On March 11, 2021, the Vail Symposium hosted experts from different disciplines on the topic of police reform: Rafael Mangual of the Manhattan Institute, Vikrant Reddy of the Charles Koch Institute, Chief Dwight Henninger of the Vail Police Department, and Allison Sherry the justice report for Colorado Public Radio.
- Sherry kicked off the program acknowledging the staggering rise in crime from 2019 to 2020 and asked the panel why, and what leaders should do about it
- Chief Henninger pointed out that Vail had seen no significant increase in crime but acknowledged a level of frustration and anger around the pandemic lockdown.
- Reddy shared the perspective that even this increase in crime is far short of the levels of crime experienced in America beginning in the 1960s and lasting until the early 1990s. He shared the Chief’s view that some of the increase was due to idle hands getting into trouble. He also suspected that in the aftermath of the George Floyd death and subsequent riots, there was an antipolice moment and a loss of confidence in the police. As a result, some people may have tried to take matters into their own hands rather than involve the police.
- Mangual acknowledged that crime had risen, but like Reddy, pointed out that these rises were nowhere near the peaks seen previously by many major cities. To what the Chief and Reddy already said, he contributed the idea that decarceration–the purposeful reduction of people in custodial care–may have factored into the crime spike.
- He went on to state that police have backed off, citing a sharp reduction in pedestrian stops simultaneously with an increase in homicides. He also pointed out that many preexisting reforms predate George Floyd including bail reform, decarceration, and progressive prosecutors.
- Sherry circled back to the idea that a decrease in stops correlates with an increase in violent crime. The Chief responded that many of his colleagues would say that de-policing is not happening. However, he acknowledged that departments were often unsure how to keep their personnel safe during the pandemic, especially early on, and that Covid may have had an impact. He also claimed that people of color are not the ones clamoring for a decreased police presence.
- Reddy insisted that more policing equates to less crime while acknowledging that aggressive policing can lead to a lack of confidence and trust. He cited the low clearance rate of homicides and attributed that to people unwilling to call the police.
- Mangual backed up the Chief’s claim about people of color and policing–citing a Gallup survey in which 81% of black respondents wanted the same level of policing or more in their neighborhoods. He also cautioned about the incentive structures used in some police departments which may have contributed to overly aggressive policing.
- Acknowledging the crisis of confidence in law enforcement, Sherry asked how it might be restored. Reddy suggested that we have too many laws which invited more adversarial interactions. Simply put, we should reduce the number of things that are criminal.
- Mangual addressed the cynicism in black communities fueled by the media overemphasizing deaths at the hands of police (1 in 1000) rather than deaths from gun violence (1 in 298). He stressed that we need to be honest about the data.
- Reddy did not dispute Mangual’s data, but did point out that it is far worse when the agent of violence is the state.
- One of the final discussions addressed the data collection to be required should the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act be signed into law. The concern about this requirement seemed to center on smaller, rural forces that may not have the resources for this level of data collection.
