Recommended Best Practices
Recommendation 3.6: Integrate procedural justice into all enforcement activities.
To police fairly and build community trust, departments should adhere to the principles of procedural justice — that is, treating people with dignity and respect, and giving them a voice during police encounters; making neutral and transparent decisions; and having trustworthy motives.[i]All officers should be trained in procedural justice at the academy and on the job.
Leaders should integrate the principles of procedural justice externally, into all enforcement activities, and internally, into how they treat officers. Creating and sustaining a culture of procedural justice encourages officers to speak with members of the public (including those suspected of criminal activity) with fairness and respect; to listen to what people have to say; and to explain what is happening and why during encounters.[ii]
Some departments incorporate procedural justice concepts into fair and impartial policing policies. In California, the Sacramento Police Department acknowledges that “[d]uring a contact, misunderstandings may occur from an officer’s failure to explain why contact was made.”[iii] Even if the circumstances call for detaining someone, the policy nonetheless says officers “should inform the detainee of the reason for the contact if it will not compromise the safety of officers or other persons or an investigation.”[iv]The Charleston (South Carolina) Police Department’s Fair and Impartial Policing policy applies procedural justice principles to all stops.
The Charleston Police Department’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy
In an effort to prevent inappropriate perceptions of biased law enforcement, each officer shalldo the following when conducting pedestrian and vehicle stops:
- Introduce themselves to the person (providing name and assignment within the department) and state the reason for the stop as soon as practical, unless providing this information will compromise officer or public safety. In vehicle stops, the officer shall provide this information before asking the driver for their license and registration.
- Ensure that the detention is no longer than necessary to take appropriate actions for the known or suspected offense, and the citizen understands the purpose of reasonable delays.
- Answer any questions the citizen may have, including explaining options for traffic citations disposition, if relevant.
- Provide their name and badge number in writing on a business card as they are disengaging from the stop.
Source: City of Charleston Police Dep’t, City of Charleston Police Department Policy and Procedure Manual Administrative General Order 8: Fair and Impartial Policing, (Apr. 6, 2018), https://www.charleston-sc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/18114.
The Charleston Police Department requires officers to use procedural justice techniques in day-to-day practice.[v]Other departments view procedural justice training as an essential component of community policing. In 2016, the Fort Worth Police Department in Texas established a stand-alone Procedural Justice Unit tasked with “providing training and support to the Fort Worth Police Department and citizenry that enhances internal and external police legitimacy thereby increasing trust, reducing crime, [and] improving officer and public safety.”[vi]The unit also hosts meetings on topics of particular interest to the community, including implicit bias and intimate partner violence.[vii]
The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSCJTC) integrates procedural justice into its entire curriculum through the LEED Model (Listen and Explain with Equity and Dignity), which simplifies the key components of procedural justice.[viii]Recruits participate in mock scenarios and are graded on whether they listen to parties involved and effectively explain the reasons for their actions. Explanations must reflect fair and equitable decision-making, and all parties must be treated with dignity.
Departments can use this model to assess performance in the field by calling people whom officers contacted and asking them: Did officers take the time to listen to your side of the story? Did they explain the reasons for their actions? Did they do so in a way that you believe was fair and free of bias? Were you treated with dignity and respect? When officers meet the first two requirements, they usually also meet the third and fourth, and community members usually perceive equitable and dignified treatment.
[i] President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 10 (May 2015), https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf, citingLorraine Mazerolle, et al., Legitimacy in Policing: A Systematic Review, The Campbell Collection Library of Systematic Reviews 9 (2013).
[ii] Int’l Ass’n of Chiefs of Police, Model Policy: Standards of Conduct (Aug. 1997) (“Officers shall treat violators with respect and courtesy, guard against employing an officious or overbearing attitude or language that may belittle, ridicule, or intimidate the individual, or act in a manner that unnecessarily delays the performance of their duty.”); Megan Quattlebaum et al., The Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law Sch., Principles of Procedurally Just Policing 47-56 (2018), https://law.yale.edu/system/files/area/center/justice/principles_of_procedurally_just_policing_report.pdf; Nancy La Vigne, Pamela Lachman, Shebani Rao & Andrea Matthews, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Community Oriented Policing Services, Stop and Frisk: Balancing Crime Control with Community Relations21-22 (2014), https://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p306-pub.pdf.
[iii] Sacramento Police Dep’t, Sacramento Police Department General Orders 210.05: Bias-Based Policing (June 5, 2017), https://www.cityofsacramento.org/-/media/Corporate/Files/Police/Transparency/GO-21005-Bias-Based-Policing.pdf?la=en.
[iv] Sacramento Police Dep’t, Sacramento Police Department General Orders 210.05: Bias-Based Policing (June 5, 2017), https://www.cityofsacramento.org/-/media/Corporate/Files/Police/Transparency/GO-21005-Bias-Based-Policing.pdf?la=en.
[v] City of Charleston Police Dep’t, City of Charleston Police Department Policy and Procedure Manual Administrative General Order 8: Fair and Impartial Policing (Apr. 6, 2018), https://www.charleston-sc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/18114.
[vi] Fort Worth Police Dep’t, National Initiative, https://police.fortworthtexas.gov/About/national-initiative(last visited Dec. 18, 2018).
[vii] Fort Worth Police Dep’t, Fort Worth Police Department General Orders, 347.01 Police and Community Relationships 231-34 (Jul. 18, 2018), https://police.fortworthtexas.gov/Public/general-orders(download “General Orders”).
[viii] Seattle Police Dep’t., WA State Justice Based Policing Initiative, Apr. 25, 2011, http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2011/04/25/wa-state-justice-based-policing-initiative/.