President's Task Force: Pillar 1

Question 1

Name the six Pillars from the report

Answer 1

Pillar 1. Building Trust & Legitimacy
Pillar 2. Policy & Oversight
Pillar 3. Technology & Social Media
Pillar 4. Community Policing & Crime Reduction
Pillar 5. Training & Education
Pillar 6. Officer Wellness & Safety

Question 2

Procedurally just behavior is based on four central

principles:

Answer 2

1. Treating people with dignity and respect
2. Giving individuals “voice” during encounters
3. Being neutral and transparent in
   decision making
4. Conveying trustworthy motives8

Question 3

PILLAR 1 BUILDING TRUST & LEGITIMACY
Recommendation 1.1

Law enforcement culture should embrace a

Answer 3

(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

Question 4

PILLAR 1 BUILDING TRUST & LEGITIMACY
Recommendation 1.2

Law enforcement agencies should acknowledge the role

Answer 4

of policing in past and present injustice and discrimination and how it is a hurdle to the
promotion of community trust.

Question 5

1.2.1 Action Item: The U.S. Department of

Justice should:

Answer 5

develop and disseminate case studies
that provide examples where past injustices were
publicly acknowledged by law enforcement agencies
in a manner to help build community trust.

Question 6

PILLAR 1 BUILDING TRUST & LEGITIMACY
Recommendation 1.3

Law enforcement agencies should establish a culture of

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

1.3.1 Action Item: To embrace a culture of

transparency, law enforcement agencies should

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

1.3.2 Action Item: When serious incidents
occur, including those involving alleged police
misconduct, agencies should

Answer 8

communicate with citizens and the media swiftly, openly,
and neutrally, respecting areas where the law
requires confidentiality.

Question 9

PILLAR 1 BUILDING TRUST & LEGITIMACY
Recommendation 1.4

Law enforcement agencies should promote legitimacy

Answer 9

internally within the organization by applying the

principles of procedural justice.

Question 10

1.4.1 Action Item: In order to achieve
internal legitimacy, law enforcement agencies
should

Answer 10

involve employees in the process

of developing policies and procedures.

Question 11

1.4.2 Action Item: Law enforcement agency
leadership should examine opportunities to incorporate
procedural justice into the internal discipline
process,

Answer 11

placing additional importance on values
adherence rather than adherence to rules. Union
leadership should be partners in this process.

Question 12

PILLAR 1 BUILDING TRUST & LEGITIMACY
Recommendation 1.5

Law enforcement agencies should proactively promote public

Answer 12

trust by initiating positive nonenforcement
activities to engage communities that
typically have high rates of investigative and
enforcement involvement with government
agencies.

Question 13

1.5.1 action item: In order to achieve
external legitimacy, law enforcement agencies
should involve the community in the process of

Answer 13

developing and evaluating policies and procedures.

Question 14

1.5.2 action item: Law enforcement agencies

should institute residency

Answer 14

incentive programs

such as Resident Officer Programs

Question 15

1.5.3 action item: Law enforcement agencies
should create opportunities in schools and
communities for

Answer 15

positive nonenforcement interactions
with police. Agencies should also publicize
the beneficial outcomes and images of positive,
trust-building partnerships and initiatives.

Question 16

1.5.4 Action Item: Use of physical control
equipment and techniques against vulnerable
populations—including children, elderly persons,
pregnant women, people with physical and mental
disabilities, limited English proficiency, and
others—can undermine public trust and should

Answer 16

be used as a last resort. Law enforcement agencies should carefully consider and review their policies
towards these populations and adopt policies if
none are in place.

Question 17

PILLAR 1 BUILDING TRUST & LEGITIMACY
Recommendation 1.6

Law enforcement agencies should consider the potential

Answer 17

damage to public trust when implementing

crime fighting strategies.

Question 18

1.6.1 action item: Research conducted
to evaluate the effectiveness of crime fighting
strategies should

Answer 18

specifically look at the potential
for collateral damage of any given strategy on
community trust and legitimacy.

Question 19

PILLAR 1 BUILDING TRUST & LEGITIMACY
Recommendation 1.7

Law enforcement agencies should track the level of

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

1.7.1 Action Item: The Federal Government

should develop survey

Answer 20

tools and instructions for use of such a model to prevent
local departments from incurring the expense and
to allow for consistency across jurisdictions.

Question 21

PILLAR 1 BUILDING TRUST & LEGITIMACY
Recommendation 1.8

1.8 recommendation: Law enforcement
agencies should strive to create a workforce
that contains

Answer 21

a broad range of diversity
including race, gender, language, life
experience, and cultural background to
improve understanding and effectiveness in
dealing with all communities.

Question 22

1.8.1 Action Item: The Federal Government
should create a Law Enforcement Diversity Initiative
designed to help

Answer 22

communities diversify law enforcement
departments to reflect the demographics
of the community.

Question 23

1.8.2 action item: The department
overseeing this initiative should help localities
learn best

Answer 23

practices for recruitment, training,
and outreach to improve the diversity as well as
the cultural and linguistic responsiveness of law
enforcement agencies.

Question 24

1.8.3 action item: Successful law enforcement

agencies should be

Answer 24

highlighted and
celebrated and those with less diversity should be
offered technical assistance to facilitate change.

Question 25

1.8.4 action item: Discretionary federal

funding for law enforcement programs could be influenced by

Answer 25

that department’s efforts to improve their

diversity and cultural and linguistic responsiveness.

Question 26

1.8.5 Action Item: Law enforcement
agencies should be encouraged to explore more
flexible

Answer 26

staffing models.

Question 27

PILLAR 1 BUILDING TRUST & LEGITIMACY
Recommendation 1.9

Law enforcement agencies should build relationships based on trust

Answer 27

with immigrant communities. This is

central to overall public safety.

Question 28

1.9.1 action item: Decouple federal immigration

enforcement from routine local policing

Answer 28

for civil enforcement and nonserious crime

Question 29

1.9.2 Action Item: Law enforcement
agencies should ensure reasonable and equitable
language access for all

Answer 29

persons who have encounters

with police or who enter the criminal justice system.

Question 30

1.9.3 Action Item: The U.S. Department

of Justice should not include

Answer 30

civil immigration
information in the FBI’s National Crime Information
Center database. (Already discontinued)