U.S. Policing & Reforms

Campaign Zero is a police reform campaign proposed by activists associated with Black Lives Matter, on a website that was launched on August 21, 2015. The plan consists of ten proposals, all of which are aimed at reducing police violence. The ten solutions are policy based and are as follows:

• End broken windows policing (end profiling and “stop and frisk,” establish alternative approaches to mental health crises)
• Community oversight (establish effective civilian oversight structures, remove barriers to reporting police misconduct)
• Limit use of force (establish standards and reporting of police use of deadly force, revise and strengthen local police department use of force policies, end traffic-related police killings and dangerous high-speed police chases, monitor how police use force and proactively hold officers accountable for excessive force)
• Independently investigate and prosecute (lower the standard of proof for Department of Justice civil rights investigations of police officers, use federal funds to encourage independent investigations and prosecutions, establish a permanent Special Prosecutor’s Office at the State level for cases of police violence, require independent investigations of all cases where police kill or seriously injure civilians)
• Community representation (increase the number of police officers who reflect the communities they serve, use community feedback to inform police department policies and practices)
• Body cams/film the police (the right to record police)
• Training (invest in rigorous and sustained training, intentionally consider “unconscious” or “implicit” racial bias)
• End for-profit policing (end police department quotas for tickets and arrests, limit fines and fees for low-income people, prevent police from taking the money or property of innocent people, require police departments to bear the cost of misconduct)
• Demilitarization (end the federal government’s 1033 program providing military weaponry to local police departments, establish local restrictions to prevent police departments from purchasing or using military weaponry)
• Fair police union contracts (remove barriers to effective misconduct investigations and civilian oversight, keep officers’ disciplinary history accessible to police departments and the public, ensure financial accountability for officers and police departments that kill or seriously injure civilians)

Sources

Campaign Zero, Solutions.

The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) believes that, though many use-of-force incidents have proven controversial, the police officers themselves are not at fault. Rather, the training these officers received is what is to blame. In order to overhaul this out-of-date police training, PERF has created 30 Guiding Principles on Use of Force, broken down into categories such as policy, training and tactics, equipment, and information exchange. The principles are:

Policy

• The sanctity of human life should be at the heart of everything the agency does
• Agencies should continue to develop best politics, practices, and training on use-of-force issues that go beyond the minimum requirements of Graham v. Connor
• Police use of force must meet the test of proportionality
• Adopt de-escalation as formal agency policy
• The Critical Decision-Making Model provides a new way to approach critical incidents (collect information; assess the situation, threats, and risks; consider police powers and agency policy; identify options and determine the best course of action; and act, review, and re-assess the situation)
• Duty to intervene: Officers need to prevent other officers from using excessive force
• Respect the sanctity of life by promptly rendering first aid
• Shooting at vehicles must be prohibited
• Prohibit use of deadly force against individuals who pose a danger only to themselves
• Document use-of-force incidents, and review data and enforcement practices to ensure that they are fair and non-discriminatory
• To build understanding and trust, agencies should issue regular reports to the public on use of force
• All critical police incidents resulting in death or serious bodily injury should be reviewed by specially trained personnel
• Agencies need to be transparent in providing information following use-of-force incidents

Training and tactics

• Training academy content and culture must reflect agency values
• Officers should be trained to use a Critical Decision-Making Model
• Use distance, cover, and time to replace outdated concepts such as the “21-foot rule” and “drawing a line in the sand”
  • 21-foot-rule: Old tests show that an adult male, armed with a knife and charging at full speed, could cover 21 feet before a police officer has time to draw, aim, and shoot a firearm. PERF’s research into recent incidents revealed examples of the “rule” being cited by officers or their attorneys to justify shootings of suspects with edged weapons.
• De-escalation should be a core theme of an agency’s training program
• De-escalation starts with effective communications
• Mental illness: implement a comprehensive agency training program on dealing with people with mental health issues
• Tactical training and mental health training need to be interwoven to improve response to critical incidents
• Community-based outreach teams can be a valuable component to agencies’ mental health response
• Provide a prompt supervisory response to critical incidents to reduce the likelihood of unnecessary force
• Training as teams can improve performance in the field
• Scenario-based training should be prevalent, challenging, and realistic

Equipment

• Officers need access to and training in less-lethal options
• Agencies should consider new options for chemical spray
• An Electronic Control Weapon (ECW) deployment that is not effective does not mean that officers should automatically move to their firearms
• Personal protection shields enhance officer safety and may support de-escalation efforts during critical incidents, including situations involving persons with knives, baseball bats, and other improvised weapons that are not firearms

Information exchange

• Well trained call-takers and dispatchers are essential to the police response to critical incidents
• Educate the families of persons with mental illness on communicating with call-takers

Sources

Police Executive Research Forum, Guiding Principles on Use of Force (Mar. 2016).

Police Executive Research Forum, Integrating Communications, Assessment, and Tactics: Training Guide for Defusing Critical Incidents (Oct. 2016).

Police Executive Research Forum, Re-Engineering Training on Police Use of Force (Aug. 2015).

On December 18, 2014, President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

The President charged the task force with identifying best practices and offering recommendations on how policing practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust. The Task Force created six pillars, or main topic areas, around which action items revolve. These six pillars are:

• Pillar One: Building Trust and Legitimacy
• Pillar Two: Policy and Oversight
• Pillar Three: Technology & Social Media
• Pillar Four: Community Policing & Crime Reduction
• Pillar Five: Training & Education
• Pillar Six: Officer Wellness & Safety

The task force also came up with two overarching recommendations:

• The President should support the creation of a National Crime and Justice Task Force to examine all areas of criminal justice and propose reforms
• The President should support programs that take a comprehensive and inclusive look at community-based initiatives addressing core issues such as poverty, education, and health and safety

The Civil Rights Department of the Department of Justice has promulgated its own report in order to make its reform work more accessible and transparent. Using pattern-or-practice cases as a way to contribute to nationwide police reform, the Department focuses on advancing a community and problem-oriented policing strategy, promoting bias-free policing, use of force principles, community engagement, departmental policy changes and re-training, reforming accountability systems, officer wellness and support, and recognizing the link between policing and other criminal justice and social systems.

Sources

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (2015).

U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, The Civil Rights Division’s Pattern and Practice Police Reform Work: 1994-Present (Jan. 2017).

In past years, legislators have introduced reform bills in Congress to provide additional restraints on police use of force, though few have actually been passed. In the 114th Congress, which ended in 2016, these included:

• Excessive Use of Force Prevention Act of 2015 (H.R. 2052), which would have criminalized the use of chokeholds
• Police Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 1102), which would have created a new federal crime for certain homicides committed by law enforcement officers
• Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act (H.R. 2875, S. 2168), which would have provided police with resources to increase trust between police and community
• End Racial Profiling Act (H.R. 1933, S. 1056), which would have prohibited racial profiling and other biased policing
• Preventing Tragedies Between Police and Communities Act (H.R. 5221), which would have required police training on de-escalation techniques
• Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act (H.R. 1232, S. 1441), which would have prohibited the use of military-grade weapons in state policing;
• Police CAMERA Act (H.R. 1680, S. 877), which would have aided state and local police in developing usage of body-worn cameras
• DUE PROCESS Act (H.R. 5283, S. 3045), which had to do with civil asset forfeiture.

Further, legislators have tried to place reporting requirements on states in order to allow the federal government to fully gather information on use of force through bill proposals. These included:

• National Statistics on Deadly Force Transparency Act of 2015 (H.R. 306)
• Police Reporting Information, Data, and Evidence Act of 2015 (PRIDE Act) (s. 1476, H.R. 3481)
• President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

Sources

ACLU, The ACLU Implores Congress to Consider Taking up Law Enforcement Reform Legislation (2016).

Kanya Bennett, Congress: Enjoy Your Recess, But Here are Six Police Reform Bills You Must Pass in September, ACLU (July 14, 2016).

H.R. 306 – National Statistics on Deadly Force Transparency Act of 2015 (Jan. 13, 2015).

H.R. 1102 – Police Accountability Act of 2015 (Feb. 26, 2015).

H.R. 1232 – Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act (Mar. 4, 2015).

H.R. 1680 – Police CAMERA Act (Mar. 26, 2015).

H.R. 1933 – End Racial Profiling Act of 2015 (Apr. 22, 2015).

H.R. 2052 – Excessive Use of Force Prevention Act of 2015 (Apr. 28, 2015).

H.R. 3481 – PRIDE Act (Sept. 10, 2015).

H.R. 5221 – Preventing Tragedies Between Police and Communities Act of 2016 (May 12, 2016).

H.R. 5283 – Deterring Undue Enforcement by Protecting Rights of Citizens from Excessive Searches and Seizures Act of 2016 (May 19, 2016).

Gabrielle Levy, “Congress Left Behind in Rush for Police Reform,” U.S. News & World Report (May 5, 2015).

Wesley Lowery, “Proposal to Congress Would Require Police to get De-Escalation Training, Create a National Use of Force Standard,” The Washington Post (May 12, 2016).

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (2015).

Richard M. Thompson III, Police Use of Force: Rules, Remedies, and Reforms (Oct. 30, 2015).

S. 2168 – Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act of 2015 (Oct. 8, 2015).