Introduction

In 2014, the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri set off waves of protest that renewed the long-standing question around the proper role of law enforcement. It prompted reflection in communities, across law enforcement, and up to the president of the United States.

That year, President Barack Obama convened a task force to identify best policing practices to increase trust between police and the communities they protect and serve while effectively addressing crime. Released in 2015, the Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21^stCentury Policing (the President’s Task Force Report) makes recommendations to police departments to ensure fair, safe, and effective policing. It has inspired hope in the prospect of change, as police departments across America have wrestled with how to increase trust, fairness, justice, and mutual respect and put its recommendations into policy and practice.

Many departments, however, have yet to reach the report’s aspirations, and communities continue to struggle with how to ensure fair, safe, and effective policing. Police officer shootings of unarmed Black men comprise a disproportionately high number of police officer shootings; and Blacks and Latinx are overrepresented in other enforcement activities, including pedestrian and vehicle stops.[1]Recently, we have seen the improper exercise of discretion in police interactions, from arrests of people sitting in a coffee shop to questioning and frisking teenagers visiting a college campus.

These events have deepened distrust in the nation’s police force, especially in communities of color. They have reopened old wounds and cut new ones, and they remind us of our historically fraught relationship with a profession that swears to serve and protect. They remind us of violence against activists during the civil rights movement, of the enforcement of segregation and Jim Crow laws during the 19^thand 20^thcenturies, and of fugitive slave laws in centuries past.

We know that hundreds of thousands of police officers report for duty every day, with a mission to keep us safe and protect us from harm. And we are grateful to the majority of these officers who carry out this mission with dignity and honor, and especially to those who give their lives to the cause. They respond to violent crime, mental health and developmental disability crises, people with substance use disorders, interpersonal conflicts and intimate partner violence, mass shootings, terrorist attacks, and other tragedies that afflict our nation. We also recognize that there is no panacea to problematic police practices. Indeed, police officers work at some 18,000 departments in every type of community across America: large and small; urban, rural, and suburban; homogenous and diverse. We know that each department faces its own challenges and must create its own solutions to meet community needs and interests.

Nevertheless, we also believe that all departments should follow emerging best practices when protecting the public and preserving public safety. Police departments should develop policies and practices that support fairness, equity, procedural justice, legitimacy, transparency, and accountability — the values that build trust in policing, restore confidence in police, and, ultimately, heal wounds. More work is needed to achieve this goal.

Police departments can be resistant to change. Indeed, the warrior culture, which emphasizes police as enforcers of law rather than keepers of the peace, is deeply embedded in many police departments. This mindset heightens tension and widens the separation between departments and communities by propagating an “us-versus-them” mentality.

Yet, all sides should come to realize that law enforcement and the public share the same general goal: to live in safe communities. Reframing the narrative of police-community interaction away from opposition and around a shared set of goals will promote a healthier policing culture and create a stronger society, one where communities and police work together to coproduce public safety. Indeed, police reform dependson community engagement. Those who know and understand their public safety needs are best positioned to help police departments develop policies and practices to meet those needs.

This report and its accompanying toolkit were developed to give individuals, communities, activist groups, and advocacy organizations the knowledge and tools they need to carry out this important work. They are intended empower communities to hold police departments accountable by working together to address problems and to find the best way forward to coproduce public safety. The best practices recommended here are adaptable to every department, in every community across the nation; the ultimate goal is fair, safe, and effective policing that respects and protects human life and ensures safety for all.

The good news is that change is possible, and indeed is already well underway. We hope these resources spread these best practices farther, and faster, so that all people, of all backgrounds and all characteristics, are truly safe in America.

[1]See, e.g., Jeffrey A. Fagan et al., Street Stops and Broken Windows Revisited: The Demography and Logic of Proactive Policing in a Safe and Changing City, in Race, Ethnicity, and Policing: New and Essential Readings 309-10 (Stephen K. Rice & Michael D. White eds., N.Y. Univ. Press 2010) (describing the origins of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program and its disproportionate effects on people of color); U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Civil Rights Div., Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department 63 (2015), https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=95274(“Despite making up 67% of the population, African Americans accounted for 85% of FPD’s traffic stops, 90% of FPD’s citations, and 93% of FPD’s arrests from 2012 to 2014.”).

Policing Reform for the 21^stCentury

The Leadership Conference Education Fund advocates for communities impacted by unconstitutional practices by federal, state, and local governments. Police misconduct and abuse of power are antithetical to our country’s ideals of justice and equality for all. All people deserve to feel safe in their homes, in their communities, and in their country. Safety is a civil and human right without which society cannot thrive and democracy cannot function.  

We must rethink what public safety means and engage in collaborative reform to ensure that every person is safe, and every person feelssafe, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, familial status, immigration status, veteran status, health status, housing status, economic status, occupation, proficiency with the English language, or other personal characteristic. By integrating community voices into police policies and practices, developing a shared language to build trust between departments and communities, bringing people with diverse perspectives to the decision-making table, and harnessing the power of data to identify and address problems, police departments and communities can coproduce public safety.

This report serves as a starting point for communities and departments to work together to achieve police reform in the 21^stcentury. It covers best practices in a dozen areas that are fundamental to fair, safe, and effective policing. To be sure, more work is needed to bridge the divide between departments and communities impacted by harmful police practices. Together, through mutual respect and understanding, communities and police departments can coproduce public safety in a way that serves community interests as defined by the community — not the department that serves it.

The President’s Task Force Report establishes six pillars as the foundation for police practices that effectively reduce crime while building trust with the community. The best practices presented here build on those recommendations and are aimed at communities, advocacy organizations, police departments, and lawmakers who are interested in moving toward 21^st-century policing, addressing the proper role of police in crime and social problems, and advocating for community-based responses to noncriminal matters.

This guide provides specificpolicy recommendations for achieving the principles laid out in the President’s Task Force Report. We believe that by working together and using data to understand when policies and practices are not working, communities and police departments can realize fair, safe, and effective policing that protects and serves all members of the public, including police officers.

For each chapter, we surveyed the field for best policies and practices; consulted with advocates, members of impacted communities, and subject-matter experts; and reviewed reports and publications from leading police organizations, such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Police Executive Research Forum; national advocacy organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union; and government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Civil Rights Division. This report offers best practices that are grounded in research and provides examples of model policies, practices, and programs at departments around the country.

Recommended Best Practices

Recognizing problems with policing is the easy part; fixing them is less so. This report aims to help. It draws from the policies and practices of departments across the country that have adopted innovative reforms, informed by experience, community feedback, and expert advice, to address long-standing challenges. In total, we provide over 100 recommendations to reform policing, many of which include additional sub-recommendations that address specific topics in detail. The topline recommendations that follow lay out a roadmap to 21^st-century policing.

Community Policing. Community trust and confidence in police are foundational to community policing. The absence of trust and confidence arises from police tactics that disproportionately and negatively affect certain communities, especially those of color. These tacticsfray relationships and impede criminal investigations, making everyone less safe.

 

Police officers should understand that they earn trust — and can restore it — through actions that reflect the principles of community policing. A large body of evidence shows that people in communities that have collaborative partnerships with police departments feel safer in their communities and that positive police-community relationships encourage cooperation. To practice community policing, departments should work with communities to:

• 1.1

  Support local resolutions that embrace and require community policing as the key operational philosophy.

• 1.2

  Commit to community policing in mission statements, strategic plans, and leadership development programs.

• 1.3

  Commit sufficient resources to implement community policing.

• 1.4

  Embrace procedural justice as a guiding principle that informs policies, practices, and training.

• 1.5

  Reconcile with the community.

• 1.6

  Give communities a direct, ongoing say in police practices.

• 1.7

  Develop performance measures that reflect the principles of community engagement, collaboration, problem-solving, and trust-building.

• 1.8

  Give officers ample time to engage with community members and solve community problems.

• 1.9

  Build understanding of the societal causes and consequences of social problems.

• 1.10

  Implement policies for encounters with people with limited English proficiency.

• 1.11

  End the use of police in school as a solution to discipline.

• 1.12

  Prohibit officers from asking people about their sexual orientation or immigration status.

Bias-Free Policing. People experience discrimination based on a wide range of factors. Discriminatory police practices have sowed a deep distrust of law enforcement across our nation, especially in communities of color, and sparked outrage over systemic injustice and discrimination. To build trust, engage communities, and improve public safety, police leaders should make clear that discriminatory and biased-based policing have no place in police departments. To achieve this goal, they should develop policies and training programs that explain how officers can carry out law enforcement duties without bias, and they should specify prohibited conduct and behavior to ensure policing is fair, safe, and effective. To practice bias-free policing, departments should work with communities to:

• 2.1

  Adopt comprehensive bias-free policies.

• 2.2

  Ensure officers are trained in bias-free policing.

• 2.3

  Supervise, monitor, and hold officers accountable for policy violations.

• 2.4

  Take corrective action when data indicate bias-based policing.

• 2.5

  Address complaints and calls for service based on racial and ethnic profiling.

• 2.6

  Identify and investigate hate crimes.

• 2.7

  Collect, analyze, and publicly report data relating to bias-based policing.

• 2.8

  Create cultures of inclusivity and accountability and diverse workplaces.

• 2.9

  Work for broad social change.

Stops, Searches, and Arrests. Stops, searches, and arrests impose significant costs on liberty, disproportionately affect communities of color, and undermine vital relationships necessary for effective law enforcement. Federal and state constitutions establish the minimumprotections — but they are just that: minimumstandards that are not necessarily best practices or even common standards. Police departments should adopt best practices that go beyond these standards to better protect individual liberty, communicate performance expectations, and promote safe, bias-free, and respectful interactions between officers and community members. To protect privacy and allow for greater freedom of movement without compromising safety or effectiveness, departments should work with communities to: 

• 3.1

  Encourage officers to consider the costs of stops, searches, and arrests.

• 3.2

  Ban formal and informal quotas.

• 3.3

  Ensure officers inform people of their rights to refuse or revoke consent and to document it.

• 3.4

  Limit the use of pretextual stops.

• 3.5

  Seek search warrants whenever possible.

• 3.6

  Integrate procedural justice into all enforcement activities.

• 3.7

  Eliminate discriminatory and bias-based stops, searches, and arrests.

• 3.8

  Safeguard against unconstitutional surveillance.

• 3.9

  Provide comprehensive training on stops, searches, and arrests.

• 3.10

  Require detailed reporting of stops, searches, and arrests.

• 3.11

  Reduce reliance on arrests and incarceration.

The Use of Force. Officers take an oath to uphold the law, their department, and the community they serve, and to hold themselves and their fellow officers accountable for their actions. Yet they do not always do so, particularly when it comes to the use of force. Indeed, the use — and misuse — of police force is and has long been a flash point in American life.

To ensure fair, safe, and effective policing now in the future, community members and police leaders should work together to create clear and specific guidance and expectations on appropriate uses of force and equip officers to meet these expectations through training on implicit bias, procedural justice, de-escalation and harm-reduction tactics, and other areas. Communities that hold departments accountable for meeting expectations set forth in policy will change how departments understand and approach using force —without sacrificing public or officer safety. To protect communities and officers, departments should:

• 4.1

  Commit to respecting and protecting human life and ensuring safety for all.

• 4.2

  Permit the use of force only when necessary to resolve conflict and protect public and officer safety.

• 4.3

  Prohibit and regulate tools and tactics with a high risk of death or injury that are disproportionate to the threat.

• 4.4

  Set clear policies applicable to all force instruments.

• 4.5

  Set clear policies regarding specific force instruments.

• 4.6

  Ensure officers consider personal characteristics before using force.

• 4.7

  Require officers to intervene in improper uses of force.

• 4.8

  Require officers to render aid until medical assistance arrives.

• 4.9

  Provide continual, scenario-based training.

• 4.10

  Establish robust processes for reporting and investigating uses of force.

Responding to Crises. Police officers respond to a wide variety of calls, including — increasingly — crises relating to mental health or developmental disabilities and substance use disorders. This places a great burden on officers, who often respond repeatedly to the same people in crisis, and poses significant enforcement challenges. Indeed, police officers are not equipped to fill the role of psychologist, social worker, or behavioral health specialist. As such, our society should aim for the least “police-involved” responses to crises.

By providing adequate prevention, support, and referral services, departments and communities can divert people with mental health and developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, and substance use orders, from the criminal justice system.All departments should develop crisis intervention approaches that connect people in crisis to appropriate health services, and all officers should be trained to identify and handle crises. They should, in other words, see themselves as guardians of public safety. To limit their role in and respond more appropriately to crises, departments should work with and support communities, government officials, and service providers to:

• 5.1

  Develop integrated community-based support services to prevent crises.

• 5.2

  Develop integrated community-based services to respond to crises.

• 5.3

  Establish protocols for interactions with people with mental health or developmental disabilities or who are experiencing substance use disorder crises.

• 5.4

  Train emergency call operators.

• 5.5

  Train all officers in basic techniques to identify and manage crises.

• 5.6

  Pair crisis response teams with mental health and developmental disability co-responders.

• 5.7

  Carefully select crisis response program coordinators and officers.

• 5.8

  Partner with local service providers to coordinate responses.

• 5.9

  Adopt harm-reduction models for people with substance use disorders.

• 5.10

  Track officer responses to crises and assess crisis response programs.

The First Amendment and Safeguarding Free Speech. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects some of our most cherished rights: our right to speak and publish freely, to gather publicly in large groups, to petition and lobby our government, and to practice religion. These rights lie at the heart of our democracy, yet they are often a source of tension between police departments and the communities they serve.

Police leaders should implement policies and practices that respect and protect the public’s constitutional rights while maintaining public safety. To strike this balance, departments should train officers to serve in a wide range of unpredictable situations. Most importantly, they should create and sustain a culture that understands and respects both keeping the peace and exercising individual freedom. To respect and protect the public’s First Amendment rights while ensuring safe public assemblies, departments should:

• 6.1

  Clearly instruct officers about the public’s right to record law enforcement activities.

• 6.2

  Limit and closely supervise information-gathering techniques that target activities protected by the First Amendment.

• 6.3

  Engage in cooperative and strategic advance planning.

• 6.4

  Demilitarize officers and require them to interact with assemblers in a respectful and positive manner.

• 6.5

  Promote crowd-control tactics that are less likely to cause injury and set clear limits on the use of force.

• 6.6

  Hold officers accountable for their responses to public assemblies.

Accountability. Accountability is central to fair, safe, and effective policing; it deters misconduct and heals communities if and when officers violate law or policy. Officers and departments should be held accountable for performing in a way that complies with federal, state, and local laws, departmental policies, and community values. Doing so sends a message to communities that unjust and unconstitutional conduct is not tolerated and will receive swift discipline. Itbuilds public trust and, in turn, strengthens the legitimacy of police departments and the criminal justice system at large. A lack of accountability, in contrast, weakens the relationship between police and the people they serve, undermining departments’ efforts — and the ability of the entire justice system — to protect and preserve public safety.

Strong accountability systems also strengthen departments from within. Police departments, like all professional organizations, flourish when employees know what is expected of them and understand the consequences if they fail to meet expectations. Officers are also more likely — and more motivated — to consistently make good decisions if they know that leaders and colleagues are also accountable for their actions.

Accountability systems includeinternal mechanisms (e.g., rules, policies, and practices that ensure that department members are held responsible for their conduct) and external mechanisms (e.g., civilian oversight boards and independent prosecutors who hold officers accountable for misconduct). To create robust internal and external accountability systems, departments should work with communities to:

• 7.1

  Create transparent, effective processes to receive and respond to external misconduct complaints.

• 7.2

  Create transparent, effective processes to receive and respond to internal misconduct complaints.

• 7.3

  Delineate policies about how and by whom misconduct complaints are investigated.

• 7.4

  Develop policies for investigating and addressing sexual misconduct and intimate partner violence.

• 7.5

  Create transparent, effective processes for conducting misconduct investigations.

• 7.6

  Ensure supervisors discipline officers who engage in misconduct.

• 7.7

  Integrate the principles of procedural justice into disciplinary processes.

• 7.8

  Use early intervention systems to track officer behavior and address officer needs and deficiencies at the earliest opportunity.

• 7.9

  Investigate misconduct to the extent permissible after statutory or contractual time limitations have passed.

• 7.10

  Identify, maintain, and share material evidence relating to officer misconduct or credibility with prosecutors in criminal cases.

• 7.11

  Inform officers of their right to file complaints with outside agencies.

• 7.12

  Expand the role of community/civilian review boards and independent monitors in discipline.

• 7.13

  Establish clear protocols for determining who investigates and prosecutes officer-involved crimes and shootings.

• 7.14

  Oppose provisions that weaken accountability systems when negotiating collective bargaining agreements.

Data, Information, and Video Footage. Robust data collection allows leaders to evaluate policies and practices and to modify or eliminate those that are ineffective or have unintended negative consequences. Collecting and sharing data are important steps toward achieving transparency, as they allow communities to see what officers and departments are doing and enable community members to hold officers and departments accountable.

When collecting and sharing data, departments should not collect personal information (about personal characteristics, associations, activities, etc.) or use technologies that risk infringing on privacy rights. Body-worn cameras (BWCs) and “dashcams” play a valuable role in policing because they increase accountability and transparency — but they do so only when properly used. Without policies regulating how and when to use them, BWCs and dashcams can result in disproportionate surveillance and enforcement of heavily policed communities, especially communities of color, raising significant privacy concerns. To foster transparency and accountability and protect privacy, departments should work with communities to:

• 8.1

  Collect and publish demographic and enforcement data.

• 8.2

  Make data and information publicly available in accessible and alternative formats.

• 8.3

  Procure adequate systems to collect and store data.

• 8.4

  Release information about critical events in a timely manner.

• 8.5

  Develop clear BWC policies with community input.

• 8.6

  Implement storage practices and systems to preserve the integrity of video footage.

Leadership and Culture. Police culture refers to departmental beliefs and processes that influence how officers do their jobs. Culture manifests formally, in policies, procedures, and training programs, and informally, in the decisions and actions of those who are recruited and hired by the department, and in environments that encourage and discourage certain behaviors and attitudes.

Chiefs and other department leaders are uniquely empowered to shape departmental culture and ensure it reflects community values. But they cannot create culture change on their own. To adopt the values of 21^st-century policing in their departments, leaders should work closely with colleagues and community members.Chiefs and other department leaders can create buy-in for culture change via procedural justice — that is, through transparency, communication, and opportunities for input — during the decision-making process. To create a culture that promotes and supports community policing, departments should:  

• 9.1

  Ensure that core departmental values reflect community values and communicate them to all department members.

• 9.2

  Develop specific and actionable strategic plans.

• 9.3

  Create opportunities to actively develop leadership skills for all personnel.

• 9.4

  Develop performance-based requirements for promotion.

• 9.5

  Prioritize diversity and create a culture of equity and inclusion by working to eliminate racial, ethnic, and gender bias in the workplace.

• 9.6

  Ensure that field training incorporates core values and communicates them to new officers.

Recruitment, Hiring, Promotion, and Retention. Police departments should reflect the communities they serve and take a community-centered approach to their work — one that embeds the values and voices of all community members into department policy and practice. Doing so builds community trust and confidence in the vital work of law enforcement.

To achieve these goals, departments should employ and promote officers with community-centered mindsets toward policing; create and maintain transparent processes for recruitment, hiring,promotion, and retention; and assess — and remove — barriers to advancement facing underrepresented groups (e.g., people of color, religious groups, women, LGBTQ and gender non-conforming people, and others); and create and sustain inclusive cultures. To attract and retain officers who reflect the communities they serve and embody the values of equity, fairness, and procedural justice, departments should:

• 10.1

  Promote policing as a legitimate, honorable profession, especially to young people from underrepresented groups.

• 10.2

  Seek community input when making decisions about hiring and resource allocation.

• 10.3

  Develop recruitment plans that reflect departmental missions and community priorities.

• 10.4

  Reevaluate hiring qualifications and testing.

• 10.5

  Provide mentoring opportunities and test preparation support to candidates from underrepresented backgrounds in policing.

• 10.6

  Implement transparent policies and practices that are centered on internal procedural justice.

Academy and In-Service Training. Training is the foundation by which departments teach practices and tactics to police officers in a way that reflects and affirms a commitment to community values. It is the most effective way to reduce harm (both physical and psychological), preserve community relations, and protect and preserve public safety.

Training enables departments to ensure that officers have the knowledge and skills they need to engage in fair, safe, and effective policing. To serve communities well, officers should stay up to date on best practices and continually develop their skills. Yet no universal standards for police training exist; each state and jurisdiction has different requirements. To ensure officers understand and carry out departmental requirements and are trained to adhere to community-centered values, departments should:

• 11.1

  Ensure that basic recruit and in-service training covers a wide variety of skills, including crisis response, de-escalation, cultural competency, and leadership.

• 11.2

  Prioritize the development and implementation of rigorous in-service training.

• 11.3

  Directly involve community members in the development of training initiatives and curricula.

• 11.4

  Use contemporary adult education techniques in training programs.

• 11.5

  Carefully select field training officers (FTOs) and training staff.

• 11.6

  Develop robust programs to train officers to serve as FTOs.

• 11.7

  Treat service as an FTO as an important career step that factors into decisions about promotion.

• 11.8

  Keep complete, accurate, and up-to-date records of training curricula, materials, and attendance.

• 11.9

  Periodically review, audit, and assess training programs.

Officer Health, Wellbeing, and Safety. Police officers often respond to violent situations and crises, and many work in communities with high levels of gun violence and regularly bear witness to human tragedy. This puts them under great physical and mental stress, which can undermine their health and wellbeing and affect other parts of their lives. These effects go beyond officers themselves; they also affect loved ones and family members.

Officers who are equipped to handle stress at work and at home are more likely to make better decisions on the job and have positive interactions with community members. Officer wellbeing has a direct impact on communities, and improved mental health and emotional wellbeing are associated with better outcomes in police encounters. To take a holistic approach to health and wellbeing and support officers’ spouses, partners, and family members, departments should:

• 12.1

  Create a culture that supports and promotes wellbeing.

• 12.2

  Implement robust employee assistance programs.

• 12.3

  Create peer support and mentoring programs.

• 12.4

  Attend to and promote officer health and wellbeing.

• 12.5

  Incorporate officer health, wellbeing, and safety into operations.

• 12.6

  Establish post-crisis evaluation and treatment protocols.

• 12.7

  Provide officers with appropriate equipment.

Important Notes About This Report

The Community. America’s 18,000 police departments operate in our nation’s smallest hamlets and its largest metropolises, and the populations they serve vary greatly from place to place. In other words, there is no monolithic community or prototypical department.

But there are key principles and emerging best practices that should be embedded in all departments’ policies, programs, and practices. All departments should strive to promote the values of fairness, equity, procedural justice, legitimacy, transparency, and accountability. These values apply to every department across the country, whether it serves one large, homogenous community or a collection of micro-communities, each with its own culture, traditions, and language.

Departments that serve multiple constituencies sometimes face conflicting demands. To ensure that policies and practices do not disproportionately impact marginalized groups, departments should analyze data to identify how particular communities are impacted and seek input and collaboration from them when evaluating policy and practice.

Thus, when we speak of “communities” or “marginalized communities” we generally refer to those most impacted by biased or discriminatory police practices. This includes but is not limited to: people of color (inclusive of Black people, Latinx people, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islander Americans); people of various religions; LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming people; immigrants; people with disabilities, including mental health and developmental disabilities; people with substance use disorders, Deaf and hard-of-hearing people; people experiencing homelessness; low-income people; and people with limited proficiency in English.

Accordingly, community values are defined and articulated by the people living in these communities. Departments should work with communities to listen and understand their specific and unique challenges, needs, and interests. Together, communities and departments should develop a shared vision of public safety and a language that respects and recognizes the perspectives of all people.

Department Diversity. Because departments differ from each other, every recommendation in this report may not be appropriate for every department. But the underlying principles of each recommendation areapplicable to all departments and can be adapted accordingly.

For example, if a small department does not have the capacity to purchase and implement a robust electronic intervention system, it can implement a manual system to record data related to officer activities and performance. Regardless of size or place, departments can apply the broad principles laid out in this report as they strive to achieve fair, safe, and effective policing and coproduce public safety with the community.

Rules Governing Police Departments and Officers. It is important to understand how the field of law enforcement is structured in order to advocate for change. Several entities regulate police departments and the rules and laws that govern them. Policing is governed by federal and state constitutions, and police officers are bound to work within the confines of the law.

The federal government is responsible for ensuring that policing meets constitutional standards and can condition federal grants on the adoption of policies and/or training. State governments are responsible for protecting the rights guaranteed by state constitutions. State legislators can also pass laws setting general standards for departments — including certification of police officers; stops, searches, arrests, and uses of force; and investigations of officer misconduct. They can also mandate or incentivize policy change through conditions on state funding.

Mayors usually appoint chiefs of police or superintendents and oversee police departments. Local governments, usually through city councils, also enact laws on policing, approve budget proposals,and create and fund mechanisms to oversee departments. These mechanisms include short-term mechanisms, such as commissions and task forces, and long-term mechanisms, such as inspector generals, independent monitors, and civilian oversight agencies. Local governments can also empower existing city officials, like ombudspeople or public advocates, to monitor department activities and receive complaints.

Independent oversight bodies are established by mayors or legislators as permanent offices that have authority to investigate individual complaints and recommend appropriate discipline. They also review internal administrative investigations as well as department policies and practices. Police departments (and law enforcement agencies in general) develop and enforce policies, set departmental priorities, and impose discipline for policy violations. They are accountable to the mayor and local legislators, as well as to the community at large.

Police unions also have a great deal of power. They negotiate union contracts that govern wages and conditions of employment, such as requirements to use body-worn cameras, administrative investigation processes, and discipline and accountability processes. Union contracts typically are approved by city councils or similar municipal entities. 

Policy Examples. Throughout this report, we provide examples of model policies and programs. We caution that references to a department’s particular policy does not mean that the rest of its policies or programs reflect best practices. Likewise, reference to a specific provision within a policy does not mean that the policy as whole is regarded as a best practice.

This is to be expected. Policing is dynamic and fluid. Technologies are developing at a rapid pace, social problems are ever-changing, standards of fairness and justice are constantly evolving, and departments have to keep up. Moreover, department policies and practices are tailored to meet the needs of that department; some policies push boundaries and try new ideas, while others slowly embrace change. Many policies are described in the text of the report. However, many additional examples are included in the endnotes, which should be used when seeking more information.

Concluding Thoughts

Everyone in America deserves to live in safe communities. This is one thing that we can all agree on, even in a time of partisanship and polarization. And yet, while we are on common ground, we need a common language to foster better communication and collaboration among those seeking change.

We believe that true public safety requires communities and police departments to work together to coproduce it. As such, The Leadership Conference Education Fund’s Policing Campaign is proud to partner with all stakeholders, including individuals and communities, activist groups, advocacy organizations, and police departments, to realize this goal.

For guidance on how to implement the solutions recommended in this report, please read the accompanying toolkit, which is available at http://policing.civilrights.org/toolkit. Please also visit our website at www.policing/civilrights.org for information about the campaign and local initiatives. And please sign up for our mailing list at http://policing.civilrights.org/ to receive news and information about our policing work.