If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. - -:= Facing the Music: -Managing Law Enforcement's Response to Violent Urban Music irr . .. .• ' the Next Decade. W. R. Gresham, Sponsoring Agency: California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), 1994 pp. 182 Availability: Commission on POST, Center for Leadership Development, 1601 Alhambra Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95816-7053 Single Copies free: Order number 17-0341 National Institute of Justice/NCJRS Microfiche Program, Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20850 Microfiche fee. Microfiche number NCJ ----- Abstract This study explores the methods mid-sized California law enforcement agencies will use to mitigate the negative influence of violent urban music by the years 2002. Violent urban music, particularly "gan9sta rap", is spawning artists who glorify criminal behavior, advocate violence against the police, promote the sexual degradation of women, and extol the virtues of drug and alcohol abuse. The line between reality and fantasy is becoming blurred as popular rap artists are arrested for murder and assault. Violent urban music artists are becoming role models and influencing a vast audience of impressionable young peGple. Music companies are shirking the issue of responsibility for the content of the music by claiming that artistic freedom allows for an artist to say anything they want in their messages. Rap artists claim to only be telling the reality of life for disaffected youth in California's inner cities. The study examines methods law enforcement will use to determine the impact of violent urban music on their community and how the negative portrayal of police officers in the music will affect a department's performance. The study also discusses ways a law enforcement agency can respond to public perception about the problem. Conclusions, recommendations, and further research are incorporated in a separate stand alone narrative report. Appendices include endnotes and bibliography regarding the text . •J .. •• MANAGING LAW ENFORCEMENT'S RESPONSE TO VIOLENT URBAN MUSIC IN THE NEXT DECADE 147770 U.S. Department of Justl~e National Institute of Justice This document has been reproduced eXRctly as received from the person or organization originating it. Points of view or opinions stated in this document are those olthe authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the National Institute of Justice. Permission to reproduce this copyrighted material has been grantedCa11fornla bl! • COTI@lSS10n•• on P eac e Officer Standards and Training to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system requires permission of the copyright owner. JOURNAL ARTICLE BY WILLIAM R. GRESHAM COMMAND COLLEGE XVII PEACE OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA JANUARY 1994 17-0341 • This Command College Independent Study Project is a FUTURES study of a particular emerging issue in law enforcement.. Its purpQse is NOT to predict the future, but rather to project a number of possisble scenarios for strategic planning consider· ation. Defining the future differs from analyzing the past because the future has not yet happened. In this project, useful alternatives have been formulated systematically so that the planner can respond to a range of possible future environments. Managing the future means influencing the future· .. , creating it, constraining it, adapting to it. A futures study points the way. - The views and conclusions expressed in the Com- mand College project are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Commission on Peac,e Officer Standards and Training (POST). Copyright 1994 California Commission on I?eace OfficGr • Standards and, Training , . • • . " fACING THE MusIc: ~-. '. '~' .' ~.~. ;,(~. • <>.... _ • •• l' ~ .'." '. .. - : \.. .:' . Managing Law Enforcement's Response To Violent Urban Music In The Next Decade by William R. Gresham Command College Class XVII California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training Sacramento, California January 1994 • • The attached journal article was written by a graduate of the Command College, the • Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), California. Technical details, information sources, and data analyses are contained in a separate technical report clocument (148 pages) that may be obtained by submitting a request to: The Center for Leadership Development Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) 1601 Alhambra Boulevard Sacramento, CA 95816-7083 Telephone: (916) 739-2093 Please be sure to provide the name of the author. Introduction • Since the dawn of civilization music has played a major role in shaping, developing, and enriching human culture and society. Today, however, as California moves toward the year 2000, the tone of popular contemporary urban music is taking on a new sound. The sound is that of a gunshot's explosion, the rhythm is that of a police siren's wail, and the beat is that of a gangster's adrenalized pulse rate after a drive-by shooting. This new, aggressive style of music plays notes that reflect a disheartening portrait of urban life and have serious implications for law enforcement professionals, young' people, and the communities where they live and work. News stories documenting the violent nature of modern urban music and its artists are becoming more and more commonplace. Consider the ramifications of the following headlines for a police department and the community it serves: IIRap singer arrested in shooting of cop" 1 "When gangsta rappers tum to serious gunplay, is it life imitating rap?" 2 • "Teen Violence: Wild in the Streets" 3 "Art or anarchy? Gunplay spurs rap debate" 4 Violent urban music and videos, particularly "gangsta rap", are spawning artists who glorify criminal behavior, advocate violence against police, promote the sexual degradation of women and extol the virtues of drugs and alcohol. Law enforcement is now beginning to deal with the fallout and aftermath of violent song lyrics as rap artists are arrested 5 and disturbances break out at concerts. Police officers in Seattle, Washington saw the make-believe imagery of violence become all too real. In January 1993, a rap concert instigated a terrifying shoot-out. During the concert, rapper Ice Cube whipped the crowd into a frenzy with music and lyrics describing racism, police violence and gunplay. As the show ended, 1,400 people spilled out • onto the streets. A few fistfights led to a geI!eral melee and then to gunshots. At least five gunmen fired off 60 shots. Four people were wounded and nine arrested.6 1 Many fans now go to rap concerts with the e}.'Pectation of violence and trouble. ~ince • the mid-1980's at least two dozen rock or rap fans have died in concert-related violence and over a hundred more have suffered serious injuries? While many people can see a direct relationship between rioting (whether the disturbance is a result of a rap concert or not) and the need for a police response, others may wonder what real relationship exists between contemporary urban music and law enforcement. Others would acknowledge the potentially disruptful or harmful side effects caused by the influence urban music has, or could have, on young people; however, they would argue that even if true, it is not a police officer's job to regulate morals or judge the quality of this emerging urban art form. Yet by the early 1990's, California police and sheriff departments have clearly chosen the community-oriented policing model as the standard by which law enforcement effectiveness will be measured. Community-oriented means just that, putting police officers in touch with the pulse of the citizenry they serve. It means police officers taking ownership of problems in the community, then 'working with citizens to find tangible, long-term • . solutions to those problems. If a community finds, through its own set of values and standards, that hard-core urban music has a potentially detrimental influence on youth and young adults, then it is reasonable for the local police agency, within the boundaries of its profession, to assist the cOIIlIIlunity in finding solutions and acting as positive role models. "'On rap videos, you see people drinking malt liquor like orange juice,' says 19-year­ old Marcus Finnessey, an anti-liquor activist in East Oakland. 'And when kids see a rap artist, they want to be like them. We don't look at a police officer (for a role model); we 1 look at Ice Cube and other rappers." 8 The importance of examining the relationship between contemporary urban music and law enforcement is no more apparent than in the area of violent hard-core songs which advocate the killing of police officers. On international, national, and state levels this issue has been the intense focus of media attention since June 1992. That summer several law 2 • enforcement officials and organizations became embroiled in a battle and letter-writing campaign against Time-Warner Corporation over the lyrics to the song "Cop Killer." Released in March 1992 by rapper Ice-Ton his Body Count album, the song contained lyrics, images and an underlying message that provoked a police response: I got my 12-gauge sawed off And I got my headlights turned off I'm 'bout to fire some shots off I'm 1bout to dust some cops off Die, die, die, pig, die! There was swift outrage from a variety of sources. On a national level President George Bush attacked those "who use film, records, or television or videp games to glorify cop killing ~- it is sick." Vice-President Dan Quayle called the song "irresponsible" and urged its withdrawal. Sixty-one members of Congress sent a letter expressing lIa deep sense of outrage at Time-Warner's defense of Ice-T." Time-Warner defended Ice-T and strongly stood by its commitment to freedom of • expression. Time-Warner explained that there are other interpretations to the song and that it is a song which legitimatelY,expresses anger and outrage against police violence and racism.