Patricia Mendoza

Mrs. Thomas

UWRT 1103-1004

Annotated Bibliographies

Annotated Bibliography 2

2). Policing the Police. Dir. James Jacoby. By Jelani Cobb and James Jacoby. Prod. Anya
Bourg and James Jacoby.pbs.org Frontline, 28 June 2016. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

Because there are multiple contributors included in the making of Policing the Police, I

will give background information about the main makers in order to prove their ethos behind this

work. Director, co-producer, and co-writer James Jacoby is a producer for Frontline where hes a

founding member of Enterprise Journalism Group. Previously, James worked for the CBS News

program, 60 Minutes, where he produced investigative stories with correspondent Steve Kroft.

His investigations revealed wrongdoing by, among others, major banks, credit reporting

agencies, disability lawyers and arson investigators. Jacoby has received several honors for his

work including two Gerald Loeb awards, the top prize in business reporting. He is a graduate of

the University of Pennsylvania. James Jacoby has clearly built up credibility as he has done

much producing work prior to the making of this film. Anya Bourg is an award winning producer

and journalist who joined Frontlines Enterprise Journalism Group in December 2014. Bourg

also spent 9 years at 60 Minutes, working on stories that ranged from the violence in Mexico, to

the destruction of coral reefs, to the lack of accountability for prosecutors accused of misconduct.

Bourg graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia Universitys

Graduate School of Journalism. Anya Bourg has established her own ethos through her career in
journalism. Finally, Jelani Cobb is the main character in Policing the Police but was also a co-

writer. Cobb has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2012, and became a staff writer in

2015. He writes frequently about race, politics, history, and culture. He won the 2015 Sidney

Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism, for his columns on race, the police, and

injustice. Cobb is also a professor of journalism at Columbia University. Jelani Cobb definitely

has experience with the subject of police and injustice as this topic is one he seems to write about

frequently, therefore he was credibility as he has lots of knowledge and experience on the

subject.

In this short film/documentary, Policing the Police, journalist Jelani Cobb joins some

Newark police officers in ride alongs; at the time, the officers of the gang unit went out five

times per week in unmarked cars, making traffic stops, searching pedestrians, and conducting

drug raids. Cobb personally experiences the way the officers interacted with civilians on a daily

basis in a city that a reputation for drug trafficking, gang violence, and a homicide rate nine times

than that of New York City. In the documentary, Cobb personally witnesses these officers use

excessive force towards civilians but the officers claim they do not use excessive force and are

simply doing their job the way they are supposed to. When I asked one officer how he makes

the decision to stop someone, he described a set of criteria that constitute a gut instinct, not

reasonable suspicion. The officers response shows how he uses personal discretion in deciding

who to stop and who not to stop rather than actual suspicion that a person may have a weapon or

drugs. Cobb also asks the officers if it is possible to keep communities safe while still respecting

peoples rights, to which the officer's reply with absolutely. But Cobb later states, is this really

possible when police come to conclusions before even fully approaching a person? Is this
possible when a person riding a bike with CDs in his waistband is mistaken for a suspect with a

gun rathern than CDs as observed in the film? In the film, it is revealed that the Newark Police

Department was under investigation by the Justice Department after having many complaints of

excessive use of force by the officers. For example, in the film, officers walk up to a young man

and obviously because they walked up on him, he steps back and right away the officers assume

he has a weapon and insist on handcuffing him for safety. Months after Cobb finished his ride

alongs with the Newark gang unit, it was reported that one of the officers of the gang unit was

disciplined for not filing a report after breaking the arm of an eighth grader while arresting him.

Also another officer from the gang unit was suspended and charged for allegedly coercing a

woman to perform oral sex in exchange for leniency. In conclusion, Cobb admitted to be

disturbed by the events he witnessed when out with the gang unit and he as well as residents and

the mayor of Newark can only hope to improve the department and continue to try and maintain

the community safe while not actually violating others rights.

Other quotes:

I cant help but think of what the Justice Department found here, that the Newark

PD was stopping people without legal justification 75 percent of the time.

Its clear to me that theres no trust. Thats what happens when everyone assumes

the worst of everyone else.

 Weve been out on patrol with some officers who are making a major initiative

to get guns off the street. And you know, theyre kind of stopping people. Theyre pulling

overfrisking people, in some instances. And I have to say that what I saw was very

disturbing.

Analysis:

The first time that I watched this film was in my criminal justice class when we were on the

subject of policing. Honestly, watching the way the officers would curse at people and yell and

get pretty aggressive with them was frightening and the fact that they would pretty much just

walk up to anyone that they thought looked suspicious and frisk them in my opinion just isnt

right. If they have actual reason to search a person then thats understandable but to search

someone who is simply walking is just unfair. Im not a cop of course and I have no experience

in what they go through every day so I definitely will not just say that everything they do is

wrong because at the end of the day, they do risk their lives but I believe that there has to be a

better way for cops to interact with civilians without causing more damage to the trust barrier

that already exists between us and them. These are all things I want to speak of on my thesis

paper and I plan to use examples from the film as well.