Civil Discourse Panel Discussion: Policing

Tuesday, May 11, 2021
7:00 – 8:30 p.m. on Zoom
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About this Event
Policing is front and center in American political dialogue right now, with lethal force, police funding, and modern policing techniques at the heart of several debates. On May 11, Friends Select students will moderate a virtual panel discussion that examines these complex issues directly. This panel discussion is the school's fourth in the Civil Discourse Panel Series, an event dedicated to respectful disagreement and discussion that is funded from a grant of $25,000 from the National Constitution Center. This year, Friends Select students Corey Becker '22, Nadia Sumner '22, and Gabe Tarini '21 will moderate a discussion between experts on policing, including Captain Zsakhiem R. James of the Camden County Police Department, Drexel criminology professor Rob Kane, and the Manhattan Institute's deputy director of legal policy, Rafael Mangual. These panelists will engage in respectful discourse, exploring differing opinions and solutions about topics related to policing.

About the Panelists

Captain Zsakhiem R. James began his career with the former Camden City Police Department in 1993. During his time with former city force, he was assigned to the Community Policing Unit, Patrol Division and the Tactical Force, where he served as a hostage negotiator and was a member of the Underwater Search and Rescue Team. After becoming a detective, he served in general investigations and later the Economic and Environmental Crimes Unit. In 2007, he helped restore the Camden City Police Department’s K-9 Unit and became the first officer to work with a police dog in the department since 1995. In 2009, he was promoted to Sergeant, becoming the first African American K-9 supervisor in the department’s history. In March 2013, James joined the Camden County Police Department as a Sergeant and was assigned to the Neighborhood Response Team. He was later assigned to the Patrol Division as a Southern Division supervisor. In 2014, he was assigned to assist with the expansion of the K-9 Unit and became a certified patrol and specialty dog trainer. On June 1, 2015, he was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned as commander of Neighborhood Response Team operations in the city’s 2nd District. In 2018, he was assigned as the Neighborhood Response Team Community Liaison for the southern half of Camden – the 2nd and 4th Districts. On Aug. 1, 2019, he was assigned as the commander of the department’s community outreach efforts citywide, responsible for finding new and innovative ways for the Camden County Police Department to partner with the community.

Robert J. Kane, Ph.D., is a professor and department head of criminology and justice studies at Drexel University. Kane's primary research interests include police authority and accountability, communities, crime and health, and technology and justice. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Kane (with his academic mentor, James J. Fyfe) completed a study of police misconduct in the New York City Police Department—to date, the largest study of misconduct ever conducted in an American police agency. Since then, Kane has published numerous peer review articles on police misconduct, legitimacy, and accountability in the NYPD, culminating in his 2013 book Jammed Up: Bad Cops, Police Misconduct, and the New York City Police Department (NYU Press, co-authored with Michael D. White).

Rafael Mangual is a senior fellow and deputy director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute, and a contributing editor of City Journal. He has authored and co-authored a number of MI reports and op-eds on issues ranging from urban crime and jail violence to broader matters of criminal and civil justice reform. His work has been featured and mentioned in a wide array of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, New York Post, The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and City Journal. Mangual has also made a number of national and local television and radio appearances on outlets such as Fox News, C-SPAN, and Bloomberg Radio. In 2020, he was appointed to serve a four-year term as a member of the New York State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.