Improving Police Reform’s Racially- Based Justice Report Card

We use to assume that the slogan “to protect and to serve,” along with an officer’s publicly sworn oath would be enough to ensure that they “do right” by those communities. We have more than enough examples of bad policing practices that date back from the Rodney King Beating of ’92, to the more recent George Floyd killing, both of which were captured on recordings taken by bystanders. Not only do these wrongs resonate with the world, but seem to serve as America’s ongoing racially- based justice report card in evaluating the quality of protection police agencies give when serving marginalized communities.

As a former law enforcement executive, I have attended national police conferences on police use of force reform, created a city taskforce to evaluate community-police relations, and continue to make written contributions to state law on police legislative reforms. In addition to the need for reformed policing on a legislative and policy basis, we need effective immediate proposals for police reform for cities like Columbus Police Department, Chicago Police Department, and Brooklyn Center Police, and that comes down to implementing mentoring programs, hiring selections, and residency requirements.

Mentoring Programs

Fostering relationships in communities begins with having positive relationships with its youth. Police and youth relations could be established through a mentoring program where city departments, like the Board of Education, would identify at- risk youth and match them with police officers. The program may consist of police involvement in an on and off duty capacity; taking youth to football games, out for pizza, fishing, hiking and even camping trips. This program existed during my early days as a patrol officer in the late 1990’s. It was very successful in building long lasting relationships with youth in our communities.

I have taught young men how to build a campfire, and then, how to be a dad; many of whom reached out to me along the way for guidance, advice, or referrals to services at some point. They could have chosen different ways to deal with homelessness, unemployment, or emotional struggles, but chose to reach out to someone they believed could direct them to the resources they needed. All because of a relationship built through mentoring.

National police and youth programs like the Police Athletic League (PAL) have a longstanding positive and constructive history in building police and community relations, especially with young Black and Hispanic/Latino males. Unfortunately, it seems very little emphasis is put on this type of programming; therefore, it often lacks funding, personnel, and other vital resources.

Imagine having officers who are assigned to a walking beat that come to work and serve as the assistant coach for the neighborhood baseball or football team. Imagine if officers assigned to areas in a neighborhood spent two hours of their shift working with the chess club, helping youth plant in the community garden, or simply helping a child with their homework. Police will no longer be the outside force coming in and only interacting with the community in times of trauma, but an actual part of proverbial “village”.

Hiring

In the aftermath of 911, many American police agencies embarked on a movement to militarize the police. This was done by targeted recruiting of applicants with military service and offering 5–10 Veterans’ Preference points to the final passing score of the entry level police exams. For America to move towards demilitarizing its police force, the same robust approached must be taken to hire and attract applicants from a less militarized background. The assets needed in policing must change with our communities’ needs. We need officers who are equipped with the skills that can serve as intervention, de-escalation, and communication.

Departments should specifically recruit police applicants who have a background working in such fields as social work/ mental health, special education, nursing, drug and alcohol addiction, and youth services. Applicants from these fields possess the knowledge and competence that department’s may want their staff trained in, but may never have the budget to do so. On the next round of hiring, agencies like the Columbus Police Department, Chicago Police Department, and Brooklyn Center Police Department should include offering a signing bonus for any applicant actively working in those fields looking to make a career change. Police agencies need to put a greater emphasis on hiring applicants with the qualities that focus on serving the needs of Black and Brown Communities.

With the high rates of urban gun violence that come along with often living in economically challenged communities, residents have increased rates of exposure to urban trauma. Imagine calling 911 because you and your teenager had an argument and the officer who shows up recently worked as a family counselor. Also imagine the officers assigned to a walking beat in an area with a chronic homeless population, who have degrees in social work and drug addiction. Police will no longer be an occupying force, only interacting with the community when the system breaks down. Instead, a source serving as a crisis connection bridge that delivers much needed services.

Residency

It is my solemn belief that, “In order to have true community-based policing, the majority of a department’s officers must live, work, and play in the communities they are sworn to protect. Living in the community where they are working will create a social covenant between them and all aspects of the community they are paid to protect with the utmost level of dignity and respect.” This statement may alarm many of my colleagues around the country; however, it’s the shocking truth. During my career, this perspective seemed a catch- 22 because I was a Black man and a 21-year veteran officer who lived and policed the inner-city where I grew up; often walking the beat on the same streets I played on as a child.

For a city like Chicago, moving police officers who currently live out of town may prove to have many challenges. One proposal is to create a partnership with a Home Buyer Program to offer mortgage incentives for those officers. For police new hires, it should absolutely be a mandatory for officers to establish residency in the city where they are employed by the end of their two-year probationary period. Imagine 50% of officers who work in Chicago were living throughout the neighborhoods in Chicago. Imagine those officers interacting in the community where they work and live on a day-to-day basis with children, youth, families, civic organizations, religious groups, and community stakeholders.

As the many of these urban police agencies begin to think about the process of police reform and reallocating police resources, these proposed measures must be considered. They will not require big budget cuts or significant budget expansions. These are preventive measures aimed at restoring and cultivating relationships between police and marginalized communities. By taking this approach, when successfully managed, we will have set the stage for community-based policing to evolve and adopt the “Neighborhood Specific Policing” Method. The mission goal for policing must move from “Serve and Protect,” to “Establishing Community Wellness.”

References

Adams, Cydney. March 3, 1991. Rodney King beating caught on video. CBS News. Retrieved on Friday April 23, 2021 from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/march-3rd-1991-rodney-king-lapd-beating-caught-on-video/

City of New Haven, 2020. New Haven Police Applicant Handbook, PoliceApp, pg 11. Retrieved on Wednesday April 21, 2021 from https://www.policeapp.com/images/customer-departments/dept277/POLICE_OFFICER__08-17-20_thru_09-04-20__-_Application_packet_with_JOB_DESCRIPTION.pdf

Levenson, Eric. March 29, 2021. Former officer knelt on George Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds — not the infamous 8:46. CNN. Archived from the original on March 29, 2021. Retrieved Friday April 23, 2021 https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/29/us/george-floyd-timing-929-846/index.html

Photo Credit: Strategies for Youth, 9/28/2020. Retrieved May 4, 2021 https://www.svpboston.com/svp-boston-grantee-feature-strategiesforyouth

About the Author

Shafiq R. Fulcher Abdussabur is a community advocate for gun violence prevention, legislative police reform, entrepreneurship, job growth, and youth mentorship. In 2009, he authored A Black Man’s Guide to Law Enforcement in America, a straight talk manual to interactions between police and urban males. He currently serves on the Police Transparency & Accountability Task Force for the State of Connecticut. He is a retired law enforcement Sergeant with previous certification in FBI- LEEDS, Department of Homeland Security for Countering Violent Extremism, Amtrak RAILSAFE Counter Terrorism, and Daigle Law Group- Use of Force. His highlighted national lectures include 2016 Democratic National Convention panel speaker with Representative John Lewis “Disarm Hate: The Role of Guns in Hate Crimes,” Guest presenter at 2016 Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers- FLETC Summit on “Trending Issues in Policing,” and 2017 Guest Lecture at Yale University Divinity School “Black, American, Muslim, and Cop.”