1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bomb here. We live in the age of 3 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,119 Speaker 1: if you see something, say something. What started as a 4 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,160 Speaker 1: public anti terrorism campaign in the wake of the September 5 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: eleventh attacks has morphed into a state of vigilance for 6 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: any kind of suspicious behavior, and sometimes it pays off. 7 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: In For example, a day after twenty nine people were 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: injured in a string of New York City bombings, two 9 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: men saw a suspicious bag with wires sticking out of 10 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: it left on a dumpster in Elizabeth, New Jersey. They 11 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,720 Speaker 1: alerted police, which used robots to disarm five pipe bombs. 12 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: Later that night, another nine one one call led police 13 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:42,840 Speaker 1: to a man sleeping in a tavern doorway who turned 14 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: out to be the bomber. But for every report of 15 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 1: suspicious activity that leads to an arrest, there are many 16 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: others that are, unfortunately not based on any kind of 17 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: criminal act, but on bias. Airline passengers of Arab descent 18 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: have been pulled from flights or not allowed to board 19 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: when fellow passed a Jer's notified flight attendance of suspicious 20 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 1: behavior that included reading the news on their phone. People 21 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: of color are routinely followed by store security personnel or 22 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: even asked to leave if they haven't bought anything a 23 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: k a shopping wall black, and most recently, Starbucks landed 24 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: in hot water after one of its store managers in 25 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 1: Philadelphia called the police on two black men waiting for 26 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: a friend. The men were handcuffed and escorted from the 27 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: cafe for behavior asking to use the bathroom and not 28 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,679 Speaker 1: buying anything that witnesses said would never have drawn attention 29 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 1: if they had been white, which made us wonder if 30 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: ordinary Americans have been tasked by law enforcement to speak 31 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:40,479 Speaker 1: up when they see something, then what's the definition of 32 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: something and how can they check our racial or ethnic 33 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: biases when making mental calculations of who and what is 34 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: truly suspicious. We spoke with Sergeant Robert Parsons, the public 35 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: information officer for the Dunwoodie Police Department outside of Atlanta, Georgia. 36 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: When he and his fellow police officers talk with community 37 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: members about reporting suspicious activity, they start with this message, 38 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: people aren't suspicious, behavior is suspicious, Parsons said, context is 39 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: really important. Just because someone's walking down the street and 40 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:13,799 Speaker 1: you may not recognize that person, it doesn't mean that 41 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: they're suspicious. Instead, the Dunwoodie Police and departments nationwide instruct 42 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: community members to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior 43 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: that's indicative of actively planning or committing a crime. Sketchy 44 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: behavior includes someone walking down the street and looking into 45 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 1: multiple car windows or trying the door handles, an unknown 46 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:34,959 Speaker 1: person trying to forcibly enter a neighbor's house while they're 47 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,119 Speaker 1: out of town, or someone claiming to represent a utility 48 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 1: or security company without a uniform or an I D. 49 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: Parsons says that calls from the community are invaluable and 50 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: that they are often the only way to solve crimes 51 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: like burglaries and car brake ins, but that this value 52 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: only goes for tips that identify clearly suspicious behavior in 53 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: some cases. He says it's undeniable that bias is a factor. 54 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,639 Speaker 1: He said, we have gotten the calls. I don't recognize 55 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: this person. He doesn't live in this neighborhood. Unfortunately, it 56 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: puts the officers in a bad position because we have 57 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: to respond to the calls were given and we have 58 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: to stop people. People rightfully get offended. I'm not walking, 59 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: I'm jogging, I'm not doing anything suspicious. We also spoke 60 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: with Reggie Schufford, executive director of the a c l 61 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: U of Pennsylvania, who posits that the risks involved with 62 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: police responding to bias based tips go much further than 63 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: people getting offended. Shufford, who is himself black, said, black 64 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: men in particular live under a constant cloud of suspicion 65 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,200 Speaker 1: and fear. I think that endangers our lives because often 66 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,119 Speaker 1: those situations escalate into violence and we end up dead. 67 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: While a lot of attention over the past few years 68 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: has been focused on the dangers of biased policing, from 69 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: controversial stop and frisk programs to multiple police shootings of 70 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: unarmed black men, Shufford believes that biased reporting of suspicious 71 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,880 Speaker 1: behavior by average citizens is equally troubling. He said, these 72 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: eyewitness accounts of what constitutes suspicious behavior are unreliable precisely 73 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: because we are a culture that's steeped in racial bias. 74 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: Much of it is implicit. Sometimes we don't even know 75 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: that we're harboring racial bias, but sometimes it's explicit. Either 76 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: way you look at it, It's dangerous for private citizens 77 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: to use their concept of suspicion to engage the police 78 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,280 Speaker 1: bias training is now mandatory at many police academies and 79 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: police departments nationwide, and Starbucks announced that they will be 80 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: closing all eight thousand of its US stores on May 81 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: twenty nine for an afternoon to educate employees about racial bias. 82 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 1: But what about educating the general public. Some would like 83 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: to see the police take a more active role. Curtis Read, Jr. 84 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: Is the executive director of the Vermont Partnership for Fairness 85 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: and Diversity, an organization working to make Vermont an attractive 86 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: destination for people of color. For the past fifteen years, 87 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: Read and his group have conducted bias training for state 88 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: and local police, government officials, and business owners in Vermont. 89 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: Says Read, police dispatchers are trained to engage callers who 90 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: want the cops to come and check out, for example, 91 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: three black guys standing on the corner. Basically, the dispatcher 92 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: will simply ask what the guys are doing. If they're 93 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:09,840 Speaker 1: not engaged in any suspicious or criminal behavior, the dispatcher 94 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,039 Speaker 1: will explain that to the caller, declined to send a 95 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 1: cruiser and offer to transfer them to a supervisor if 96 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: they have more questions. When Red looks at what happened 97 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: at the Starbucks in Philadelphia, He sees a missed opportunity 98 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: for the police to educate community members that being black 99 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: is not a criminal offense. He said, if I were 100 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: the officers sent to that Starbucks, I would have asked 101 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: the manager what criminal behavior were the two black men 102 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,920 Speaker 1: engaged in. I would have asked them was their behavior 103 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,360 Speaker 1: any different than any of the other patrons who frequent 104 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: that Starbucks? Because ultimately it's the perception of the manager 105 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: that needs to be changed. And who better than these 106 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:48,360 Speaker 1: officers coming in and asking those very questions Dune what 107 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: he police officer Parsons says that beyond spreading the message 108 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:55,600 Speaker 1: that people aren't suspicious, behavior is suspicious. The department doesn't 109 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,039 Speaker 1: provide any public education on the role of bias in 110 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,040 Speaker 1: community crime reporting quote, but it may be something that 111 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: we do in the future. Of course, change starts with 112 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: all of us. If you're interested in engaging your own 113 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:10,479 Speaker 1: implicit biases based on race, gender, sexual orientation, mental health, 114 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,480 Speaker 1: and more, and in learning what you can do to 115 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,719 Speaker 1: help take the short online tests offered at Project Implicit. 116 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:18,480 Speaker 1: It's project by Harvard. Just google it, it'll come right up. 117 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Dave Ruse and produced by 118 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other 119 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: social topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com.