The law enforcement agencies
Trust between the people and the law enforcement agencies is one of the utmost principles that have always been called for in law enforcement across the globe. The law enforcement agencies have a history of violence and ruthlessness, especially to the same people that they took an oath to protect, and prefer saving their kindness to the big-headed and notable individuals in the society such as politicians and notable business people. Law enforcement has been corrupt and thus only serves only a few percentages of the population. In a democratic world, trust is what is needed to run things in an open manner in which actions committed by any of the government’s body can be answerable, thus maintaining transparent dealing that will foster trust among all. In helping to restore trust among the law enforcement and the people they serve, six pillars of the “President’s task force on 21st century policing” were introduced. For this assignment, I will focus on the first two; Building trust and legitimacy and policy and oversight.
The first pillar, “Building trust and legitimacy,” is the foundation of building law enforcement based on trust in enforcing the law. Building trust and nurturing legitimacy help in building an underlying nature of relations between the citizens and the police. According to research, the people are more likely to obey and support the law when they believe that those who are mandated with the responsibility of enforcing the law, have the authority which they perceive to be legitimate. It is the public’s nature to perceive legitimacy only on the people whom they perceive to be acting in a just manner and therefore, the law enforcement cannot be trusted to build a community based on trust in the event that they are perceived as an occupying force that comes from outside only to impose control on the community. Based on this, trust can only be developed when the law enforcement ceases to act like the boss and more towards as a servant to the people.
The culture of law enforcement should uphold a guardian rather than a warrior mindset in order to be able to build trust and legitimacy both to the public as well as within the agencies. In this line, the law enforcement agencies are required to adopt procedural justice to act as the guiding principle for the internal and external policies and practices to help guide their interactions with rank and file officers and with the citizens they serve. The law enforcement agencies should as well serve to develop a culture that fosters transparency and accountability that will, in turn, help to establish public trust and legitimacy.
Furthermore, the law enforcement agencies should as well act towards the proactive promotion of public trust through the initiation of positive non-enforcement activities to engage communities, which are typically characterized by high rates of investigative and enforcement involvement with the government agencies. Besides, the law enforcement agencies should also track and analyze the level of trust communities have in the police in the same way that they measure changes in crime. Doing this can be achieved through consistent annual community surveys that will help in the collection of data relevant in assessing the level of confidence that do exist with the public in regards to the trust they have with the law enforcers. Finally, law enforcement agencies need to strive to develop a workforce that encompasses a broader range of diversity in regard to gender, life experience, race, language as well as cultural background. A diversified workforce will play a great deal in ensuring an improved understanding as well as the effectiveness in the dealings of the law enforcers within the communities they purport to serve.
The second pillar is policy and oversight in building a trusted workforce within the society. The policy and oversight pillar stipulates that the police are mandated to carry out their responsibilities in accordance with the established policies, and those policies must be in alignment with the community values. Based on this, the law enforcement agencies are required to collaborate with the community members, particularly in the communities and neighborhoods that are disproportionately affected by crimes to develop policies. Besides, law enforcement should strategize in deploying resources that aim to reduce crime through the provision of an improved relationship, increased community engagement, and fostered cooperation.
However, the achievement of improved community relations and cooperation is not easy. Therefore, to help in its achievement, law enforcement agencies are required to develop clear and comprehensive policies regarding the use of force, which include training on the significance of de-escalation. Also, law enforcement should develop policies on mass demonstrations that include the appropriate use of equipment, especially rifles and armored personnel carriers. In addition, they should develop policies on gender identification, consent before a search is carried out, performance measures, and also racial profiling to help build a trusted workforce in the community, which is perceived to have the people’s interests at heart.
Other measures to foster a better relationship and cooperation include setting up external and independent investigations, and prosecutions of officer-involved shootings as well as other use of force situations and in-custody deaths directly pointing to the police. The setting of such policies should as well incorporate the provisions for the collection of demographic data regarding all the parties involved. It is also essential that all policies formed and the data collected be made available to the public as this will help in developing trust through transparency.
Policies tend to become obsolete with time, and this means that they need to be revised. To ensure that the polices formed are maintained and current, the law enforcement agencies are required to regularly revise the policies and procedures, conduct non-punitive peer reviews for critical incidents that are separate from criminal and administrative investigations, and also establish a civilian oversight mechanism with their communities. Finally, to help the law enforcement and the community as a whole achieve the elements of policy and oversight, the United States Department of Justice, through the Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS Office) and the Office of Justice (OJP) need to provide technical assistance as well as incentive funding to areas with small police agencies which will take measures towards an integrated collaboration, shared services as well as regional training of the police. The governmental organs should also partner with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) to help in the expansion of its National Decertification Index to serve as the National Register of Decertified Officers with the intention of covering all agencies within the United States and its boundaries. When any part of the American family does not feel like they are treated in the right manner by law enforcement, it becomes an issue of concern to the entire country, and justice should be availed to them without delay.