Malcolm Gladwell

Haven't all of us, in other situations, done a version of the same act of mitigated speech? Are you sure we should do that? That's a little much, don't you think? Is that really safe? But where I hope we can all agree is on the broader lesson here. One bad apple can infect the whole barrel. The fat tail matters.

Haven't all of us, in other situations, done a version of the same act of mitigated speech? Are you sure we should do that? That's a little much, don't you think? Is that really safe? But where I hope we can all agree is on the broader lesson here. One bad apple can infect the whole barrel. The fat tail matters.

Which is why the first step in any attempt to fix a problem with a fat tail distribution is to get rid of the fat tail. Target the super speeders. Contain the super spreaders. Get rid of Jerry Finnegan. Stop Derek Chauvin before he kills someone. Not afterwards. Right? if only it were that simple. In the fever days after Floyd died, there were hundreds of people on the streets of Minneapolis.

Which is why the first step in any attempt to fix a problem with a fat tail distribution is to get rid of the fat tail. Target the super speeders. Contain the super spreaders. Get rid of Jerry Finnegan. Stop Derek Chauvin before he kills someone. Not afterwards. Right? if only it were that simple. In the fever days after Floyd died, there were hundreds of people on the streets of Minneapolis.

Peaceful protests turned into riots and lootings. Buildings were burned. Hundreds of millions of dollars of damage was done. And one night, the crowd came calling for Jacob Fry, the mayor of Minneapolis.

Peaceful protests turned into riots and lootings. Buildings were burned. Hundreds of millions of dollars of damage was done. And one night, the crowd came calling for Jacob Fry, the mayor of Minneapolis.

Fry was 39 at the time. He'd been elected mayor three years earlier.

Fry was 39 at the time. He'd been elected mayor three years earlier.

In the footage of the demonstration that played on the evening news, you can see the mayor walking stiffly through the crowd, wearing a mask that says, I can't breathe.

In the footage of the demonstration that played on the evening news, you can see the mayor walking stiffly through the crowd, wearing a mask that says, I can't breathe.

Fry was following the logic of the fat tail. Yes, there may have been frustration with law enforcement at large, but if the problem is a small number of bad apples, then what sense is there in upending the whole institution? What you should be doing is cutting off the fat tail. The crowds outside chanted, defund the police. But in response, Fry started making a different argument.

Fry was following the logic of the fat tail. Yes, there may have been frustration with law enforcement at large, but if the problem is a small number of bad apples, then what sense is there in upending the whole institution? What you should be doing is cutting off the fat tail. The crowds outside chanted, defund the police. But in response, Fry started making a different argument.

This is what the mayor said at one of the first of the many press conferences he gave after the death of George Floyd. Unless we are willing to tackle the elephant in the room, which is the police union, there won't be a culture shift in the department. Could you talk a little bit more about that in the context of Minneapolis? When you said that, what did you mean?

This is what the mayor said at one of the first of the many press conferences he gave after the death of George Floyd. Unless we are willing to tackle the elephant in the room, which is the police union, there won't be a culture shift in the department. Could you talk a little bit more about that in the context of Minneapolis? When you said that, what did you mean?

The issue Fry is talking about, the police federation or the union, having more authority than it should, has become a common complaint in many other cities as well.

The issue Fry is talking about, the police federation or the union, having more authority than it should, has become a common complaint in many other cities as well.

That's Daniel Oates. He started his career in the 1980s in the NYPD and rose to be chief of four separate big city police departments. After George Floyd was killed, he wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post. You could be forgiven if you missed it. It was a pretty technical analysis of law enforcement collective bargaining agreements.

That's Daniel Oates. He started his career in the 1980s in the NYPD and rose to be chief of four separate big city police departments. After George Floyd was killed, he wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post. You could be forgiven if you missed it. It was a pretty technical analysis of law enforcement collective bargaining agreements.

At one point in his career, Oates was chief of police in Aurora, Colorado, a mid-sized suburb of Denver. He had 650 officers in his department. In his more than eight years as chief, there were 16 he wanted to fire. That was his fat tail. A very small number of his officers were proving to be a problem. They were violent. They had drinking problems.

At one point in his career, Oates was chief of police in Aurora, Colorado, a mid-sized suburb of Denver. He had 650 officers in his department. In his more than eight years as chief, there were 16 he wanted to fire. That was his fat tail. A very small number of his officers were proving to be a problem. They were violent. They had drinking problems.