What would police leaders across the country say about improving police and assuring safety in their communities if they weren’t worried about keeping their jobs?
You are about to find out next month (kickoff date: June 11, 2024) when a number of police leaders take a big step forward — how to effectively p0lice a free and diverse society
Why is this important? Most police leaders today are tied up in partisan politics. And sometimes that means not being able to do what they know through their education, training, and experience is the right (and moral) thing to do!
Yes, we who are doing this are retired police chiefs and sheriffs (see the national advisory board and board of directors) Who best to offer the knowledge and wisdom gained over years in top leadership? Who best to comment and give advice in a field enmeshed today in fear and often nasty partisan politics?
So here we are: Police Leaders for Community Safety, “a nonpartisan national advocacy organization (501(c)4) established… to promote policies and public investments that make our communities safer, improve the profession of policing, protect public processes, and preserve human dignity of human life” — that is; committed to doing the right thing!
Experienced police leaders know the changes needed to improve public safety and policing in a free and diverse society like ours will not occur without effective advocacy. Therefore, our mission is to “conduct public education, advocate for federal legislation and Executive Branch action, and engage in robust mobilization of law enforcement leaders across the nation…”
Most importantly, while we have been restrained in the past, we will now endorse aligned political candidates. Our democracy is too fragile today not to take this important step!
Retired, senior police leaders are uniquely positioned to call for and lead the charge for needed changes. This will involve working “to build momentum and support for critical legislative measures – giving life to stalled legislation, and putting forth fresh solutions to improve public safety and the policing profession.”
We will be “advocates for higher standards for police leadership to ensure that agencies are professionally managed and that contemporary promising practices are widely implemented. We also advocate for new hiring and training standards for officers and support programs and resources – such as scholarships and service driven loan forgiveness – to attract new types of recruits and increase diversity.”
For example, “[T]echnologies and techniques that reduce the use of force… [P]olicies that give police agencies more authority to discipline and discharge officers who betray the public trust, and advocate for the use of a national registry of police who have been discharged for egregious conduct… And promote policies to ensure the continuity of equitable government processes, including ensuring that citizens are able to equally and safely participate in our democracy.”
Interested? Want to know more? Sign up for our newsletter and visit our website.
Lasting change and improvement in American policing will not come about without the active involvement of police leaders and community support.
Please stand with us. Make a contribution today – because we all deserve to be safe.
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 