Pillar 1: BUILDING TRUST & LEGITIMACY Flashcards
Decades of research and practice support the premise that people are more likely to obey the law when they believe that those who are enforcing it have the legitimate authority to tell them what to do.
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Procedurally just behavior is based on four central principles:
- Treating people with dignity and respect
- Giving individuals “voice” during encounters 3. Being neutral and transparent in decision making
- Conveying trustworthy motives8
Research demonstrates that these principles lead to relationships in which the community trusts that officers are honest, unbiased, benevolent, and lawful. The community therefore feels obligated to follow the law and the dictates of legal authorities and is more willing to cooperate with and engage those authorities because it believes that it shares a common set of interests and values with the police.9
Internal procedural justice refers to practices within an agency and the relationships officers have with their colleagues and leaders.
Research on internal procedural justice tells us that officers who feel respected by their supervisors and peers are more likely to accept departmental policies, understand decisions, and comply with them voluntarily
External procedural justice focuses on the ways officers and other legal authorities interact with the public and how the characteristics of those interactions shape the public’s trust of the police
It is important to understand that a key component of external procedural justice—the practice of fair and impartial policing—is built on understanding and acknowledging human biases,11 both explicit and implicit.
Law enforcement culture should embrace a guardian mindset to build public trust and legitimacy. Toward that end, police and sheriffs’ departments should adopt procedural justice as the guiding principle for internal and external policies and practices to guide their interactions with the citizens they serve.
There’s an old saying, “Organizational culture eats policy for lunch.” Any law enforcement organization can make great rules and policies that emphasize the guardian role, but if policies conflict with the existing culture, they will not be institutionalized and behavior will not change.
Law enforcement agencies should acknowledge the role of policing in past and present injustice and discrimination and how it is a hurdle to the promotion of community trust.
The process started with the commissioning of a study to evaluate the police department and the community’s views of the agency . . . . The review uncovered broken policies, outdated procedures, outmoded technology, and operating norms that put officers at odds with the community they are meant to serve. It was clear that dramatic and dynamic change was needed.
Law enforcement agencies should establish a culture of transparency and accountability in order to build public trust and legitimacy. This will help ensure decision making is understood and in accord with stated policy.
To embrace a culture of transparency, law enforcement agencies should make all department policies available for public review and regularly post on the department’s website information about stops, summonses, arrests, reported crime, and other law enforcement data aggregated by demographics.
Law enforcement agencies should promote legitimacy internally within the organization by applying the principles of procedural justice.
Research shows that agencies should also use tools that encourage employee and supervisor collaboration and foster strong relationships between supervisors and employees.
Law enforcement agencies should proactively promote public trust by initiating positive nonenforcement activities to engage communities that typically have high rates of investigative and enforcement involvement with government agencies.
In communities that have high numbers of interactions with authorities for a variety of reasons, police should actively create opportunities for interactions that are positive and not related to investigation or enforcement action.
In recent years, agencies across the county have begun to institutionalize community trust building endeavors. They have done this through programs such as Coffee with a Cop (and Sweet Tea with the Chief), Cops and Clergy, Citizens on Patrol Mobile, Students Talking It Over with Police, and the West Side Story Project.
Law enforcement agencies should consider the potential damage to public trust when implementing crime fighting strategies.
Overly aggressive law enforcement strategies can potentially harm communities and do lasting damage to public trust, as numerous witnesses over multiple listening sessions observed.
Law enforcement agencies should track the level of trust in police by their communities just as they measure changes in crime. Annual community surveys, ideally standardized across jurisdictions and with accepted sampling protocols, can measure how policing in that community affects public trust.
Trust in institutions can only be achieved if the public can verify what they are being told about a product or service, who is responsible for the quality of the product or service, and what will be done to correct any problems.
Law enforcement agencies should strive to create a workforce that contains a broad range of diversity including race, gender, language, life experience, and cultural background to improve understanding and effectiveness in dealing with all communities.
Many agencies have long appreciated the critical importance of hiring officers who reflect the communities they serve and also have a high level of procedural justice competency.
Law enforcement agencies should build relationships based on trust with immigrant communities. This is central to overall public safety.
At all levels of government, it is important that laws, policies, and practices not hinder the ability of local law enforcement to build the strong relationships necessary to public safety and community well-being.
