The Oracle WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 I VOL. 52 NO. 6
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
Policing the police
L I F E STYLE
Horse lovers gather in Equestrian club. Page 4
‘We can’t do this with a half-empty stadium’
Montage
SP O RTS Two key starters injured after Week 1. BACK
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USF Criminology Professor Lori Fridell developed a seminar to specifically target implicit bias and impartial policing, such as that which sparked riots in Ferguson, Missouri. ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU
USF professor discusses impartial policing in light of riots in Ferguson, Missouri.
members, although they are very concerned about the incident, might not and have not produced a disruption, because they have the confidence that there will be a serious investigation, that it will be transparent.”
By Roberto Roldan
“There’s very little the police can do well unless they have the trust and confidence of the community.”
n
M A N A G I N G
E D I T O R
Over the holiday weekend, hundreds of protesters continued to march through the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Though the violence in Ferguson seems to have died down three weeks after the death of Michael Brown, peaceful protests and civil disobedience continues to be a problem for police. Lori Fridell, a USF criminology professor and an expert on police bias, doesn’t see the issue simply as a response to Brown’s death. To Fridell, the protests and violence are the culmination of long-term issues with the perception of police bias and lack of trust from the community. “There were other unarmed black males that were shot by police during the last few weeks,” she said. “But in some jurisdictions, the community
Lori Fridell USF criminology professor
Fridell’s research has received over $1 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Justice so that she can run training seminars for police agencies of all sizes. She currently spends her time traveling across the U.S. holding seminars for police on implicit bias and impartial policing. She wants to make sure
these agencies don’t end up in a similar situation as the Ferguson Police Department. “They need people to call the police to report crime, to bring information to the police about criminal activity, we need them to believe the police when the police are testifying in a trial …” she said. “There’s very little the police can do well unless they have the trust and confidence of the community.” Fridell specifically targets implicit bias because it is something that affects individuals who, on a conscious level, reject bias and prejudice. “The way that prejudice manifests has changed over time,” she said. “In our grandparents’ era when bias and prejudice manifested, it tended to be in the form of what we now call explicit bias…implicit biases can impact us outside of our conscious awareness.” Tampa Police Department’s (TPD) Police Chief Jane Castor participated in bias training a little over a month ago when Fridell held a seminar near Tampa. Fridell’s seminars include role-playing scenarios in which officers will have to react on
n See POLICE on PAGE 2
Athletic Director Mark Harlan ORACLE PHOTO / ADAM MATHIEU
By Vinnie Portell S P O R T S
E D I T O R
When Mark Harlan took the position of USF Athletic Director on March 11, he faced the uphill battle of creating a culture of winning and rebuilding the USF fan base. He leaves the winning up to the athletes, but when it comes to fan support, Harlan is trying everything to win back the USF and Tampa community. “The biggest thing I found that needed to be attacked was apathy,” he said. “As we dived into it more, we found out we needed to start getting the students involved and that’s why you see all of these initiatives. When you have your two high-profile sports being down at the same time, it obviously causes fiscal issues that come up because people aren’t buying enough tickets.”
n See HARLAN on PAGE 8