Public Health and the Policing of Black Lives

The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Rekia Boyd, and Walter Scott reflect a pattern of routinized state violence against black people in the United States. While police violence is not new, it has become newly visible over the past year as protesters in Ferguson, Baltimore, and hundreds of other cities have made the issue difficult for the public to ignore. As citizens of this society, each of us has a responsibility to work toward the structural changes necessary to end racially discriminatory policing practices that affect our communities. However, as public health professionals, our role in this movement is unique. Simply put, policing practices harm the public’s health and deepen racial health inequities. Since our existing public health infrastructure continuously collects data on injuries and deaths, public health agencies can play a critical role in preventing police violence by monitoring and systematically investigating its impact on communities. Additionally, while U.S. policymakers have decided that police departments should be one of the primary institutions tasked with addressing drug use, problem drinking, homelessness, sex work, and mental illness, these are all fundamentally public health issues requiring attention from public health researchers and professionals alike.