The recent killing of George Floyd in Minnesota — a black man who died after a policeman knelt on his neck for nine minutes — has sparked outrage and protest internationally, putting racism in policing in the spotlight.
Evidence shows that black suspects in the United States are disproportionately more likely to be killed than white suspects. In a 2012 study by the University of Colorado, police officers were quicker to assume in a video-game simulation that black men were carrying weapons and were more likely to shoot them than white men. With 99 per cent of all police killings not resulting in any charges, it is easy to empathise with a view that racism is pervasive in policing.
However, the story of race and