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20 J. Ethnicity Crim. Just. 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/wecj20 and id is 1 raw text is: JOURNAL OF ETHNICITY IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE Routledae 2022, VOL. 20, NO. 1, 1-21 https://doi.org/10.1080/15377938.2022.2042450 Taylor & Francis Group Policework in a racist context: A qualitative study of retired African American police officers Tangela C. Dockery-Sawyerr School of Social Work, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY The law enforcement community has faced great scrutiny in Received 22 June 2021 policing tactics and their interactions with marginalized corn- Revised 7 February 2022 munities and experiences of systemic racism. Moreover, Accepted 10 February increases in awareness have elicited alarms for reforming and 2022 defunding the police. To date, a plethora of literature exists in KEYWORDS examining policing, systemic racism, and best practices for African American police reform. However, few studies have explored the perspectives officers; and experiences of racialized practices experienced by African racialized practices; American police officers. This qualitative study explored intrade- Black Lives Matter; partmental discrimination, police reform, and alternative polic qualitative ing practices. Findings demonstrate retired police officers' perceptions of racial bias in policing, how these practices changed over time, and how they may influence decision-mak- ing in law enforcement. Literature review Police-related shootings of unarmed African American males at the hands of law enforcement have spurred global unrest and massive protests in the United States. Several scholars assert that this recent protest and unrest are deeply connected to ongoing police brutality and violence. African Americans, in particular have been frequent victims of racially biased experiences at the hands of law enforcement (Ioimo, Tears, Meadows, Becton, & Charles, 2007; Milner, George, & Allison, 2016). For example, using the National Violent Death Reporting System, DeGue, Fowler, and Calkins (2016) investigated civilian death and lethal force by law enforce- ment from 2009 to 2012. The authors found that African Americans were killed more disproportionately and compared to the U.S. population were 2.8 times more likely than white individuals to be victims of law enforce- ment fatalities (DeGue et al., 2016). Incidents of discriminatory treatment have been shown to extend to law enforcement officers' attitudes toward and perceptions of minorities with CONTACT Tangela C. Dockery-Sawyerr ® tangela@scarletmail.rutgers.edu O DSW Program, School of Social Work, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 390 George Street, 6th Floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA © 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC