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Is the cop for real?
BY GARY T. MARX
Gary T. Marx is professor emeritus of sociology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (garymarx.net) and author of "Undercover: Police Surveillance in America."
January 16, 2005
In our fantasy play my 4-year-old grandson often asks me, "Are you for real?" His inquiry is more profound than he perhaps realizes. As daily events remind us, his question touches many facets of contemporary American society in which often, as Gilbert and Sullivan wrote, "things are seldom what they seem."
Consider, for example, how prudent it is to be initially skeptical, or at least to question, news media accounts, drug company claims, age and gender appearances, pledges of fidelity and marital status, proof of professional license and expertise (whether involving medicine or home remodels), a low odometer reading on an older used car, or the identity of an Internet communicator or credit card user.
The realness of even a police officer was an issue in the murder of James Gottlieb, a Long Island banker, who was gunned down recently during a struggle after being pulled over in his car and stopped by a police impersonator.
That familiar sinking feeling when the vehicle behind yours suddenly turns on its siren and you see its flashing lights in your rear-view mirror is an experience known to most of us. It is a moment fraught with ambiguity and uncertainty about what we may have done and what the officer knows, or can legally or illegally discover. We worry about whether we will be respectfully treated with due process, and without errors or false accusations.
Gottlieb's murder reminds us that an additional concern might be whether the officer is who he or she claims to be. Ironically, the increased use of undercover policing in the United States since the death of J. Edgar Hoover has likely contributed to the spread of impersonation. Real stings and mass media dramas involving the undercover theme have accustomed citizens and perpetrators alike to the presence of non-uniformed police.
This leads to a reverse version of the "who are you really?" question. Real police (undercover, plainclothes or off-duty) are occasionally perceived to be imposters. In New York and elsewhere a number of police officers (disproportionately members of minority groups) out of uniform have been killed by fellow officers who perceived them as criminals.
The causes and consequences of the multiple forms of police impersonation - from serious crimes such as the Brinks Robbery and Carl Chessman (the infamous California red-light bandit of the 1950s) to crimes against drug dealers by other dealers, to garden variety teenage pranksters and police aficionados playing as authorities - vary significantly. Yet all represent a tiny strand in a much broader tapestry.
Police impersonation, like many other forms of deception is encouraged by the characteristics of contemporary American life - a mass society made up mostly of strangers where in place of reputation, we must rely on signs (uniforms, badges, identification cards, licenses easily obtained by almost anyone on the Internet or through catalogs) to verify someone's authenticity. We know that security screens such as passwords and keys can sometimes be hacked. It is also a society that encourages role-playing, make-overs and becoming who you want to be.
The encounter with a police officer on the street occurs against the same backdrop of the need for verification as an appointment with a doctor or a roof repairman. But unlike in those situations, we don't have the luxury of time to ask a friend's recommendation, or to check with the Better Business Bureau or a state agency to see if the person is appropriately licensed and/or bonded. Some social situations will always be messier than others with respect to the documentation of identity. Law enforcement is one of them.
Some small steps might lessen impersonation problems. Police advise those pulled over who are in doubt to use a cell phone to call 911 for verification of an officer's identity or request a uniformed officer, or to drive slowly with blinkers on to a well-lit public area or police station. Policies requiring harder-to-replicate lights in the front grill of police cars and that a uniformed officer always be present or summoned when a stop occurs also seem wise.
However, under varying circumstances, police will always need either to reveal or conceal their identification. The negotiation of this tension in a democratic society is and ought to be eternally problematic.
BY GARY T. MARX
Gary T. Marx is professor emeritus of sociology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (garymarx.net) and author of "Undercover: Police Surveillance in America."
January 16, 2005
In our fantasy play my 4-year-old grandson often asks me, "Are you for real?" His inquiry is more profound than he perhaps realizes. As daily events remind us, his question touches many facets of contemporary American society in which often, as Gilbert and Sullivan wrote, "things are seldom what they seem."
Consider, for example, how prudent it is to be initially skeptical, or at least to question, news media accounts, drug company claims, age and gender appearances, pledges of fidelity and marital status, proof of professional license and expertise (whether involving medicine or home remodels), a low odometer reading on an older used car, or the identity of an Internet communicator or credit card user.
The realness of even a police officer was an issue in the murder of James Gottlieb, a Long Island banker, who was gunned down recently during a struggle after being pulled over in his car and stopped by a police impersonator.
That familiar sinking feeling when the vehicle behind yours suddenly turns on its siren and you see its flashing lights in your rear-view mirror is an experience known to most of us. It is a moment fraught with ambiguity and uncertainty about what we may have done and what the officer knows, or can legally or illegally discover. We worry about whether we will be respectfully treated with due process, and without errors or false accusations.
Gottlieb's murder reminds us that an additional concern might be whether the officer is who he or she claims to be. Ironically, the increased use of undercover policing in the United States since the death of J. Edgar Hoover has likely contributed to the spread of impersonation. Real stings and mass media dramas involving the undercover theme have accustomed citizens and perpetrators alike to the presence of non-uniformed police.
This leads to a reverse version of the "who are you really?" question. Real police (undercover, plainclothes or off-duty) are occasionally perceived to be imposters. In New York and elsewhere a number of police officers (disproportionately members of minority groups) out of uniform have been killed by fellow officers who perceived them as criminals.
The causes and consequences of the multiple forms of police impersonation - from serious crimes such as the Brinks Robbery and Carl Chessman (the infamous California red-light bandit of the 1950s) to crimes against drug dealers by other dealers, to garden variety teenage pranksters and police aficionados playing as authorities - vary significantly. Yet all represent a tiny strand in a much broader tapestry.
Police impersonation, like many other forms of deception is encouraged by the characteristics of contemporary American life - a mass society made up mostly of strangers where in place of reputation, we must rely on signs (uniforms, badges, identification cards, licenses easily obtained by almost anyone on the Internet or through catalogs) to verify someone's authenticity. We know that security screens such as passwords and keys can sometimes be hacked. It is also a society that encourages role-playing, make-overs and becoming who you want to be.
The encounter with a police officer on the street occurs against the same backdrop of the need for verification as an appointment with a doctor or a roof repairman. But unlike in those situations, we don't have the luxury of time to ask a friend's recommendation, or to check with the Better Business Bureau or a state agency to see if the person is appropriately licensed and/or bonded. Some social situations will always be messier than others with respect to the documentation of identity. Law enforcement is one of them.
Some small steps might lessen impersonation problems. Police advise those pulled over who are in doubt to use a cell phone to call 911 for verification of an officer's identity or request a uniformed officer, or to drive slowly with blinkers on to a well-lit public area or police station. Policies requiring harder-to-replicate lights in the front grill of police cars and that a uniformed officer always be present or summoned when a stop occurs also seem wise.
However, under varying circumstances, police will always need either to reveal or conceal their identification. The negotiation of this tension in a democratic society is and ought to be eternally problematic.
