ABSTRACT
In fall 2014, a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, chose not to indict a white police officer who shot a young black man. The case received a great deal of attention because of reports that the young man, Michael Brown, was unarmed and in a posture of surrender (though witness testimony is conflicted). Following the grand jury decision, protests—often including the destruction of prop-erty—ensued. Protestors were met with a police department mobilized with military-style weaponry and combat gear, escalating tensions. This is but one example, admittedly an extreme example, of poor relations between a police department and the residents it serves.
