Police Reform

Policing have become a major concern today in the United States. The citizens of the United States confidence and trust in policing of the police are at the lowest point since the Rodney King beating. Many Americans still report confidence in the police, however an unprecedented number of Americans also report no or very little confidence in policing. Throughout history poor police/community relations in minority and low-income neighborhoods has documented. It has been exacerbated by egregious acts of misconduct, some of which have been captured on video and shared on social media. Many people such as activists, politicians, and police officials themselves have called for better education and equipment, from de-escalation training to body-worn
Stoughton contends that a more fundamental reform is necessary: the core principles of policing need to be adjusted to change how officers view their job and their relationship with the community. The article also contributes to the discussion by arguing that police reform requires changing officers’ attitudes about policing itself. A few things the article stated was to encourage rightful policing, the value system that guides officer decision making must encourage individual officers to continually reconcile the short-term goals of policing, such as order maintenance and crime response, with the long-term goals, particularly improving police/community relations. To that end, law enforcement culture should seek to instill in officers the priorities of a Guardian: protecting civilians from unnecessary indignity and harm. Part I describes the evolution of policing, tracing the profession’s guiding principles and distinguishing characteristics from the world’s first modern public police agency. Part II introduces the Warrior principles that have permeated modern policing and discusses the effect those principles have had on the profession. It first describes the positive attributes of the Warrior that policing so highly values: honor, duty, resolve, and a willingness to engage in righteous violence. It then explores the psychological and practical appeal of the Warrior concept, and it describes how the Warrior imagery and rhetoric have become ubiquitous in law enforcement. Part III offers an alternative set of guiding principles in the form of Guardian policing. Guardian policing has enjoyed a surge in popularity among some police leaders, and Guardian rhetoric has appeared in the report issued by President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, popular media stories, and articles intended for a law enforcement audience. We previously as a class readied and discussed as wrote analysis on the 21st Century of Policing and the panel