Zev Miklethun, an undergraduate student in history, recently published Cops or Robbers? The Dangers of Invisible Policing, a multimedia investigative report, created by for the Policing and Social Justice HistoryLab of the Documenting Criminalization and Confinement grant team.
The publication examines undercover policing in the City of Detroit, finding “that plainclothes and undercover policing creates confusion about who is breaking the law and who is enforcing it, increasing the risk of violence for not only the public but for police officers as well.”
Miklethun, whose work built upon a collaborative research effort that began in 2018, says that he chose to focus on plainclothes policing “because it was one of the clearest patterns in the homicide data we were collecting.” He explains, “A little over a quarter of the homicides we identified involved officers who were not wearing uniforms. I wanted to look into why being off-duty or in plainclothes seemed to be leading to so many deaths.”
Working on “Cops or Robbers?” made a strong personal impact on MIklethun: “We’re talking about the senseless destruction of so many people’s lives through horrible violence. I often found myself switching back and forth between anger, sadness, and just plain emotional exhaustion.” He continues, “The hardest part is knowing how little these things have changed. Seeing stories in the news that are so similar to incidents of police violence that I’m studying from 50+ years ago is crushing.”
Miklethun is a research associate with the Policing and Social Justice HistoryLab.