Michael Brown. Victor White. Freddie Gray. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Sandra Bland. Alton Sterling. These are the names of just a few people who met their untimely end at the hands of men and women who swore to protect them. The over-policing of communities of color is not an invention of recent date. It has its roots in slavery, reaching through the Jim Crow era, and it finally has culminated in the militarization of police. It’s no secret that these communities are specifically being targeted because of prejudices held against them. There’s statistical evidence that supports this, not to mention that Nixon’s aide himself said that the seeds sown towards the war on drugs were actually a tool through which the government would use officers to monitor, incarcerate, terrify, and destroy the black community. This cycle of hate and fear must come to an end, and a mandatory implicit biases test for officers is an excellent first step towards reconciliation. We assert that police officers should be required to take a test that exposes an individual’s implicit biases, especially if the officer in question is to police a minority community. An implicit bias is defined as a bias in judgement and/or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes, such as implicit attitudes or stereotypes (National Center for State Courts). These thoughts may not be evident to one’s peers, or may not even be known on a conscious level. However, these prejudices determine what we do in high-stress situations and how we approach them. For example, an individual with a bias against those in poverty may make assumptions, like prone to laziness, drug abuse, neglect of their children, lack of cleanliness, etc. Another example of bias, this time against a person of color, may be that they’re violent, aggressive, easily irritable, loud, ‘ghetto’, obnoxious, and many other common stereotypes. For the average individual, these beliefs mean little besides subjective disposition towards a particular person or subject. But for a public servant such as a police officer, these biases may have disastrous and often fatal consequences. An officer who believes another to be a threat because they’re tall, big, black, poor, or altogether different may be predisposed to fear and escalate an already tense situation. In an occupation where decisions are often made in seconds, this can mean the difference between life and death. A simple implicit bias test will allow our prejudices to be exposed. The tests take no more than 3 minutes a-piece, the results cannot be falsified, and they are often offered free-of-charge. This minor inconvenience can potentially save countless lives. Officers who may have latent prejudices against certain groups can police other groups or be paired with partners who do not have those biases. These officers may be required to take sensitivity training or community service in the communities they hold biases against to help them understand the root of these biases or to help them combat these biases. The ways in which this information can be used are endless, but it begins with knowing that these biases exist. Here is an example of an implicit bias test: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html Many things must be done for communities to once again trust the officers of the law, but we believe that this is a viable start. A mandatory implicit bias test is a very necessary first step towards understanding.