department before returning to the construction contracting field. Comments: sdhanisch@

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