Nature Might Hold the Secret to Healing Police-Community Relations

What if a computer program could tell you who was at risk for shooting someone or being shot themselves? This is now a reality for Chicago Police Department. By piloting the use of this technology, and assembly a cohort of cops, social workers, ministers and moms to visit the names of those the computer names, the city has seen a decrease in violence over the last year.

In efforts to diminish violent crime, police agencies are revisiting a model law enforcement strategy of the 1970s, "community policing," as an alternative to the more recent "broken windows" style of the late nineties. Research substantiates its effectiveness, too, in building citizens' trust of law enforcement, helping a community's ability to solve its own problems, and, in turn, decreasing crime rates. Despite redefined priorities in the wake of 9/11 and post-recession budget cuts, community policing is again on the rise and bringing positive results, too.

With the police killings of Freddie Gray, Laquan McDonald, and other black lives across the country, the problem remains how to reform police departments and reduce excessive force on unarmed men and women. Procedural justice is a strategy that centers on legitimizing the law for at-risk communities by building trust, so that the environment of policing changes to one of respect and less crime results. Procedural justice has begun to be implemented across U.S. police departments with some measurable successes, although police accountability remains important and should be an extension of the strategy.

The increase of violence between the police and Black communities across the country requires a reconstruction of the relationship that addresses empathy, trust, and crime reduction. The Department of Justice has developed test programs in different cities that train police officers in procedural justice. The early results of this program in Stockton, CA show that communities and police have built trust and law legitimacy, while the crime rate has not increased.

After serious issues with excessive force and police discrimination reached a head in East Haven, Conn., major department overhauls that focused on more diverse hiring, de-escalation techniques, crisis intervention, and conflict resolution have led to much healthier law enforcement for the community. Their model offers hopeful lessons to Seattle and other cities whose police departments also have been required to adopt federally mandated reforms.

Canton police walk door-to-door in high-crime neighborhoods, playing basketball, picking up trash, and participating in community meetings. The approach is decreasing violence and improving relationships with residents.

The Department of Justice has ordered the Newark Police Department to make reforms to its policing practices, so that public safety will not compromise the human rights. An investigation into the NPD has shown that officers made too many undocumented stops and used unjustified excessive force, resulting in community mistrust. The Newark mayor has begun re-training the police force, reworked standards for punishing police misconduct, advocated body cameras, and civilian oversight of the police department – all of which has started to improve community relations and build trust.

New York Police Department has Operation Ceasefire, in which a mother whose child was a victim of gun violence calls gang members at risk of perpetuating similar crimes. The effort aims to bridge the divide between ethnic minority communities and the police with community pressure on behalf of the police.

In poor, crime-infected neighborhood with limited opportunities, where interactions with law enforcement are often toxic and punitive, and distrust on both sides is rampant. An integrated strategy is at the core of the model that can change this:"Operation Ceasefire," a form of targeted deterrence. The carrot-stick approach is carefully designed to reach men believed to be on the cusp of committing gun violence, let them know the consequences and help them fulfill their needs, thus finding a way to maybe change their trajectory into something more positive.

Chicago suffers from violence and tension between police officers and low-income predominantly Black communities. In 2011, the chief of police consulted with a network of university academics and began implementing “procedural justice,” which was an approach that trained police departments to surmount the lack of confidence that residents felt towards officers. The academics and police chief found that by directing social workers to the homes of at-risk community members, and regarding them with respect, there was a reduction in violence—but now the program has stalled.