Offer boys in blue The Ultimate Fan Experience to combat racism in law enforcement | Opinion

Imagine University of Louisville alum Lamar Jackson returning to campus to show Louisville metro police how to activate their body camera. The cop runs a route and catches a touchdown pass from former NFL MVP, and current Baltimore Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson. That video is put on a loop in a digital frame for the cop's desk, where it acts as a constant, subliminal reminder of that positive emotional experience of activating their body camera.

Use the cop's love of sports to overcome their natural oppositional defiance to change. If we take away cops' military weapons, we also take away the associated training time. Replacing it with the same old classroom training, from the same old ex-cops, will feel like punishment and be completely ineffective. Instead, sugarcoat whatever lessons we want, in the cop's favorite team's colors.

A Dallas police officer, Roger Rudolff, was recently accused of multiple uses of force violations, against mostly Black and Hispanic individuals. During his 26-year tenure, he rose to the rank of Field Training Officer. Derek Chauvin was also a Field Training Officer.

An FBI report released in 2006, shows a coordinated national campaign by white supremacists to infiltrate law enforcement across the country. Little has been done in the intervening 15 years to combat that. How high up the ranks have they risen in that time?

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If racism is learned behavior, and the teachers are racist, it's inevitable that the students become racist. A study of implicit bias in policing by Katherine Spencer, Amanda Charbonneau and Jack Glaser of Berkeley suggests possible solutions "...including intergroup contact, exposure to counter-stereotypic exemplars, and stereotype negation."

The Ultimate Fan Experience for the Boys in Blue could achieve all of that, and then some.

If a Black person is in charge of a room full of cops, the white supremacists will make themselves known. Perhaps they're not up to NFL standards. It's unfortunate they won't get their sideline season tickets and all that overtime.

We must face the reality, that because of events like the Boston Marathon bombing, there will be armed security at sporting events for the foreseeable future. If police are abolished, who's going to fill that void, Blackwater? If cops are abolished, and private security contractors have to expand, who would they actually hire, if not recently unemployed, now disgruntled, racist ex-cops, who are already trained, and bring their own guns?

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The Ultimate Fan Experience for the Boys in Blue would allow for the identification and removal of actively racist cops, and the retraining of those that will inevitably remain. If Universities dovetail this training program with their criminal justice degree, over time, some student-athletes who participate as facilitators for four years, will naturally pursue a career in law enforcement. Train a whole new crop of cops, from scratch, in the process.

If an athlete wants to #BeTheChange their team, league or university can leverage game day security contracts to give them a contractually obligated audience of cops. Empower that same group to review the officers' service record, and create a defacto civilian review board at every college campus across the country.

Who's more powerful, police unions or the NCAA?

Adam Brabant is an antiracist football fan, with years of experience in event management. He currently resides in Murphysboro Illinois with his golden retriever, Pippi Longstockings. Find Adam on Twitter @Antiracist_Adam

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Offer police officers The Ultimate Fan Experience to combat racism | Opinion