Law Enforcement Best Practices: Lessons Learned from the Field (PDF)

Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD Chapter i Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD The internet references cited in this publication were valid as of the date of publication. Given that URLs and websites are in constant flux, neither the author(s), the contributor(s), nor the COPS Office can vouch for their current validity. The U.S. Department of Justice reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license to repro- duce, publish, or otherwise use and to authorize others to use this resource for Federal Government purposes. This resource may be freely distributed and used for noncommercial and educational pur- poses only. Recommended citation: U.S. Department of Justice. 2019. Law Enforcement Best Practices: Lessons Learned from the Field. Wash- ington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Published 2019 Contents LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR. VII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. IX INTRODUCTION. 1 Reason for this guide. 1 How to use this guide. 2 1. COMMUNITY POLICING. 5 Why is this issue important?. 5 Key points and challenges. 6 Brief summary of academic literature. 8 Summary of existing DOJ and other resources. 9 Best or promising practices in the field. 11 Special considerations for small agencies. 18 Checklists to implement. 19 Summary. 24 2. DE-ESCALATION. 25 Why is this issue important?. 25 Key points and challenges. 25 Brief summary of academic literature. 26 Summary of existing DOJ and other resources. 28 Best or promising practices in the field. 29 Special considerations for small agencies. 33 Checklist to implement. 34 Summary. 35 3. CRISIS INTERVENTION. 37 Why is this issue important?. 37 Key points and challenges. 37 Brief summary of academic literature. 38 Summary of existing DOJ and other resources. 39 Best or promising practices in the field. 41 iv Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD Special considerations for small agencies. 43 Checklists to implement. 44 Summary. 45 4. FIRST-LINE SUPERVISORS. 47 Why is this issue important?. 47 Key points and challenges. 47 Brief summary of academic literature. 51 Summary of existing DOJ and other resources. 53 Best or promising practices in the field. 55 Special considerations for small agencies. 57 Checklists to implement. 58 Summary. 60 5. EARLY INTERVENTION SYSTEMS. 61 Why is this issue important?. 61 Key points and challenges. 62 Brief summary of academic literature. 63 Summary of existing DOJ and other resources............................................................................... Best or promising practices in the field. 65 Special considerations for small agencies. 70 Checklists to implement. 71 Summary. 73 6. INTERNAL AFFAIRS. 75 Why is this issue important?. 75 Key points and challenges. 76 Brief summary of academic literature. 78 Summary of existing DOJ and other resources. 79 Best or promising practices in the field. 82 Special considerations for small agencies. 89 Checklist to implement. 90 Summary. 92 Contents v 7. RECRUITMENT, HIRING, PROMOTION, AND RETENTION. 93 Why is this issue important?. 93 Key points and challenges. 94 Brief summary of academic literature. 98 Summary of existing DOJ and other resources. 100 Best or promising practices in the field. 101 Special considerations for small agencies. 106 Checklists to implement. 107 Summary. 109 8. DATA SYSTEMS. 111 Why is this issue important?. 111 Key points and challenges. 112 Brief summary of academic literature. 114 Summary of existing DOJ and other resources. 116 Best or promising practices in the field. 117 Special considerations for small agencies. 122 Checklist to implement. 122 Summary. 124 CONCLUSION. 125 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 127 ABOUT HILLARD HEINTZE. 151 ABOUT THE COPS OFFICE. 153 Letter from the Director Colleagues: Law enforcement continues to be challenged to solve problems well beyond the traditional scope of the field. At the same time, public scrutiny has increased—and with it, the pressure from local and national stakeholders to solve societal problems quickly and well. With such broad and critical responsibilities in the hands of local law enforcement agencies, it is more important than ever to provide the officers and deputies who serve in them with proven, up-to-date methods for addressing the many challenges they may face. This guidebook collects best practices and guidance from law enforcement practitioners in the field on eight critical areas in modern policing: community policing; de-escalation; crisis intervention; the role of first-line supervisors; early intervention systems; internal affairs; recruitment, hiring, and retention; and the use of data systems. All these topics are deeply intertwined, and the authors take time to dis- cuss their connections—for example, how early intervention and good training can aid officer reten- tion, how de-escalation techniques are vital to crisis intervention, and how the philosophy of communi- ty policing underlies and informs all the others. New officers and deputies, seasoned executives, and civilian personnel should all find useful guidance in this book. Each chapter contains a series of checklists to help implement the practices discussed, as well as a thorough overview of other useful resources from academia, government, and the law en- forcement field. The guidance and resources provided here can help law enforcement agencies of all sizes provide the professional service their communities expect and deserve. The COPS Office would like to thank all the practitioners who contributed their time, advice, and wis- dom to researching, reviewing, and compiling this guidebook. Sincerely, Phil Keith Director Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Acknowledgments Many individuals contributed greatly to this report. The authors express their gratitude to the hard-working team at the COPS Office for sponsoring this report, including COPS Office Director Phil Keith, former Principal Deputy Director Russ Washington, and Senior Program Specialists Billie Cole- man and Nazmia E.A. Comrie, who made this report possible. We would like to recognize Hillard Heintze, whose dedicated team of experts worked as a key com- ponent and extension of the COPS Office to provide social research, analysis, and assessment services. Specifically, we would like to thank the members of the Best Practices Manual development team: Adam Zoll, Researcher Andrew Davis, Researcher Anthony Ambrose, Law Enforcement Expert Arnette Heintze, Senior Law Enforcement Expert – Best Practices Manual Executive Oversight Christi Gullion, Law Enforcement Expert David Kurz, Law Enforcement Expert Debra Kirby, Senior Law Enforcement Expert Diane Ragans, Law Enforcement Expert Edward Denmark, D.A., Law Enforcement Expert Edward Medrano, Law Enforcement Expert Jacinta Gau, PhD, Senior Research Scientist Jeffrey Wobbleton, Law Enforcement Expert John Williams, Law Enforcement Expert Jon Maskaly, PhD, Senior Research Scientist Kenneth Bouche, Senior Law Enforcement Expert Lindsay Morgan, Project Manager Maggie Goodrich, Law Enforcement Expert Meghan Maury, Law Enforcement Expert Michael Dirden, Law Enforcement Expert x Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD Rebecca LaFlure, Researcher Rick Tanksley, Law Enforcement Expert Robert Boehmer, Esq., Law Enforcement Expert – Best Practices Manual Project Coordinator Robert Davis, Senior Law Enforcement Expert – Best Practices Manual Project Director Robert Haas, Law Enforcement Expert Sandy Jo MacArthur, Law Enforcement Expert Sarah Eilefson, PhD, Communications Director Talia Beechick, Researcher Theron Bowman, PhD, Law Enforcement Expert Will Johnson, Law Enforcement Expert William McCarty, Senior Research Scientist Introduction Reason for this guide One of the most challenging responsibilities for federal, state, and local governments has always been providing professional policing services. It is nonetheless one of the most essential responsibilities of any government agency, because our nation depends on the collective work of all law enforcement agencies to provide a safe environment for everyone to live, work, and play. To help address ongoing challenges in policing, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) developed this Law Enforcement Best Practices guide for use by policing practitioners. This guide was developed by experts and practitioners from across the country to provide practical advice to three primary audiences: (1) new law enforcement executives and law enforcement leaders, who need to understand key challenges facing their communities and agencies; (2) seasoned law enforcement executives and law enforcement leaders in communities where these issues have come to the forefront; and (3) personnel who work for chiefs or sheriffs and have been asked to work on the agency’s approach to one or more of these issues. Law enforcement agencies are under increasing scrutiny and pressure to address both highly local- ized concerns and issues of national interest. Law enforcement executives should strive to align their approach to these concerns with the philosophy of community policing. Leaders should consider incorporating emerging techniques, such as de-escalation, into policy and training on use of force and interacting with individuals in crisis. They should think critically about how internal affairs operates in their agencies—how investigations are conducted and communicated with stakeholders. And they should examine their personnel decisions: recruitment, hiring, and retention; the supervisory tools they use to monitor employee performance and identify employees in need of assistance; and how their agencies define the roles and responsibilities of first-line supervisors. In all these efforts, leaders should strive to make the best use of data systems and information technology. Although each of these issues is addressed separately, in practice, they are intimately intertwined. For example, de-escalation and the Crisis Intervention Team model go hand-in-hand. Similarly, early inter- vention in personnel issues can help agencies prevent problems before these issues become the focus of internal affairs investigations. Good data underpins all of these topics and is critical for problem solving, intervening in potential problems before they occur, and enhancing transparency to demon- strate the department’s credibility and earn community trust. When all of these systems are functioning efficiently, an agency’s community policing effectiveness increases, which in turn can impact recruiting, hiring, and retention issues by inspiring community members to join the agency and remain for an entire career. 2 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD This guide highlights lessons learned by law enforcement practitioners from agencies of all sizes and offers a strategic overview and practical, task-oriented steps for law enforcement executives to follow when addressing issues within their own communities and agencies. Throughout this guide, the terms “best practice” and “promising practice” are generally used interchangeably to refer to practices that practitioners have implemented and advocated for based on the results they have seen in their jurisdic- tions. Some of these practices are backed by academic research, while others have yet to be subject to rigorous academic scrutiny. Most importantly, the best and promising practices detailed in this guide are those primary efforts that have the greatest potential for helping an agency maintain community trust, resolve critical issues, reinforce its legitimacy, and build relationships. How to use this guide New and seasoned law enforcement executives—as well as personnel in their agencies—are encour- aged to use this guide as a starting point for establishing a strategy and employing tactics that meet the needs of their agencies and communities. Community members have an obvious interest in the issues addressed in this manual because law enforcement policies and procedures have a direct impact on them. Researchers—although a secondary audience for the practical advice contained herein—may also find value in understanding the challenges facing law enforcement executives and identifying areas where partnerships and support can best serve the community and ensure public and officer safety. Each chapter begins with a high-level overview of what makes each issue important to law enforce- ment agencies and communities, including key points and challenges facing law enforcement execu- tives. Law enforcement leaders should begin here when considering how this issue affects their depart- ments—or will in the future. Additionally, each chapter provides a high-level survey of the academic literature on each subject and a summary of existing publications from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other sources. Law en- forcement executives are encouraged to do further reading on areas of most concern for their agencies and the communities they serve. This overview will help agency leaders determine which resources are most applicable to their needs. Every chapter details practitioner-provided advice on best or promising practices to implement and highlights six to 13 specific practices. The challenge for law enforcement leaders and personnel is to apply the appropriate best and promising practices to their own agencies and communities. Not every practice is applicable to every agency, as communities differ and law enforcement officials need to be responsive to their particular communities’ needs and cultures. As such, chief executives—in dialogue with command staff and the communities they serve—should make thoughtful decisions on which practices to prioritize and implement. One of the best places to start when addressing these key issues is by opening a dialogue with internal stakeholders and a variety of community members. Leaders should seek out those voices that have not typically engaged in dialogue with law enforcement and Introduction 3 learn from these conversations. Although this guide applies to law enforcement agencies of all sizes, special attention is also paid to the specific needs of small agencies, where personnel and resources may be more limited. This guide seeks to inspire law enforcement leaders to foster innovation as they tackle the challenging tasks they confront on a daily basis in their local jurisdictions. Law enforcement agencies’ ongoing, col- laborative, and sincere efforts to improve outreach and service to their communities leads to increased community trust and the collaboration necessary for future successes. This guide is intended to inform and supplement how law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve think about these issues. The featured best and promising practices do not, however, replace the need for local decisions and local decision-making. In order to make the guidance and recommended practices as easy to implement as possible, each chap- ter contains actionable checklists. These checklists provide high-level, strategic items and more tactical actions to advance an agency’s strategic goals; these checklists are not exhaustive but represent a good starting place. Law enforcement executives are encouraged to repurpose the checklists at the end of each chapter as conversation starters, and to employ them to help track their progress—and those of their subordi- nates—through implementing the best or promising practices that best meet their agencies’ and com- munities’ needs. The authors of this guide developed these checklists of tactics, strategies, and consider- ations based on evidence from the field, research, and personal experience. A recurring theme throughout this guide is the importance of partnering with research institutions, which is relevant for agencies of all sizes and executives of all levels of experience. For example, the data that researchers use to evaluate internal affairs processes and outcomes is limited—and much of it was collected before 2000. This lack of research literature does not reflect academic disinterest, but lack of access to data that would more fully develop collective knowledge of the internal affairs pro- cess. Working collaboratively with researchers may not yield immediate results to establish the efficacy of an agency’s efforts, but it can contribute to a larger and longer-term body of research. This guide was developed out of the recognition that law enforcement executives are in the unique position of making decisions that have a profound effect on the quality of life and safety for every member of our nation. The hope of those who prepared this guide is that law enforcement executives will find the ideas, information, and practices presented here useful and be inspired to take their work to the next level of professionalism. When it comes to providing professional policing services, settling for second best is simply not good enough. Likewise, striving to provide those who live, work, and play in our nation’s communities with the best service possible is not only what they expect, but also what they deserve. 1. Community Policing Why is this issue important? Modern policing rests upon the foundational precept that the effective control of crime, disorder, and fear requires community participation and assistance. Communities are vital sources of information about crimes, offenders, and ongoing criminal or social problems. Communities also encompass the in- terpersonal networks that form the basis for social cohesion and collective self-protective action. Using techniques of community policing and engagement, law enforcement agencies can obtain the informa- tion they need to solve problems proactively and facilitate the process of informal social control that generates ongoing, sustainable public safety. Building the collaborative relationships necessary for community policing may require overcoming decades of isolation, disenfranchisement, and suspicion. These in turn have led in many communities to periodic civil unrest—while allowing serious crime and disorder issues to remain unaddressed. In recent years, the momentum of such civil protest has been swelled by widespread accusations of racial bias in law enforcement agencies and complaints of excessive force, compounded by the perception that police are not held accountable for these transgressions. The police themselves, especially in communities experiencing the greatest degree of crime and disorder, feel under attack. Meanwhile, law enforcement executives have found themselves under increasing pres- sure and scrutiny not only to address crime and disorder within their respective jurisdictions, but also to intervene and resolve social and quality of life issues they see as outside the realm of policing. In addition, leaders are confronted with a changing workforce, budgetary constraints, fractured public health and social services systems, recruitment challenges, and a lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities. Despite these frustrations, law enforcement agencies in many of these cities, small towns, and rural juris- dictions are engaging in some form of formal, measurable community policing; some of these local efforts are new, while others have been ongoing for nearly two decades. These efforts are founded on the philoso- phy of police legitimacy. This evolving model of community policing shapes how law enforcement execu- tives view their relationships with the community, within law enforcement, and with other governmental entities, social service providers, advocates, and nongovernmental organizations that do not have a formal relationship with law enforcement agencies.1 Community policing’s mission goes well beyond reducing crime and disorder, improving quality of life issues, and providing community services. The concept of community engagement brings with it the es- tablishment and building of tangible collaborative relationships predicated upon mutual trust and respect, common interests, broader applications of procedural justice, and a sense of shared responsibilities. 1. PERF, Legitimacy and Procedural Justice. 6 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD Key points and challenges In order to achieve this form of community engagement, law enforcement executives face a number of challenges, both internal and external. To respond to these challenges, agencies have adopted the three components that define the philosophy of community policing: problem solving, community partner- ships, and organizational transformation.2 Problem solving Problem solving by progressive law enforcement agencies frequently follows the SARA model, whereby law enforcement scan the community for problems, analyze identified problems in depth, respond to problems using innovative approaches that extend beyond traditional law enforcement responses, and assess the effectiveness of the project. Problems selected for SARA interventions should be both recurring and geographically defined. By identifying where and when the most service calls occur and focusing resources in those areas, law enforcement can maximize their efficacy. Problem solving is closely connected to the element of community partnerships and collaboration. With assistance from community partners, law enforcement personnel can identify root causes of problems and form creative long-term solutions. Community partnerships Community partnerships range from formal interagency agreements to informal collaborations. The goal of all such partnerships is to achieve free-flowing, bidirectional communication. Social service providers, faith leaders, business leaders, school district officials, and local governmental agencies are fruitful partners, but community partnerships can occur at an individual as well as an organizational level. Officers and deputies have many options for fostering community engagement. They can create a “felt presence” while on patrol by, for instance, increased foot patrols, talking to people and meeting local business owners, sponsoring youth-related events, and strengthening relationships with the faith-based community. In their interactions with the public, officers and deputies can employ procedural justice.3 The goal of procedural justice is to reinforce police legitimacy, which is the public’s perception that the actions of the police are just and in the best interest of the community. People who believe the police are procedurally just are more likely to trust them, see them as legitimate, and exhibit a willingness to 2. COPS Office, Community Policing Defined. 3. COPS Office, “Procedural Justice.” Community Policing 7 cooperate and work in concert with them. The practice of procedural justice in community interactions entails making decisions transparently; allowing community members to voice their opinions; treating people respectfully, fairly, and impartially; and building trust with the community. Organizational transformation Organizational transformation refers to the reorientation of leadership and resources in law enforce- ment agencies away from the traditional paramilitary bureaucracy and toward a form more conducive to community-based activities. Some of the necessary organizational adaptations in larger agencies include decentralization, which is aided in part by the use of substations where possible; civilianization; and reorganization of units and positions to achieve effective community engagement and implement problem-solving techniques. Smaller organizations typically have fewer specialized units and tend to rely heavily on command staff for decision-making in the field; these organizations would benefit from organizational transformation. Rather than assigning community-policing responsibilities solely to a special unit or a handful of ded- icated personnel, organizational transformation is best achieved by engaging employees at all levels, sworn and non-sworn, around the philosophy of community policing. Internal environmental considerations The internal and external environment of an organization may help or hinder the process of organi- zational transformation. Internal factors include not only the organization’s structure, which in law enforcement agencies tends to be rigid and rules-oriented, but also individual officers’ perception of their roles. How individual law enforcement personnel view their overall mission is vitally important. Many officers and deputies entered the profession thinking their primary role was to protect and serve their community and, ultimately, to make a difference to individuals’ sense of safety and well- being. This sense of mission is shaped, however, by officers’ experiences on the job. In addition, law enforcement personnel possess extraordinary powers, granted to them by the law, and these powers also shape officers’ perception of their roles. To address these internal considerations, some agencies have made attempts to disaggregate the paramil- itary structure of the law enforcement agency and change the manner in which they engage the public. Some organizations have modified their structures to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy, thereby improv- ing internal communications. Innovations for improving employee responsibility have caused a shift in many agencies from a strictly punitive disciplinary process to one that incorporates various early warning systems, alternative methods of behavioral adjustment, and education-based accountability, in which per- sonnel being disciplined are required to attend specialized training or engage in alternative approaches. 8 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD External environmental considerations Organizations are also influenced by their external environments—the communities in which they are set, the type and level of crime they address, and the effects of their own histories. Although many strategies to reduce crime and disorder were undertaken with the purest of motives, operation- al implementation of these strategies has sometimes widened the divide between certain segments of the community and law enforcement agencies. Tactics associated with policing criminal hotspots and addressing disorderly issues often perpetuated mistrust and resentment in the very communities that were experiencing the highest level of crime and disorder. In another approach, officers and deputies have attempted to establish relationships by informing communities of their policing plans, but without seeking or considering community priorities and needs.4 Brief summary of academic literature Studies dating back to the 1980s have defined community policing as an alternative approach to tradi- tional police methods, encompassing police-community partnerships and an emphasis on solving prob- lems and promoting quality of life. Over time, this approach has led many law enforcement leaders and researchers to reassess the philosophical underpinnings of policing and redefine the role and responsibil- ities of law enforcement within the community. (The word “community” is used here to mean a broad spectrum of social groupings of people who occupy a specific locality and that share a governmental entity. It would include members who may share social, religious, occupational characteristics, or oth- er groups sharing common characteristics or interests and or perceiving themselves as distinct in some respect from the larger collective social body.) Research confirms that community policing can suppress crime and improve people’s satisfaction with local police.5 Additionally, police can alleviate fear of crime using problem solving approaches.6 Programs and interventions that increase the interface between law enforcement and residents are the most successful.7 Face-to-face interactions are important; people who believe the police are fair and respectful express greater willingness to participate in joint crime-prevention efforts.8 People’s perceptions of local police-community relations significantly affect their fear of crime and satisfaction with their areas of residence.9 Importantly, research suggests that to be effective, specific tactics should be tailored to the characteristics of a neighborhood. Evaluations of a foot-patrol experiment, for instance, found that tar- geted foot patrols reduced violent crime only in patrol beats with atypically high rates of violent crime.10 Law enforcement agencies should carefully analyze the social and criminogenic landscape of a neighbor- hood, then identify strategies and tactics that are designed to address the specific problems in that area. 4. Schneider and Amar, “Rise of Crime, Disorder and Authoritarian Policing.” 5. Reisig, “Community and Problem-Oriented Policing.” 6. Braga, Welsh, and Schnell, “Can Policing Disorder Reduce Crime?” 7. Skogan, “An Overview of Community Policing.” 8. Reisig, “What Shapes Residents’ Willingness to Participate.” 9. Reisig and Parks, “Can Community Policing Help.” 10. Ratcliffe, “The Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment.” Community Policing 9 Research has also revealed that most agencies engaged in community policing make relatively minor organizational changes and do not adopt the full-scale restructuring and philosophical shift encouraged by the community-policing model.11 Absent sufficient organizational adaptation, it can be difficult for patrol officers and others with frontline responsibilities to devote significant time to establishing part- nerships and solving problems creatively and collaboratively. Evaluations of problem-solving activities and interventions tend to show that responses rely primari- ly on traditional law enforcement tactics (e.g., saturation patrol or arrests) rather than on innovative approaches.12 Assessment is frequently conducted at a surface level or not at all.13 These findings mirror those pertaining to community policing more broadly. It appears that while most agencies have adopt- ed the philosophical orientation behind community policing, there is variation in the extent of organi- zational investment and subsequent efforts to engage in robust problem solving and innovation. An integrated, comprehensive approach to community policing and engagement can enhance commu- nity members’ actual and perceived safety.14 Agencies dedicated to community policing and willing to make the organizational transformation needed for effective collaboration and problem solving can have significant positive impacts on their communities. Collaborative, problem solving-based ap- proaches outperform strategies grounded solely in criminal-law enforcement.15 Law enforcement agen- cies can protect public safety, enhance quality of life, and help create and maintain community vitality, particularly when they engage in proactive community policing activities. Summary of existing DOJ and other resources Many government publications discuss community policing and related topics. Such publications can be used as resources to help guide agencies in adopting and implementing community policing as a philosophy. Overall, a good source to begin finding community policing resources is the COPS Office Website, particularly the Resources Page16 and the COPS Office Resource Center.17 Any discussion of community policing should start with the definition. In Community Policing De- fined,18 the COPS Office defines community policing as “a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactive- ly address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime.” It also defines the three key components of community policing: community part- nerships, problem solving, and organizational transformation.19 11. Maguire, “Structural Change.” 12. Eck, “Police Problems.” 13. Cordner, “Problem Oriented Policing in Practice.” 14. Reisig, “Community and Problem-Oriented Policing.” 15. Weisburd, “What Can Police Do.” 16. COPS Office, “Resources.” 17. COPS Office, “Resource Center.” 18. COPS Office, Community Policing Defined. 19. COPS Office, Community Policing Defined. 10 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD One of the key components of community policing is building collaborative, trusting relationships with members of the community. Building Relationships of Trust: Recommended Steps for Chief Executives20 provides a detailed checklist of steps a law enforcement executive should consider when working to develop relationships of trust with individuals in the community. Building trust in diverse communities is addressed in the Vera Institute of Justice Police Perspectives Guidebook Series: Building Trust in a Di- verse Nation.21 The series provides resources for increasing cultural understanding, as well as guidance on how to serve diverse communities and support trust building within a law enforcement agency. Developing community partnerships is essential to successful community policing. Two excellent resources are The Collaboration Toolkit for Law Enforcement: Effective Strategies to Partner with the Community22 and its companion, The Collaboration Toolkit for Community Organizations: Effective Strategies to Partner with Law Enforcement.23 Both are designed to help law enforcement agencies and communities strengthen partnerships with each other, identify and address social issues that diminish quality of life and threaten public safety, and connect those in need to services in the community. Col- laboration Toolkit: How to Build, Fix, and Sustain Productive Partnerships24 provides specific advice on and tools for maintaining effective partnerships. Problem Solving Tips: A Guide to Reducing Crime and Disorder Through Problem-Solving Partner- ships25 is a good starting point for law enforcement agencies preparing to implement a problem- solving approach. This resource describes a step-by-step problem-solving process and offers examples from the field and additional resources. A helpful resource to assist with the problem-solving compo- nent of community policing is the website of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing.26 Among other publications, the Center provides problem-oriented guides for law enforcement agencies, including problem-specific guides and response guides. Its guide to Identifying and Defining Policing Problems27 can be particularly helpful for law enforcement executives and others tasked with beginning an agen- cy’s problem-solving activities. Institutionalizing community policing in a law enforcement agency also requires organizational trans- formation—that is, “the alignment of management, structure, personnel and information systems to sup- port community partnerships and proactive problem solving.”28 One helpful resource for organizational change is Transforming the Law Enforcement Organization to Community Policing.29 This monograph provides a framework for developing the steps involved in an organizational transformation to com- 20. Wasserman, “Building Relationships of Trust.” 21. Gokey, Police Perspectives Guidebook Series. 22. McCampbell, “Collaboration Toolkit: Strategies to Partner with Law Enforcement.” 23. McCampbell, “Collaboration Toolkit: Strategies to Partner with the Community.” 24. Rinehart, Laszlo, and Brisco, “Collaboration Toolkit.” 25. COPS Office, “Problem-Solving Tips.” 26. Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, Home page. 27. Scott, “Identifying and Defining Policing Problems.” 28. COPS Office, “Organizational Transformation.” 29. Connors and Webster, “Transforming the Law Enforcement Organization.” Community Policing 11 munity policing. The Center for Problem-Oriented Policing also published Implementing POP: Leading, Structuring, and Managing a Problem-Oriented Police Agency,30 which provides guidance on “what steps to take, and in what order, to make problem-oriented policing an integral part of how the depart- ment does business.” Institutionalizing community policing as an organizational strategy requires law enforcement agencies to consider incorporating appropriate measures into their performance management strategies. Imple- menting a Comprehensive Performance Management Approach in Community Policing Organizations: An Executive Guidebook31 provides strategies for law enforcement executives who wish to implement a comprehensive approach to performance management in their agencies. The guidebook focuses on performance management as the continuous effort to define what a community wants from its law enforcement agency. This includes how the organization works to address community expectations by defining what leaders expect from their officers. Best or promising practices in the field The three key elements of community policing—problem solving, community partnerships and collabo- ration, and organizational transformation—provide the philosophical framework for institutionalizing community policing in an organization. The cultural shift within an agency begins with the complete support of the chief executive and the realigning of priorities, personnel, and resources to demon- strate an ongoing commitment to community policing as the policing model. The challenge for the law enforcement executive is how to begin the process of cultural shift and ensure the entire organization moves through that process. Practice 1: Create a comprehensive community policing strategic plan A comprehensive strategic plan is a written plan through which the chief executive imparts the core values of the agency and its personnel. It should consider the set of complex environmental factors facing members of law enforcement and the communities they serve. The strategic plan will shape the future vision of the organization at a conceptual level. This plan should describe in broad terms how the agency will shift or transform itself to one that val- ues and embraces the philosophy of community policing. It should outline a broader mission of iden- tifying and addressing the underlying issues and drivers of crime and disorder, and of the community’s perception of them. 30. Scott and Kirby, “Implementing POP.” 31. Branly, et al. “Implementing a Comprehensive Performance Management Approach.” 12 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD This strategic plan should also serve as recognition that crime and disorder are symptoms of much larger economic, sociological, and public health issues, and that while some of these issues are within the organization’s ability to change, others are beyond its capacity to address alone. The plan should include strategies for engaging community members, nonprofits, and other nongovernment organiza- tions in true partnerships to help the law enforcement agency address these larger issues and impact crime and disorder in the community. On a practical level, this comprehensive strategic plan should include the agency’s vision and goals for community policing; the roles and responsibilities of every individual member in community policing activities; and key activities, milestones, and metrics for institutionalizing community policing. Recruit- ment, training, promotions, personnel evaluations, and operations should all be incorporated into the agency’s community policing strategy. To support and implement this strategic plan—and keep consistent with the overall vision, mission, and core values of the organization—changes may need to be made to rules and regulations, policy and procedural guidelines, and other operational directives. Policy and procedural guidelines should be consistent with the overall strategic plan, including transitioning from a reactive or responsive posture to one that creates opportunities for prevention, early intervention, and proactive engagement. The value of using social media platforms to assist in communicating with the community goes a long way in establishing open, transparent interactions with community members. Effective use of social media serves as an excellent tool to solicit community input and to inform the community about an agency’s ongoing community policing efforts. Practice 2: Train all personnel on community policing—including overcoming distrust To overcome community distrust of law enforcement, agencies should begin by building connections beyond their existing relationships, continually broadening social networks into neighborhoods and communities where they do not presently have ties. Law enforcement personnel should clearly demon- strate a sincere intention of creating a forum for dialogue and collaboration. It is critical for law enforcement personnel to have continual contact with the community—not only in the field, but in other operational components of the organization. The work around community policing and engagement should become the mission of every member of the organization. For exam- ple, detectives should see their central mission as not only solving crimes, but also working collabora- tively with other agencies, organizations, and individuals to address the root causes of the crimes they investigate, as well as providing advocacy and support for victims and witnesses. Similarly, specialized units responding to the needs of vulnerable populations—such as juveniles, homeless persons, persons suffering from chronic mental illness, social interest groups, and individuals suffering from addiction— should adopt a broader scope of services designed to provide active intervention and engagement. Community Policing 13 Executives need to prepare their officers and deputies adequately for these new roles and responsibil- ities. They should be aware that these efforts may initially be met with suspicion, mistrust, avoidance, or even, open hostility. Only by continually reinforcing the values of community policing, implement- ing procedural justice, and actively modeling desired behaviors will they eventually be able to pierce these protective mechanisms. Practice 3: Foster an atmosphere of openness and transparency Transparency is an important element of building trust. To the extent feasible, agencies should regular- ly share data, policies, investigative outcomes, and other information about the organization with the community. Rather than just sharing this information when requested, the agency should have clear policies that regularly require the appropriate sharing of information with the public. Executives need to consider the community’s reaction to major changes in law enforcement strategies and should create opportunities for the community to provide input and for the agency to explain its rationale for the changes. This enables the organization to tell its own story, rather than community members speculat- ing about its intentions, and will help the agency to identify stakeholders who are willing to partner on common goals. Practice 4: Adopt procedural justice as a guiding principle The greatest challenge for an administrator in developing a comprehensive community policing strate- gic plan is often ensuring the agency’s personnel recognize, acknowledge, and embrace the details of the plan—as well as the concept of procedural justice that lies at its core. This effort requires addressing the ongoing external issues that drive crime and social disorder through community partnerships while simultaneously driving an internal cultural shift based upon a philosophy that values the full trust and engagement of the community. Achieving this challenging goal begins with the application of procedural justice within the organiza- tion. Procedural justice affects how decisions are made and policies are established. Internal procedural justice is predicated upon four key components—creating the belief among all employees that they have value; their views and opinions are sought and considered; they are treated with equity and fairness; there is a demonstrated mutual respect and level of trust existing throughout the organization. For some agencies, built upon hierarchical structures and envisioned as paramilitary organizations, these concepts will be antithetical and may be challenging to embrace. 14 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD For all agencies, adopting procedural justice as a governing principle in the treatment of internal and external stakeholders requires a significant investment in those who are expected to employ a wide range of community policing strategies. Law enforcement leaders should anticipate the possibility of a long and arduous process of establishing, perhaps for the first time, a sincere desire for collaborative engagement. This engagement requires ensuring the entire organization actively participates in building community trust and that every operational component offers support to the agency’s collective efforts. Practice 5: Prioritize law enforcement personnel safety and wellness Law enforcement personnel are under enormous stress in the performance of their everyday duties— a stress compounded by constant public scrutiny. Effective community policing requires law enforce- ment personnel to have greater capacities for empathy, compassion, and tolerance than traditional policing. In order to demonstrate this emotional versatility, law enforcement personnel need ways to break the defense or coping mechanisms they can develop after repeated exposure to trauma and other stressful events. Law enforcement organizations should mitigate the impacts of these events, in systematic ways, in order to ensure personnel have the capacity to fully engage and establish meaning- ful relationships with members of the community they serve. Key to this is the overall care, support, and maintenance of a healthy workforce. Organizations should strive to integrate procedural justice throughout the organizational culture, adopt methods of early intervention, and ensure employee safe- ty and wellness are top priorities. There are a variety of wellness and safety programs evolving across the country. In many instances, these programs only address certain aspects of fitness and health. Wellness programs need to be much broader and go well beyond self-care, into the overall wellness and safety of employees—promoting healthy lifestyle habits, incorporating systematic mechanisms to intervene when law enforcement personnel are exposed to traumatic incidents, and providing access to preventative services and pro- grams.32 Too often, safety and wellness programs are structured to address issues as they become evi- dent, which may be too late. An agency which truly values its employees should begin by considering how to offer routine mechanisms to support employees throughout their careers, not solely when they are exposed to traumatic events or begin to exhibit signs of trauma. When law enforcement leaders prioritize safety and wellness proactively, they create the conditions for law enforcement personnel to demonstrate a greater capacity for empathy and compassion for those in their communities and their agencies. Providing the means and training for law enforcement personnel to replace negative defense or coping mechanisms with mechanisms that encourage greater understand- ing serves to build trust between individuals and law enforcement agencies. It also demonstrates the organization’s commitment to the safety and wellness of its personnel. 32. Kuhns, Maguire, and Leach, Health, Safety, and Wellness Program Case Studies. Community Policing 15 Practice 6: Engage the community in a true partnership to address crime and disorder issues Law enforcement executives should develop an advisory group that includes a broad cross section of stakeholders in the community. This group’s task is to help the organization develop its community po- licing and draft strategic plans to address crime and disorder in the community. When selecting mem- bers for this advisory group, law enforcement executives need to think outside of their comfort zones. It is particularly important to select members who have traditionally not been supportive of police practices and will provide contrarian viewpoints to the board. A homogeneous board will not benefit the community or the law enforcement agency. In addition to the advisory board, the agency should also seek guidance directly from the community. This ensures that its guidance is robust and represents a wide range of voices and perspectives. Practice 7: Treat every contact as an opportunity to engage positively with a community member The value of law enforcement personnel enacting procedural justice in every engagement with members of the community can hardly be overstated. Positive interactions—wherein law enforcement personnel act with transparency and without bias and show respect for every community member—help develop and maintain police legitimacy. This legitimacy helps officers do their job of promoting public safety by reducing crime and the fear of crime. Specifically, earning the community’s trust not only enhances communication and the reporting of crime but also models a behavior of community engagement that community members then adopt. Simply put, community members cooperate more with law enforce- ment personnel when they view the law enforcement organization as legitimate. Whether digitally, by phone, or in person—and whether in the station, on patrol, or in response to a call for service—all law enforcement employees should practice procedural justice and demonstrate respect in every contact with community members. To ensure practice is in alignment with policy, chief executives should include measures of procedural justice in community interactions when assessing policy, training, community complaints, and performance evaluations of all employees. Executives should also consider conducting regular community surveys to measure the level of service personnel have provided on calls for service. Such surveys could be conducted electronically or by telephone. Practice 8: Measure social cohesion and work to develop relationships In communities where social cohesion is lacking, law enforcement personnel often find themselves operating reactively. Specifically, in neighborhoods where crime and disorder are chronic, law enforce- ment agencies tend to use suppression techniques to eliminate recurring crime issues, which may drive a deeper wedge between the agencies and the communities they are trying to help.33 Although some 33. Higgins and Hunt, Collective Efficacy. 16 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD would argue that reducing crime will itself build social cohesion, the reality is more complex,34 and it is important to design a policing strategy that responds to a community’s characteristics and current ability to collaborate with the local law enforcement agency. One promising practice is for law enforcement agencies to collaborate with academic researchers and other subject matter experts to measure social cohesion—gauging how residents think and feel about their particular neighborhood, their level of social interaction, and their trust of and willingness to engage with their neighbors. Law enforcement can then act as a social agent and community broker in building the residents’ capacity for collaboration. This will allow the agency to work toward establish- ing relationships with a core group of residents, as opposed to simply building individual relationships. Building social cohesion within a neighborhood provides the basis for sustainability and enhanced quality of life. Law enforcement agencies can support communities and neighborhoods in a way that empowers individuals to have a voice and express their priorities. Specifically, law enforcement execu- tives can begin by identifying those neighborhoods within their jurisdictions that have been persistent places of crime and disorder. Agencies can then focus interventions on smaller areas with lower social control and thereby provide the basis for increased resident confidence and trust. Law enforcement agencies, city officials, individuals, and community organizations should work in a collaborative fashion to restore anchor points within neighborhoods. Law enforcement agencies can provide and maintain safe environments where residents can begin to form their own social networks, thereby empowering them with a sense of ownership and the basis for social control. In practical terms, this means law enforcement agencies should partner with other government agen- cies to address blight and other conditions that are a source of community resentment of government in general. Law enforcement executives should consider partnering with public works departments to improve streets, sidewalks, and lighting; collaborating with parks and recreation departments to im- prove recreational opportunities; offering more programing and after-school programs; and joining up with employment agencies and workforce investment boards to bring hiring and vocational training to communities. Such efforts help to build trust and mutual respect in problem neighborhoods, by demon- strating that law enforcement agencies care about the people who live and work in these areas. Practice 9: Reevaluate metrics of community policing success When adopting new standards, agencies must also adopt new metrics to gauge how well they are meet- ing them. How law enforcement determines what outcomes matter, and how to measure them, is criti- cal to success. It may require new data sets, new ways of looking at old datasets, and careful consider- ation of how these measures will be administered. If needed, subject matter experts should be consulted to develop new analytical platforms, community surveys, new policies, and evaluation techniques.35 34. Nolan, Conti, and McDevitt, “Situational Policing.” 35. Sparrow, Handcuffed: What Holds Police Back. Community Policing 17 Addressing the needs of communities alienated from their law enforcement agencies requires access to data the agency may not own or be able to produce, as well as outcome measurements not previously considered. Some outcome measures may be maintained but evaluated differently. Qualitative mea- sures of perceptions and beliefs are key to gauging the agency’s overall efficacy on various operational aspects. However, one set of questionnaires or surveys alone will not adequately address every aspect of law enforcement. When seeking to implement community policing, the law enforcement executive should ask questions such as the following: What are the kinds of measurements needed to assess degrees of achievement or success? How does an agency effectively gauge its efficacy at working with other governmental agencies, so- cial service providers, advocacy groups, and other service delivery providers, while recognizing that the measurements used to gauge efficacy might be different for all these groups? What tools (e.g., software-based, surveys) will allow the assessments to be made? How and what kinds of data can be shared so that each entity has the ability to assess and measure its overall impact? In many instances, various agencies and service providers find the same individuals are consumers of their services. Is there a systematic way of identifying these individuals to better meet their needs without violating their civil protections and privacy? Practice 10: Incorporate community policing measures into the performance evaluation process Equally important to external metrics is how the agency assesses its own progress toward internal mile- stones. Key questions for law enforcement executives to ask include the following: Do all law enforcement personnel believe they play an important role in the overall mission of the department? Does the administration demonstrate its belief—through its own internal communications and ac- tions—that all employees have a voice that will be considered and valued? Does the agency invest in keeping and maintaining a healthy workforce (both in terms of physical and psychological health)? Has the agency reassessed and reformed its disciplinary system, grounding it in progressive discipline and employee development? Specifically, is the agency’s disciplinary system designed, in part, to provide constructive feedback and foster an environment of ongoing learning? Has an Early Inter- vention (EI) system that could lead to fewer cases of misconduct been established? 18 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD Three excellent resources that provide guidance on measurements important to leadership are “Revisiting ‘Measuring What Matters’: Developing a Suite of Standardized Performance Measures for Policing,” “Measuring Performance in a Modern Police Organization,” and “Measuring What Matters: Crime, Fear, and Disorder.”36 Once established, these metrics should be incorporated into COMPSTAT meetings, if the agency uses them. Community Policing in Action: The Neighborhood Policing Plan in New York City In 2015, the New York Police Department (NYPD) adopted what it termed the NYPD Plan of Action and the Neighborhood Policing Plan. This plan had five key components: Establishing ownership among officers policing a specific geographic area. Building individual relationships between the officers policing a specific area and the residents of that area. Eliminating overspecialization, which had created silos within the organization and made the NYPD less effective in addressing the drivers of crime and disorder. Creating a greater sense of job satisfaction by working through problems systematically, rather than simply addressing the one problem and moving on to the next. Structuring the patrol force into three tiers or layers, creating the basis for a structured career path within the organization. In 2017, New York City saw its lowest violent crime numbers in decades. Under this plan, the depart- ment still embraces a comprehensive crime-fighting strategy, but one built on improved communi- cation and collaboration between local police officers and community residents. Sources: “Neighborhood Policing,” New York City Police Department, accessed July 17, 2018, http://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/ neighborhood-coordination-officers.page. William J. Bratton, “The NYPD Plan of Action,” (New York: New York City Police Department, 2015), http://home.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/ home/POA/pdf/Plan-of-Action.pdf. Special considerations for small agencies Although many small communities are spread over large geographical areas, which can present com- munity policing challenges for law enforcement leaders, many small agency executives would none- theless argue that community policing is the very nature of a small town agency. Law enforcement personnel routinely engage with residents, often live in the community, and are active in the community through organizations or youth sports, all of which create strong relationships and help to legitimize the organization. Additionally, town governance frequently is very public, with high attendance at bud- 36. Davis, et al., “Revisiting ‘Measuring What Matters’”; Sparrow, “Measuring Performance in a Modern Police Organization”; Skogan, “Measuring What Matters.” Community Policing 19 get hearings, town meetings, and other local functions; this level of civic participation makes residents the ultimate arbiter of what constitutes quality policing. This intimacy of small communities requires law enforcement executives in small agencies to have their fingers on the pulse of the community, and to identify and address problems in keeping with its desires. Smaller communities, like their larger counterparts, have also expanded law enforcement’s mission to focus on quality of life issues and the task of coordinating community services—responsibilities pred- icated upon mutual trust and respect. To meet these responsibilities, smaller agencies should form and strengthen relationships with social service agencies, nonprofit groups, local faith-based organizations, and other service providers. Agencies can establish school resource officers within local schools to pro- vide coaching, mentoring, and other non–law enforcement initiatives. Another initiative that may consume little time but provide significant benefit is holding an annual meeting with a number of engaged community members. This meeting should be conducted using a SWOT methodology, in which a facilitator asks those attending to identify the agency’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and logs them for further discussion and action. Engaging the community in directing the delivery of law enforcement services strengthens the relationships necessary to maintain an atmosphere of legitimacy. Checklists to implement The following checklists are adapted from those in Community Policing Explained: A Guide for Local Governments (Fisher-Steward 2007) 29–34. Checklist for prioritizing problem solving Determine outcome measures needed to accurately assess progress toward the objectives outlined within the strategic plan, across all operational units and including internal functions that support external operational entities. Identify the systematic approach the agency will take in assessing all facets of its operation to ensure it achieves the goals of the strategic plan. Establish the data elements and indicators that need to be collected or obtained. Determine what instruments will be used to gauge qualitative indicators of the community’s perception of its relationship with the law enforcement agency; establish how the commu- nity will have ready access to provide feedback; and design instruments to provide a true reflection of community perceptions. Determine processes to be implemented to ensure necessary data elements are being rou- tinely captured and analyzed. 20 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD Determine internal benchmarks to ensure all personnel meet the tenets of police legitimacy, including monitoring how law enforcement personnel use their discretionary authority, any disparity with respect to enforcement actions, and how personnel establish long-term reso- lutions to reoccurring or chronic issues. Develop internal measuring mechanisms to capture the perceptions of personnel, in order to gauge whether the agency is meeting all four elements of internal procedural justice. Identify data elements to be exchanged between partnering agencies as part of the overall evaluation of the law enforcement agency, and ensure that this exchange does not encroach on privacy or protected information. Determine how evaluative information will be shared with the community. Convene internal forums to assess the overall effectiveness of every operational unit within the agency (e.g., COMPSTAT-like processes). Develop assessment tools to evaluate the agency’s impact on underlying causative and con- tributory factors for crime, disorder, and fear, as well as its impact on quality of life. Checklist for achieving organizational transformation Assess the current state of law enforcement’s function, both internally and externally: Consider hosting internal and external focus group discussions about overall expectations and perceptions of the agency. Engage community members using a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) methodology. Conduct community surveys. Identify those community segments or interest groups with which the agency has a rela- tionship and consider reaching out to those groups where relationships can be improved or do not yet exist. Determine what cultural changes need to be made to transition the agency from its current mode of operation to one predicated upon community policing. Assess the agency’s current organizational structure to determine what changes to its pur- pose and function are needed to support community policing and engagement. Develop a comprehensive, organization-wide community policing and engagement strategic plan that incorporates the following elements: Vision statement Mission statement Community Policing 21 Core values of the organization Written strategies to adopt a community policing and engagement philosophy that incorporates the constructs of police legitimacy Alignment of operational plans among all functional units Consider involving agency personnel in the development of these values. Develop comprehensive job descriptions for all positions within the agency and clearly identify how each member of the agency contributes to the overall mission. Develop a written plan to orient members of the command staff and managerial and supervisory positions on the written strategic plan and identify their roles in supporting it. Identify the method and process by which each element of the strategic plan will be imple- mented and assessed. Coordinate all operational aspects to ensure alignment among operational units within the agency, in terms of both meeting the goals of the strategic plan and supporting other operational units. Develop a method to assess all operational units on compliance with the strategic plan. Provide timelines for phasing in the strategic plan. Provide a reporting system to keep the law enforcement executive continually informed on the agency’s progress. Develop a plan to instruct and orient members of the agency on the philosophy of community policing and engagement, especially as it relates to changes in their roles and responsibilities. Ensure that performance evaluations mirror job descriptions in their focus upon community policing. Hire employees committed to community-oriented delivery of law enforcement services to mirror the agency’s community policing philosophy. Develop internal mechanisms which fully support the components of internal procedural justice in all areas, including the following: Internal vertical and horizontal communication Employee health, safety, and wellbeing Performance evaluation systems Promotional criteria Recruitment criteria Early intervention strategies to support employees 22 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD Disciplinary processes Value-based training Employee recognition and rewards Clearly identify and articulate the role of managerial and supervisory personnel in continually providing guidance, mentoring, and counseling to employees as they migrate from current practices to those envisioned within the strategic plan. Checklist for developing community partnerships and collaboration Open dialogue with all community segments and interest groups to understand their expectations of the law enforcement agency, to strengthen collaboration, and to establish community partnerships where none now exist. Incorporate feedback on community expectations into the strategic plan as a continuous feedback loop. Design, establish, and maintain deployment strategies to provide opportunities for law enforcement personnel assigned to various neighborhoods and communities to build relationships. Identify alternative approaches to respond to the needs of vulnerable populations. Identify governmental agencies, social service providers, advocacy groups, and other service delivery organizations; establish working collaborative relationships with them; and promote a common alignment of missions. Assess how the agency engages in policing services within the community. Examine whether communities, neighborhoods, and interest groups are “being policed” or whether the policing style promotes shared responsibilities. Ensure operational guidelines require law enforcement personnel to employ external procedural justice with the public, regardless of the nature of the engagement. Establish continual feedback to the agency to allow for real-time assessments and changes in practices. Create greater transparency in all of the agency’s interactions and manage expectations for when limitations or restrictions are required and appropriate. Assess the agency’s engagement in active outreach initiatives: Go beyond scheduled meetings and community events. Expand the agency’s network to those communities, neighborhoods, and interest groups who traditionally have not had a positive relationship with law enforcement. Community Policing 23 Assess plans to expand the agency’s community advocacy role to build upon social net- works and support various neighborhoods, communities, and interest groups. Checklist of community policing practices to consider Identify key community stakeholders with whom partnerships could be established or strengthened. Build a community stakeholder database. Implement effective communications strategies: Traditional outreach efforts Web presence / social media Community alert systems, such as Amber Alerts, community-sponsored alerting systems, or community / neighborhood-controlled networks such as Nextdoor® Smartphone applications Crisis communications Establish neighborhood watch programs and community councils. Host Citizen’s Academies, volunteer programs, or clergy councils. Engage in Coffee-with-a-Cop activities. Share calls for service data online to inform and engage the community. Host or participate in community forums. Effect personnel and resource changes to implement community policing. Create district or geographical policing models that support community policing efforts. Engage in youth-oriented outreach efforts, such as Police Activities Leagues. Engage other city or county departments and elected officials in community policing plan- ning and implementation. Establish Community Advisory Panels and engage in ongoing, active discussions with them to solicit input and feedback on department strategies. 24 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD Summary Law enforcement—and the community’s expectations of law enforcement agencies—has been catapult- ed to the forefront of public discussion. Today, chief executives face the traditional task of controlling crime, disorder, and fear, alongside the equally important need to earn community trust, participation, and cooperation—all while operating in the new environment created by an ever-expanding social media universe. The techniques and philosophy that underpin community policing continue to evolve to acknowledge the history of local communities and to respond to contemporary concerns and tech- nologies more effectively. As a result, law enforcement executives seeking to address crime and disorder within their jurisdictions, and who want to intervene and resolve underlying issues that affect public safety, need to begin by developing a clear, actionable, and written strategic plan in collaboration with a broad set of stakehold- ers. The goal of this plan should be a cultural transformation that places community policing at the center of every employee’s daily activities; that ensures procedural justice is understood and practiced at all levels of the organization; and that emphasizes developing constructive, collaborative relation- ships internal to the agency and externally with other governmental entities, social service providers, advocates, and nongovernmental organizations. This task requires overcoming internal and external environmental hurdles and embracing a problem- solving approach to every obstacle. Once the comprehensive community policing strategic plan has been developed, chief executives need to support internal and external organizational change. Inter- nally, law enforcement executives need to support the precepts of procedural justice across the agency, train all personnel on community policing, reevaluate metrics of community policing success, and pri- oritize employee safety and wellness. Externally, law enforcement leaders should continually engage the community, treat every community contact as a valuable opportunity to earn trust, focus on areas that have historically been places of crime and disorder, and earn community trust by fostering an atmo- sphere of openness and transparency. Successful law enforcement leaders and personnel who can capture this true vision of community policing and effect these positive changes will pave the way for improved relationships with the various communities they serve. Moreover, they will enhance the level of professional law enforcement services all members of their agencies provide, establish formal ways to leverage the many resources external community stakeholders can contribute to addressing the social issues that drive crime and disorder, and set the standard for professional policing well into the future. 2. De-Escalation Why is this issue important? Although its exact definition is disputed, de-escalation refers in this guide to the range of verbal and non-verbal skills used to slow down the sequence of events, enhance situational awareness, conduct proper threat assessments, and allow for better decision-making, in order to reduce the likelihood of a situation escalating into a physical confrontation or injury. Maintaining public trust is an essential element of effective policing. Without trust, public deference to police legal authority diminishes, and minor incidents are more likely to escalate to use of force. A key factor in enhancing an agency’s legitimacy in the eyes of the community is reducing the need for use of force through the practice of de-escalation whenever possible. The concept is not entirely new—it has been a part of law enforcement use of force training for decades, especially for encounters with persons with social, psychological, chemical, or other impair- ments. In recent years, however, media coverage of high-profile police use of force cases has heightened scrutiny of law enforcement actions and affected the perception of police legitimacy across the nation, most notably in communities of color. In response to this scrutiny, de-escalation training for law enforcement personnel has grown in popularity. To meet community expectations, law enforcement administrators may feel pressure to develop policies requiring employees to receive de-escalation training as part of their agency’s overall use of force training curriculum. The introduction of de-escalation training into an agency can provide an opportunity to open lines of communication between members of the community, agency personnel, and political leadership. Crucial conversations about use of force and the related training should take place before a critical incident occurs to be effective. During the emotional aftermath of a crisis, especially a deadly force incident, little can be said or done to appease constituents who have suffered a loss or perceive some level of misconduct on behalf of the law enforcement agency. Creating an understanding of how law enforcement personnel respond to situations—and more importantly, why they respond the way they do—can help reduce mistrust. Enhanced understanding and trust can significantly improve subjects’ levels of compliance during encounters with law enforcement personnel and improve personnel safety during tense encounters with the public. Key points and challenges Many law enforcement agencies offer some form of de-escalation training. A 2006 study looking at use of force in a sample of more than 500 agencies from around the U.S. found 60.1 percent of respond- ing agencies had offered “de-escalation and defusing techniques” training—as defined by the agency— 26 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD in the previous two years.37 (The report did not identify what activities constituted de-escalation and defusing techniques training, but they were distinct from other categories including “use of deadly force,” “arrest and control tactics,” “use of other less-lethal weapons,” “physical combat skills,” “dealing with citizens with mental illness,” “officer survival,” and “mediation skills/conflict management.”) Many more agencies made conceptually similar trainings available to personnel during the same period. The reason law enforcement personnel in general are not focused on the value of de-escalation training may be the challenge of demonstrating that de-escalation efforts in the field actually lessen the need for use of force. Without proof that de-escalation techniques lead to different outcomes, why push for de- escalation training? Over the last decade, research on procedural justice has demonstrated that when vol- untary compliance with the law improves, so does employee safety.38 However, law enforcement leaders have work to do in engaging internal stakeholders to understand the value of de-escalation and incorpo- rate it into their practice. It is worth reminding stakeholders that many de-escalation skills are grounded in crisis negotiation techniques that police crisis negotiators have used successfully for years in hostage or barricaded suspect situations, and that these skills can be leveraged and applied in the field more generally. Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation suggests that 29 of 543 persons who killed law enforce- ment officers over a ten-year period, or 5.3 percent, were known to the agency to have mental health issues, and that nine of these officers were killed responding to issues involving a person in crisis.39 An- other study from 17 states estimated the rate of officers killed by persons in crisis to be 13.3 percent.40 Furthermore, research suggests that law enforcement may be at an elevated risk of injury when dealing with people in crisis as well.41 Therefore, efforts to implement de-escalation tactics in crisis situations are as much about front-line personnel safety as they are about reducing the number of use of force incidents or enhancing police-community relations. Law enforcement executives would be well served by stressing the value of de-escalation for safety reasons, particularly if their efforts are perceived as motivated by community relations priorities. Brief summary of academic literature The term de-escalation came to law enforcement in the 1980s from the literature and practices of health and psychiatric care systems.42 Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training and de-escalation techniques have many similarities. The primary difference between the two is that de-escalation can be applied to all encounters between law enforcement and community members, whereas CIT training focuses princi- pally on individuals suffering from mental illness. By approaching encounters with community members according to the principles of de-escalation, first responders can reduce the need for force, reduce injuries to themselves and the people with whom they interact, and enhance the legitimacy of the organization.43 37. Smith et al., “A Multi-Method Evaluation.” 38. Cunningham, “Creating and Promoting a Culture of Officer Safety and Wellness.” 39. FBI, “Law Enforcement Officers Feloniously Killed.” 40. Blair et al., “Occupational Homicides of Law Enforcement Officers.” 41. Cordner, People with Mental Illness. 42. Oliva, Morgan, and Compton, “A Practical Overview of De-escalation.” 43. Taheri, “Do Crisis Intervention Teams Reduce Arrest.” De-Escalation 27 However, to date, there is still limited empirical literature examining the effects of de-escalation in law enforcement beyond CIT. Therefore, much of what we know about de-escalation comes from the empirical literature of clinicians.44 These practitioners were—just as law enforcement agencies are today—looking to reduce the instances of violent or otherwise disruptive behaviors in healthcare set- tings.45 Practitioners widely agree that de-escalation is a crucial skill for these clinicians, but the precise definition of de-escalation is disputed.46 However, it is generally understood that de-escalation encapsu- lates a wide variety of specific verbal and non-verbal skills to reduce violence and mitigate the need to use other means of behavioral controls or force. Research has identified five attributes common to the clinical literature of de-escalation: communica- tion, self-regulation, assessment, actions, and maintaining safety.47 1. Communication encompasses specific verbal and non-verbal strategies to begin an effective dialogue with an individual and earn that individual’s trust and cooperation. 2. Self-regulation reflects skills and techniques used by individual service providers to manage their emotional or behavioral responses to an individual encounter. This includes techniques that they can use to provide the subject time and space to cool down. 3. Assessment is the task of collecting as much data about the person and situation as possible to make informed decisions about subsequent actions, including understanding when using force becomes imperative. 4. Actions refer to the behaviors and activities a service provider can engage in to reduce the likelihood and the severity of use of force. 5. Maintaining safety describes the paramount need of service providers to ensure their own welfare and public safety. Specific actions can reduce the likelihood that they will be injured if the person becomes violent or coercive methods of control are required. The de-escalation process operates on a continuum from support to control.48 Each of these five attri- butes has more passive and more active techniques that can be employed as the situation develops. It may be necessary to both escalate and de-escalate the specific techniques employed as the situation develops in an effort to reduce the likelihood of aggressive behavior or violence—or the use of physical force. Clinical research suggests de-escalation is effective at reducing the transition from aggression to violence or use of force in 80 percent of incidents.49 However, much of this literature suffers from methodological limitations that prevent identification of the mechanisms through which de-escalation 44. Oliva, Morgan, and Compton, “A Practical Overview of De-escalation.” 45. Duperouzel, Helen, “It’s OK for People to Feel Angry.” 46. Bowers, “A Model of De-Escalation.” 47. Bowers, “A Model of De-Escalation.” 48. Price et al, “The Support-Control Continuum.” 49. Taheri, “Do Crisis Intervention Teams Reduce Arrest.” 28 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD succeeds or fails, or how those mechanisms generalize to law enforcement. One of the key questions that remains unanswered is whether the skills to engage in effective de-escalation are innate, developed through experience, or both. Research reveals support for both arguments, although some research indicates de-escalation is a skillset that can be taught and modeled for others.50 Despite these limitations, the clinical literature is vastly more informative than the literature about the efficacy of de-escalation in law enforcement; and despite unanswered questions about how organizations can extract the maximum benefit from de-escalation, the practice appears promising. Summary of existing DOJ and other resources In the wake of several high-profile use of force events, the concept of de-escalation has entered the lexicon of law enforcement executives and employees. Most of the literature and publications looking at de-escalation tend to focus on it as a skill to be used when dealing with people in crisis (i.e., CIT). However, the Task Force on 21st Century Policing51 clearly articulated that de-escalation should be more broadly applied to all law enforcement encounters. Currently, there is a relative dearth of litera- ture offering guidance to agencies interested in adopting a de-escalation mentality. De-escalation is about changing the conversation on use of force from what is legally permissible under Graham v Connor to what is the best outcome for the safety of the public and law enforcement per- sonnel—or, as the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) report Guiding Principles on Use of Force52 put it, from what front-line personnel can legally do to what they should do. Making this transition requires at least two things: shifting the mentality of law enforcement personnel and providing skills- based training. Law enforcement personnel should be encouraged to more fully embrace a guardian mentality. From Warriors to Guardians: Recommitting American Police Culture to Democratic Ideals53 suggests that many law enforcement employees assume that residents are more concerned with the crime rate than with how the police treat them, which is not necessarily true. One way to address this misunderstand- ing is to change the way in which law enforcement recruits are trained. Agencies should carefully examine which training topics receive the most attention during training and how that translates to operational priorities in new law enforcement personnel’s minds. The two broad categories of de-escalation techniques are tactical and verbal. Most of the academic research to date on these techniques has focused on training, particularly with respect to use of force. The Collaborative Reform Initiative’s Final Report of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department54 50. Oliva, Morgan, and Compton, “A Practical Overview of De-escalation.” 51. President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Final Report. 52. PERF, “Guiding Principles on Use of Force.” 53. Rahr and Rice, “From Warriors to Guardians.” 54. Fachner and Carter, “Collaborative Reform Model Final Assessment Report.” De-Escalation 29 notes that after training officers improved their use of tactical de-escalation techniques, which focus on slowing down the encounter and creating time and space to diminish the need to use force straight- away. Officers may struggle with successfully employing verbal de-escalation techniques, which focus on building rapport and empathizing with the person to gain voluntary compliance. The Seattle Police Department’s Policy Manual55 provides a detailed list of tactical and verbal de-escalation resources that officers can employ while working to de-escalate a situation. One promising training that tries explic- itly to tie together these two elements is the Integrating Communications, Assessment, and Tactics56 training designed by PERF. Best or promising practices in the field Data suggest that at least a quarter of the American population has contact with law enforcement each year.57 The vast majority of these encounters do not involve law enforcement use of force or community member violence. Front-line personnel in these encounters balance the demands of reducing crime, improving quality of life, and enhancing public safety—including the welfare of the law enforcement member. To achieve these goals, agencies should consider a dual approach for engaging internal and external stakeholders based on a philosophy that ensures policy changes are linked to robust training. In this section, we offer a research- and practice-based roadmap to developing de-escalation skills, practic- es, and policy, and to earning community collaboration and trust. Before committing to developing a de-escalation policy or including specific de-escalation mandates in a use of force policy, it is imperative to reach an understanding of the term. Additionally, administra- tors need to be aware that certain situations do not easily lend themselves to de-escalation techniques, and that officers’ abilities to engage in de-escalation may be limited. For example, human performance under stress is affected by psychological, physiological, and biological limitations. Most importantly, cognitive ability can be reduced by up to 80 percent in stressful situations.58 This means first responders under significant stress may not be able to process information or access language centers of the brain necessary to engage in successful de-escalation. This diminished mental processing capacity—when added to the physiological degradation that occurs when under stress—results in auditory exclusion or functional vision loss that may contribute to unnecessary force escalations.59 Understanding these limitations and communicating them to the community is necessary to manage expectations. They should be explained proactively whenever possible, through town hall meetings, presentations, training opportunities, or newsletters. 55. Seattle Police Department, Manual, “De-escalation Policy.” 56. PERF, “ICAT – Integrating Communications, Assessment, and Tactics.” 57. Langton and Durose, “Police Behavior during Traffic Stops.” 58. Anderson, Litzenberger, and Plecas, “Physical Evidence of Police Officer Stress.” 59. Anderson, Litzenberger, and Plecas, “Physical Evidence of Police Officer Stress.” 30 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD Practice 1: Link policy to robust training As most experienced law enforcement executives attest, simply changing a policy does not necessarily guarantee organization-wide compliance, especially if the policy change is not viewed as beneficial to front-line personnel. People are often resistant to change. A strategy for combating this resistance is to bring together the agency’s use of force, firearms, and patrol procedures trainers to evaluate what, if any, de-escalation techniques are taught in their current training programs. Working collaboratively, the instructors can integrate de-escalation techniques into their respective training curricula. Incorporating de-escalation techniques into all applicable training is important because it is during this training that true behavioral change takes place, especially if the trainers are able to demonstrate how de-escalation enhances employee safety. Practice 2: Allow time to adapt and provide opportunities to practice If agencies try to change unilaterally or without explanation the practices and techniques that front- line personnel believe work for them, individual receptiveness to the new training may be compro- mised. Therefore, another best practice is to teach the concept, demonstrate the techniques, and have law enforcement personnel perform their new skills. The chances of employees using their newly acquired skills depends greatly on the amount of time spent exercising those skills in realistic scenar- io-based training and the number of successes they have in using those skills. Generally speaking, peo- ple do not simply revert to their training, as is often said. Instead, they revert to training and experience that has proven successful to them in the past, which underscores the importance of hands-on training when learning de-escalation techniques. During the training phase, it is imperative that safety tactics not be compromised, as de-escalation is not a substitute for effectively mitigating immediate threats. Agency leaders should make sure that trainers make good use of debriefing sessions with both the trainees and the observers. Practice 3: Expect all supervisors to support a culture of de-escalation First-line supervisors have the most contact with personnel in the field and are positioned to affect both their behavior and the agency’s culture. Law enforcement executives should ensure all supervisors understand the importance of de-escalation to the agency and are able to contribute to supporting the culture of de-escalation. Supervisors should clearly articulate the agency’s philosophy, be encouraged to reinforce that message during roll call briefings, and take advantage of situations in the field to dis- cuss the importance of de-escalation. When reviewing subordinates’ use of force actions and reports, supervisors should discuss whether de-escalation techniques were implemented and whether they were successful. They should use the discussion as a training opportunity to improve future performance. Supervisors should support and reward employees’ attempts to de-escalate situations. De-Escalation 31 Practice 4: Set up officers and deputies to succeed—not to fail The goal of de-escalation training should be to have front-line personnel make better use of time and space to allow for enhanced situational awareness, proper threat assessment, and better decision- making. Agencies should introduce de-escalation training in the academy and reinforce the skills through continued, routine education. They should take steps to ensure personnel can practice and demonstrate successful de-escalation skills in training situations, so they are confident employees can implement such skills in the field while ensuring their own safety. Simply developing a policy requiring de-escalation— without ensuring personnel can practice de-escalation successfully—is not an adequate approach. Following the implementation of a de-escalation policy, any claim of excessive force should trigger an examination of the training associated with the new policy. A written policy alone, without demon- strated competence, does not shield the employee, agency, or municipality from liability. Law enforce- ment executives have a responsibility to their communities and employees to ensure the implemented policies and training are realistic and do not set false expectations for all involved. Practice 5: Reward successful de-escalation efforts Executives should create programs to recognize law enforcement personnel who have successfully de-escalated a situation and prevented injuries. Policies for agency commendations and other recogni- tion should be designed to value those instances where de-escalation was successful, just as other heroic acts are rewarded.60 Practice 6: Engage the community in training and policy development As with any policy of significant public impact or interest, a best practice is to include community members in the development of training, policy, and the organizational implementation of both. Com- munity inclusion has many benefits. It demonstrates to the community that the chief executive and the agency are committed to community policing and aware of the community’s perception of police use of force. It also demonstrates the agency’s understanding of how the management of use of force can affect public trust and represents a proactive effort to reduce the number of use of force incidents. When engaging the community in training and policy issues, law enforcement agencies often tend to seek out groups or individuals with whom they already have relationships or who have been their long- time advocates. On the topics of use of force and de-escalation, it is critical to engage segments of the community who have not traditionally been accepting of the police function or policing tactics. To earn community trust and engage groups that traditionally have not been included in conversations around law enforcement, chief executives should take advantage of individual relationships with lead- ers of social service and religious groups, mental health providers, and educators to encourage broader participation in de-escalation discussions. These members of the community often work closely with 60. Wasserman, “Building Relationships of Trust.” 32 Law Enforcement Best Practices LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FIELD people who may not have a good rapport with law enforcement. By bringing these voices into the dis- cussion, agencies show their willingness to hear suggestions and criticisms about not only use of force issues, but also a whole host of other law enforcement–related concerns. Initially, these conversations can be difficult. They require great persistence and a desire to improve real and perceived shortcomings and weaknesses. But establishing these critical lines of communication— and responding positively to criticism and critique—will buttress community perceptions of procedural justic

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