Community policing, civilian review boards, better training for police, making sure unlawful

[think]

Last edited Tue Jul 21, 2015, 10:24 AM - Edit history (3)

behavior does not go unpunished, public awareness campaigns, research and open discussions by our leadership on institutional racism, restoring & protecting the voters rights act.

These are just some of the ideas I have seen our candidates and others mention.

If the goal is to end structural racism we need to create solutions and act upon them.

Having a comprehensive policy that addressed the issues of racism would probably help to get people behind this goal. If one already exists and I have missed it I apologize and hope that someone will steer me to it.

It is known that Obama has tried to address institutional racism and he has met insane resistance at even mentioning it. So obviously speaking out and opposing structural racism in a productive manor will be very very hard. But it is vitally necessary to address this issue and find solutions ASAP..

I believe all DUers want to see an end to the racism that permeates our society and together we can make progress toward that goal.

Just some thoughts....

[HassleCat]

1. Yes, those things

That's a very good start. More importantly, your suggestions are things the federal government can actually do to dismantle institutional racism. They are tangible. They can be defined and filled in with specifics. We can estimate how much they will cost and ask Congress for the money. There is even a chance they will do some good, although we know they will be branded "failures" by the right wing. This woud be better than the back-and-forth. "You don't understand!" "No, YOU don't understand!"

[think]

2. Thank you for your reply.

Yes. These are tangible things that could be done if enough people demand them and opposition from the GOP is overcome.

It's deplorable seeing year after year the GOP & right wind media blocking any progress to end institutional racism and actually subtly supporting with both their rhetoric and actions.

None of things mentioned are new and I'm sure they have been proposed by many people over the years. Still it hasn't resonated fully yet and it seems it needs to be repeated to keep them in the discussion.

If a statement regarding things like these already exists perhaps someone could post where to find it so we can get behind it.

It would be nice to see an existing public policy statement or a get new one that is drafted that the people can get behind and demand action from our congressional leaders.

While the candidates do support ideas like these it's very apparent that this very important issue isn't one that can or should wait for a presidential election. The death, violence, and oppression caused by the current racism can't wait to be addressed by an election 15 months from now.

[Lee-Lee]

3. If your focus is police, here are my suggestions

From someone who has done the job.

Eliminate all job/career specific pensions. Only an employee owned 401k or other very portable retirement plans. Why? Because retirement plans that lock people in for X amount of years lock people in who are burned out and will do a crappy job just to stay around long enough to retire or hit a milestone. Also, a system that doesn't pay into a plan a person may have already and requires 25-30 years to be fully vested discourages any mid-career, more experience and mature applicants.

The worst officers in my agency were the "good ol boys" who were counting the days till they could retire. They didn't want to be there and were going to take less personal risk and put forth less effort for the sake of public safety.

A system that locks people into the career for X years also discourages rocking the boat or being a whistleblower- if you know that you have to stay for 6 more years or you won't get your retirement that's a big discouragement to go against the leadership or culture when it fails. If you own your retirement it's yours if you have to leave and seek other employment.

Maintain and keep high standards for the job. Don't cut standards to fill positions if you can't get enough applicants, raise the pay and benefits until you attract the good ones.

Eliminate the concept of part time or special officers who don't have to meet the same minimum qualifications as full time ones. That's how it is in NC, full time or one shift a month you must meet the same standards to start and the same ongoing in-service standards. States that allow less qualified or trained officers on the street as part time or "special" officers baffle me.

Eliminate swing shifts and 12 hour shifts. When I was working I had been up at least 2.5 hours before I started my shift to get showered, dressed, eat, pack a lunch and drive to my assigned patrol sector. If I got a call near the end of shift my ass was dragging and tired and that affects judgement.

A much better disability system for cops injured on the job. People question often why cops use as much force as they do often- and a lot of time it's simply using the force to avoid a chance they will get hurt. Because where I was working it was get hurt, go on light duty until you recover- that meant no overtime (our shifts all and overtime built in) so that was a pay cut. If you can't recover your out on SSDI, nothing else. So the vision was a cop got hurt and ends up out on disability living in a run down trailer with no money. So they don't take any personal risks to try and avoid a use of force that whole legally justifiable may have been resolved otherwise.

More mental health training on an ongoing basis. Cops shouldn't be the people called when someone is in then midst of a mental health crisis, but we often are.

Stricter codes of conduct- I would be ok with a UCMJ type system on a stage level for cops.

Absolutely, positively eliminate local/municipal court systems where the same municipality runs the police force and court and makes money from it. In NC the state runs all courts, local tickets and arrests come before state court and the agency that writes a ticket or makes an arrest doesn't see a dime of the money. Never, ever should an agency get any money from any arrest, ticket or forfeiture. Ever. It creates too much potential for abuse like we saw in Fergeson, and that just eliminates any chance for a community to trust it's officers.

There is more, I will add later.

And now, for what everyone else can do-

Educate yourself on the law. Know what's right and wrong. Don't spread bad information that causes people to make bad choices. Every single persons who argued the law with me had it wrong. Many made things worse resisting or being belligerent because they were sure I was wrong. I wasn't- bad understanding of the law did them no favors.

Don't try and fight an arrest in the streets. You won't win and you will just stack other charges. Fight it in the courts where you may win.

Quit assaulting cops when getting arrested.

Quit using the police as a mental health provider. Refusing to get proper care for a loved one because you don't want them "labeled" or "in the system" is setting them up for a disaster, then when it was real bad you call ten cops who are not the mental health professionals you should have been using.

On that note here in NC they are now creating mental health Mobile Crisis Teams that are on call 24-7 in every county. So that families have someone other than cops to call when they are in over their head, and cops have people to call. Expand and emulate this everywhere.

Quit telling kids, especially minority kids, that cops are all racist monsters out to get them. If you want a more diverse police force in the future for this county this will make the opposite happen, kids don't hit 18-21 and suddenly decide they want a career as the person their family, peers and educators all said was evil and out to harm them. Encourage minority youth to aspire to be cops.

Quit using the cops to discipline your kids. It's not or job to come tell your son or daughter to behave, it creates a bad situation, and it teaches them that the cops are the bad guys. If you are a parent have the Damm fortitude to discipline your own kids, don't play "good mom bad cop".

Quit filing bullshit complaints- most complaints are filed either to try and get out of an arrest by claiming the cops acted wrongly or out of vengeance for a previous encounter- or as I mentioned above because people don't understand the law. I made an arrest once for possession of stolen property and the mom kept screaming "show me the arrest warrant your breaking the law arresting him without a warrant", but of course no arrest warrant was legally required. She filed a formal complaint and I and the agency had to waster time and money dealing with it to have the DA explain to her when I caught her son with 5 recently storm bicycles in the driveway and the bolt cutters he used to steal them I didn't need a warrant. Hopefully body cameras will go a long way toward that just as dash cams did when they were first introduced, but still- use complaints for actual, real misconduct so that complaints are taken more seriously and more resources are available to investigate the ones that are real.

When you have an encounter with a good cop who does his/her job properly and with respect- file a report with their agency as well. Help keep good cops on the job and get promoted into leadership positions by calling attention to them. Just dealing in complaints only manages half the issue- reward good cops too. Let their bosses know they are good, get that on the record and help them et promoted to build a better culture around their agency. When you see a cop that makes you say "why are all cops not like that", take steps to help make that so by sending praise to her/his bosses.

[think]

4. Thank you for your insights from your direct experience in LE.

To be clear while I do mention police policy it is only part of the whole. Public awareness campaigns and other policy & actions to combat racism in society overall should also be very prominent.

I'm curious as to your opinion on the dea of community policing. Do you feel this would help to make the situation for both officers and the public less stressful?

How do you view efforts to have civilian review boards so the public does not feel like any investigation is being done by the same organization they may have a complaint with? I'm guessing there are concerns to make sure that any board is truly impartial for either party.

From reading your post I now realize it will be important to consider the effect of people waiting out pensions and the lack of quality coverage for disabilities that add to the problems of having a healthy police force.

It would seem that better pay & training, less part time employment where officers have fewer qualifying requirements, and the stress of swing shifts are also important things that should be part of the discussion.

It's good to be reminded that treating law enforcement with respect and using good judgement will also help improve the overall situation. Mutual respect is very important. Remembering to send praise for officers that are doing a good job is also something I haven't given enough consideration and will try to make a better effort going forward.

Thank you again for your input. I look forward to learning more in regards to your unique views on these subjects.

[Lee-Lee]

5. Both are great if done properly

One small thing that can go a huge ey for community policing- issue all officers department cell phones.

Seems tiny. But it can have a HUGE impact.

For obvious reasons cops never give their personal cell phones out- it can quickly get abused. So the only option is a business card with the department/dispatch number and have them relay a message- that's obviously slow and cumbersome.

With a department issued phone I could hand out a cell # where I could be reached quickly and easily. That goes a long toward building trust, and gives citizens the ability to talk to the specific officers they have a relationship with and trust. That lets you build community support, and you are much more likely to get reports and information that they wouldn't call into a blind line with.

Plus, you mandate it is used for all business on duty and can log all texts and calls between officers, for more transparency.

Small item, small cost, huge impact. As a patrol deputy I wasn't given an issue phone, when I started working domestic violence almost exclusively I got one and saw what a huge effect it had toward building trust.

Citizen review boards are great- as long as those sitting on them are properly trained. You can't just pop someone off the street and give them disciplinary action over a job they don't understand. That doesn't serve the public and will just see distrust among the department.

Ideally anyone on a review board would take the same basic police academy required of officers before sitting on it, so they have a working knowledge of the law, understand how the use of force laws and continuum work, understand how the weapons they will judge the use of work, etc. I would exempt them from the physical training and tests, no need for them to be running every day or pass a physical test- but would retire passing grades on all written or practical exams.

At a minimum do a scaled down version.

Also, the same background examination should be required for a review board as for officers.

Because if you can't demonstrate at least the same working knowledge of the law and procedures as those you judge, and show yourself to have at least as good a background, are you really qualified to second guess them?

A review board like that would be educated, have legitimacy with both citizens and officers, and would work very well.

[think]

9. I never thought about the training aspect for review board members but it certainly makes sense

People involved in the review process should have a solid grasp of the situation they are overseeing to be truly be fair.

The use of officer cell phones sounds very encouraging. Trust and building rapport seems so important in working to community support. Issuing official cellphones sounds like a fairly simple program to implement that could go a long way to helping this effort.

Thank you again for this information. It's great to learn about solutions that are being put in place to improve community relations.

[Lee-Lee]

12. The singular biggest reason cops oppose review boards is unqualified members

When you have a person who doesn't even understand how a taser works second guessing your decisions around using one, who can kill your career, it's demoralizing. That's just one example.

I saw a review board member in the 90's in some city asking why the cops didn't just shoot a running suspect in the foot. It was obvious this person had never even fired a gun for such a ridiculous question to be asked, yet here was a cop with their hard earned career on the line being asked why they didn't do the impossible by a person with no clue.

[Kingofalldems]

11. Your pension proposal seems to come from the republican view.

Am I right?

[Iggo]

6. Not better training. Better humans.

[think]

7. Yes, agree very much. Better screening is needed desperately.

[Lee-Lee]

8. You have to be prepared to have better pay and working conditions

To attract better applicants.

Sadly in most agencies the move has been in the other direction- a steady lowering of standards to keep getting enough minimally qualified applicants to fill all the vacancies.

[think]

10. Better pay needs to be a big part of it.

Considering all the inherent risks of being involved in law enforcement we should be doing everything we can to make sure the people hired to serve & protect us are paid a wage befitting the expectations of the job.

Hopefully the trend of lowering standards to fill positions will reverse so that we get people who are best fit for the duty of enforcing the law.

Obviously this will only happen if communities are willing to pay enough to attract the best qualified.

[Comrade Grumpy]

13. We have to have effective civilian oversight over the cops.

Elected officials are scared of their political power, but they've got to step up and take them on.