Task Force Pillars

On December 18, 2014, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order establishing the President 's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The Task Force Members sought expertise from stakeholders and input from the public through Listening Sessions, teleconferences and written comments as they worked to identify best practices and make recommendations to the President. The Task Force submitted an initial report to the President on March 2, 2015 and released the final report on May 18, 2015 ("Final report of the resident’s task force on 21st century policing," 2015).

“Community policing is, in essence, a collaboration between the police and the community that identifies and solves community problems” (U.S. Department of Justice, 1994, p. vii). Throughout the years, community policing has become a more popular strategy to help law enforcement officials control and deter crime; however, some areas across the United States has had problems in the past with communities and law enforcement working together to ensure a secure and safe environment. Although it is an officer’s duty to maintain order, keep the peace, and solve problems within the area he or she

The third and present day era of policing is Community Policing. Community policing is an organization-wide philosophy and management approach that promotes community, government and police partnerships; proactive problem solving; and community engagement to address the causes of crime, fear of crime and other community issues (Hess, Wrobleski pg. 10). Community policing goes beyond the traditional policing from the previous eras. Officers are assigned to designated areas, in which they get to know the citizens of the neighborhoods they are assigned. They use a more effective means of patrol such as foot patrol, and bicycle patrol. They do not just patrol around in vehicles, and respond to service calls. This goes back to one of Peel’s principles, “Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public. The police must obtain a more involved relationship with the citizen of a community in order for the community to help the police with their patrolling to deter crime.

In cities and towns across the country, tragic deaths of citizens in confrontations with police have have spiked a wave of distrust for law enforcement. The bad perception for law enforcement is unfair to the officer’s who are dedicated, and mean well in their duties, yet unfortunately, it has created tension between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Due to the recent deaths and confrontations, reform proposals and new policies have been a national conversation to implement new initiatives to strengthen the bonds between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve. Although, confrontations between law enforcement and citizens in the community have spiked, the concept of community policing is not new. Throughout the years the philosophy of community policing has been to

The task force has several recommendation for how to build up trust and legitimacy. The first recommendation calls for police to change their mindset. Police need to not be seen as an occupying force. A citizen, Rufus Scales, who was affected by the racial profiling stated in the New York Times article that “whenever one of them is near, I don’t feel comfortable. I don’t feel safe.” As a member of the community he does not view the police a guardian but that they are against him. To fix this issue the police need to adopt a guardian mindset.

Law Enforcement officers have one of the most critical jobs in the United States. Their lives are always on the line and they are of high regards. This means they cannot fail! The results of their jobs do not only depend on their actions but also on the people. What this means is the community has a huge role when it comes to solving crime. Though many people may not believe it, they are the key to a successful crime prevention community. The people of the United States don’t really understand both the positive and negative effects that community policing actually brings. Some may say it is very dangerous based on their experiences. Others may say it’s the best way to do away with crime. Today the two will be compared and put to test by true officers serving our country. The facts will be stated and questions will be answered. Let’s take a look at what community policing is really all about!

Community relation issues across the nation have been increasing and causing many conflicts between law enforcement and communities. There has been so much disorder between communities and law enforcements not agreeing on how situation have been handled. Both the community and law enforcements having different perspectives on making decisions without ever looking at the others side and acknowledging each other’s reasoning behind their actions. Racism, responsibility and morals are some of many terms that are yet to be sorted out within all these communities that have on going conflicts. The relationships between a community and its law enforcement is important, although it is the police job to enforce, it is also the communities job to enforce all day and everyday (Russell).

The structural reforms need to starts with the police department. This is because police for a long time have engaged in racial profiling and it reached an alarming rate by the shooting of unarmed black man called Eric Garner in 2014 (Natarajan, 2014). The police appear to have had a direct to harass and shoot blacks. They need to be retraining on the best way to maintain law and order, enforcing criminal law and country out an independent and effective investigation without biases. The training of the police officers needs to adopt a cultural-specific orientation. This is specifically important for the officers who are assigned to work in areas with a high number of minority groups. Specifically, the training needs to introduce the police to cultural features of the neighborhoods, residents, organizations to help enhance their understanding of communities in which they

President Obama tasked the committee to form the 21st Task Force. The 21st Task Force is related to the NCJA committee because they both represent the U.S. population that comprised leaders from law enforcement, police unions, academia and civil rights organization to include the community members. Both the NCJA and the 21st Task Force can create and influence the future of policing and to represent different agendas in order to provide better and clear direction on how to build trust within the community (U.S. Department of Justice,

The purpose of this order is to curtail police misconduct and improve problem areas in policing, like brutality. With the use of steps or pillars the task force has included recommendations as follows: “Building Trust and Legitimacy, Policy and Oversight, Technology and Social Media, Community Policing and Crime Reduction, Officer Training and Education, and Officer Safety and Wellness” (Obama 2014).

In the wake of the 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, national attention has focused on the use of force by law enforcement (ACLU, 2016.) To rebuild trust between law enforcement and communities, President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the Task Force of 21st Century Policing. In 2015, President Obama met with members of his Task Force and delivered a message to the press which highlighted the need to collect more data and information stating; “…there was a great emphasis on the need to collect more data. Across this country, we’ve got 18,000 law enforcement jurisdictions. Right now [law enforcement and local communities] do not have a good sense,

In the recent times, a lot of attention has been put into diverting the role of law and leadership enforcement to life and property protection from a large number of external and internal dangers. Homeland security strategy mentions that, on the neighborhood level, data and information gathering, coordination with state and government organizations, foundation insurance, and upgraded advancement of police-group connections will encourage aversion, furthermore, help reaction to potential terrorist attacks. On the other hand, the oddity of ideas under the Homeland Security worldview can be at any rate somewhat followed to the model of community policing (Stewart & Morris, 2009). In reality, it can be securely contended that for policing, homeland security obligations arrived all of a sudden as a solitary substitute to the strength of community policing.

Pillar one references to building a bridge which joins the community and law enforcement together. Building trust and legitimacy between police and citizen play a fundamental role in the law enforcement agencies as well as the communities they serve. Many studies have shown and proven that people/citizens will uphold the law/s of the country when the ones who have the authority to enforce the law are proven to be legitimate. Law enforcement officer will not gain the trust of the people/ community if they are view as controlling and corrupted. The community on a whole wish for a guardian rather than a warrior within the police force. The mindset of all police officer should be to gain the trust and legitimacy within their community. To build

There is a perception of distrust between law enforcement and the community. This distrust stems directly from the dangerous words police use when communicating with the community. (Willis, 2015, p.) Simply choosing better words can help build relationships between law enforcement and the community. It is necessary for law enforcement to have trust with their community. There are many things that hinge on the police-community relationships, the ability of law enforcement to perform their duties, are the most important. Law enforcement must be willing to rely on the public to observe the law. They must always demonstrate absolute impartiality to the law.

The philosophy of Robert Peel that “the police are the public and the public are the police”, is one that perfectly sums up the relationship between the police and the rest of the community (Lentz & Chaires 2007). This quote suggests that law enforcement needs approval from citizens and residents of neighbourhoods to perform their duties correctly. Meaning, this requires the police to maintain an informed relationship with the community. By doing so they are reducing the reoccurrence of the themes in crime prevention mentioned above.