A multitude of marked instances reinforces that point. From the Watts Riots in Los Angeles in 1965 to the Oscar Grant killing in 2009, race related events have enthralled the nation and sparked civil rights protests. The igniter of both aforementioned events was a police/citizen encounter that involved discretionary measure. In the Watts case, a California Highway Patrolman decided to pull a vehicle over for reckless driving and in the Grant case, BART officers were called to the scene of a disturbance in a transit center. However, disregarding whether the actions undertaken by police were allowable, these encounters led to unrest in their respective communities and across the nation. As a result, policies were changed; the BART police instituted training changes while the Watts Riots led to the adoption of community policing in the …show more content…
But, other areas such as the southern United States are still struggling to rid themselves of racist undertones. Kenneth Bolton Jr. (2003) interviewed 50 males and female police officers in southern states in order to determine the current state of racism. Bolton uncovered that racism was still prevalent across the south and affected aspects of a police department that included: training, discipline, promotion, and assignment. The interviewed officers determined that the culture of racism was institutional in nature. Put in context, knowledge that racism still persists inside police departments shows the high likely hood for some officers to allow the institutionalized normal racism to influence their decisions while on