Poverty, not race, is issue with Taser incidents

By Chuck Mincks

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I was disturbed and disappointed by The Gazette's Nov. 28 article “3 in 10 Tasered in Cedar Rapids are black.”

In the story, local minority leaders claimed the use of Tasers on blacks is disproportionate to the percentage of African-Americans in the overall community population, so police must be racially biased. Neither they nor The Gazette offer credible evidence to support that declaration.

This potentially libelous rhetoric could lead many readers to believe the claim of racial bias must be true. Missing is the data concerning, in part, where the incident occurred, the day of week, the time of day, the age of the suspect, activities engaged in by those Tased, whether the officer had time to consider more appropriate force alternatives and the other details of what led up to the officer(s) determining that a Taser should be deployed.

Human behavior is unpredictable so it is difficult, if not impossible, to predict when a Taser will be utilized. This is especially true in matters of domestic violence, bars and restaurants where alcohol is served, and neighborhoods already rife with crime and unrest. Applying the same basic percentage-based measurements as used in fair housing and other recent affirmative actions for minorities is not applicable in this case and paints an unfair image of our police department.

While I respect Karl Cassell of the Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission, his explanation of African-Americans tending to talk more excitedly than the general population, leading police to believe they are being uncooperative, is too simplistic and overlooks major elements of concern.

Also disproportionate, and so far overlooked, is the large percentage of minorities living in poverty and lower-income housing options in Cedar Rapids - not unlike most U.S. cities. Centuries of poverty, low employment rates and other social issues have left a significant number of people in these conditions frustrated, without trust in government, and little or no respect for authority such as law enforcement.

While not applicable to every member of any minority, these facts pertain to many in every city the size of Cedar Rapids and are explained in any of hundreds of thousands of articles on social science research. These elements can easily add up to a recipe for uncooperativeness while interacting with police, if not actual violence. It is no small wonder why Tasers are not used more often in these neighborhoods than they are. This indicates to me that the police are likely using much more restraint than they are being given credit for.

Hopefully not all Cedar Rapidians are jumping to improper conclusions based on a thus-far poorly supported accusation. For anyone to take that stand does the entire community a great injustice and only serves to drive a wedge further between African-Americans and the city.

If it is eventually determined with credible data that the Taser numbers are still skewed, then it is incumbent on the police to make the necessary changes to regain the public's trust.

However, unless such a determination is made, the energy expended on this mudslinging would be better served if directed toward more meaningful actions, such as helping to find jobs for the unemployed, working with the minority teens and young adults to discourage them from violent behavior, discouraging domestic violence in these neighborhoods and finding ways to help those in poverty find a greater sense of self-worth in their community.

These are necessary actions for a community to take in order to build stronger relationships, reduce crime and enhance the overall quality of the city.

Above all: If you have allegations to make, have the data ready to support them. Otherwise, you only tear down relationships and hurt everyone.

Lt. Chuck Mincks of Marion recently retired from the Cedar Rapids Police Department after serving the city for 30 years. Comments: chucksuem@msn.com.