Today, the trial of Derek Chauvin starts in Minneapolis 10 months after a civilian, George Floyd, was killed.
What in the world does this have to do with epidemiology?
Cue my violence research lab. The majority of my research evaluates patterns between police and civilian interactions. One of those interactions are use of force, and specifically, excessive use of force. This is important work because if we can find patterns, we can predict when this will happen, and then we can prevent them in the future.
Violence is predictable. It's not random.
It’s not random that a black civilian was alleged of using counterfeit money (knowingly or not knowingly). Blacks have lower education, lower pay, lower access to healthy food, lower neighborhood safety, higher mortality rate, etc. This directly leads to higher desperation, higher crime.
It’s not random that white officers answered the 911 call from the store owner. Every year there are 62 MILLION interactions between police and civilians. 2% of these interactions result in use of force. For example, in Dallas, 53% of 911 calls have a descriptor of a black perpetrator; 55% of officers are white, which results in the majority of police interactions being a white officer and a black civilian.
It’s not random that the interaction resulted in an adverse event. My research shows that adverse events are due to complex situational factors (e.g. neighborhood, civilian mental health, civilian substance use, officer mental health, burnout, officer organization, civilian and officer appearance, etc.). For example, 50% of officers have an undiagnosed mental illness; 20% have PTSD; 10% have thought about killing themselves in the past 2 weeks. This impacts decision making abilities. Also, officers can jump from high stress call to high stress call, which has lasting effects on job performance.
It’s not random that the BLM movement has grown during the pandemic. The pandemic resulted in a 15% unemployment rate at its peak, causing all types of stresses and strains. It’s important to note that 33% of those dying from COVID19 are black (when they constitute 19% of the general population), which is due to higher rates of comorbidies and lower access to care.
It’s not random that this violence isn’t in other countries. U.S. is built on a system that exacerbates disparities. For example, the U.S. is the only first world country without universal health care. Something that unemployment, race, or age cannot touch in other countries.
The interaction between police and community members is complex. I’ve published over 40 peer-reviewed scientific articles on this topic and just touching the surface of some important questions (and what to do about them).
I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about this case. But I do know the epidemiological patterns behind this topic. So, in light of national events, I will post a snippet of the scientific evidence each day this week. Hopefully this will give you a public health, data-driven perspective of current events.
See you tomorrow!
Love, your local (violence) epidemiologist
Fascinating. I can't wait to hear more. THANK YOU! (and then I just saw that you've had death threats). BECAUSE OF THIS?!?!? This isn't even controversial yet! I WANT to have my beliefs and attitudes challenged. How else will we learn?! I am SO sorry, and I hope there is another way to access the research that you're doing. I am very interested. Thank you for all you do.
I have questions.
"For example, 50% of officers have an undiagnosed mental illness"
50% is a huge number. Unless someone's behavior is obviously "off" such that an untrained individual can determine something just isn't right, how is this data point determined? How can someone be determined to have a mental illness without a diagnosis?
Can you post a YLE bibliography of your 40 peer reviewed scientific articles? I have an undiagnosed mental illness...I read scientific papers for fun 😂 The best part is that if I read your papers and I have questions, I know where to find you 😎 Paywalls suck. I hope you can post your own research into a "subscribers only" section that won't ruffle any of the publisher's feathers.