Roland G. Fryer Delivers Annual Distinguished Lecture On “Racial Differences in Police Use of Force”
The Harvard University professor offered a powerful and insightful perspective on the varying levels of police force in minority communities.
On November 5, 2015, Roland G. Fryer Jr., Henry Lee Professor of Economics and faculty director of the Education Innovation Laboratory at Harvard University, delivered Boston University School of Law’s Annual Distinguished Lecture, “Racial Differences in Police Use of Force,” to an overfilled room of students, faculty, and staff. Fryer was recently named the recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economic Association (AEA), which recognizes an “American economist under the age of forty who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.”
Fryer framed his discussion within the current social climate where incidents such as the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, and more recently, Laquan McDonald in Chicago, have sparked a conversation about the use of force by police in minority communities.
One important area of discussion, Fryer noted, is the degree of oversight in police conduct when dealing with minor infractions, like speeding tickets, compared to actions requiring a greater use of force. As a result, officers are generally rewarded, implicitly or explicitly, for the number of actions that require small degrees of force, but when they use greater force—such as firing a Taser or a gun—they face more oversight and are more often reprimanded. Thus, Fryer argued, the system may be making it easier for officers to act carelessly in situations that call for lesser degrees of force.
As part of his research, Fryer accompanied police officers on patrol. Observing that police are consistently placed in high-pressure situations without the opportunity to regain composure, he suggested it may be difficult for the general population to understand officers’ reactions to these experiences. Describing his participation in a police training simulation in which he was confronted with fake attackers, Fryer recounted how he reached for a weapon much sooner than would be appropriate for many trained police officers.
When asked about his thoughts on using body or dash board cameras to monitor police officers, Fryer suggested that, despite the argued benefits of cameras, people may be more inclined to retaliate against officers, and thus escalate situations unnecessarily, knowing officer’s actions are being recorded.
While he acknowledged the social justice problems of police use of force in minority communities, Fryer emphasized that his scholarship approached the matter through an economic lens. He encouraged his audience to reflect and think critically about the different sides of this issue as expressed through his ongoing research.