Samuel Walker (police accountability expert)

Last updated
Samuel Walker
Born
Samuel Emlen Walker

(1942-12-19) December 19, 1942 (age 79)
Indianapolis, Indiana U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationCivil liberties, policing, and criminal justice expert
Years active1964-present

Samuel Emlen Walker (born December 19, 1942) [1] is an American civil liberties, policing, and criminal justice expert. [2] He specializes in police accountability.

Contents

Early life and education

Walker was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, but grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. His father was an executive who worked for the railroad. [2]

In December 1964, Walker received a B.A. in American Culture from the University of Michigan, where he wrote film reviews for The Michigan Daily student newspaper for a semester. [3] In 1970, Walker received an M.A. in American history from University of Nebraska Omaha. In 1973, he earned a PhD in American history from Ohio State University. His thesis was on Terence V. Powderly, and was called "Terence V. Powderly, "Labour Mayor": Workingmen's Politics in Scranton, Pennsylvania 1870-1884". His thesis advisor was K. Austin Kerr. [1]

Career

Mississippi Freedom Summer

In the spring of 1964, civil rights activist Robert "Bob" Moses visited the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in a drive to recruit students like Walker to go to Mississippi as part of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)'s Mississippi Freedom Summer. [4] After orientation/training in Ohio and raising US$500 for bail, [5] for six weeks in the summer of 1964 starting in June 1964, Walker worked as a volunteer, going on door-to-door voter registration drives to encourage African American citizens to register to vote. [6] [7] [8] Part of the effort was to highlight the restrictions on voter registration and to establish a non-violent right to organize and empower in the face of institutional terrorism of the Black community in Mississippi. [9] [10] [11]

After graduating from college, Walker returned to Mississippi in January 1965 to continue the Mississippi Freedom Project. [12] Walker was based in Gulfport, Mississippi until August 1966. [13]

Teaching

From 1969 to 1970, Walker was a teaching assistant at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) while earning his master's degree. From 1970 to 1973, he was a teaching associate at Ohio State University while working on his PhD. [1] In August 1974, Walker was hired as an assistant professor of criminal justice at UNO, eventually becoming a professor of criminal justice in 1984. From 1993 to 1999, he was Kiewit Professor, and then from 1999 to 2005, he was Isaacson Professor. Walker retired as a professor emeritus in 2005. [14] He continues to work as a consultant. [2]

Walker has said that he started out with a focus on police-community relations. That expanded into the area of citizen oversight of the police, and eventually became a specialization of concentrating on police accountability. [5]

Civil liberties expert

In 2000, Walker was hired to work on a grant funded report for the U.S. Department of Justice called Early Intervention Systems for Law Enforcement Agencies: A Planning and Management Guide, published in 2004. [15]

In 2013, Walker testified in New York City as an expert against the NYPD's policy of stop and frisk. [16] [17]

From 2015 to 2016, Walker worked as a consultant to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Ottawa, Ontario on a project for the development of an Early Intervention System (EIS) for its police force. [2] [18]

Walker has created the Police Accountability Resource Guide, an online guide with links and resources for educators and organizers. [19] [20]

Membership

Awards

Selected works and publications

Selected works

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Walker, Samuel Emlen (1973). Terence V. Powderly, "Labour Mayor": Workingmen's Politics in Scranton, Pennsylvania 1870-1884 (PhD). Ohio State University. OCLC   973331728. ProQuest   302707706.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Kuiper, Jason (11 February 2015). "Sam Walker". Omaha Magazine.
  3. ↑ Walker, Sam; Zimmerman, David (16 January 1964). "Cinema Guild: Funny 'Gold Rush', Maudlin 'La Strada'". The Michigan Daily. 74 (85): Image 4.
  4. ↑ "Freedom Summer Volunteers". SNCC Digital Gateway. 1964.
  5. 1 2 Walker, Samuel (2014). "Freedom Summer: Reflections from a Freedom Summer Volunteer". NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Archived from the original on 22 July 2016.
  6. ↑ Werner, Hank (3 July 1964). "Volunteers in the State - July 3, 1964". Hank Werner papers, Freedom Summer Digital Collection. Wisconsin Historical Society. p. 7. Walker, Sam, 2249 Harcourt Dr., Cleveland, Ohio; Gulfport.
  7. ↑ Johnson, Ja'Nel; Walker, Samuel (14 July 2014). "Freedom Summer: 50 years later [Audio]". KVNO News.
  8. ↑ Johnson, Ja'Nel (14 July 2014). "Freedom Summer: 50 years later [Transcript]". KVNO News.
  9. ↑ Meredith, John; Walker, Sam (photos provided by) (20 September 1964). "COFO Workers Battle Closed Mississippi Society [Cover Page]". The Michigan Daily. 75 (19): Image 1.
  10. ↑ Meredith, John; Walker, Sam (photos provided by) (20 September 1964). "COFO Workers Battle Closed Mississippi Society [cont'd]". The Michigan Daily. 75 (19): Image 2.
  11. ↑ Logan, Casey (25 June 2014). "Q&A: UNO prof. recounts 'reign of terror' in 1960s Mississippi". Omaha World-Herald.
  12. ↑ Walker, Sam (4 March 1965). "Mississippi Freedom Project: The Struggle for Civil Rights Continues". The Michigan Daily. 75 (134): Image 4.
  13. ↑ "Mississippi Summer Project: Workers in State as of June 29, 1964. Gulfport-Biloxi". R. Hunter Morey papers, 1962-1967. Wisconsin Historical Society. 1964. p. 13.
  14. ↑ "Vita: Sam Walker" (PDF). Sam Walker. October 2018.
  15. ↑ Walker, Samuel (2004). Early Intervention Systems for Law Enforcement Agencies: A Planning and Management Guide (PDF). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. ISBN   978-1-932-58226-0. OCLC   714810836.
  16. ↑ Johnson, Ja'Nel; Walker, Samuel (17 September 2013). "Stop and Frisk: Expert shares experiences from the witness stand [Audio]". KVNO News.
  17. ↑ Johnson, Ja'Nel (17 September 2013). "Stop and Frisk: Expert shares experiences from the witness stand [Transcript]". KVNO News.
  18. ↑ Petto, Sam (September 2015). "UNO Expert Begins Consultant Work for Royal Canadian Mounted Police". University of Nebraska Omaha.
  19. ↑ Walker, Samuel. "Police Accountability Resource Guide". Samuel Walker. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  20. ↑ "Professor Emeritus Sam Walker". School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska Omaha. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  21. ↑ Walker, Sam (9 December 1964). "Letters to the Editor: Arrests in Mississippi Result of Public Protest". The Michigan Daily. 75 (83): Image 4.
  22. ↑ Institute, The American Law. "Current Projects: Principles of the Law – Policing". American Law Institute.
  23. ↑ "Awards – Division of Policing". American Society of Criminology. 2018.
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