 Section 9 of the final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Pillar 3. Technology and Social Media. Part 2. 3.2 Recommendation. The implementation of appropriate technology by law enforcement agencies should be designed considering local needs and aligned with national standards. While standards should be created for development and research of technology at the national level, implementation of developed technologies should remain a local decision to address the needs and resources of the community. In addition to the expense of acquiring technology, implementation and training also requires funds as well as time, personnel, and physical capacity. A case in point is the Phoenix Police Department's adoption of BWCs mentioned by witness Michael White, who said that the real costs came on the back end for managing the vast amount of data generated by the cameras. He quoted the Chief of the Phoenix Police Department as saying that it would cost their department $3.5 million to not only outfit all of their officers with the cameras, but also successfully manage the program. 3.2.1 Action Item. Law enforcement agencies should encourage public engagement and collaboration, including the use of community advisory bodies when developing a policy for the use of a new technology. Local residents will be more accepting of and respond more positively to technology when they have been informed of new developments and their input has been encouraged. How police use technology and how they share that information with the public is critical. Task Force witness Jim Bierman, President of the Police Foundation, addressed this issue, noting that concerns about BWCs include potential compromises to the privacy of both officers and citizens who are reluctant to speak to police if they think they are being recorded. And, as the Task Force Chair, Charles Ramsey, noted, just having the conversation can increase trust and legitimacy and help departments make better decisions. 3.2.2 Action Item. Law enforcement agencies should include an evaluation or assessment process to gauge the effectiveness of any new technology, soliciting input from all levels of the agency, from line officer to leadership, as well as assessment from members of the community. Witnesses suggested that law enforcement agencies create an advisory group when adopting a new technology. Ideally, it would include line officers, union representatives, and members from other departmental units, such as research and planning, technology, and internal affairs. External stakeholders, such as representatives from the prosecutor's office, the defense bar, advocacy groups, and citizens, should also be included, giving each group the opportunity to ask questions, express their concerns, and offer suggestions on policy and training. 3.2.3 Action Item. Law enforcement agencies should adopt the use of new technologies that will help them better serve people with special needs or disabilities. 3.3 Recommendation. The U.S. Department of Justice should develop best practices that can be adopted by state legislative bodies to govern the acquisition, use, retention, and dissemination of auditory, visual, and biometric data by law enforcement. These model policies and practices should at minimum address technology usage and data and evidence acquisition and retention, as well as privacy issues, accountability, and discipline. They must also consider the impact of data collection and use on public trust and police legitimacy. 3.3.1 Action Item. As part of the process for developing best practices, the U.S. Department of Justice should consult with civil rights and civil liberties organizations, as well as law enforcement research groups and other experts, concerning the constitutional issues that can arise as a result of the use of new technologies. 3.3.2 Action Item. The U.S. Department of Justice should create toolkits for the most effective and constitutional use of multiple forms of innovative technology that will provide state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies with a one-stop clearinghouse of information and resources. 3.3.3 Action Item. Law enforcement agencies should review and consider the Bureau of Justice Assistances, BJA, body-worn camera toolkit to assist in implementing BWCs. A body-worn camera expert panel of law enforcement leaders, recognized practitioners, national policy leaders, and community advocates convened a two-day workshop in February 2015 to develop a toolkit and provide guidance and model policy for law enforcement agencies implementing BWC programs. Subject matter experts contributed ideas and content for the proposed toolkit, while a panel composed of privacy and victim advocates contributed ideas and content for the toolkit to broaden input and ensure transparency. 3.4 Recommendation. Federal, state, local, and tribal legislative bodies should be encouraged to update public record laws. The quickly evolving nature of new technologies that collect video, audio, information, and biometric data on members of the community can cause unforeseen consequences. Public record laws, which allow public access to information held by government agencies, including law enforcement, should be modified to protect the privacy of the individuals whose records they hold and to maintain the trust of the community. Issues such as the accessibility of video captured through dashboard or body-worn cameras are especially complex. So too are the officer use of force events that will be captured by video camera systems and then broadcast by local media outlets. Use of force, even when lawful and appropriate, can negatively influence public perception and trust of police. Sean Smoot, task force member, addressed this by recalling the shooting of a Flagstaff Arizona police officer whose death was recorded by his BWC. Responding to public record requests by local media, the police department released the graphic footage, which was then shown on local TV and also on YouTube. This illustration also raises questions concerning the recording of police interactions with minors and the appropriateness of releasing those videos for public view, given their inability to give informed consent for distribution. 3.5 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should adopt model policies and best practices for technology-based community engagement that increases community trust and access. These policies and practices should, at a minimum, increase transparency and accessibility, provide access to information, crime statistics, current calls for service, allow for public posting of policy and procedures, and enable access and usage for persons with disabilities. They should also address issues surrounding the use of new and social media, encouraging the use of social media as a means of community interaction and relationship building, which can result in stronger law enforcement. As witness Elliot Cohen noted, we have seen social media support policing efforts in gathering intelligence during active assailant incidents, the Columbia Mall shooting and the Boston Marathon bombing. Social media allowed for a greater volume of information to be collected in an electronic format, both audibly and visually. But to engage the community, social media must be responsive and current. Said Bill Schreyer, regularly refresh the content to maintain and engage the audience, post content rapidly during incidents to dispel rumors, and use it for engagement, not just public information. False or incorrect statements made via social media, mainstream media, and other means of technology deeply harm trust and legitimacy and can only be overcome with targeted and continuing community engagement and repeated positive interaction. Agencies need to unequivocally discourage falsities by underlining how harmful they are and how difficult they are to overcome. Agencies should also develop policies and practices on social media use that consider individual officer expression, professional representation, truthful communication, and other concerns that can impact trust and legitimacy. 3.6 Recommendation The federal government should support the development of new, less-than-lethal technology to help control combative suspects. The fatal shootings in Ferguson, Cleveland, and elsewhere have put the consequences of use of force front and center in the national news. Policies and procedures must change, but so should the weaponry. New technologies such as conductive energy devices, CED, have been developed and may be used and evaluated to decrease the number of fatal police interventions. Studies of CEDs have shown them to be effective at reducing both officer and civilian injuries. For example, in one study that compared seven law enforcement agencies that use CEDs with six agencies that do not, researchers found a 70% decrease in officer injuries and a 40% decrease in suspect injuries. But new technologies should still be subject to the appropriate use of force continuum restrictions. And Vincent Tolucci made the point in his testimony that over-reliance on technological weapons can also be dangerous. 3.6.1 Action Item Relevant federal agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Defense and Justice, should expand their efforts to study the development and use of new, less-than-lethal technologies and evaluate their impact on public safety, reducing lethal violence against citizens, constitutionality, and officer safety. 3.7. Recommendation The federal government should make the development and building of segregated radio spectrum an increased bandwidth by FirstNet for exclusive use by local, state, tribal, and federal public safety agencies a top priority. A national public safety broadband network, which creates bandwidth for the exclusive use of law enforcement, the First Responder Network, FirstNet, is considered a game-changing public safety project, which would allow instantaneous communication in even the most remote areas whenever a disaster or incident occurs. It can also support many other technologies, including video transmission from BWCs. End of Section 9. Section 10 of the final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Devorah Allen. Final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Pillar 4. Community Policing and Crime Reduction, Part 1. Community Policing requires the active building of positive relationships with members of the community. Community Policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues, such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime. Over the past few decades, rates of both violent and property crime have dropped dramatically across the United States. However, some communities and segments of the population have not benefited from the decrease as much as others, and some not at all. Though law enforcement must concentrate their efforts in these neighborhoods to maintain public safety, sometimes those specific efforts arouse resentment in the neighborhoods the police are striving to protect. Police interventions must be implemented with strong policies and training in place, rooted in an understanding of procedural justice. Indeed, without that, police interventions can easily devolve into racial profiling, excessive use of force, and other practices that disregard civil rights, causing negative reactions from people living in already challenged communities. Yet mutual trust and cooperation, two key elements of community policing, are vital to protecting residents of these communities from the crime that plagues them. Community policing combines a focus on intervention and prevention through problem solving, with building collaborative partnerships between law enforcement agencies and schools, social services, and other stakeholders. In this way, community policing not only improves public safety, but also enhances social connectivity and economic strength, which increases community resilience to crime. And, as noted by one speaker, it improves job satisfaction for line officers, too. In his testimony to the Task Force, Camden County, New Jersey police chief, J. Scott Thompson, noted that community policing starts on the street corner, with respectful interaction between a police officer and a local resident, a discussion that need not be related to a criminal matter. In fact, it is important that not all interactions be based on emergency calls or crime investigations. Another aspect of community policing that was discussed in the listening session on this topic is the premise that officers enforce the law with the people, not just on the people. In reflecting this belief, some commented on the negative results of zero-tolerance policies, which meet out automatic and predetermined actions by officers regardless of extenuating circumstances. Community policing requires the active building of positive relationships with members of the community, on an agency as well as on a personal basis. This can be done through assigning officers to geographic areas on a consistent basis, so that through the continuity of assignment, they have the opportunity to know the members of the community. It can also be aided by the use of programs such as Eagle County, Colorado's Law Enforcement Immigrant Advisory Committee, which the police department formed with Catholic Charities to help the local immigrant community. This type of policing also requires participation in community organizations, local meetings, and public service activities. To be most effective, community policing also requires collaborative partnerships with agencies beyond law enforcement, such as Philadelphia's Successful Police Diversion Program, described by Kevin Bethel, Deputy Commissioner of Patrol Operations in the Philadelphia Police Department in his testimony to the task force. This partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, the school district, the district attorney's office, family court, and other stakeholders significantly reduced the number of arrests of minority youths for minor offenses. Problem-solving, another key element of community policing, is critical to prevention. And problems must be solved in partnership with the community in order to effectively address chronic crime and disorder problems. As Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services director Ronald L. Davis has said, we need to teach new recruits that law enforcement is more than just cuffing perps. It's understanding why people do what they do. In summary, law enforcement's obligation is not only to reduce crime, but also to do so fairly while protecting the rights of citizens. Any prevention strategy that unintentionally violates civil rights, compromises police legitimacy, or undermines trust is counterproductive from both ethical and cost-benefit perspectives. Ignoring these considerations can have both financial costs, e.g. lawsuits, and social costs, e.g. loss of public support. It must also be stressed that the absence of crime is not the final goal of law enforcement. Rather, it is the promotion and protection of public safety while respecting the dignity and rights of all. And public safety and well-being cannot be attained without the community's belief that their well-being is at the heart of all law enforcement activities. It is critical to help community members see police as allies rather than as an occupying force and to work in concert with other community stakeholders to create more economically and socially stable neighborhoods. 4.1 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should develop and adopt policies and strategies that reinforce the importance of community engagement in managing public safety. Community policing is not just about the relationship between individual officers and individual neighborhood residents. It is also about the relationship between law enforcement leaders and leaders of key institutions in a community, such as churches, businesses, and schools, supporting the community's own process to define prevention and reach goals. Law enforcement agencies cannot ensure the safety of communities alone, but should seek to contribute to the strengthening of neighborhood capacity to prevent and reduce crime through informal social control. More than a century of research shows that informal social control is a much more powerful mechanism for crime control and reduction in the community's formal punishment. And perhaps the best evidence for the preventive power of informal social control may be the millions of unguarded opportunities to commit crime that are passed up each day. 4.1.1 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should consider adopting preferences for seeking least-harm resolutions, such as diversion programs or warnings and citations in lieu of arrests for minor infractions. 4.2 Recommendation Community policing should be infused throughout the culture and organizational structure of law enforcement agencies. Community policing must be a way of doing business by an entire police force, not just a specialized unit of that force. The Task Force heard testimony from Police Chief J. Scott Thompson of Camden County, New Jersey, who noted, Community policing cannot be a program, unit, strategy or tactic. It must be the core principle that lies at the foundation of a police department's culture. The only way to significantly reduce fear, crime and disorder, and then sustain these gains is to leverage the greatest force multiplier, the people of the community. This message was closely echoed by Chris Magnus, the Police Chief in Richmond, California, to build a more effective partnership with residents and transform culture within the police department, as well as in the community. The Richmond police made sure that all officers, not just to select few, were doing community policing and neighborhood problem solving. Every officer is expected to get to know the residents, businesses, community groups, churches and schools on their beat, and work with them to identify and address public safety challenges, including quality of life issues such as blight. Officers remain in the same beat and conflict for several years or more, which builds familiarity and trust. Testimony from a number of witnesses also made clear that hiring, training, evaluating and promoting officers based on their ability and track record in community engagement, not just traditional measures of policing, such as arrests, tickets or tactical skills, is an equally important component of the successful infusion of community policing throughout an organization. 4.2.1 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should evaluate officers on their efforts to engage members of the community and the partnerships they build. Making this part of the performance evaluation process places an increased value on developing partnerships. 4.2.2 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should evaluate their patrol deployment practices to allow sufficient time for patrol officers to participate in solving and community engagement activities. 4.2.3 Action Item The U.S. Department of Justice and other public and private entities should support research into the factors that have led to dramatic successes in crime reduction in some communities through the infusion of non-discriminatory policing and to determine replicable factors that could be used to guide law enforcement agencies in other communities. 4.3 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should engage in multidisciplinary community team approaches for planning, implementing, and responding to crisis situations with complex causal factors. Collaborative approaches that engage professionals from across systems have emerged as model practices for addressing community problems that are not resolvable by the police alone. These team approaches call upon law enforcement agencies, service providers, and important networks to work together to provide the right resources for the situation and foster sustainable change. Multiple witnesses before the task force spoke of department's coordinating mental health response teams that include mental health professionals, social workers, crisis counselors, and other professionals making decisions alongside the police regarding planning, implementing, and responding to mental health crisis situations. But this model is applicable to a number of community problems that regularly involve a police response, including homelessness, substance abuse, domestic violence, human trafficking, and child abuse. Ultimately, the idea is for officers to be trained and equipped to make use of existing community resources in the diffusion of crisis situations. 4.3.1 Action Item The U.S. Department of Justice should collaborate with others to develop and disseminate baseline models of this crisis intervention team approach that can be adapted to local contexts. 4.3.2 Action Item Communities should look to involve peer support counselors as part of multidisciplinary teams when appropriate. Persons who have experienced the same trauma can provide both insight to the first responders and immediate support to individuals in crisis. 4.3.3 Action Item Communities should be encouraged to evaluate the efficacy of these crisis intervention team approaches and hold agency leaders accountable for outcomes. 4.4. Recommendation Communities should support a culture and practice of policing that reflects the values of protection and promotion of the dignity of all, especially the most vulnerable. The task force heard many different ways of describing a positive culture of policing. David Kennedy suggested there could be a Hippocratic oath for policing. First, do no harm. Law enforcement officer's goal should be to avoid use of force if at all possible, even when it is allowed by law and by policy. Terms such as fair and impartial policing, rightful policing, constitutional policing, neighborhood policing, procedural justice, and implicit bias training all address changing the culture of policing. Respectful language, thoughtful and intentional dialogue about the perception and reality of profiling and the mass incarceration of minorities, and consistent involvement both formal and informal in community events all help ensure that relationships of trust between police and community will be built. The vision of policing in the 21st century should be that of officers as guardians of human and constitutional rights. 4.4.1 Action Item Because offensive or harsh language can escalate a minor situation, law enforcement agencies should underscore the importance of language used and adopt policies directing officers to speak to individuals with respect. 4.4.2 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should develop programs that create opportunities for patrol officers to regularly interact with neighborhood residents, faith leaders, and business leaders. End of Section 10 Section 11 of the final report of the President's Task Force on 21st century policing. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Devorah Allen Final report of the President's Task Force on 21st century policing. Section 11 Pillar 4 Community Policing and Crime Reduction Part 2 4.5 Recommendation Community policing emphasizes working with neighborhood residents to co-produce public safety. Law enforcement agencies should work with community residents to identify problems and collaborate on implementing solutions that produce meaningful results for the community. As Dolores Jones Brown testified, neighborhood policing provides an opportunity for police departments to do things with residents in the co-production of public safety rather than doing things to or for them. Community policing is not just about the behavior and tactics of police. It is also about the civic engagement and capacity of communities to improve their own neighborhoods, their quality of life, and their sense of safety and well-being. Communities are key partners in creating public safety, so communities and police need mechanisms to engage with each other in consistent and meaningful ways. One model for formalizing this engagement is through a civilian governance system, such as is found in Los Angeles. As Chief Charlie Beck explained in Testimony to the Task Force, the Los Angeles Police Department is formally governed by the Board of Police Commissioners, a five-person civilian body appointed by the mayor. The commission has formal authority to hire the chief of police to set broad policy for the department and to hold the LAPD and its chief accountable to the people. Community policing, therefore, is concerned with changing the way in which citizens respond to police in more constructive and proactive ways. If officers feel unsafe and threatened, their ability to operate in an open and shared dialogue with community is inhibited. And the police have the responsibility to understand the culture, history and quality of life issues of the entire community. Youth, elders, faith communities, special populations and to educate the community, including its children, on the role and function of police and ways the community can protect itself, be part of solving problems and prevent crime. Community and police jointly share the responsibility for civil dialogue and interaction. 4.5.1 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should schedule regular forums and meetings where all community members can interact with police and help influence programs and policy. 4.5.2 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should engage youth and communities in joint training with law enforcement, citizen academies, ride-alongs, problem-solving teams, community action teams and the quality of life teams. 4.5.3 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should establish formal community and citizen advisory committees to assist in developing crime prevention strategies and agency policies as well as provide input on policing issues. Larger agencies should establish multiple committees to ensure they inform all levels of the organization. The makeup of these committees should reflect the graphics of the community or neighborhood being served. 4.5.4 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should adopt community policing strategies that support and work in concert with economic development efforts within communities. As several witnesses, including Bill Geller testified, public safety and the economic health of communities go hand in hand. It is therefore important for agencies to work with local, state and federal partners on projects devoted to enhancing the economic health of the communities in which departments are located. 4.6. Recommendation Community should adopt policies and programs that address the needs of children and youth most at risk for crime or violence and reduce aggressive law enforcement tactics that stigmatize youth and marginalize their participation in schools and communities. The past decade has seen an explosion of knowledge about adolescent development and the neurological underpinnings of adolescent behavior. Much has also been learned about the pathways by which adolescents become delinquent, the effectiveness of prevention and treatment programs, and the long-term effects of transferring youths to the adult system and confining them in harsh conditions. These findings have raised doubts about a series of policies and practices of zero tolerance that have contributed to increasing the school-to-prison pipeline and increasing the behaviors of children as young as kindergarten age. Non-criminal offenses can escalate to criminal charges when officers are not trained in child and adolescent development and are unable to recognize and manage a child's emotional, intellectual, and physical development issues. School district policies and practices that push students out of schools and into the juvenile justice system cause great harm and do no good. One witness told the task force a story about what happened to him one day when he was a high school freshman. As I walked down the hall, one of the police officers employed in the school noticed I did not have my identification badge with me. Before I could explain why I did not have my badge, I was escorted to the office and suspended for an entire week. I had to leave the school premises immediately. Walking to the bus stop, a different police officer pulled me over and demanded to know why I was not in school. As I tried to explain, I was thrown into the back of the police car. They drove back to my school to see if I was telling the truth and I was left waiting in the car for over two hours. When they came back, they told me I was in fact suspended. But because the school did not provide me with the proper forms, my guardian and I both had to pay tickets for me being off of school property. The tickets together were six hundred dollars and I had a court date for each one. Was forgetting my ID worth missing school? Me being kicked out of school did not solve or help anything. I was at home alone watching Jerry Springer doing nothing. 4.6.1 Action Item Education and criminal justice agencies at all levels of government should work together to reform policies and procedures that push children into the juvenile justice system. 4.6.2 Action Item In order to keep youth in school and to keep them from criminal justice, law enforcement agencies should work with schools to encourage the creation of alternatives to student suspensions and expulsion through restorative justice, diversion, counseling and family interventions. 4.6.3 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to encourage the use of alternative strategies that involve youth in decision making such as restorative justice, youth courts and peer interventions. 4.6.4 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to adopt an instructional approach to discipline that uses interventions or disciplinary consequences to help students develop new behavior skills and positive strategies to avoid conflict, redirect energy and refocus on learning. 4.6.4 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to develop and monitor school discipline policies with input and collaboration from school personnel, students, families and community members. These policies should prohibit the use of corporal punishment and electronic control devices. 4.6.6 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to create a continuum of developmentally appropriate strategies to help youth create a continuum of developmentally appropriate and proportional consequences for addressing ongoing and escalating student misbehavior after all appropriate interventions have been attempted. 4.6.7 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should work with communities to play a role in programs and procedures to reintegrate juveniles back into their communities as they leave the juvenile justice system. Although this recommendation and therefore action items specifically focuses on juveniles, this task force believes that law enforcement agencies should also work with communities to play a role in reentry programs for adults leaving prisons and jails. 4.6.8 Action Item Law enforcement agencies and schools should establish memoranda of agreement for the placement of school resource officers that limit police involvement in student discipline. Such agreements could include provisions for special training for school resource officers to help them better understand and deal with issues involving youth. 4.6.9 Action Item The federal government should assess and evaluate zero-tolerant strategies and examine the role of reasonable discretion when dealing with adolescents in consideration of their stages of maturation or development. 4.7 Recommendation Communities need to affirm and recognize their role in community decision making, facilitate youth-led research and problem solving, and develop and fund youth leadership training and life skills through positive youth police collaboration and interactions. Youth face unique challenges when encountering the criminal justice system. Law enforcement contacts for apparent infractions create trauma and fear in children and disillusionment in youth. But proactive and positive youth interactions with police create the opportunity for coaching, mentoring, and diversion into constructive alternative activities. Moving testimony from a panel of young people allowed the task force members to hear how officers can lead youth out of the conditions that keep them in the juvenile justice system and into self-awareness and self-help. Phoenix native Jose Gonzalez 21 first went to jail at age 9 and had a chaotic childhood. But in turning his life towards a productive and healthy future, he vividly remembers one officer who made a difference. Needless to say, I have had a fair amount of interaction with law enforcement in my youth. Some has been very positive. Like the time the school resource officer got me involved in an after-school club. Officer Bill D. helped me stop being a bad kid and assisted with after-school activities. He sought me out to be a part of a club that included all sorts of youth, athletes, academics, and helped me gain confidence in reaching out to other social circles beyond my troubled community. The important idea I'd like to convey is that approach is everything. 4.7.1 Action Item Communities and law enforcement agencies should restore and build trust between youth and police by creating programs and projects for positive, consistent, and persistent interaction between youth and police. 4.7.2 Action Item Communities should develop community and school-based, evidence-based programs that mitigate punitive and authoritarian solutions to teen problems. End of Section 11 Section 12 of The Final Report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Colleen McMahon Final Report of The President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing Pillar 5. Training and Education Part 1 Hiring officers who reflect the community they serve is important not only to external relations but also to increasing understanding within the agency. As our nation becomes more pluralistic and the scope of law enforcement's responsibilities expands, the need for more and better training has become critical. Today's line officers and leaders must meet a wide variety of challenges including international terrorism, evolving technologies, rising immigration, changing laws, new cultural mores, and a growing mental health crisis. All states and territories and the District of Columbia should establish standards for hiring, training, and education. The skills and knowledge required to effectively deal with these issues requires a higher level of education as well as extensive and ongoing training in specific disciplines. The Task Force discussed these needs in depth making recommendations for basic recruit and in service training as well as leadership development in a wide variety of areas. Community policing and problem solving principles, interpersonal and communication skills, bias awareness, scenario based situational decision making, crisis intervention, procedural justice and impartial policing, trauma and victim services, mental health issues, analytical research and technology, languages and cultural responsiveness. Many who spoke before the Task Force recommended that law enforcement partner with academic institutions, organizations such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police IACP, the Major Cities Chiefs Association MCCA, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, NOBLA and the Police Executive Research Forum, PERF and other sources of appropriate training. Establishing fellowships and exchange programs with other agencies was also suggested. Other witnesses spoke about the police education now offered by universities noting that undergraduate criminal justice and criminology programs provide a serviceable foundation but that short courses of mixed quality and even some graduate university degree programs do not come close to addressing the needs of 21st century law enforcement. In addition to discussion of training programs and educational expectations, witnesses at the listening session made clear that new approaches to recruitment hiring, evaluation and promotion are also essential to developing a more highly educated workforce with the character traits and social skills that enable effective policing and positive community relationships. To build a police force capable of dealing with the complexity of the 21st century it is imperative that agencies place value on both educational achievements and socialization skills when making hiring decisions. Hiring officers who reflect the community they serve is also important, not only to external relations but also to increasing understanding within the agency. On the other hand task force member Constance Rice described the best line officer she knew, white but better at relating to the African-American community than his black colleagues. Her recommendation was to look for the character traits that support fairness, compassion and cultural sensitivity. The need for understanding tolerance and sensitivity to African-Americans, Latinos recent immigrants, Muslims and the LGBTQ community was discussed at length at the listening session with witnesses giving examples of unacceptable behavior in law enforcement's dealings with all of these groups. Participants also discussed the need to move towards practices that respect all members of the community equally and away from policing tactics that can unintentionally lead to excessive enforcement against minorities. Witnesses noted that officers need to develop the skills and knowledge necessary in the fight against terrorism by gaining an understanding of the links between normal criminal activity and terrorism for example. What is more this training must be ongoing as threats and procedures for combating terrorism evolve. The need for realistic scenario-based training to better manage interactions and minimize using force was discussed by a number of witnesses. Others focused more on content than delivery. Dennis Rosenbaum suggested putting procedural justice at the center of training, not on the fringes. Ronald Serpis recommended training on the effects of violence not only on the community and individual victims but also on police officers themselves noting that exposure to violence can make individuals more prone to violent behavior. Witnesses Bruce Lipman and David Freedman both spoke about providing officers with historical perspectives of policing to provide context as to why some communities have negative feelings toward the police and improve understanding of the role of the police in a democratic society. Though today's law enforcement professionals are highly trained and highly skilled operationally, they must develop specialized knowledge and understanding that enable fair and procedurally just policing and allow them to meet a wide variety of new challenges and expectations. Tactical skills are important but attitude, tolerance and interpersonal skills are equally so and to be effective in an ever changing world training must continue throughout an officer's career. The goal is not only effective, efficient policing but also procedural justice and fairness. Following are the task forces recommendations for implementing career long education and training practices for law enforcement in the 21st century. 5.1 Recommendation The federal government should support the development of partnerships with training facilities across the country to promote consistent standards for high quality training and establish training innovation hubs. The main point for changing the culture of policing is to change the culture of training academies. The designation of certain training academies as federally supported regional training innovation hubs could act as leverage points for changing training culture while taking into consideration regional variations. Federal funding would be a powerful incentive to these designated academies to conduct the necessary research to develop and implement the highest quality curricula focused on the needs of 21st century American policing along with cutting edge delivery modalities. 5.1.1 Action Item The training innovation hubs should develop replicable model programs that use adult based learning and scenario based training in a training environment modeled less like boot camp. Through these programs the hubs would influence nationwide curricula as well as instructional methodology. 5.1.2 Action Item The training innovation hubs should establish partnerships with academic institutions to develop rigorous training practices evaluation and the development of curricula based on evidence based practices. 5.1.3 Action Item The Department of Justice should build a stronger relationship with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement IAD-LEST in order to leverage their network with state boards and commissions of peace officers standards and training post. The posts are critical to the development and implementation of statewide training standards and the certification of instructors and training courses as well as integral to facilitating communication, coordination and influence with the more than 650 police academies across the nation. This relationship would also serve as a pipeline for disseminating information and creating discussion around best practices. 5.2.2 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should engage community members in the training process. Not only can agencies make important contributions to the design and implementation of training that reflects the needs and character of their communities but it is also important for police training to be as transparent as possible. This will result in both a better informed public and a better informed officer. Where appropriate and through managed programs the community would learn about and evaluate the existing training within departments. Provide input into shaping some of that training content and delivery. In some cases, participate in training alongside officers. 5.2.1 Action Item The U.S. Department of Justice should conduct research to develop and disseminate a toolkit on how law enforcement agencies and training programs can integrate community members into this training process. 5.3 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should provide leadership training to all personnel throughout their careers. Standards and programs need to be established for every level of leadership from the first line to middle management to executive leadership. If there is good leadership and procedural justice within the agency the officers are more likely to behave according to those standards in the community. As Chief Edward Flynn of the Milwaukee Police Department noted, flexible, dynamic, insightful, ethical leaders are needed to develop the informal social control and social capital required for a civil society to flourish. One example of leadership training is leading police organizations, a program developed by the IACP and modeled after the West Point Leadership Program, which offers training for all levels of agency management in programs based on a behavioral science approach to leading people, groups, change and organizations, focusing on the concept of every officer a leader. This is a 3.1 action item recognizing that strong capable leadership is required to create cultural transformation the U.S. Department of Justice should invest in developing learning goals and model curricula training for each level of leadership. This training should focus on organizational procedural justice community policing, police accountability, teaching, coaching, mentoring and communicating with the media and the public. Chief Kim Jacobs noted this in her testimony discussing current issues with training on reviewing investigations of police actions and prepare comprehensive reports for all stakeholders, including the media and citizens. These standards should also influence requirements for promotion and continuing ongoing education should also be required to maintain leadership positions. 5.3.2 Action Item 5.3.3 Action Item The U.S. Department of Justice should support and encourage cross-discipline leadership training. This can be within the criminal justice system but also across governments, national and public sector, and other institutions. This can be in the criminal justice system but also across governments, national and national agencies, and but also across governments, nonprofits, and the private sector, including social services, legal aid, businesses, community corrections, education, the courts, mental health organizations, civic and religious organizations, and others. When people come together from different disciplines and backgrounds, there is a cross-fertilization of ideas that often leads to better solutions. Furthermore, by interacting with a more diverse group of professionals, police can establish a valuable network of contacts whose knowledge and skills differ from but complement their own. This opportunity does exist for front-line staff on a variety of specialized topics, but also needs to happen at decision policymaker levels. For example, the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children is an especially appropriate model for the value of cross-discipline training. Their written testimony to the task force explains how their training approach focuses on the formation of community partnerships that engage law enforcement and professionals from multiple disciplines to collaboratively identify and protect drug-endangered children and their families. 5.4. Recommendation. The U.S. Department of Justice should develop, in partnership with institutions of higher education, a national postgraduate institute of policing for senior executives with a standardized curriculum preparing them to lead agencies in the 21st century. To advance American law enforcement, we must advance its leadership. To that end, the task force recommends the establishment of a top-quality graduate institute of policing to provide ongoing leadership training, education, and research programs which will enhance the quality of law enforcement culture, knowledge, skills, practices, and policies. Modeled after the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, this institute will be staffed with subject matter experts and instructors drawn from the nation's top educational institutions, who will focus on the real-world problems that challenge today's and tomorrow's law enforcement, teaching practical skills, and providing the most current information for improving policing services throughout the nation. This institute could even, as witness Lawrence Sherman proposed, quote, admit qualified applicants to a three-month residential course for potential police executives, concluding in an assessment center and examination that would certify qualified graduates to serve as chief police executives anywhere in the United States, unquote. End of Section 12, Recording by Colleen McMahon. Section 13 of the final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Colleen McMahon. Final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Pillar 5, Training and Education. Part 2. 5.5, Recommendation. The U.S. Department of Justice should instruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation to modify the curriculum of the National Academy at Quantico to include prominent coverage of the topical areas addressed in this report. In addition, the COPS Office and the Office of Justice Programs should work with law enforcement professional organizations to encourage modification of their curricula in a similar fashion. The Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services, COPS Office, and the Office of Justice Programs, OJP, should work with the law enforcement professional organizations to encourage modification of their curricula. For example, the Senior Management Institute for Police run by PERF and the Police Executive Leadership Institute managed by the Major City's Chiefs Association. 5.6, Recommendation. Posts should make Crisis Intervention Training, CIT, a part of both basic recruit and in-service officer training. Crisis Intervention Training, CIT, was developed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1988 and has been shown to improve police ability to recognize symptoms of a mental health crisis, enhance their confidence in addressing such an emergency, and reduce inaccurate beliefs about mental illness. It has been found that after completing CIT orientation, officers felt encouraged to interact with people suffering a mental health crisis and to delay their rush to resolution. Dr. Randolph Dupont, Chair of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Memphis, spoke to the Task Force about the effectiveness of the Memphis Crisis Intervention Team, CIT, which stresses verbal intervention and other de-escalation techniques. Noting that empathy training is an important component, Dr. Dupont said the Memphis CIT includes personal interaction between officers and individuals with mental health problems. Officers who had contact with these individuals felt more comfortable with them and hospital mental health staff who participated with the officers had more positive views of law enforcement. CIT also provides a unique opportunity to develop cross-disciplinary training and partnerships. 5.6.1 Action Item Because of the importance of this issue, Congress should appropriate funds to help support law enforcement crisis intervention training. 5.7 Recommendation Posts should ensure that basic officer training includes lessons to improve social interaction as well as tactical skills. These include topics such as critical thinking, social intelligence, implicit bias, fair and impartial policing, historical trauma, and other topics that address capacity to build trust and legitimacy in diverse communities and offer better skills for gaining compliance without the use of physical force. Basic recruit training must also include tactical and operations training on lethal and non-lethal use of force with an emphasis on de-escalation and tactical retreat skills. 5.8 Recommendation Posts should ensure that basic recruit and in-service officer training include curriculum on the disease of addiction. It is important that officers be able to recognize the signs of addiction and respond accordingly when they are interacting with people who may be impaired as a result of their addiction. Science has demonstrated that addiction is a disease of the brain, a disease that can be prevented and treated and from which people can recover. The growing understanding of this science has led to a number of law enforcement agencies equipping officers with overdosed reversal drugs such as naloxone and the passage of legislation in many states that shield any person from civil and criminal liability if they administer naloxone. The Obama Administration's drug policy reflects this understanding and emphasizes access to treatment over incarceration, pursuing smart-on-crime rather than tough-on-crime approaches to drug-related offenses and support for early health interventions designed to break the cycle of drug use, crime, incarceration, and rearrest. And the relationship between incarceration and addiction is a significant one. A 2004 survey by the U.S. Department of Justice estimated that about 70% of state and 64% of federal prisoners regularly use drugs prior to incarceration. 5.9 Recommendation Posts should ensure both basic recruit and in-service training incorporates content around recognizing and confronting implicit bias and cultural responsiveness. As the nation becomes more diverse, it will become increasingly important that police officers be sensitive to and tolerant of differences. It is vital that law enforcement provide training that recognizes the unique needs and characteristics of minority communities, whether they are victims or witnesses of crimes, subjects of stops, or criminal suspects. Kishan Harley, a young black man, testified that he estimates that he's been stopped and frisked more than 100 times and that he felt that the problem is not just a few individual bad apples, but the systematic way policing treats certain communities, including low-income and young people, African-Americans, LGBTQ people, the homeless, immigrants, and people with psychiatric disabilities. In so doing, police have produced communities of alienation and resentment. He is arguably not alone in his opinions, given that research has shown that, quote, of those involved in traffic and street stops, a smaller percentage of blacks than whites believed the police behaved properly during the stop, unquote. And in a 2012 survey of LGBTQ-slash-HIV contact with police, 25% of respondents with any recent police contact reported at least one type of misconduct or harassment, such as being accused of an offense they did not commit, verbal assault, being arrested for an offense they did not commit, sexual harassment, physical assault, or sexual assault. 5.9.1, Action Item. Law enforcement agencies should implement ongoing, top-down training for all officers in cultural diversity and related topics that can build trust and legitimacy in diverse communities. This should be accomplished with the assistance of advocacy groups that represent the viewpoints of communities that have traditionally had adversarial relationships with law enforcement. 5.9.2, Action Item. Law enforcement agencies should implement training for officers that covers policies for interactions with the LGBTQ population, including issues such as determining gender identity for arrest placement, the Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities, and immigrant or non-English speaking groups, as well as reinforcing policies for the prevention of sexual misconduct and harassment. 5.10, Recommendation. Posts should require both basic recruit and in-service training on policing in a democratic society. Police officers are granted a great deal of authority, and it is therefore important that they receive training on the constitutional basis of and the proper use of that power and authority. Particular focus should be placed on ensuring that tarry stops are conducted within constitutional guidelines. 5.11, Recommendation. The federal government, as well as state and local agencies, should encourage and incentivize higher education for law enforcement officers. While many believe that a higher level of required education could raise the quality of officer performance, law enforcement also benefits from a diverse range of officers who bring their cultures, languages, and life experiences to policing. Offering entry-level opportunities to recruits without a college degree can be combined with the provision of means to obtain higher education throughout their career, thereby ensuring the benefits of a diverse staff with a well-educated police force and an active learning culture. Current student loan programs allow repayment based on income, and some already provide tuition debt forgiveness after 120 months of service in the government or nonprofit sector. 5.11.1, Action Item. The federal government should create a loan repayment and forgiveness incentive program specifically for policing. This could be modeled on similar programs that already exist for government service and other fields, or the reinstitution of funding for programs such as the 1960s and 70s law enforcement education program. 5.12, Recommendation. The federal government should support research into the development of technology that enhances scenario-based training, social interaction skills, and enables the dissemination of interactive distance learning for law enforcement. This will lead to new modalities that enhance the effectiveness of the learning experience, reduce instructional costs, and ensure the broad dissemination of training through platforms that do not require time away from agencies. This would be especially helpful for smaller and more rural departments who cannot spare the time for their officers to participate in residential or in-person training programs. Present-day technologies should also be employed more often. Web-based learning, behavior evaluations through body-worn camera videos, software programs for independent learning, scenario-based instruction through videos and other methods. This can also increase access to evidence-based research and other sources of knowledge. 5.13, Recommendation. The U.S. Department of Justice should support the development and implementation of improved field training officer programs. This is critical in terms of changing officer culture. Field training officers impart the organizational culture to the newest members. The most common current program known as the San Jose model is more than 40 years old and is not based on current research knowledge of adult learning modalities. In many ways it even conflicts with innovative training strategies that encourage problem-based learning and support organizational procedural justice. 5.13.1, Action Item. The U.S. Department of Justice should support the development of broad field training program standards and training strategies that address changing police culture and organizational procedural justice issues that agencies can adopt and customize to local needs. A potential model for this is the police training officer program developed by the COPS office in collaboration with PERF and the Reno, Nevada Police Department. This problem-based learning strategy used adult learning theory and problem-solving tools to encourage new officers to think with a proactive mindset, enabling the identification of and solution to problems within their communities. 5.13.2, Action Item. The U.S. Department of Justice should provide funding to incentivize agencies to update their field training programs in accordance with the new standards. End of Section 13, Recording by Colleen McMahon. Section 14 of the final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Colleen McMahon. Final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Pillar 6, Officer Wellness and Safety, Part 1. The wellness and safety of law enforcement officers is critical, not only to themselves, their colleagues, and their agencies, but also to public safety. Most law enforcement officers walk into risky situations and encounter tragedy on a regular basis. Some, such as the police who responded to the carnage of Sandy Hook Elementary School, witness horror that stays with them for the rest of their lives. Others are physically injured and carrying out their duties, sometimes needlessly, through mistakes made in high-stress situations. The recent notable deaths of officers are stark reminders of the risk officers face. As a result, physical, mental, and emotional injuries plague many law enforcement agencies. However, a large proportion of officer injuries and deaths are not the result of interaction with criminal offenders, but the outcome of poor physical health due to poor nutrition, lack of exercise, sleep deprivation, and substance abuse. Yet these causes are often overlooked or given scant attention. Many other injuries and fatalities are the result of vehicular accidents. The wellness and safety of law enforcement officers is critical, not only to themselves, their colleagues, and their agencies, but also to public safety. An officer whose capabilities, judgment, and behavior are adversely affected by poor physical or psychological health, not only may be of little use to the community he or she serves, but also may be a danger to the community and to other officers. As task member Tracey Mears observed, quote, hurt people can hurt people. End of quote. Commenting on the irony of law enforcement's lack of services and practices to support wellness and safety, Dr. Lawrence Miller observed in his testimony that supervisors would not allow an officer to go on patrol with a deficiently maintained vehicle, an unservice duty weapon, or a malfunctioning radio, but pay little attention to the maintenance of what is all officers' most valuable resource, their brains. Officer suicide is also a problem. A national study using data of the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance found that police died from suicide 2.4 times as often as from homicides, and though depression resulting from traumatic experiences is often the cause, routine work and life stressors, serving hostile communities, working long shifts, lack of family or departmental support are frequent motivators too. In this pillar, the task force focused on many of the issues that impact and are impacted by officer wellness and safety, focusing on strategies in several areas, physical, mental and emotional health, vehicular accidents, officer suicide, shootings and assaults, and the partnerships with social services, unions, and other organizations that can support solutions. Physical injuries and death in the line of duty while declining are still too high. According to estimates of US Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 100,000 law enforcement professionals are injured in the line of duty each year. Many are the result of assaults, which underscores the need for body armor, but most are due to vehicular accidents. To protect against assaults, Orange County, Florida Sheriff Jerry Demings talked about immersing new officers in simulation training that realistically depicts what they are going to face in the real world. Quote, I subscribe to an edict that there is no substitute for training and experience. Deaths and injuries can be prevented through training that is both realistic and repetitive. End of quote. But to design effective training first requires collecting substantially more information about the nature of injuries sustained by officers on the job. Dr. Alexander Eastman's testimony noted that the field of emergency medicine involves the analysis of vast amounts of data with regard to injuries in order to improve prevention as well as treatment. Quote, in order to make the job of policing more safe, a nationwide repository for law enforcement officer injuries sustained is desperately needed. A robust database of this nature analyzed by medical providers and scientists involved in law enforcement would allow for recommendations in tactics, training, equipment, medical care, and even policies and procedures that are grounded in that interface between scientific evidence, best medical practice, and sound policing. End of quote. Poor nutrition and fitness are also serious threats as is sleep deprivation. Many errors in judgment can be traced to fatigue, which also makes it harder to connect with people and control emotions. But administrative changes such as reducing work shifts can improve officers' feelings of well being and the implementation of mental health strategies can lessen the impact of the stress and trauma. However, the most important factor to consider when discussing wellness and safety is the culture of law enforcement, which needs to be transformed. Support for wellness and safety should permeate all practices and be expressed through changes in procedures, requirements, attitudes, and behaviors. An agency work environment in which officers do not feel they are respected, supported, or treated fairly is one of the most common sources of stress. And research indicates that officers who feel respected by their supervisors are more likely to accept and voluntarily comply with departmental policies. This transformation should also overturn the tradition of silence on psychological problems, encouraging officers to seek help without concern about negative consequences. Partnerships are another crucial element. An agency cannot successfully tackle these issues without partners such as industrial hygienists, chaplains, unions, and mental health providers. But no program can succeed without buy-in from agency leadership as well as the rank and file. The bulletproof cop does not exist. The officers who protect us must also be protected against incapacitating physical, mental, and emotional health problems as well as against the hazards of their job. Their wellness and safety are crucial for them, their colleagues, and their agencies as well as the well-being of the communities they serve. 6.1 Recommendation The U.S. Department of Justice should enhance and further promote its multifaceted officer safety and wellness initiative. As noted by all task force members during the listening session, officer wellness and safety supports public safety. Officers who are mentally or physically incapacitated cannot serve their communities adequately and can be a danger to the people they serve, to their fellow officers, and to themselves. 6.1.1 Action Item Congress should establish and fund a national blue alert warning system. Leveraging the current AMBER Alert program used to locate abducted children, the blue alert would enlist the help of the public in finding suspects after a law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty. Some similar state systems do exist, but there are large gaps. A national system is needed. In addition to aiding the apprehension of suspects, it would send a message about the importance of protecting law enforcement from undue harm. 6.1.2 Action Item The U.S. Department of Justice in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should establish a task force to study mental health issues unique to officers and recommend tailored treatments. Law enforcement officers are subject to more stress than the general population, owing to the nature of their jobs. In addition to working with difficult, even hostile individuals, responding to tragic events and sometimes coming under fire themselves, they suffer from the effects of everyday stressors, the most acute of which often come from their agencies because of confusing messages or non-supportive management, and their families who do not fully understand the pressures the officers face on the job. And as witness Lawrence Miller said, quote, when both work and family relations fray, the individual's coping abilities can be stretched to the limit, resulting in alcohol abuse, domestic violence, over-aggressive policing, even suicide, end of quote. To add to the problems of those suffering from psychological distress, law enforcement culture has not historically supported efforts to treat or even acknowledge mental health problems, which are usually seen as signs of weakness. The challenges and treatments of mental health issues should therefore be viewed within the context of law enforcement's unique culture and working environment. The task force should also look to establish a national toll-free mental health hotline, specifically for police officers. This would be a fast, easy, and confidential way for officers to get advice whenever they needed to, and because they would be anonymous, officers would be more likely to take advantage of this resource. Since nobody understands the challenges an officer faces like another officer, it should be peer-driven, anonymously connecting callers to officers who are not in the same agency, and who could refer the caller to professional help if needed. An advisory board should be formed to guide the creation of this hotline service. 6.1.3 Action Item The federal government should support the continuing research into the efficacy of an annual mental health check for officers, as well as fitness, resilience, and nutrition. Currently, most mental health checks are ordered as interventions for anger management or substance abuse, and are ordered reactively after an incident. Mental health checks need to be more frequent to prevent problems. Because officers are exposed to a wide range of stressors on a continuous basis as part of their daily routines, mental and physical health check-ups should be conducted on an ongoing basis. Furthermore, officer nutrition and fitness issues change with time, varying widely from those of the new academy graduate to the veteran who has spent the last five years sitting in a squad car. Many health problems, notably cardiac issues, are cumulative. 6.1.4 Action Item Pension plans should recognize fitness for duty examinations as definitive evidence of valid duty or non-duty related disability. Officers who have been injured in the line of duty can exist in limbo without pay, unable to work, but also unable to get benefits because the fitness for duty examinations given by their agencies are not recognized as valid proof of disability. And since officers, as public servants, cannot receive social security, they can end up in a precarious financial state. 6.1.5 Action Item Public safety officer benefits, PSOB, should be provided to survivors of officers killed while working, regardless of whether the officer used safety equipment, seat belt or anti-ballistic vest, or if officer death was the result of suicide attributed to a current diagnosis of duty related mental illness, including but not limited to post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. Families should not be penalized because an officer died in the line of duty but was not wearing a seat belt or body armor. Though these precautions are very important and strongly encouraged, there are occasions when officers can be more effective without them. A couple of situations were mentioned by task force member Sean Smoot, who described the efforts of an officer who took off his seat belt to tend to the injuries of a victim in the back of the car as his partner sped to the hospital. Another scenario he mentioned was the rescue of a drowning woman by an officer who shed his heavy body armor to go into the water. Charles Ramsey, task force co-chair, also noted that these types of situations could be further mitigated by the invention of seat belts that officers could quickly release without getting tangled on their belts, badges, and radios, as well as body armor that is lighter and more comfortable. End of Section 14. Recording by Colleen McMahon. Section 15 of the final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Colleen McMahon. Final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Pillar 6. Officer Wellness and Safety, Part 2. 6.2. Recommendation. Law enforcement agencies should promote safety and wellness at every level of the organization. Safety and wellness issues affect all law enforcement professionals regardless of their management status, duty, or tenure. Moreover, line officers are more likely to adopt procedures or change practices if they are advised to do so by managers who also model the behavior they encourage. According to witness David Orr, buy-in from the leaders as well as the rank and file is essential to the success of any program. 6.2.1 Action Item. Though the federal government can support many of the programs and best practices identified by the U.S. Department of Justice Initiative described in recommendation 6.1, the ultimate responsibility lies with each agency. Though legislation and funding from the federal government is necessary in some cases, most of the policies, programs, and practices recommended by the Task Force can and should be implemented at the local level. It is understood, however, that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions and that implementation will vary according to agency size, location, resources, and other factors. 6.3 Recommendation. The U.S. Department of Justice should encourage and assist departments in the implementation of scientifically supported shift links by law enforcement. It has been established by significant bodies of research that long shifts cannot only cause fatigue, stress, and decreased ability to concentrate, but also lead to other more serious consequences. Fatigue and stress undermine not only the immune system, but also the ability to work at full capacity, make decisions, and maintain emotional equilibrium. Though long shifts are understandable in the case of emergencies, as a standard practice they can lead to poor morale, poor job performance, irritability, and errors in judgment that can have serious, even deadly consequences. 6.3.1 Action Item. The U.S. Department of Justice should fund additional research into the efficacy of limiting the total number of hours an officer should work within a 24-48-hour period, including special findings on the maximum number of hours an officer should work in a high-risk or high-stress environment, e.g., public demonstrations or emergency situations. 6.4 Recommendation. Every law enforcement officer should be provided with individual tactical first aid kits and training as well as anti-ballistic vests. Task Force witness Dr. Alexander Eastman, who is a trauma surgeon as well as a law enforcement professional, noted the tactical first aid kits would significantly reduce the loss of both officer and civilian lives due to blood loss. Already available to members of the military engaged in combat missions, these kits are designed to save lives by controlling hemorrhaging. They contain tourniquets, an Oles modular bandage, and quick-clot gauze, and would be provided along with training in hemorrhage control. Dr. Eastman estimated that the kits could cost less than $50 each and require about two hours of training, which could be provided through officers who have completed train-the-trainer programs. This would be a national adoption of the Hartford Consensus, which calls for agencies to adopt hemorrhage control as a core law enforcement skill and to integrate rescue emergency medical services personnel into community-wide active shooter preparedness and training. These activities would complement the current save-our-own law enforcement-based hemorrhage control programs. To further reduce officer deaths, the Task Force also strongly recommends the provision of body armor to all officers with replacements when necessary. 6.4.1 Action Item Congress should authorize funding for the distribution of law enforcement individual tactical first aid kits. 6.4.2 Action Item Congress should reauthorize and expand the Bulletproof Vest Partnership BVP program. Created by statute in 1998, this program is a unique U.S. Department of Justice initiative designed to provide a critical resource to state and local law enforcement. Based on data collected and recorded by Bureau of Justice Assistance staff, in FY 2012 protective vests were directly attributed to saving the lives of at least 33 law enforcement and corrections officers. 6.5 Recommendation The U.S. Department of Justice should expand efforts to collect and analyze data not only on officer deaths but also on injuries and near-misses. Another recommendation mentioned by multiple witnesses is the establishment of a nationwide repository of data on law enforcement injuries, deaths, and near-misses. Though the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, does maintain a database of information pertinent to police procedures on officers killed in the line of duty, it does not contain the medical details that could be analyzed by medical providers and scientists to improve medical care, tactics, training, equipment, and procedures that would prevent or reduce injuries and save lives. The Police Foundation, with the support of a number of other law enforcement organizations, launched an online law enforcement near-miss reporting system in late 2014, but it is limited in its ability to systematically analyze national trends in this important data by its voluntary nature. 6.6 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should adopt policies that require officers to wear seatbelts and bullet proof vests and provide training to raise awareness of the consequences of failure to do so. According to Task Force witness Craig Floyd, traffic accidents have been the number one cause of officer fatalities in recent years, and nearly half of those officers were not wearing seatbelts. He suggests in-car cameras and seatbelt sensors to encourage use along with aggressive safety campaigns. Some witnesses endorsed mandatory seatbelt policies as well. The Prince George's County, Maryland, arrive alive campaign initiated by Task Force witness Chief Mark McGraw to promote 100% seatbelt usage relied on incentives and peer pressure for success. The message was, quote, it is not just about you, it is also about your family and your department, unquote. There were also many calls for mandatory requirements that all officers wear soft body armor any time they are going to be engaging in enforcement activities, uniformed or not. It was also suggested that law enforcement agencies be required to provide these for all commissioned personnel. 6.7 Recommendation Congress should develop and enact peer review error management legislation. The Task Force recommends that Congress enact legislation similar to the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 that would support the development of an effective peer review error management system for law enforcement similar to what exists in medicine. A robust but non-punitive peer review error management program in which law enforcement officers could openly and frankly discuss their own or others' mistakes or near misses without fear of legal repercussions would go a long way toward reducing injuries and fatalities by improving tactics, policies, and procedures. Protecting peer review error management findings from being used in legal discovery would enable the widespread adoption of this program by law enforcement. The near miss anonymous reporting system developed by the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C. currently collects anonymous data that can be very helpful in learning from and preventing mistakes, fatalities, and injuries, but a program that enabled peer review of errors would provide even more valuable perspectives and solutions. 6.8 Recommendation The U.S. Department of Transportation should provide technical assistance opportunities for departments to explore the use of vehicles equipped with vehicle collision prevention smart car technology that will reduce the number of accidents. Given that the FBI's 2003-2012 law enforcement officers killed an action report showed that 49% of officer fatalities were a result of vehicle-related accidents, the need for protective devices cannot be understated. New technologies such as vehicle collision prevention systems should be explored. End of Section 15, Recording by Colleen McMahon Section 16 of the Final Report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing This is a LibriVox Recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Final Report of the President's Task Force on the 21st Century Policing Implementation The members of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing are convinced that these 59 concrete recommendations for research, action, and further study will bring long-term improvements to the ways in which law enforcement agencies interact with and bring positive changes to their communities. But we also recognize that the administration, through policies and practices already in place, can start right now to move forward on the bedrock recommendations in this report. Accordingly, we propose the following items for immediate action. 7.1 Recommendation The President should direct all federal law enforcement agencies to review the recommendations made by the Task Force on 21st Century Policing and, to the extent practicable, to adopt those that can be implemented at the federal level. 7.2 Recommendation The U.S. Department of Justice should explore public-private partnership opportunities, starting by convening a meeting with local, regional, and national foundations to discuss the proposals for reform described in this report and seeking their engagement and support in advancing implementation of these recommendations. 7.3 Recommendation The U.S. Department of Justice should charge its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, COPS Office, with assisting the law enforcement field in addressing current and future challenges. For recommendation 7.3, the COPS Office should consider taking actions, including but not limited to the following. Create a National Policing Practices and Accountability Division within the COPS Office. Establish national benchmarks and best practices for federal, state, local, and tribal police departments. Provide technical assistance and funding to national, state, local, and tribal accreditation bodies that evaluate policing practices. 7.3 Recommend additional benchmarks and best practices for state training and standards boards. Provide technical assistance and funding to state training boards to help them meet national benchmarks and best practices in training methodologies and content. Prioritize grant funding to departments meeting benchmarks. Support departments through an expansion of the COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative. Collaborate with Universities, the Office of Justice Programs, and its Bureau of Justice Assistance, BJA, Bureau of Justice Statistics, BJS, National Institute of Justice, NIJ, and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, OJJDP, and others to review research and literature in order to inform law enforcement agencies about evidence-based practices and to identify areas of police operations where additional research is needed. Collaborate with the BJA to establish a central repository for data concerning police use of force resulting in death, as well as in custody deaths, and disseminate this data for use by both community and police. Provide local agencies with technical assistance and a template to conduct local citizen satisfaction surveys. Compile annual citizen satisfaction surveys based on the submission of voluntary local surveys. Develop a national level survey as well as surveys for use by local agencies and by small geographical units, and develop questions to be added to the National Crime Victimization Survey relating to citizen satisfaction with police agencies and public trust. Collaborate with the BJA and others to develop a template of broader indicators of performance for police departments beyond crime rates alone that could comprise a uniform justice report. Collaborate with the NIJ and the BJS to publish an annual report on the state of policing in the United States. Provide support to national police leadership associations and national rank and file organizations to encourage them to implement task force recommendations. Work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to ensure the community policing tactics in state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies are incorporated into their role in Homeland Security. End of section 16. End of final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing.