In a previous post, I argued that there needs to be a change in the focus of community policing from Law Enforcement to a SALE approach; Safety, Assistance, and Law Enforcement. Such an approach would focus first on providing safety and assistance to the community, and lastly on law enforcement. It would help foster change in the aggressive, confrontational style of policing that too many police departments currently use.
I also argued that to reform local police departments would require the Federal government to provide the funds to retrain community police officers and re-purpose them to a more community oriented approach to policing. Too many local communities, particularly lower income areas, simply do not have the resources to fund the necessary programs to develop real change in police departments.
The Federal government already devotes considerable resources to support community policing. Unfortunately, the way those funds are used too often finances the aggressive, confrontational type of policing that lies at the core of the current problems plaguing many local police departments.
Perhaps the most important program is the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) overseen by the Department of Justice. The COPS program provides funding to hire and re-hire entry level career law enforcement officers in order to preserve jobs, increase community policing capacities, and support crime prevention efforts. In 2020, COPS awarded nearly $400 million for this effort. The Department of Justice also oversees the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program which provides funding for state and local policing and corrections programs. For 2020, $349 million was available.
The Department of Homeland Security preparedness grants program provides funding to states, local communities, transportation authorities, non-profit organizations and private sector businesses for readiness in disasters and emergencies. There is $1.8 billion available for fiscal year 2020. A minimum of 25% of any grant must be allocated to law enforcement agencies.
The most controversial program has been the Department of Defense’s 1033 program which provides surplus military equipment to law enforcement agencies. A main result of this program has been an increased militarization of local police departments. From June 1, 2019 to June 1, 2020 the total value of equipment provided through the 1033 program was over $278 million.
The police funding provided by the Federal government is almost entirely focused on law enforcement, with special emphasis on equipment, hiring additional police officers, and enforcement training. Community safety and assistance are entirely viewed through the lens of law enforcement. To reform community policing will require an approach that views safety and assistance as distinct entities from law enforcement. Although linked, they are indeed not the same. Community policing should first focus on community safety and community assistance, and thirdly on law enforcement. Federal funding for local policing needs to recognize this and put much greater emphasis on safety and assistance.
Rather than hiring and training traditional law enforcement officers, emphasis needs to be put on hiring and training individuals in police departments whose responsibilities and training focuses on community safety and assistance in ways that are not traditional. This includes hiring and training individuals in areas such as counseling. This would better enable police encounters with the public to identify and deal with individuals who are in distress, troubled, disturbed, or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The first priorities should be to ensure safety (of the individual, the public, and the officer) and to provide assistance. The third focus should be on enforcement of any laws. Such an approach is more likely to result in a deescalation, rather than an escalation, of any situation.
Traditional police training focuses on a model of law enforcement with a warrior mentality that creates a confrontational, aggressive, type of policing, which often results in an escalation of encounters with the public. Instead, training needs to be refocused to a less confrontational, less aggressive model. A problem in the U.S. is the relatively short training period required to become a police officer, which ranges from just ten to thirty-six weeks. In contrast, police officers in Europe spend a much longer time in training. In Germany, it takes at two and a half years to become an officer. In Finland and Norway, it is a three-year bachelor’s degree program. The result is that in Europe, there is time to educate recruits in a much broader array of topics. For example, the first year of training in Finland and Norway is focused on the role of police in society and the ethics of policing.
With such a short training period in the United States, not surprisingly, the emphasis is on police survival in dangerous situations. This naturally results in a more aggressive style of policing that often results in the escalation of any situation and a resort to force by the police.
The warrior mentality in police training also results in individuals being attracted to policing who have an inclination to be more aggressive and confrontational in their approach to policing. It can even lead to some police officers who look for opportunities to use force. If too many officers in a department have such tendencies, there develops an esprit de corps that has an outcome of an “us against them” mentality in the department, where the community is viewed as the enemy. To prevent this, there needs be more thorough screening of individuals who want to become police officers. Also, once someone becomes a police officer there needs to be ongoing evaluations to ensure that they continue to be able to police in a non-confrontational, less aggressive manner.
All of this will take more money. Longer periods of training cost more money. Also, if we are going to increase the training requirements and do a better job of screening candidates, salaries of police officers will need to rise. As previously stated, since many local communities don’t have the necessary funds, the Federal government will need to provide considerable assistance.
This should be done through the use of categorical grants which direct how the funds must be used by the recipients. The funding should first come from money the Federal government is already spending to support local law enforcement; funds that need to be re-purposed away from traditional training and equipment, particularly militarized equipment like in the 1033 grants.
Secondly, funds need to be attained from increased taxes on higher income, wealthier households. As I have previously argued, their high-incomes and great wealth were dependent on the societal and economic infrastructure that was been provided to them, in combination with the very low tax rates of the last several decades of Oligarchic Capitalism. Meanwhile, individuals in low income, poorer communities have suffered with a societal and economic infrastructure that provided a deficient foundation on which personal economic success could be built. To ensure households in lower income, lower wealth communities have the same opportunity for personal economic success as higher income, wealthier households, the Federal government needs to provide the needed funding to build the necessary infrastructure through increased taxes on higher income, wealthier households.
Do you believe Federal funding of local enforcement should be re-purposed to a SALE approach to community policing? Do you believe the Federal government should increase funding to poorer communities to help them in reforming their police departments? Please comment below.
