9: Walk With a Cop

Photos: Angie Hayes

The relationship between police and low-income communities of color has been strained for a long time.

Cleveland is no exception.

When a Cleveland cop shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, it led to accusations that police see and treat black people differently than whites — and far too often, with violence. The federal government is now requiring the city’s police department to track how and when it uses force, and to make more of an effort to build community trust.

Cops are under scrutiny. In Cleveland, they’re still walking their beats, patrolling the city’s neighborhoods — but now they’ve got new company.

On this episode of Watershed, an urban hike. Led not by naturalists or boy scouts or teachers, but by uniformed cops.