美国国家公共电台 NPR--For Black drivers, a police officer's first 45 words are a sign of what's to come

For Black drivers, a police officer's first 45 words are a sign of what's to come

Transcript¹

A study finds a Black driver is more likely to face being searched, handcuffed or arrested when an officer's first words are commands rather than a greeting. (Story aired on ATC on May 29, 2023.)

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Black drivers are disproportionately stopped by police officers across the U.S. A growing body of research shows Black drivers are also more likely to be searched or arrested. Scientists are trying to understand how and why some traffic stops escalate², and they say important clues can be found in the first 45 words spoken by the officer. Here's NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE³: When a police officer walked up to George Floyd in May of 2020, Floyd was in his car. Jennifer Eberhardt is a social psychologist at Stanford University. She says while millions of people know how Floyd was killed after police pulled him from the car...

JENNIFER EBERHARDT: Very few people are familiar with what happened before he was removed.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Body cam video shows that the initial contact with police came when an officer walked up and tapped on the car's window.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: ...See your hands.

GEORGE FLOYD: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Stay in the car. Let me see your other hand.

FLOYD: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Let me see your other hand.

EBERHARDT: Floyd apologizes to the officers who stand outside his car window. Floyd requests the reason for the stop. He pleads. He explains. He follows orders. He expresses fear, right?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

FLOYD: What do I do?

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Put your hand up there.

EBERHARDT: Every response to Floyd is an order.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: This pattern of abrupt⁴ orders and no explanations also shows up in a study Eberhardt and some colleagues just did, comparing police car stops that escalated⁵ with those that didn't.

EBERHARDT: Given the racial disparities in who is stopped and searched and handcuffed and arrested, we wanted to focus on Black drivers in particular.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: She and some colleagues got body cam footage of routine traffic stops in one racially diverse, mid-sized U.S. city. For privacy reasons, they won't say which one. They examined over 500 stops of Black drivers and compared the first moments of those that ended with a search, handcuffing or arrest with stops that didn't go that direction. It turns out there was a clear difference in the first 45 words spoken by the police officer. Eugenia Rho is a researcher at Virginia Tech.

EUGENIA RHO: Something really striking that we found is that stops that escalate are nearly three times more likely to begin with the officer giving an order to the driver.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Stops that escalate are also less likely to start with the officer giving a reason for the stop. And Black men seem well aware of this because when the researchers asked nearly 200 Black men to listen to audio from the start of police stops...

RHO: We found that the officers' initial 45 words really significantly swayed Black male participants' perception of the officer and their anticipation⁶ about how the stop would end, including possible use of force.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: This study appears in the Proceedings⁷ of the National Academy of Sciences. Tracey Meares reviewed it for the journal. She's a professor at Yale Law School. She says if so much can be gleaned⁸ from just the first 45 words...

TRACEY MEARES: You know, it's possible that that's also telling us that that officer had other motivations for stopping the person in the first place.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Especially if the officer doesn't explain why. Meares points out that in the one-month period covered by this study, police officers in this undisclosed city stopped more than twice as many Black drivers as white drivers, and stops of Black drivers were far more likely to escalate.

Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHRISTIAN SCOTT'S "ANGOLA, LA AND THE 13TH AMENDMENT")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

5 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

6 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

7 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

8 gleaned   

v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗

参考例句：

• These figures have been gleaned from a number of studies. 这些数据是通过多次研究收集得来的。
• A valuable lesson may be gleaned from it by those who have eyes to see. 明眼人可从中记取宝贵的教训。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》