
After the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, Americans' trust in police has waned. Because police often serve as a link to supportive services, this can have serious consequences for communities, said a report about racial disparities and violent crime released this week by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
“[E]ven when victims are aware of services, hurdles like police reporting requirements make them difficult to access, thereby perpetuating cycles of violence and victimization,” said commission chair Rochelle Garza. The report said that Black Americans are 12 times more likely to be killed by guns than white Americans. Garza noted “a deep-seated distrust of law enforcement” in marginalized communities that requires sensitivity and attention.
Government agencies are exploring different strategies to rebuild public trust, including better monitoring of police misconduct and sending non-police response teams to deal with emergencies like behavioral health crises.
Both subjects were discussed this week at the National Institute of Justice’s 2024 National Research Conference, held in Pittsburgh.
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More states and the federal government are bolstering databases documenting officer misconduct in order to identify law enforcement candidates for hiring or promotions who had past incidents of misconduct.
President Biden signed a 2022 executive order mandating the creation of a database of federal law enforcement officer misconduct, the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD). That database was launched by the Department of Justice in December of last year, as detailed in a panel
discussion at the conference.
Meanwhile, states have developed their own databases tracking officer misconduct since 2000, when the National Decertification Index (NDI) went live in an effort to combat “wandering cops”—law enforcement officers who lose their jobs because of misconduct and simply seek employment in a different state or locality.
The NDI was funded by the Justice Department and developed by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training. Today, the NDI has 54,727 entries from all 50 states and is being expanded to include NLEAD data.
Though it’s not perfect—and the federal government cannot mandate that states require police departments to submit data—the database has contributed to “getting wrongdoers out of the profession and keeping them out,” said Bo Bourgerie, director of Colorado’s law enforcement standards board.
Research on officer misconduct shows that “police crimes are not uncommon,” said Phil Stinson, a professor at Bowling Green State University whose police integrity research group has developed a publicly available police crime database. Still, while police misconduct cases are often dramatic, Stinson said that officers are only arrested at a rate of less than one officer out of 1,000.
Police officers’ crimes are usually related to their professions, whether they use their weapons, training, or are motivated by an occupational incident. The most common serious crime, Stinson said, is simple assault (13% of cases).
The goal of the work is “to inform the public,” he said, “but also to improve policing.”
Other work presented at the conference also aims to improve policing by bridging gaps between the police and the public.
The Government Performance Lab (GPL) at the Harvard Kennedy School started its Alternative 9-1-1 Emergency Response Initiative to support communities with programs sending non-police teams to respond to 911 calls concerning issues such as mental illness and substance abuse.
GPL has so far worked with 32 jurisdictions looking todi vert some of their 911 calls to crisis response teams who aim to connect residents in crisis to supportive services.
In a session on innovations in crisis response, Gabriela Solis Torres, assistant director for the GPL criminal justice team, said a major challenge for governments is “overcom[ing] the fear of introducing unarmed teams” to crises, and that’s why determining what calls are ideal for alternative crisis response—like those concerning behavioral health or housing issues—is key.
Cities also need to gather data about their programs in order to evaluate response services, such as whether a resident in crisis was contacted by police when they may have been better served by the alternative
response team. Such research may encourage cities to consider how to train operators to improve their decision making.
Ideally, communities will be better served by the crisis response team and police will save time by not responding to these calls.
Jack Tebes, director of New Haven, Connecticut’s Elm City COMPASS (Compassionate Allies Service Our Streets), described the formation of COMPASS, the city’s alternative crisis response team, in the same session.
COMPASS was developed following community demands for criminal justice reform after Floyd’s murder. The team's work is complementary to police and fire emergency responders.
In New Haven, “The deep community engagement,” involved in the development of the program “made us realize creating a team is not enough,” said Thebes. “Our vision was to create a system of sustainable supports for individuals in New Haven” who were in crisis. For example, a resident facing homelessness may be connected to a shelter.
Team members check in with residents months after the initial incident to see if they need additional support. Since Elm City COMPASS started n late 2022, the team has responded to at least 883 calls to 911.
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