“Far too much criticism has been hurled at the police and
far too little understanding of the difficulties of the police work
prevails. This criticism and lack of
understanding has resulted in alienating the police from the public, so that
they go about their work with scant consideration of the public just as would
any other group of people who were criticized unintelligently. At the present time when strenuous efforts
are being made by many police departments to increase their efficiency, it is
ungracious to dwell on the inefficiency of the police in general.” Sutherland,
“Criminology,” 1924
“In America, on the other hand, the student of police
travels from one political squabble to another, too often from one scandal to
another. He finds a shifting leadership
of mediocre caliber – varied now and then by flashes of real ability which
(sic) are snuffed out when the political wheel turns. There is little conception of policing as a
profession or a science to be matured and developed. It is a job, held perhaps by the grace of
some mysterious political influence, and conducted in and atmosphere sordid and
unhealthy. It is a treadmill, worked
without imagination or aim, and with little incentive except the desire to keep
out of trouble…We have, indeed, little to be proud of. It cannot be denied that our achievement in
respect to policing is sordid and unworthy.
With all allowance for the peculiar conditions which make out task so
difficult, we have made a poor job of it.” Fosdick, “American Police Systems,” 1915
And here we are now, nearly 100 years later, with Ferguson
and similar accusations from a wide range of public and political fronts. It appears the outcry may have legs. Local and national study commissions are
being proposed. What we do will be
closely scrutinized.
Now is the time each law enforcement agency should take
stock of critical areas and determine whether there is room for improvement,
need for corrective actions, or a sense that you’re reasonably secure. There are five (5) specific areas you need to
assess to ensure your comfort.
·
Protocol for handling force investigations,
specifically officer-involved-shootings
·
IA/OPS quality control
·
PIO capability
·
Community policing and other outreach efforts
·
Recruitment strategy
Is your agency prepared to handle a major force or
shooting? It’s too late to put together
a protocol after the incident happens.
You will fail and be made to look foolish! Consider the dichotomy that’s occurred in the
past few weeks. Some force incidents
have occurred and there has been no turmoil in those communities. While other agencies have created their own
problems with botched up investigations or prematurely ruled the incident as in
policy without a good grasp of the facts.
These latter ones are on the front page and on the local TV news. What has yet to be challenged, other than
during civil lawsuits or a federal investigation, has been our administrative
review of these types of controversial incidents. Can you reasonably support your analytical
decisions? If you have no formal review
process, stand by for deserved criticism.
We all will have to become more transparent in this review.
When did your agency last conduct a quality control audit of
your IA/OPS process? Surprisingly, most
agencies don’t conduct these types of essential audits. The most vulnerable areas are the citizen
complaint process, witness gathering, interviews, and, finally, the
adjudication of the investigation. An
essential part of this process is whether you’re properly using ‘administrative
insight’ when making that final adjudication…are you effectively selling your
analysis with a narrative ‘rationale reasoning.’ (There are several articles written on this
topic accessible from the PATC website and clicking on the IA tab.)
Is your PIO (Public Information Officer) prepared for this
type of critical incident? Most agencies
are so small that this is left for the Chief or Sheriff or some other randomly
selected person. It’s too important a
function not to have someone selected and trained to handle this task without
embarrassing or creating mistakes that will come back and haunt your agency
later. Avoid at all cost a premature
pronouncement without supportive facts.
Positive community outreach, even if it’s not officially referred
to as Community Policing, will garner your agency that valuable commodity often
called ‘social capital.’ It’s that bank
account with your community that you can go to during troubled times. Too many agencies rely on special officers or
programs. The best source of social
capital, however, comes from your officers on the beat and investigators who
regularly contact your crime victims. Field
officers need to get out of the cars and walk and talk and put away those
cellphones. Investigators need to spend
more time out in the community and less time on the telephone. Social capital is developed from a one-on-one
relationship between community members and your employees.
And lastly, does your agency have a recruitment
strategy? Matt Dolan of PATC emphasizes
this need. Many people are pointing an
accusatory finger at us and noticing that few police agencies are ethnically
representative of the community being served and that most officers don’t even
live in the community being protected.
Even those agencies that are aggressively pursuing minority recruits are
having trouble achieving reasonable numbers.
It is a difficult, daunting task.
The only salvation your agency may have is to have a reasonable strategy
that lays out your efforts, even though they may not be working.
