Police reform begins at the polls

The historic conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin this week for murder and manslaughter has drawn a range of public reactions, from relief to wariness. 

In the Washington Post, editor Karen Attiah wrote, “Full justice for George Floyd did not come this week, but justice was never going to come from a court — it will only come when policing as we know it is done away with.” To be sure, policing is a complicated problem, spanning issues of race, civic education, law enforcement expertise and training, community needs and resources, criminal and civil law, constitutional rights and the excessive availability of guns in America. But what many Americans don’t realize is that it’s not just courts, Congress, state legislatures or municipalities that have the power to change policing in America. It’s also individual voters — but only if folks actually go to the polls and vote. 

In 2020, only 66.3 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, a figure that was up from 60.1 percent in 2016. That leaves nearly 47 percent of the eligible population sitting out on their right to exercise the franchise. In non-presidential election years, the number of eligible voters who vote plummets to around 40 percent. In many parts of the country, candidates for top law enforcement jobs are literally on the ballot.

If Americans want concrete police reform, they must begin by electing people who will make changes on the streets on day one of their jobs. 

While police chiefs are usually appointed by a mayor or other city official, under the constitutions of most states, counties must have an elected sheriff who serves as their chief law enforcement officer in their respective jurisdictions. The office of sheriff dates back to England, where they were appointed by the Crown and served as tax collectors and leaders of local militia — members of the community who were called to act as private law enforcement on the sovereign’s behalf. 

According to the National Sheriffs’ Association, there remain approximately 3,067 elected sheriffs across 40 states. A number of other counties and states — including Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas — also elect people to the office of “constable,” a role that often encompasses the same powers and jurisdiction as that of sheriffs. But unlike police chiefs, sheriffs can be elected with no law enforcement expertise or experience whatsoever. Because they answer to voters in the next elections, sheriffs have less accountability on-the-job than police chiefs, who report to city officials. Their duties often include oversight of local jails, transporting prisoners, investigating crimes and even serving as coroners responsible for identifying official causes of death. Once in office, many sheriffs are reflexively reelected for decades.

Infamously, in August 2017, former President Trump’s first pardon was handed to a Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio, wiping out a July 2011 conviction and potential six-month prison sentence for violating a court injunction banning his prior practice of detaining migrants with no suspicion that they committed a crime under state law. Trump paired up again with sheriffs in September 2018, when he invited 44 sheriffs to the White House to hear a speech in which he attacked the “dishonest media” over an anonymous essay appearing in the New York Times that was critical of his administration. “Hey, I’ll ask the sheriffs: Can you imagine?” he said, to which an array of public servants bearing “gold badges and embroidered stars” erupted in applause. Voters need to ask themselves what kind of people they want in those vital positions of power, particularly given the life-and-death stakes that unfold between law enforcement and civilians nearly every day.

Floyd’s death prompted a wave of international demonstrations around the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that lasted for months last year. From May 26 — the day after Floyd’s murder — to August 22, 2020, a record number of over 7,750 protests occurred across more than 2,440 locations and all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. Nearly 95 percent were peaceful. According to a Pew Research Center survey taken in June, 67 percent of U.S. adults expressed support for the BLM movement — a greater percentage than the percentage of eligible voters who made their views known at the polls only five months later.

Keep in mind, too, that across the country there are thousands of elected judges who oversee criminal cases at the state and local levels. And it’s the only country in the world that elects prosecutors in many jurisdictions. These are the very people who decide which individuals to charge with crimes, which specific crimes to charge them with and what sentences to recommend post-conviction.

Time and again, issues of social justice — such as gun control, health care, immigration, LGBTQ rights, pandemic relief and the economy — come down to the ballot box. Protests are important. But there is no substitute for voting. Please register. Please vote. If you don’t, it’s even harder for justice to hear your pleas for police reform.

Kimberly Wehle is a professor at University of Baltimore School of Law and author of the books “How to Read the Constitution — and Why,” and “What You Need to Know About Voting — and Why.” Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @kimwehle.