More selective hiring, better training and supervision, for starters.
And weeding out bad cops. Former Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson told CNBC, “I think we need to look at the whole system. Create a network where bad officers, if they’re put in this network, they can’t continue to go on from police department to police department. There needs to be a national registry.”
He also said, “We just have to make sure we do all the training that we can, and if there’s other options, … take whatever is the least lethal force we can use” in the force continuum. Read story here.
Shortly after George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, Vox ran an article (read it here) that asked, “But how, exactly, can America reform policing?” and offered these prescriptions, based on interviews with experts:
- Police “need to apologize” to minority communities “for centuries of abuse” that included enforcing slavery and segregation, because minorities remain deeply distrustful of police. This requires police to get out in those communities, talk to the residents, and listen to their grievances and concerns.
- Train police “to address their racial biases.” When they’re in situations “where they have to think quickly … that makes it much more likely that their biases will take over.” The right kind of training can help overcome this, but “such training is rarely emphasized by police departments,” and “this needs to change.”
- Police “should avoid situations” leading to use of force. This is tricky, but certain police strategies can reduce use of force. Details are in the article.
- More accountability and transparency. Cops often get off, for a variety of reasons — immunity laws, sympathetic juries, the “blue wall of silence,” and let’s face it — lying cops. Part of the solution is legal reform, mandatory use of bodycams, and unsealing disciplinary records, but more is required. “To fix this, some experts argue that a fundamental shift in leadership is needed.” In other words, the wrong people are being hired as police chiefs.
- Change performance incentives. We’ve all heard stories about “ticket quotas,” right? That’s not altogther urban legend; some police departments depend on ticket revenue for part of their budgets, and the poor and minorities are prime targets for this kind of exploitation because they’re relatively powerless.
- Higher standards and better pay to attract quality recruits. Currently, there are no uniform standards, but police work is known as one of the few well-paying jobs still available to people without college degrees. Police recruiters shouldn’t necessarily demand degrees, as other factors (such as temperament) are equally or more important for this job: “We want to recruit people who have the capacity for emotional regulation — so they don’t get angry, they don’t see authority challenges as personal challenges, they don’t fall on use of force as the first response to a challenge to their authority,” a criminologist at Columbia University said, who added, “we need to think seriously about paying these guys better” in order to attract the right people, so police work isn’t a default option for those who can’t get work requiring a degree.
- Police “need to focus on the few people in communities causing chaos and violence.” Nearly everywhere, “The vast majority of crime in communities is perpetrated by just a few people in a few specific parts of the city. … In most cities across the nation, 3 to 5 percent of city blocks account for 50 to 75 percent of all shootings and killings, with 1 percent of a city’s population responsible for 50 to 60 percent of all homicides.” But reducing violent crime takes more than concentrating police in those areas; it also requires providing social services that offer those individuals a pathway out of that way of life.
- Better data “to evaluate police and crime.” Right now, there’s very little such data, and it’s spotty and incomplete. Information is crucial to improving police effectiveness and performance.
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New Signs of Progress Emerge on Police Reform