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Police play an indispensable role in our society. But the responsibility for keeping them accountable may lay with us, the people.

In June 2013, documents leaked by Edward Snowden sparked widespread debate about secret government surveillance of Americans. Just over a year later, the shooting of Michael Brown, a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, set off protests and triggered concern about militarization of law enforcement and discriminatory policing.

In his new book,Ìý,ÌýBarry FriedmanÌýargues that these two seemingly disparate events are connected—by the failure of policing, from local officers to the FBI and NSA, to be accountable to the public. In recent decades, policing has changed dramatically. Technologies like CCTV and predictive policing software have made suspects of us all, while proliferating SWAT teams and militarized forces have put property and lives at risk—particularly for communities of color and the poor. The effects beg a critical realization for all of us: it’s not a question of what the police should do, but what weÌý·É²¹²Ô³ÙÌýthe police to do.

On April 26, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ NYCÌýhosted a conversation withÌýBarry Friedman,ÌýSherrilyn Ifill, andÌýTrymaine LeeÌýon the contemporary debates about policing—and the call to better govern those who govern us.Ìý

PARTICIPANTS

Barry FriedmanÌýJacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law and Director, Policing Project, NYU School of Law
Author,ÌýUnwarranted: Policing Without Permission

Sherrilyn IfillÌý
President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Trymaine LeeÌý
National Reporter, MSNBC and NBC News
2016 Emerson Fellow, ¹ú²úÊÓƵ