Time for a Reset!

There is no doubt that police in America have been through a tough period of time since the 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Ferguson was a “water-mark” which began an intense journalistic focus and review of police behavior with regard to uses of force throughout our country.

Much of this scrutiny has come about with the advent of the cell phone and its video capabilities. One could easily question whether or not police behavior would have come under such an intensity without this technology at the hands of most every citizen.

Just this week another report surfaced regarding numerous cases of police sexually molesting women in their custody. The focus during the past decade has been on police use of deadly force, methods of selection and training, and the difficulties of police leadership in our cities today.

For me, it is high time police define themselves morally and ethically. What do you stand for, your morals, ethics, and values? How will you be accountable to, and work closely with, those whom you serve?

After the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, international protests, and the Black Lives Matter movement, I thought the culmination of all the questionable deaths, investigations, financial settlements, and pressures on police to improve, some significant improvements would be coming.

I was wrong. I should have known better.

As a 33-year career police officer, who led a medium-sized American city police department through two decades of change, I should have know the difficulty in implementing significant and lasting organizational improvement. (I recount that tumultuous journey in “Arrested Development“.) Change is always difficult. It takes time. And it takes tenure to see it through (Wisconsin law gave me job protection. Without it, quite frankly, I would have never lasted as long as I did!)

I have been gone from the ranks now for over 30 years. But since my retirement I have keep awake and alert — I wrote two books, published this blog for over a decade, and paid attention to what has been going on in our society. And I am worried.

Here’s what I expected to happen after Ferguson:

Police would reexamine Graham v. Connor (the legal standard set by the Supreme Court for uses of force) and raise that standard along the lines of the European Union’s “absolute necessity.”
Police would develop practices, strategies, and technologies that would reduce the 1,000+ persons killed each year by police.
Police would mandate that all candidates have a 4-year college education upon their application and be committed to “service above self.” (A good explanation of this concept is found here.)
Training would be significantly expanded to a period of 1-2 years and maintaining a “boot camp” atmosphere the training academy would be abandoned.
Upon graduation, probationary police officers would be closely supervised by a senior officer for a period of at least a year and that probationary police officers would not be permitted to make an unsupervised arrest during their time on probation.
Police in our nation would strongly commit themselves to a true, Community Oriented Policing style marked by its practice of Procedural Justice at all times, places, and people.
Police would come together nationally to develop and implement a set of beliefs and values that are critical for police in a free, diverse, democratic, and Constitutional nation and their leaders be committed to being “servant leaders;” that is, a leadership that focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of others, including employees, and the people in the community in which they serve.
Finally, police will never know how they are doing, and what needs improving, unless they survey their “customers” –those who have experienced their service. That includes those whom they have physically arrested. (Btw: I did if for years and it works!)