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Former officer: ‘Crackdown’ the wrong approach in policing
A retired Prince George's County police corporal says change needs to happen in police departments across the country.
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - A retired Prince George’s County police corporal is talking about his 20 years at the department and what he feels needs to change in law enforcement across the country.
Kerry Watson, Jr. wrote about his experiences in a post called “Black and Blue.” He said he was inspired to write it after hearing from a friend in law enforcement following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“He is exactly the kind of police officer, exactly the kind of person that we would want policing our community,” said Watson. “He said for the first time in his career he thought about quitting the job.”
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Watson was raised in Prince George’s County. After 20 years with PGPD, he went on to serve as a senior adviser for public safety to the county executive.
He shares that he was no fan of police as a young man, particularly after being pulled over as a University of Maryland student. He said his car had recently been vandalized and left with a broken window.
”One of (the officers) had a gun to the back of my head and demanded to know whose car it was,” Watson recalled. “Well, obviously the vehicle was mine.”
A friend who later became an officer changed his mind about the police. After a ride-along, he decided he wanted to join the force. But what he wasn’t prepared for was the reaction from the community he loved.
”Because I put on that French blue shirt, somehow I became a villain and I had no way, seemingly to change peoples’ mind,” he said.
Watson says what he really wants to share is what he believes has gone so terribly wrong in law enforcement
“There’s an incentive to engage the public in a negative manner,” he said.
It’s something you’ve surely heard yourself from elected leaders and police chiefs – the emphasis on cracking down on criminals.
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"'We’re going to clean up the streets, we’re going to change this community, we’re going to lock up bad guys, we’re going to put them away and make it safe for residents,'" Watson said. "So what that creates is an incentive structure throughout the entire department to have more negative engagements with the citizens."
He describes one of his assignments years ago–trying to seize illegal guns and drugs by finding any reason to pull people over and search their cars. Top-performing officers got time off. Just last year, we saw a similar kind of incentive program at PGPD where officers who made the most arrests and wrote the most tickets got extra time off. Then Chief Hank Stawinski said the program was unauthorized and punished the commanders involved.
Watson said it’s a long-standing culture and will be difficult, but not impossible to remedy.
“There has to be a change in the motivations and incentives that are placed upon officers when dealing with the public. And until we face that, we’re going to get the same outcomes,” he said. “And that’s what’s been so terribly frustrating for me.”
He’s not the only one who believes this needs to change. A spokesman for Montgomery County’s police union said the union will be proposing that the county rethink how officers are evaluated and move away from the focus on arrests and citations.
Across the country and across our region leaders are looking at how to change police departments for the better and are seeking ideas and input on how to do that.
In Prince George’s County, there is a survey for residents on selecting a new police chief.
In Montgomery County, a bill on the police use of force policy goes to the full Council for a vote on Tuesday and there is a virtual Council public hearing June 23 at via Zoom where people can speak on any topic.
There are also upcoming public meeting in D.C., Loudoun, and Fairfax counties where law enforcement reform will be discussed.