Editorial: The lessons of Ferguson — the city is not an outlier

As difficult as it may be to look beyond the disputed details of former Ferguson, Mo., police Officer Darren Wilson’s deadly encounter with teenager Michael Brown, the controversial shooting has rekindled a much overdue national conversation about the strained relationship between minorities and police departments.

On Monday, President Barack Obama, his Cabinet, civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials discussed the Ferguson situation and the “mistrust between law enforcement and communities of color.” The wide-ranging discussion also included suggestions to build stronger ties with residents in poor, high-crime neighborhoods as well as a review of federal programs that provide military-style equipment to local police agencies.

Since Brown’s death, most departments, including Ferguson’s, are reviewing their tactics. City officials promised this weekend to fund police academy scholarships for African-American recruits, to increase stipends for officers to live in the community and to begin school programs to give students an opportunity to interact with police officers in nonthreatening settings. The city also wants to create a diverse citizen review board on police conduct.

In recent months, several high-profile shootings across the country involving officers indicate that Ferguson is not an outlier:

In Cleveland on Nov. 22, a white police officer shot and killed black 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was holding a toy gun on a playground swing.

In Pontiac, Mich., on Nov. 27, a white sheriff’s deputy stopped and questioned a black man walking down a street with his hands in his pockets on a chilly day. In the videotaped encounter, the officer says, “You’re making people nervous.” “By walking by?” the man asks. “Yeah, they said you had your hands in your pockets,” the deputy responds.

Before that, a white officer in Beavercreek, Ohio, shot and killed a black man carrying a pellet gun he had picked up in the sporting goods section of a store. And in South Carolina, a state trooper wounded a black man who reached into his vehicle — at the trooper’s request — to retrieve his driver’s license.

Police officers are often forced to make difficult life-or-death decisions in the blink of an eye, but not every encounter requires the officer to draw a gun.

For example, Seattle is training officers to defuse tense situations with a range of options, from less threatening language to waiting for backup assistance.

In Dallas, Police Chief David Brown’s presence on the scene of a shooting by an officer in Dixon Circle two years ago defused a possible riot. Likewise, his decisions to publish public information about past police-involved shootings on a website and fire officers for reckless actions are signs of smart, accountable community policing. Brown and Dallas County District Attorney-elect Susan Hawk also are among a widening chorus favoring equipping police officers with body cameras.

It won’t be easy to mend fractured police-community relationships, but admitting that there’s a problem and pursuing reforms are wise first steps.