By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Following the killing of George Floyd in 2020, it was revealed that Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, had a history of excessive force and misconduct allegations.
Over the course of his career, which began in 2001, two disciplinary letters and 18 complaints were filed against him. Multiple people accused Chauvin of using the same kneeling restraint that caused Floyd to plead for help and ultimately lose his life that day in May.
This left many wondering why he remained on the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). It also fueled a broader, ongoing conversation related to training and hiring practices for police. According to Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, there are a number of reasons why officers may be hired or retained in spite of questionable track records.
“Sometimes it’s just that the hiring police agency doesn’t know that the officer has a problematic history, and they’re not doing sufficient vetting,” said Bonds. “A lot of time it’s an issue of the police department having pretty low standards.”
Across the nation, police departments are complaining about the recruitment challenges and staffing shortages they face. Because of this, Bonds said some agencies may lack better options. Rather than rush to fill vacancies, she said, this should raise questions about why the country needs so many police officers in the first place, especially as other municipal employees may be able to carry out tasks that law enforcement have traditionally handled.
There are also psychological and sociological factors that contribute to people overlooking the precarious pasts of police officers.
“There’s a presumption that people are blowing things out of proportion and that there are two sides of the story even when there is an issue,” said Bonds. “There’s often a real strong sense that officers should have each other’s back, and there’s this mentality that police officers can’t do anything wrong.”
According to the Mapping Police Violence project, 1,361 people were killed by law enforcement in 2024, and African Americans were 2.8 times more likely to be killed than their White counterparts. In 2023, there were 1,356 people killed. This statistic makes it even more critical for hiring and training standards to be comprehensive.
Ersie Joyner, senior consultant for the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR), explained that the recruitment process is the most important component of organizational health, success and sustainability.
Like Bonds, he said the race to bring on new police officers has caused problems. According to Joyner, a number of police corruption scandals have been exacerbated by accelerated hiring practices.
“This rings true for all organizations throughout the country when agencies are working diligently quickly and through pressure to fill police academies, hiring standards get lowered and individuals oftentimes get a pass for things that would have disqualified them,” said Joyner.
He added that one major issue in police departments is that internal background units are understaffed. Despite them being overtaxed by the demands of background investigations, he believes they should be held responsible for officers who are negligently hired.
“Until organizations are courageous enough to hold everyone in the process accountable, we will continue to have unqualified people hired into a position where they have to go into a community that needs them the most, but trusts them the least,” said Joyner, who is also a retired police captain with the Oakland Police Department.
The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement (NOBLE) believes that departments should be focused on acquiring candidates who demonstrate integrity, accountability and preparedness. Col. Lamar Davis, a NOBLE member and retired superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, said they must have soft skills that allow them to build robust relationships with the community while also maintaining their technical skills.
“Proper vetting is non-negotiable and should include documentation of completion of a rigorous police academy training program, including physical fitness, legal instruction and field training,” said Davis. “Additionally, a thorough background investigation that includes criminal history, employment record checks and personal references is critical, and a psychological evaluation to determine fitness for duty is recommended.”
He contended that agencies typically abide by these standards. But, when they don’t, it suggests that accountability is discounted, particularly in communities that have historically had strained and contentious relationships with police.
“We have to stop this, and that starts with our response to negative information revealed during background investigations,” said Davis. “Addressing these challenges requires moral courage, but in the interest of our departments’ ability to serve communities effectively–and even more importantly, in the interest of citizens–agencies must adopt standardized hiring practices that vet allegations of misconduct and policy violation and immediately disqualify candidates with confirmed egregious past misconduct.”
