 Section 0 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 Anita Roy Dobbs, Boston. Final Report of the President's Task Force on 21st-Century Policing. Prefatory Material. Executive Summary. From the Co-Chairs. We wish to thank President Barack Obama for giving us the honor and privilege of leading his Task Force on 21st-Century Policing. The Task Force was created to strengthen community policing and trust among law enforcement officers and the communities they serve, especially in light of recent events around the country that have underscored the need for and importance of lasting collaborative relationships between local police and the public. We found engaging with law enforcement officials, technical advisors, youth and community leaders, and non-governmental organizations through a transparent public process to be both enlightening and rewarding, and we again thank the President for this honor. Given the urgency of these issues, the President gave the Task Force an initial 90 days to identify best policing practices and offer recommendations on how those practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust. In this short period, the Task Force conducted seven public listening sessions across the country and received testimony and recommendations from a wide range of community and faith leaders, law enforcement officers, academics, and others to ensure its recommendations would be informed by a diverse range of voices. Such a remarkable achievement could not have been accomplished without the tremendous assistance provided by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services, COPS Office, led by Director Ronald L. Davis, who also served as the Executive Director of the Task Force. We thank Director Davis for his leadership, as well as his Chief of Staff, Melanka Clark, and the COPS Office team that supported the operation and administration of the Task Force. We also wish to extend our appreciation to the COPS Office's extremely capable Logistical and Technical Assistance Provider Strategic Applications International, SAI, led by James and Colleen Koppel. In addition to logistical support, SAI digested the voluminous information received from testifying witnesses and the public in record time and helped facilitate the Task Force's deliberations on recommendations for the President. We are also grateful for the thoughtful assistance of Darrell Stevens and Stephen Rickman, our technical advisors. Most important, we would especially like to thank the hundreds of community members, law enforcement officers and executives, associations and stakeholders, researchers and academics and civic leaders nationwide who stepped forward to support the efforts of the Task Force and to lend their experience and expertise during the development of the recommendations contained in this report. The passion and commitment shared by all to building strong relationships between law enforcement and communities became a continual source of inspiration and encouragement to the Task Force. The dedication of our fellow Task Force members and their commitment to the process of arriving at consensus around these recommendations is also worth acknowledging. The Task Force members brought diverse perspectives to the table and were able to come together to engage in meaningful dialogue on emotionally charged issues in a respectful and effective manner. We believe the type of constructive dialogue we have engaged in should serve as an example to the type of dialogue that must occur in communities throughout the nation. While much work remains to be done to address many long-standing issues and challenges, not only within the field of law enforcement but also within the broader criminal justice system, this experience has demonstrated to us that Americans are, by nature, problem solvers. It is our hope that the recommendations included here will meaningfully contribute to our nation's efforts to increase trust between law enforcement and the communities they protect and serve. Charles H. Ramsey Co-Chair Laurie O. Robinson Co-Chair Members of the Task Force Co-Chairs Charles Ramsey, Commissioner Philadelphia Police Department Laurie Robinson, Professor George Mason University Members Cedric L. Alexander, Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Public Safety, Decalb County, Georgia Jose Lopez, Lead Organizer, Make the Road, New York Tracy L. Mears, Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law, Yale Law School Brittany N. Packnett, Executive Director, Keach for America, St. Louis, Missouri Susan Lee Rohr, Executive Director, Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission Constance Rice, Co-Director, Advancement Project Sean Michael Smoot, Director and Chief Counsel, Police Benevolent and Protective Association of Illinois Brian Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative Roberto Villasenor, Chief of Police, Tucson Police Department Executive Summary Trust between law enforcement agencies and the people they protect and serve is essential in a democracy. It is key to the stability of our communities, the integrity of our criminal justice system, and the safe and effective delivery of policing services. In light of recent events that have exposed rifts in the relationships between local police and the communities they protect and serve, 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. This executive summary provides an overview of the recommendations of the Task Force, which met seven times in January and February of 2015. These listening sessions, held in Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Arizona, and Cincinnati, Ohio, brought the 11 members of the Task Force together with more than 100 individuals from diverse stakeholder groups, law enforcement officers and executives, community members, civic leaders, advocates, researchers, academics, and others, in addition to many others who submitted written testimony to study the problems from all perspectives. The Task Force recommendations, each with action items, are organized around six main topic areas or pillars, building trust and legitimacy, policy and oversight, technology and social media, community policing and crime reduction, officer training and education, and officer safety and wellness. The Task Force also offered 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. As a corollary to this effort, the Task Force also recommends that the President support programs that take a comprehensive and inclusive look at community-based initiatives addressing core issues such as poverty, education, and health and safety. Pillar One, Building Trust and Legitimacy. Building trust and nurturing legitimacy on both sides of the police-citizen divide is the foundational principle underlying the nature of relations between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Decades of research and practice support the premise that people are more likely to obey the law when they believe that those who are enforcing it have authority that is perceived as legitimate by those subject to the authority. The public confers legitimacy only on those whom they believe are acting in procedurally just ways. In addition, law enforcement cannot build community trust if it is seen as an occupying force coming in from outside to impose control on the community. Pillar One seeks to provide focused recommendations on building this relationship. Law enforcement culture should embrace a guardian rather than a warrior mindset to build trust and legitimacy both within agencies and with the public. Toward that end, law enforcement agencies should adopt procedural justice as the guiding principle for internal and external policies and practices to guide their interactions with rank-and-file officers and with the citizens they serve. Law enforcement agencies should also establish a culture of transparency and accountability to build public trust and legitimacy. This is critical to ensuring decision-making is understood and in accord with stated policy. Law enforcement agencies should also proactively promote public trust by initiating positive non-enforcement activities to engage communities that typically have high rates of investigative and enforcement involvement with government agencies. Law enforcement agencies should also track and analyze the level of trust communities have in police just as they measure changes in crime. This can be accomplished through consistent annual community surveys. Finally, law enforcement agencies should strive to create a workforce that encompasses a broad range of diversity including race, gender, language, life experience and cultural background to improve understanding and effectiveness in dealing with all communities. Pillar 2 – Policy and Oversight Pillar 2 emphasizes that if police are to carry out the responsibilities according to established policies, those policies must reflect community values. Law enforcement agencies should collaborate with community members, especially in communities and neighborhoods disproportionately affected by crime, to develop policies and strategies for deploying resources that aim to reduce crime by improving relationships, increasing community engagement and fostering cooperation. To achieve this end, law enforcement agencies should have clear and comprehensive policies on the use of force, including training on the importance of de-escalation, mass demonstrations, including the appropriate use of equipment, particularly rifles and armored personnel carriers, consent before searches, gender identification, racial profiling and performance measures, among others such as external and independent investigations and prosecutions of officer involved shootings and other use of force situations and in custody deaths. These policies should also include provisions for the collection of demographic data on all parties involved. All policies and aggregate data should be made publicly available to ensure transparency. To ensure policies are maintained and current, law enforcement agencies are encouraged to periodically review policies and procedures, conduct non-punitive peer reviews of critical incidents separate from criminal and administrative investigations, and establish civilian oversight mechanisms with their communities. Finally, to assist law enforcement and the community achieve the elements of Pillar 2, the U.S. Department of Justice through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, COPS Office, and Office of Justice Programs, OJP, should provide technical assistance and incentive funding to jurisdictions with small police agencies that take steps toward interagency collaboration, shared services, and regional training. They should also partner with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training, IAD-LST, to expand its National D-Certification Index to serve as the National Register of D-Certified Officers with the goal of covering all agencies within the United States and its territories. Pillar 3, Technology and Social Media The use of technology can improve policing practices and build community trust and legitimacy, but its implementation must be built on a defined policy framework with its purposes and goals clearly delineated. Implementing new technologies can give police departments an opportunity to fully engage and educate communities in a dialogue about their expectations for transparency, accountability, and privacy. But technology changes quickly in terms of new hardware, software, and other options. Law enforcement agencies and leaders need to be able to identify, assess, and evaluate new technology for adoption and do so in ways that improve their effectiveness, efficiency, and evolution without infringing on individual rights. Pillar 3 guides the implementation, use, and evaluation of technology and social media by law enforcement agencies. To build a solid foundation for law enforcement agencies in this field, the U.S. Department of Justice, in consultation with the law enforcement field, should establish national standards for the research and development of new technology including auditory, visual, and biometric data, quote, less than lethal, and quote, technology, and the development of segregated radio spectrum, such as FirstNet. These standards should also address compatibility, interoperability, and implementation needs both within local law enforcement agencies and across agencies and jurisdictions, and should maintain civil and human rights protections. Law enforcement implementation of technology should be designed considering local needs and aligned with these national standards. Finally, law enforcement agencies should adopt model policies and best practices for technology-based community engagement that increases community trust and access. Pillar 4, Community Policing and Crime Reduction Pillar 4 focuses on the importance of community policing as a guiding philosophy for all stakeholders. Community policing emphasizes working with neighborhood residents to co-produce public safety. Law enforcement agencies should, therefore, work with community residents to identify problems and collaborate on implementing solutions that produce meaningful results for the community. Specifically, law enforcement agencies should develop and adopt policies and strategies that reinforce the importance of community engagement in managing public safety. Law enforcement agencies should also engage in multidisciplinary community-team approaches for planning, implementing, and responding to crisis situations with complex causal factors. 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, such as children and youth, most at risk for crime or violence. Law enforcement agencies should avoid using law enforcement tactics that unnecessarily stigmatize youth and marginalize their participation in schools, where law enforcement officers should have limited involvement in discipline and communities. In addition, communities need to affirm and recognize the voices of youth in community decision-making, facilitate youth participation in research and problem-solving, and develop and fund youth leadership training and life skills through positive youth police collaboration and interactions. Pillar 5. Training and Education As our nation becomes more pluralistic and the scope of law enforcement's responsibilities expands, the need for expanded and more effective training has become critical. Today's line officers and leaders must be trained and capable to address a wide variety of challenges, including international terrorism, evolving technologies, rising immigration, changing laws, new cultural mores, and a growing mental health crisis. Pillar 5 focuses on the training and education needs of law enforcement. To ensure the high quality and effectiveness of training and education, law enforcement agencies should engage community members, particularly those with special expertise, in the training process and provide leadership training to all personnel throughout their careers. To further assist the training and educational needs of law enforcement, 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 involving universities and police academies. A National Postgraduate Institute of Policing for senior executives should be created with a standardized curriculum preparing participants to lead agencies in the 21st century. One specific method of increasing the quality of training would be to ensure that peace officer and standards training, POST, boards include mandatory crisis intervention training, CIT, which equips officers to deal with individuals in crisis or living with mental disabilities as part of both basic recruit and in-service officer training, as well as instruction in disease of addiction, implicit bias and cultural responsiveness, policing in a democratic society, procedural justice and effective societal interaction and tactical skills. Pillar 6. Officer Wellness and Safety The wellness and safety of law enforcement officers is critical not only for the officers, their colleagues and their agencies, but also to public safety. Pillar 6 emphasizes the support and proper implementation of officer wellness and safety as a multi-partner effort. The U.S. Department of Justice should enhance and further promote its multi-faceted officer safety and wellness initiative. Two specific strategies recommended for the U.S. Department of Justice include, 1. Encouraging and assisting departments in the implementation of scientifically supported shift lengths by law enforcement and 2. Expanding efforts to collect and analyze data not only on officer deaths but also on injuries and near misses. Law enforcement agencies should also promote wellness and safety at every level of the organization. For instance, every law enforcement officer should be provided with individual tactical first aid kits and training as well as anti-ballistic vests. In addition, law enforcement agencies should adopt policies that require officers to wear seatbelts and bulletproof vests and provide training to raise awareness of the consequences of failure to do so. Internal procedural justice principles should be adopted for all internal policies and interactions. The federal government should develop programs to provide financial support for law enforcement officers to continue to pursue educational opportunities. Finally, Congress should develop and enact peer review error management legislation. Implementation recommendations. The administration, through policies and practices already in place, can start right now to move forward on the recommendations contained in this report. The president should direct all federal law enforcement agencies to implement the task force recommendations to the extent practicable, and the U.S. Department of Justice should explore public-private partnership opportunities with foundations to advance implementation of the recommendations. Finally, the COPS Office and OJP should take a series of targeted actions to assist the law enforcement field in addressing current and future challenges. Conclusion. The members of the task force on 21st century policing are convinced that the concrete recommendations contained in this publication will bring long-term improvements to the ways in which law enforcement agencies interact with and bring positive change to their communities. End of Section 0. Section 1 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. Section 1. Introduction. When any part of the American family does not feel like it is being treated fairly, that's a problem for all of us. President Barack Obama. Trust between law enforcement agencies and the people they protect and serve is essential in a democracy. It is the key to the stability of our communities, the integrity of our criminal justice system, and the safe and effective delivery of policing services. In light of the recent events that have exposed rifts in the relationships between local police and the communities they protect and serve, on December 18th, 2014, President Barack Obama signed executive order 13684, establishing the task force on 21st century policing. In establishing the task force, the president spoke of the distrust that exists between too many police departments and too many communities. The sense that in a country where our basic principle is equality under the law, too many individuals, particularly young people of color, do not feel as if they are being treated fairly. When any part of the American family does not feel like it is being treated fairly, that's a problem for all of us, said the president. It's not just a problem for some. It's not just a problem for a particular community or a particular demographic. It means that we are not as strong as a country as we can be, and when applied to the criminal justice system, it means we're not as effective in fighting crime as we could be. These remarks underpin the philosophical foundation for the task force on 21st century policing to build trust between citizens and their peace officers so that all components of a community are treating one another fairly and justly, and are invested in maintaining public safety in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Decades of research and practice tell us that the public cares as much about how police interact with them as they care about the outcomes that legal actions produce. People are more likely to obey the law when they believe those who are enforcing it have the right, the legitimate authority, to tell them what to do. Building trust and legitimacy, therefore, is not just a policing issue. It involves all components of the criminal justice system and is inextricably bound to bedrock issues affecting the community, such as poverty, education, and public health. The mission of the task force was to examine ways of fostering strong, collaborative relationships between local law enforcement and the communities they protect, and to make recommendations to the president on ways policing practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust. The president selected members of the task force based on their ability to contribute to its mission because of their relevant perspective, experience, or subject matter expertise in policing, law enforcement, and community relations, civil rights, and civil liberties. The task force was given 90 days to conduct hearings, review the research, and make recommendations to the president, so its focus was sharp and necessarily limited. It concentrated on defining the cross-cutting issues affecting police-community interactions, questioning the contemporary relevance and truth about long-held assumptions regarding the nature and methods of policing, and identifying the areas where research is needed to highlight examples of evidence-based policing practices compatible with present realities. To fulfill this mission, the task force convened seven listening sessions to hear testimony, including recommendations for action, from government officials, law enforcement officers, academic experts, technical advisors, leaders from established non-governmental organizations, including grassroots movements, and any other members of the public who wish to comment. The listening sessions were held in Washington, D.C., January 13, Cincinnati, Ohio, January 30, 31, Phoenix, Arizona, February 13, and 14, and again in Washington, D.C., February 23, 24. Other forms of outreach included a number of White House listening sessions to engage other constituencies, such as people with disabilities, the LGBTQ community, and members of the armed forces, as well as careful study of scholarly articles, research reports, and written contributions from informed experts in various fields relevant to the task force mission. Each of the seven public listening sessions addressed a specific aspect of policing and police-community relations, although cross-cutting issues and concerns made their appearance at every session. At the first session, Building Trust and Legitimacy, the topic of procedural justice was discussed as a foundational necessity in building public trust. Subject matter experts also testified as to the meaning of community policing in its historical and contemporary contexts, defining the difference between implicit bias and racial discrimination, two concepts at the heart of perceived difficulties between police and the people. Witnesses from community organizations stressed the need for more police involvement in community affairs as an essential component of their crime-fighting duties. Police officers gave the beat cops perspective on protecting people who do not respect their authority, and three big city mayors told of endemic budgetary obstacles to addressing policing challenges. The session on policy and oversight again brought witnesses from diverse police forces, both chiefs and union representatives, from law and academia, and from established civil rights organizations and grassroots groups. They discussed use of force from the point of view of both research and policy and internal and external oversight, explained how they prepare for and handle mass demonstrations, and pondered culture and diversity in law enforcement. Witnesses filled the third session on technology and social media with testimony on the use of body-worn cameras and other technologies from the angles of research and legal considerations, as well as the intricacies of implementing new technologies in the face of privacy issues. They discussed the ever-expanding ubiquity of social media and its power to work both for and against policing practice and public safety. The community policing and crime reduction listening session considered current research on the effectiveness of community policing on bringing down crime, as well as building up public trust. Task Force members heard detailed descriptions of the methods used by chiefs in cities of varying sizes to implement effective community policing in their jurisdictions over a number of years. They also heard from a panel of young people about their encounters with the criminal justice system and the lasting effect of positive interactions with police through structured programs as well as individual relationships. The fifth listening session considered training and education in law enforcement over an officer's entire career, from recruitment through basic training to in-service training, and the support, education and training of supervisors, leaders and managers. Finally, the panel on officer safety and wellness considered the spectrum of mental and physical health issues faced by police officers from the day-to-day stress of the job. It's likely effect on an officer's physical health and the need for mental health screening to traffic accidents, burnout, suicide, and how better to manage these issues to determine the length of an officer's career. A listening session on the future of community policing concluded the Task Force's public sessions and was followed by the deliberations leading to the recommendations that follow on ways to research, improve, support, and implement policies and procedures for effective policing in the 21st century. Many excellent and specific suggestions emerged from these listening sessions on all facets of policing in the 21st century, but many questions arose as well. The first amount among them was how to bring unity of purpose and consensus on best practices to a nation with 18,000 separate law enforcement agencies and a strong history of a preference for local control of local issues. It became very clear that it is time for a comprehensive and multifaceted examination of all the interrelated parts of the criminal justice system and a focused investigation into how poverty, lack of education, mental health, and other social conditions cause or intersect with criminal behavior. We propose two overarching recommendations that will seek the answers to these questions. 0.1 Overarching Recommendation The president should support and provide funding for the creation of a national crime and justice task force to review and evaluate all components of the criminal justice system for the purpose of making recommendations to the country on comprehensive criminal justice reform. Several witnesses at the Task Force's listening sessions pointed to the fact that police represent the face of the criminal justice system to the public, yet police are obviously not responsible for laws or incarceration policies that many citizens find unfair. This misassociation leads us to call for a broader examination of such issues as drug policy, sentencing, and incarceration, which are beyond the scope of a review of police practices. This is not a new idea. In the 1967 President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice report, The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society, one of the major findings stated, officials of the criminal justice system must re-examine what they do. They must be honest about the system's shortcomings with the public and with themselves. The need to establish a formal structure to take a continuous look at criminal justice reform in the context of broad societal issues has never faded from public consciousness. When former Senator Jim Webb, Democrat Virginia, introduced legislation to create the National Criminal Justice Commission in 2009, a number of very diverse organizations, from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs Association, and the National District Attorneys Association, to Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People all supported it. The legislation would have authorized a National Criminal Justice Commission to conduct a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system by a bipartisan panel of stakeholders, policymakers, and experts that would make thoughtful, evidence-based recommendations for reform. The bill received strong bipartisan support in path to the House, but never received a final vote. More recently, a number of witnesses raised the idea of a National Commission at the Task Force's listening sessions, notably Richard Berry, president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, IACP, who said, For over 20 years the IACP has called for the creation of a National Commission on Criminal Justice to develop across-the-board improvements to the criminal justice system in order to address current challenges and to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire criminal justice community. A deep dive into community-police relations is only one part of this puzzle. We must explore other aspects of the criminal justice system that need to be revamped and further contribute to today's challenges. And Jeremy Travis, president of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, added in the final listening session, You said it is time to look at the criminal justice system, and actually I would broaden the scope. We have this question of how to reintegrate into our society those who have committed harms. It is not just the system, but these big, democratic, societal questions that go to government functions and how we deal with conflict as well. Zero point two, overarching recommendation. The president should promote programs that take a comprehensive and inclusive look at community-based initiatives that address the core issues of poverty, education, health, and safety. As is evident from many of the recommendations in this report, the justice system alone cannot solve many of the underlying conditions that give rise to crime. It will be through partnerships across sectors and at every level of government that we will find the effective and legitimate long-term solutions to ensuring public safety. End of section one. Section two 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 one, building trust and legitimacy. Part one. People are more likely to obey the law when they believe that those who are enforcing it have the legitimate authority to tell them what to do. The public confers legitimacy only on those they believe are acting in procedurally just ways. Building trust and nurturing legitimacy on both sides of the police citizen divide is not only the first pillar of this task forces report, but also the foundational principle underlying this inquiry into the nature of relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Since the 1990s, policing has become more effective, better equipped and better organized to tackle crime. Despite this, Gallup polls show the public's confidence in police work has remained flat, and among some populations of color, confidence has declined. This decline is in addition to the fact that non-whites have always had less confidence in law enforcement than whites, likely because, quote, the poor and people of color have felt the greatest impact of mass incarceration, such that, for too many poor citizens and people of color, arrest and imprisonment have become an inevitable and seemingly unavoidable part of the American experience, unquote. Decades of research and practice support the premise that people are more likely to obey the law when they believe that those who are enforcing it have the legitimate authority to tell them what to do. But the public confers legitimacy only on those they believe are acting in procedurally just ways. Procedurally just behavior is based on four central principles. One, treating people with dignity and respect. Two, giving individuals voice during encounters. Three, being neutral and transparent in decision making. Four, conveying trustworthy motives. Research demonstrates that these principles lead to relationships in which the community trusts that officers are honest, unbiased, benevolent and lawful. The community therefore feels obligated to follow the law and the dictates of legal authorities and is more willing to cooperate with and engage those authorities because it believes that it shares a common set of interests and values with the police. There are both internal and external aspects to procedural justice in policing agencies. Internal procedural justice refers to practices within an agency and the relationships officers have with their colleagues and leaders. Research on internal procedural justice tells us that officers who feel respected by their supervisors and peers are more likely to accept departmental policies, understand decisions and comply with them voluntarily. It follows that officers who feel respected by their organizations are more likely to bring this respect into their interactions with the people they serve. External procedural justice focuses on the ways officers and other legal authorities interact with the public and how the characteristics of those interactions shape the public's trust of the police. It is important to understand that a key component of external procedural justice, the practice of fair and impartial policing, is built on understanding and acknowledging human biases, both explicit and implicit. All human beings have biases or prejudices as a result of their experiences and these biases influence how they might react when dealing with unfamiliar people or situations. An explicit bias is a conscious bias about certain populations based on race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation or other attributes. Common sense shows that explicit bias is incredibly damaging to police-community relations and there is a growing body of research evidence that shows that implicit bias, the biases people are not even aware they have, is harmful as well. Witness Jennifer Eberhardt said, quote, bias is not limited to so-called bad people and it certainly is not limited to police officers. The problem is a widespread one that arises from history, from culture and from racial inequalities that still pervade our society and are especially salient in the context of criminal justice, unquote. To achieve legitimacy, mitigating implicit bias should be a part of training at all levels of a law enforcement organization to increase awareness and ensure respectful encounters both inside the organization and with communities. The first witnesses at the task force sessions on the first pillar also directly address the need for a change in the culture in which police do their work, the use of disrespectful language and the implicit biases that lead officers to rely upon race in the context of stop and frisk. They addressed the need for police officers to find how much they have in common with the people they serve, not the lines of authority they may perceive to separate them and to continue with enduring programs proven successful over many years. Several speakers stressed the continuing need for civilian oversight and urged more research into proving ways it can be most effective. And many spoke to the complicated issue of diversity in recruiting, especially Sherilyn Eiffel, who said of youth in poor communities, quote, By the time you are 17, you have been stopped and frisked a dozen times. That does not make that 17 year old want to become a police officer. The challenge is to transform the idea of policing in communities among young people into something they see as honorable. They have to see people at local events as the person who lives across the street, not someone who comes in and knows nothing about my community, unquote. The task forces specific recommendations that follow offer practical ways agencies can act to promote legitimacy. 1.1 recommendation law enforcement culture should embrace a guardian mindset to build public trust and legitimacy. Toward that end police and sheriff's departments should adopt procedural justice as the guiding principle for internal and external policies and practices to guide their interactions with the citizens they serve. How officers define their role will set the tone for the community. As Plato wrote, quote, In a republic that honors the core of democracy, the greatest amount of power is given to those called guardians. Only those with the most impeccable character are chosen to bear the responsibility of protecting the democracy, unquote. Law enforcement cannot build community trust if it is seen as an occupying force coming in from outside to rule and control the community. As task force members Susan Rahr wrote, quote, In 2012 we began asking the question, why are we training police officers like soldiers? Although police officers wear uniforms and carry weapons, the similarity ends there. The missions and rules of engagement are completely different. The soldiers mission is that of a warrior to conquer. The rules of engagement are decided before the battle. The police officers mission is that of a guardian to protect. The rules of engagement evolve as the incident unfolds. Soldiers must follow orders. Police officers must make independent decisions. Soldiers come into communities as an outside occupying force. Guardians are members of the community protecting from within, unquote. There's an old saying, organizational culture eats policy for lunch. Any law enforcement organization can make great rules and policies that emphasize the guardian role. But if policies conflict with the existing culture, they will not be institutionalized and behavior will not change. In police work the vast majority of an officer's work is done independently outside the immediate oversight of a supervisor. But consistent enforcement of rules that conflict with a military style culture where obedience to the chain of command is the norm is nearly impossible. Behavior is more likely to conform to culture than rules. The culture of policing is also important to the proper exercise of officer discretion and use of authority as task force member Tracy Mears has written. The values and ethics of the agency will guide officers in their decision making process. They cannot simply rely on rules and policy to act in encounters with the public. Good policing is more than just complying with the law. Sometimes actions are perfectly permitted by policy. But that does not always mean an officer should take those actions. Adopting procedural justice as the guiding principle for internal and external policies and practices can be the underpinning of a change in culture and should contribute to building trust and confidence in the community. Section 3 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 1, Building Trust and Legitimacy, Part 2. 1.2 Recommendation. Law enforcement agencies should acknowledge the role of policing in past and present injustice and discrimination, and how it is a hurdle to the promotion of community trust. At one listening session, a panel of police chiefs described what they had been doing in recent years to recognize and own their history and to change the culture within both their police forces and their communities. Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts described to the process in his city. The process started with the commissioning of a study to evaluate the police department and the community's views of the agency. The review uncovered broken policies, outdated procedures, outmoded technology, and operating norms that put officers at odds with the community they are meant to serve. It was clear that dramatic and dynamic change was needed. Ultimately, the Baltimore Police created the Professional Standards and Accountability Bureau, test with rooting out corruption, holding officers accountable, and implementing national best practices for policies and training. New department heads were appointed and a use of force review structure based on the Las Vegas model was implemented. These were critical infrastructure changes centered on the need to improve the internal systems that would build accountability and transparency inside and outside the organization, noted Commissioner Batts. 1.2.1 Action Item The U.S. Department of Justice should develop and disseminate case studies that provide examples where past injustices were publicly acknowledged by law enforcement agencies in a manner to help build community trust. 1.3 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should establish a culture of transparency and accountability in order to build public trust and legitimacy. This will help ensure decision making is understood and in accord with stated policy. 1.3.1 Action Item To embrace a culture of transparency, law enforcement agencies should make all department policies available for public review and regularly post on the department's website information about stops, summonses, arrests, reported crime, and other law enforcement data aggregated by demographics. 1.3.2 Action Item When serious incidents occur, including those involving alleged police misconduct, agencies should communicate with citizens and the media swiftly, openly, and neutrally, respecting areas where the law requires confidentiality. One way to promote neutrality is to ensure that agencies and their members do not release background information on involved parties. While a great deal of information is often publicly available, this information should not be proactively distributed by law enforcement. 1.4 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should promote legitimacy internally within the organization by applying the principles of procedural justice. Organizational culture created through employee interaction with management can be linked to officers' interaction with citizens. When an agency creates an environment that promotes internal procedural justice, it encourages its officers to demonstrate external procedural justice. And just as employees are more likely to take direction from management when they believe management's authority is legitimate, citizens are more likely to cooperate with the police when they believe the officer's authority is legitimate. Internal procedural justice begins with the clear articulation of organizational core values and the transparent creation and fair application of an organization's policies, protocols, and decision-making processes. If the workforce is actively involved in policy development, workers are more likely to use these same principles of external procedural justice in their interactions with the community. Even though the approach to implementing procedural justice is top-down, the method should include all employees to best reach a shared vision and mission. Research shows that agencies should also use tools that encourage employee and supervisor collaboration and foster strong relationships between supervisors and employees. A more effective agency will result from a real partnership between the chief and the staff and a shared approach to public safety. 1.4.1 Action Item In order to achieve internal legitimacy, law enforcement agencies should involve employees in the process of developing policies and procedures. For example, internal department surveys should ask officers what they think of policing strategies in terms of enhancing or hurting their ability to connect with the public. Sometimes the leadership is out of step with their rank and file, and a survey like this can be a diagnostic tool, a benchmark against which leadership can measure its effectiveness and ability to create a work environment where officers feel safe to discuss their feelings about certain aspects of the job. 1.4.2 Action Item Law enforcement agency leadership should examine opportunities to incorporate procedural justice into the internal discipline process, placing additional importance on values adherence rather than adherence to rules. Union leadership should be partners in this process. 1.5.Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should proactively promote public trust by initiating positive non-enforcement activities to engage communities that typically have high rates of investigative and enforcement involvement with government agencies. In communities that have high numbers of interactions with authorities for a variety of reasons, police should actively create opportunities for interactions that are positive and not related to investigation or enforcement action. Witness Laura Murphy, for example, pointed out that when law enforcement targets people of color for the isolated actions of a few, it tags an entire community is lawless, when in actuality 95% are law abiding. This becomes a self-reinforcing concept. Another witness, Carmen Perez, provided an example of police engaging with citizens in another way. In the community where I grew up in Southern California, Oxnard, we had the Police Athletic League. A lot of officers in our communities would volunteer and coach at the Police Activities League. That became our alternative from violence, from gangs and things like that. That allows for police officers to really build and provide a space to build trusting relationships. No longer was that such and such over there, but it was Coach Flores or Coach Brown. In recent years, agencies across the country have begun to institutionalize community trust building endeavors. They've done this through programs such as Coffee with a Cop and Sweet Tea with the Chief, Cops and Clergy, Citizens on Patrol Mobile, Students Talking It Over with Police, and West Side Story Project. Joint community and law dialogues and truth-telling, as well as community and law enforcement training in procedural justice and bias, are also occurring nationally. Some agencies are even using training, dialogues, and workshops to take steps towards racial reconciliation. Agencies engaging in these efforts to build relationships often experience beneficial results. Communities are often more willing to assist law enforcement when agencies need help during investigations. And when critical incidents occur, those agencies already have key allies who can help with information messaging and mitigating challenges. 1.5.1 Action Item In order to achieve external legitimacy, law enforcement agencies should involve the community in the process of developing and evaluating policies and procedures. 1.5.2 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should institute residency incentive programs such as resident officer programs. Resident officer programs are arrangements where law enforcement officers are provided housing in public housing neighborhoods as long as they fulfill public safety duties within the neighborhood that have been agreed to between the housing authority and the law enforcement agency. 1.5.3 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should create opportunities in schools and communities for positive, non-enforcement interactions with police. Agencies should also publicize the beneficial outcomes and images of positive, trust-building partnerships and initiatives. For example, Michael Reynolds, a member of the Youth and Law Enforcement Panel at the listening session on community policing and crime reduction, told the moving story of a police officer who saw him shivering on the street when he was six years old, took him to a store and bought him a coat. Despite many negative encounters with police since then, the decency and kindness of that officer continue to favorably impact Mr. Reynolds' feelings towards the police. 1.5.4 Action Item Use of physical control equipment and techniques against vulnerable populations, including children, elderly persons, pregnant women, people with physical and mental disabilities, limited English proficiency, and others, can undermine public trust and should be used as a last resort. Law enforcement agencies should carefully consider and review their policies towards these populations and adopt policies if none are in place. 1.6 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should consider the potential damage to public trust when implementing crime-fighting strategies. Crime reduction is not self-justifying. Overly aggressive law enforcement strategies can potentially harm communities and do lasting damage to public trust, as numerous witnesses over multiple listening sessions observed. 1.6.1 Action Item Research conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of crime-fighting strategies should specifically look at the potential for collateral damage of any given strategy on community trust and legitimacy. End of Section 3. Recording by Colleen McMahon. Section 4 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 1. Building Trust and Legitimacy, Part 3. 1.7 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should track the level of trust in police by their communities just as they measure changes in crime. Annual community surveys, ideally standardized across jurisdictions and with accepted sampling protocols, can measure how policing in that community affects public trust. Trust in institutions can only be achieved if the public can verify what they are being told about a product or service, who is responsible for the quality of the product or service, and what will be done to correct any problems. To operate effectively, law enforcement agencies must maintain public trust by having a transparent, credible system of accountability. Agencies should partner with local universities to conduct surveys by zip code, for example, to measure the effectiveness of specific policing strategies, assess any negative impact they have on a community's view of police, and gain the community's input. 1.7.1 Action Item The federal government should develop survey tools and instructions for use of such a model to prevent local departments from incurring the expense and to allow for consistency across jurisdictions. A model, such as the National Institute of Justice-funded National Police Research Platform, could be developed and deployed to conduct such surveys. This platform seeks to advance the science and practice of policing in the United States by introducing a new system of measurement and feedback that captures organizational excellence both inside and outside the walls of the agency. The platform is managed by a team of leading police scholars from seven universities, supported by the operational expertise of a respected National Advisory Board. 1.8. Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should strive to create a workforce that contains a broad range of diversity, including race, gender, language, life experience, and cultural background, to improve understanding and effectiveness in dealing with all communities. Many agencies have long appreciated the critical importance of hiring officers who reflect the communities they serve and also have a high level of procedural justice competency. Achieving diversity and entry-level recruiting is important, but achieving systematic and comprehensive diversification throughout each segment of the department is the ultimate goal. It is also important to recognize that diversity means not only race and gender, but also the genuine diversity of identity, experience, and background that has been found to help improve the culture of police departments and build greater trust and legitimacy with all segments of the population. A critical factor in managing bias is seeking candidates who are likely to police in an unbiased manner. Since people are less likely to have biases against groups with which they have had positive experiences, police departments should seek candidates who have had positive interactions with people of various cultures and backgrounds. 1.8.1 Action Item The federal government should create a law enforcement diversity initiative designed to help communities diversify law enforcement departments to reflect the demographics of the community. 1.8.2 Action Item The department overseeing this initiative should help localities learn best practices for recruitment, training, and outreach to improve the diversity as well as the cultural and linguistic responsiveness of law enforcement agencies. National and local affinity police organizations could be formally included in this effort. This program should also evaluate and assess diversity among law enforcement agencies around the country and issue public reports on national trends. 1.8.3 Action Item Successful law enforcement agencies should be highlighted and celebrated, and those with less diversity should be offered technical assistance to facilitate change. Law enforcement agencies must be continuously creative with recruitment efforts and employ the public, business, and civic communities to help. 1.8.4 Action Item Discretionary federal funding for law enforcement programs could be influenced by that department's efforts to improve their diversity and cultural and linguistic responsiveness. 1.8.5 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should be encouraged to explore more flexible staffing models. As is common in the nursing profession, offering flexible schedules can help officers achieve better work-life balance that attracts candidates and encourages retention, particularly for officers with sole responsibility for the care of family members. 1.9 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should build relationships based on trust with immigrant communities. This is central to overall public safety. Immigrants often fear approaching police officers when they are victims of and witnesses to crimes, and when local police are entangled with federal immigration enforcement. At all levels of government, it is important that laws, policies, and practices not hinder the ability of local law enforcement to build the strong relationships necessary to public safety and community well-being. It is the view of this task force that whenever possible, state and local law enforcement should not be involved in immigration enforcement. 1.9.1 Action Item Decouple federal immigration enforcement from routine local policing for civil enforcement and non-serious crime. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security should terminate the use of the state and local criminal justice system, including through detention, notification, and transfer requests to enforce civil immigration laws against civil and non-serious criminal offenders. In 2011, the Major City's Chiefs Association recommended nine points to Congress and the President on this issue, noting that, quote, immigration is a federal policy issue between the U.S. government and other countries, not local or state entities and other countries. Any immigration enforcement laws or practices should be nationally based, consistent, and federally funded. End of quote. 1.9.2 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should ensure reasonable and equitable language access for all persons who have encounters with police or who enter the criminal justice system. 1.9.3 Action Item The U.S. Department of Justice should not include civil immigration information in the FBI's National Crime Information Center database. The National Crime Information Center, NCIC, database is an electronic clearinghouse that law enforcement officers can access in the field. It contains data submitted by agencies across the country, aimed at helping officers identify people, property, and criminal histories. At one time, NCIC also included civil immigration detainers, non-mandatory temporary hold requests issued by a federal immigration officer. Although the FBI has indicated that the practice of accepting this information was discontinued, and that the information does not currently exist in the database, the U.S. Department of Justice should ensure that this remains the case. End of section 4. Recording by Colleen McMahon. Section 5 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 2. Policy and Oversight, Part 1. Citizens have a constitutional right to freedom of expression, including the right to peacefully demonstrate. The issues addressed in the first pillar of this report, building trust and legitimacy between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve, underlie all questions of law enforcement policy and community oversight. If police are to carry out their responsibilities according to established policies, these policies must be reflective of community values and not lead to practices that result in disparate impacts on various segments of the community. They also need to be clearly articulated to the community and implemented transparently, so police will have credibility with residents and the people can have faith that their guardians are always acting in their best interests. Paramount among the policies of law enforcement organizations are those controlling use of force. Not only should there be policies for deadly and non-deadly uses of force, but a clearly stated Sanctity of Life philosophy must also be in the forefront of every officer's mind. This way of thinking should be accompanied by rigorous practical ongoing training and an atmosphere of non-judgmental and safe sharing of views with fellow officers about how they behaved in use of force situations. At one listening session, Jeffrey Alpert described officer-created jeopardy training in which officers who had been in situations where mistakes were made or force was used came to explain their decision-making to other officers. Some explained what they did right and how potentially violent situations were resolved without violence. Other officers told what they did wrong, why they made mistakes, what information was missing or misinterpreted, and how they could have improved their behavior in response to suspects. Data collection supervision and accountability are also part of a comprehensive systemic approach to keeping everyone safe and protecting the rights of all involved during police encounters. Members of the Division of Policing of the American Society of Criminology recently wrote, While the United States presently employs a broad array of social and economic indicators in order to gauge the overall health of the nation, it has a much more limited set of indicators concerning the behavior of the police and the quality of law enforcement. That body noted that Section 210402 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 requires the U.S. Attorney General to acquire data about the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers and to publish an annual summary of the data acquired under this section. But the U.S. Department of Justice, DOJ, has never been allocated the funds necessary to undertake the serious and sustained program of research and development to fulfill this mandate. Expanded research and data collection are also necessary to knowing what works and what does not work, which policing practices are effective and which ones have unintended consequences. Greater acceptance of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI, national incident-based reporting system could also benefit policing practice and research endeavors. Mass demonstrations, for example, are occasions where evidence-based practices successfully applied can make the difference between a peaceful demonstration and a riot. Citizens have a constitutional right to freedom of expression, including the right to peacefully demonstrate. There are strong examples of proactive and positive communication and engagement strategies that can protect constitutional rights of demonstrators and the safety of citizens and the police. Law enforcement agencies should collaborate with community members to develop policies and strategies in communities and neighborhoods disproportionately affected by crime for deploying resources that aim to reduce crime by improving relationships, greater community engagement, and cooperation. The development of a service model process that focuses on the root causes of crime should include the community members themselves because what works in one neighborhood might not be equally successful in every other one. Larger departments could commit resources and personnel to areas of high poverty, limited services, and at-risk or vulnerable populations through creating priority units with specialized training and added status and pay. Chief Charlie Beck of the Los Angeles Police Department, LAPD, described the LAPD's Community Safety Partnership in which officers engage the community and build trust where it's needed most in the public housing projects in Watts. The department has assigned 45 officers to serve for five years at three housing projects in Watts and at an additional housing project in East Los Angeles. Through a partnership with the Advancement Project and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, the program involves officers going into the housing developments with the intent not to make arrests but to create partnerships, create relationships, hear the community, and see what they need, and then work together to make those things happen. The work in Watts has been documented in an Advancement Project report presented to the Task Force. 2.1.1 Action Item The federal government should incentivize this collaboration through a variety of programs that focus on public health, education, mental health, and other programs not traditionally part of the criminal justice system. 2.2 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should have comprehensive policies on the use of force that include training, investigations, prosecutions, data collection, and information sharing. These policies must be clear, concise, and openly available for public inspection. 2.2.1 Action Item Law enforcement agency policies for training on use of force should emphasize de-escalation and alternatives to arrest or summons in situations where appropriate. As Chuck Wexler noted in his testimony, In traditional police culture, officers are taught never to back down from a confrontation but instead to run toward the dangerous situation that everyone else is running away from. However, sometimes the best tactic for dealing with a minor confrontation is to step back, call for assistance, de-escalate, and perhaps plan a different enforcement action that can be taken more safely later. Policies should also include, at a minimum, annual training that includes shoot-don't-shoot scenarios and the use of less-than-lethal technologies. 2.2.2 Action Item These policies should also mandate external and independent criminal investigations in cases of police use of force resulting in death, officer-involved shootings resulting in injury or death, or in custody deaths. One way this can be accomplished is by the creation of multi-agency force investigation task forces, comprising state and local investigators. Other ways to structure this investigative process include referring to neighboring jurisdictions or to the next higher levels of government. Many smaller departments may already have state agencies handle investigations, but in order to restore and maintain trust, this independence is crucial. In written testimony to the task force, James Palmer of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association offered an example in that state's statutes requiring that agency written policies require an investigation that is conducted by at least two investigators, neither of whom is employed by a law enforcement agency that employs a law enforcement officer involved in the officer-involved death. Furthermore, in order to establish and maintain internal legitimacy and procedural justice, these investigations should be performed by law enforcement agencies with adequate training, knowledge and experience investigating police use of force. 2.2.3 Action Item The task force encourages policies that mandate the use of external and independent prosecutors in cases of police use of force resulting in death, officer-involved shootings resulting in injury or death, or in custody deaths. Strong systems and policies that encourage use of an independent prosecutor for reviewing police uses of force and for prosecution in cases of inappropriate deadly force and in custody death will demonstrate the transparency to the public that can lead to mutual trust between community and law enforcement. 2.2.4 Action Item Policies on use of force should also require agencies to collect, maintain and report data to the federal government on all officer-involved shootings, whether fatal or non-fatal, as well as any in custody death. In custody deaths are not only deaths in a prison or jail, but also deaths that occur in the process of an arrest. The Bureau of Justice Statistics, BJS, implemented the arrest-related deaths data collection in 2003 as part of requirements set forth in the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 and re-enacted in 2014. Although states receiving grants under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program are required to provide this data to BJS, the arrest-related deaths data collection is a voluntary reporting program for law enforcement agencies. Access to this data is important to gain a national picture of police use of force as well as to incentivize the systematic and transparent collection and analysis of use of force incident data at the local level. The agency reported data should include information on the circumstances of the use of force as well as the race, gender and age of the decedents. Agency data should be reported to the U.S. Department of Justice through the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting System or an expansion of collections managed by the BJS. 2.2.5 Action Item Policies on use of force should clearly state what types of information will be released when and in what situation to maintain transparency. This should also include procedures on the release of a summary statement regarding the circumstances of the incident by the department as soon as possible and within 24 hours. The intent of this directive should be to share as much information as possible without compromising the integrity of the investigation or anyone's rights. 2.2.6 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should establish a serious incident review board comprising sworn staff and community members to review cases involving officer-involved shootings and other serious incidents that have the potential to damage community trust or confidence in the agency. The purpose of this board should be to identify any administrative, supervisory, training, tactical or policy issues that need to be addressed. End of Section 5, Recording by Emily Ratliff. Section 6 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 Thomas Thorson. Sunnydalevoiceovers.com Final report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Pillar 2, Policy and Oversight, Part 2 Pillar 2, Part 3, Recommendation Law enforcement agencies are encouraged to implement non-punitive peer review of critical incidents separate from criminal and administrative investigations. These reviews, sometimes known as near-miss or sentinel event reviews, focus on the improvement of practices and policy. Such reviews already exist in medicine, aviation and other industries. According to the National Institute of Justice, NIJ, a sentinel event in criminal justice would include wrongful convictions, but also near-miss acquittals and dismissals of cases that at earlier points seemed solid, cold cases that stayed cold too long, wrongful releases of dangerous or factually guilty criminals or of vulnerable arrestees with mental disabilities, and failures to prevent domestic violence within at-risk families. Sentinel events can include episodes that are within policy but disastrous in terms of community relations, whether or not everyone agrees that the event should be classified as an error. In fact, anything that stakeholders agree can cause widespread or viral attention could be considered a sentinel event. What distinguishes sentinel event reviews from other kinds of internal investigations of apparent errors is that they are non-adversarial. As Task Force member Sean Smoot has written, For sentinel event reviews to be effective and practical, they must be cooperative efforts that afford the types of protections provided in the medical context, where state and federal laws protect the privacy of participants and prevent the disclosure of information to anyone outside of the sentinel event review. Unless the sentinel event process is honest and trustworthy with adequate legal protections, including use immunity, privacy, confidentiality, and non-disclosure, for example, police officers who have their very best information about how things really work and what really happen will not be motivated to fully participate. The sentinel event review approach will have a better chance of success if departments can abandon the process of adversarial, quantitative-based discipline adopting instead education-based disciplinary procedures and policies. Pillar 2, Part 4, Recommendation Law enforcement agencies are encouraged to adopt identification procedures but implement scientifically supported practices that eliminate or minimize presenter bias or influence. A recent study by the National Academy of Sciences identifying the culprit assessing eyewitness identification studied the important role played by eyewitnesses in criminal cases noting that research on factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness identification procedures has given an increasingly clear picture of how identifications are made and, more important, an improved understanding of the limits on vision and memory that can lead to failure of identification. Many factors, including external conditions and the witness's emotional state and biases, influence what a witness sees or thinks she sees. Memories can be forgotten, reconstructed, updated, and distorted. Meanwhile, policies governing law enforcement procedures for conducting and recording identification are not standard, and policies and practices to address the issue of misidentification vary widely. Pillar 2, Part 5, Recommendations All federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies should report and make available to the public census data regarding the composition of the departments, including race, gender, age, and other relevant demographic data. While the BJS collects information on many aspects of police activities, there is no single data collection instrument that yields the information requested in this recommendation. Demographic data should be collected and made available to the public so communities can assess the diversity of their departments and do so in a national context. This data will also be important to better understand the impact of diversity on the functioning of departments. Malik Aziz, national chair of the National Black Police Association, NBPA, reminded the task force that the NBPA not only urges all departments to meet the demographics of the community in which they serve by maintaining a plan of action to recruit and retain police officers of color, but also he has called for the Department of Justice to collect the annual demographic statistics from the 18,000 police agencies across the nation. It is not enough to mandate diversity, he stated, but it becomes necessary to diversify command ranks in departments that have historically failed to develop and or promote qualified and credentialed officers to executive and command ranks. Pillar 2, 5.1, Action Item. The Bureau of Justice Statistics should add additional demographic questions to the law enforcement management and administrative statistics, LEMAS, survey in order to meet the intent of this recommendation. Pillar 2, Part 6, Recommendation. Law enforcement agencies should be encouraged to collect, maintain, and analyze demographic data on all detentions, stops, risks, searches, summons, and arrests. This data should be disaggregated by school and non-school contacts. The BJS periodically conducts the Police Public Contact Survey, a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. The most recent survey released in 2013 asked a nationally representative sample of U.S. residents aged 16 or older about experiences with police during the prior 12 months. But these surveys do not reflect what is happening every day at the local level when police interact with members of the communities they serve. More research and tools along the lines of Lori Fridell's 2004 publication, By the Numbers, a Guide for Analyzing Race Data from Vehicle Stops, To help local agencies collect and analyze their data, understand the importance of context to the analysis and reporting process, and establish benchmarks resulting from their findings would improve understanding and lead to evidence-based policies. Pillar 2, Part 6.1, Action Item. The federal government could further incentivize universities and other organizations to partner with police departments to collect data and develop knowledge about analysis and benchmarks as well as to develop tools and templates that help departments manage data collection and analysis. Pillar 2.7, Recommendation. Law enforcement agencies could create policies and procedures for policing mass demonstrations that employ a continuum of managed tactical resources that are designed to minimize the appearance of a military operation and avoid using provocative tactics and equipment that undermine civilian trust. Policies should emphasize protection of the First Amendment rights of demonstrators and effective ways of communicating with them. Superintendent Gary McCarthy of the Chicago Police Department detailed this police force training and operations in advance of the 2012 NATO summit at the height of the Occupy movement. The department was determined not to turn what it knew would be a mass demonstration into a riot. Police officers refreshed perishable skills, such as engaging in respectful conversations with demonstrators, avoiding confrontation and using extraction techniques, not only on the minority of demonstrators who were behaving unlawfully, throwing rocks, etc., but also on officers who were becoming visibly upset and at risk of losing their composure and professional demeanor. Pillar 2.7.1, Action Item. Law enforcement agency policies should address procedures for implementing a layered response to mass demonstrations that prioritize de-escalation and a guardian mindset. These policies could include plans to minimize confrontation by using soft-look uniforms, having officers remove riot gear as soon as practical, and maintaining open postures. When officers line up in a military formation while wearing full protective gear, their visual appearance may have a dramatic influence on how the crowd perceives them and how the event ends. Pillar 2.7.2, Action Item. The federal government should create a mechanism for investigating complaints and issuing sanctions regarding the inappropriate use of equipment and tactics during mass demonstrations. There has been substantial media attention in recent months surrounding the police use of military equipment at events where members of the public are exercising their First Amendment rights. This has led to the creation of the President's Interagency Law Enforcement Equipment Working Group. That group has been tasked by the Executive Order 13688 of January 16, 2015 with a number of issues including ensuring that law enforcement agencies adopt organizational and operational practices and standards that prevent the misuse or abuse of controlled equipment and ensuring compliance with civil rights requirements resulting from receipt of federal financial assistance. Pillar 2.8, Recommendations. Some form of civilian oversight of law enforcement is important in order to strengthen trust with the community. Every community should define the appropriate form and structure of civilian oversight to meet the needs of that community. Many, but not all, state and local agencies operate with the oversight or input of civilian police boards or commissions. Part of the process of assessing the need and desire for new or additional civilian oversight should include input from and collaboration with police employees because the people to be overseen should be part of the process that will oversee them. This guarantees that the principles of internal procedural justice are in place to benefit both the police and the community they serve. We must examine civilian oversight in the communities where it operates and determine which models are successful in promoting police and community understanding. There are important arguments for having civilian oversight even though we lack strong research evidence that it works. Therefore, we urge action on further research based on the guiding principle of procedural justice to find evidence-based practices to implement successful civilian oversight mechanisms. As noted by witness Brian Buckner at the Policy and Oversight Listening session on January 30, Citizen review is not an advocate for the community or for the police. This impartiality allows oversight to bring stakeholders together to work collaboratively and proactively to help make policing more effective and responsive to the community. Civilian oversight alone is not sufficient to gain legitimacy. Without it, however, it is difficult, if not impossible, for the police to maintain the public's trust. Pillar 2 Part 8.1 Action Item The U.S. Department of Justice through its research arm, the National Institute of Justice, NIJ, should expand its research agenda to include civilian oversight. NIJ recently announced its research priorities in policing for fiscal year 2015 which includes such topics as police use of force, body-worn cameras, and procedural justice. While proposals related to research on police oversight might fit into several of these topical areas, police oversight is not highlighted by NIJ in any of them. NIJ should specifically invite research into civilian oversight and its impact on and relationship to policing in one or more of these areas. Pillar 2 Part 8.2 Action Item The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, COPS Office, should provide technical assistance and collect best practices from existing civilian oversight efforts and be prepared to help cities create the structure, potentially with some matching grants and funding. End of Section 6. Section 7 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 2 Policy and Oversight, Part 3. 2.9 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies and municipalities should refrain from practices requiring officers to issue a predetermined number of tickets, citations, arrests or summonses, or to initiate investigative contacts with citizens for reasons not directly related to improving public safety, such as generating revenue. Productivity expectations can be effective performance management tools, but testimony from Laura Murphy, Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the American Civil Liberties Union, identifies some of the negative effects of these practices. Quote, 23,000 exceeded its population of 21,000. Most of the warrants were for driving violations. 2.10 Recommendation Law enforcement officers should be required to seek consent before a search and explain that a person has a right to refuse consent when there is no warrant or probable cause. Furthermore, officers should ideally obtain written acknowledgement that they have sought consent to a search in these circumstances. 2.11 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should adopt policies requiring officers to identify themselves by their full name, rank, and command as applicable and provide that information in writing to individuals they have stopped. In addition, policies should require officers to state the reason for the stop and the reason for the search if one is conducted. 2.11.1 Action Item One example of how to do this is for law enforcement officers to carry business cards containing their name, rank, command, and contact information that would enable individuals to offer suggestions or commendations or to file complaints with the appropriate individual, office, or board. These cards would be easily distributed in all encounters. 2.12 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should establish search and seizure procedures related to LGBTQ and transgender populations and adopt as policy the recommendation from the President's Advisory Council on HIV AIDS, PACHA, to cease using the possession of condoms as the sole evidence of vice. 2.13 Recommendation Law enforcement agencies should adopt and enforce policies prohibiting profiling and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, gender, gender identity expression, sexual orientation, immigration status, disability, housing status, occupation, or language fluency. The task force heard from a number of witnesses about the importance of protecting the safety and dignity of all people. Andrea Ritchie noted that, quote, Gender and sexually specific forms of racial profiling and discriminatory policing include Failure to respect individuals' gender identity and expression when addressing members of the public and during arrest processing, searches, and placement in police custody, end quote. Invasive searches should never be used for the sole purpose of determining gender identity, and an individual's gender identity should be respected in lockups and holding cells to the extent that the facility allows for gender segregation. And witness Linda Sarsour spoke to how, quote, An issue plaguing and deeply impacting Arab American and American Muslim communities across the country is racial and religious profiling by local, state, and federal law enforcement. We have learned through investigative reports, Freedom of Information Act requests, and lawsuits that agencies target communities by religion and national origin, end quote. 2.13.1 Action Item The Bureau of Justice Statistics should add questions concerning sexual harassment of and misconduct toward community members, and in particular LGBTQ and gender nonconforming people by law enforcement officers to the police public contact survey. 2.13.2 Action Item The Centers for Disease Control should add questions concerning sexual harassment of and misconduct toward community members, and in particular LGBTQ and gender nonconforming people by law enforcement officers to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey. 2.13.3 Action Item The U.S. Department of Justice should promote and disseminate guidance to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies on documenting, preventing, and addressing sexual harassment and misconduct by local law enforcement agents consistent with the recommendations of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. 2.14. Recommendation The U.S. Department of Justice, through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and Office of Justice Programs, should provide technical assistance and incentive funding to jurisdictions with small police agencies that take steps toward shared services, regional training, and consolidation. Half of all law enforcement agencies in the United States have fewer than 10 officers, and nearly three-quarters have fewer than 25 officers. Lawrence Sherman noted in his testimony that, quote, So many problems of organizational quality control are made worse by the tiny size of most local police agencies. Less than 1% of 17,985 U.S. police agencies meet the English minimum of 1,000 employees or more. These small forces often lack the resources for training and equipment accessible to larger departments, and often are prevented by municipal boundaries and local custom from combining forces with neighboring agencies. Funding and technical assistance can give smaller agencies the incentive to share policies and practices and give them access to a wider variety of training, equipment, and communications technology than they could acquire on their own. 2.15. Recommendation The U.S. Department of Justice, through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, should partner with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training, IADLEST, to expand its National Dissertification Index to serve as the National Register of Dissertified Officers with the goal of covering all agencies within the United States and its territories. The National Dissertification Index is an aggregation of information that allows hiring agencies to identify officers who have had their license or certification revoked for misconduct. It was designed as an answer to the problem, quote, wherein a police officer is discharged for improper conduct and loses his slash her certification in that state, only to relocate to another state and hire on with another police department, end quote. Police officer standards and training, post boards, can record administrative actions taken against certified police and correctional officers. Currently, the criteria for reporting in action on an officer is determined by each post independently, as is the granting of read-only access to hiring departments to use as part of their pre-hire screening process. Expanding this system to ensure national and standardized reporting would assist in ensuring that officers who have lost their certification for misconduct are not easily hired in other jurisdictions. A National Register would effectively treat, quote, police professionals the way states licensing laws treat other professionals. If anything, the need for such a system is even more important for law enforcement, as officers have the power to make arrests, perform searches, and use deadly force, end quote. End of Section 7 Section 8 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 1 Implementing new technologies can give police departments an opportunity to fully engage and educate communities in a dialogue about their expectations for transparency, accountability, and privacy. We live in a time when technology and its many uses are advancing far more quickly than our policies and laws. Technology available to law enforcement today includes everything from body-word cameras, BWC, to unmanned aircraft, to social media, and a myriad of products in between. The use of technology can improve policing practices and build community trust and legitimacy. But its implementation must be built on a defined policy framework with its purposes and goals clearly delineated. Implementing new technologies can give police departments an opportunity to fully engage and educate communities in a dialogue about their expectations for transparency, accountability, and privacy. But technology changes quickly in terms of new hardware, software, and other options. Law enforcement agencies and leaders need to be able to identify, assess, and evaluate new technology for adoption and do so in ways that improve their effectiveness, efficiency, and evolution without infringing on individual rights. Thus, despite and because of the centrality of technology in policing, law enforcement agencies face major challenges including determining the effects of implementing various technologies, identifying costs and benefits, examining unintended consequences, and exploring the best practices by which technology can be evaluated, acquired, maintained, and managed. Addressing these technology challenges by using research, accumulated knowledge, and practical experiences can help agencies reach their goals. But law enforcement agencies and personnel also need to recognize that technology is only a tool for doing their jobs. Just because you have access to technology does not necessarily mean you should always use it. BWCs are a case in point. An increasing number of law enforcement agencies are adopting BWC programs as a means to improve evidence collection, to strengthen officer performance and accountability, and to enhance agency transparency. By documenting encounters between police and the public, BWCs can also be used to investigate and resolve complaints about officer-involved incidents. Jim Bierman, retired chief of the Redmond California Police Department and president of the Police Foundation, told the task force about a seminal piece of research that demonstrated a positive impact of BWCs in policing. The researchers use the gold standard of research models, a randomized control trial in which the people being studied are randomly assigned either to a control group that does not receive the treatment being studied, or to a treatment group that does. The results of this 12-month study strongly suggest that the use of BWCs by the police can significantly reduce both officer use of force and complaints against officers. The study found that the officers wearing the cameras had 87.5% fewer incidents of use of force, and 59% fewer complaints than the officers not wearing the cameras. One of the important findings of the study was the impact BWCs might have on the self-awareness of officers and citizens alike. When police officers are acutely aware that their behavior is being monitored because they turn on the cameras, and when officers tell citizens that the cameras are recording their behavior, everyone behaves better. The results of this study strongly suggest that this increase in self-awareness contributes to more positive outcomes in police-citizen interaction. But other considerations make the issue of BWCs more complex. A 2014 Police Executive Research Forum, PERF, publication, funded by the Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services, COPS Office, reporting on extensive research exploring the policy and implementation questions surrounding BWCs noted, although body-worn cameras can offer many benefits, they also raise serious questions about how technology is changing the relationship between police and the community. Body-worn cameras not only create concerns about the public's privacy rights, but also can affect how officers relate to people in the community, the community's perception of the police, and expectations about how police agencies should share information with the public. Now that agencies operate in a world in which anyone with a cell phone camera can record video footage of a police encounter, BWCs help police departments ensure that events are also captured from an officer's perspective. But when the public does not believe its privacy is being protected by law enforcement, a breakdown in community trust can occur. Agencies need to consider ways to involve the public in discussions related to the protection of their privacy and civil liberties prior to implementing new technology, as well as work with the public and other partners in the justice system to develop appropriate policies and procedures for use. Another technology relatively new to law enforcement is social media. Social media is a communication tool the police can use to engage the community on issues of importance to both, and to gauge community sentiment regarding agency policies and practices. Social media can also help police identify the potential nature and location of gang and other criminal or disorderly activity such as spontaneous crowd gatherings. The Boston Police Department, BPD, for example, has long embraced both community policing and the use of social media. The department put its experience to good and highly visible use in April 2013 during the rapidly developing investigation that followed the deadly explosion of two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The BPD successfully used Twitter to keep the public informed about the status of the investigation, to calm nerves and request assistance, to correct mistaken information reported by the press, and to ask for public restraint in the tweeting of information from police scanners. This demonstrated the level of trust in interaction that a department and a community can attain online. While technology is crucial to law enforcement, it is never a panacea. Its acquisition and use can have unintended consequences for both the organization and the community it serves, which may limit its potential. Thus, agencies need clearly defined policies related to the implementation of technology and must pay close attention to community concerns about its use. 3.1 Recommendation The U.S. Department of Justice, in consultation with the law enforcement field, should broaden the efforts of the National Institute of Justice to establish national standards for the research and development of new technology. These standards should also address compatibility and interoperability needs both within law enforcement agencies and across agencies and jurisdictions, and maintain civil and human rights protections. The lack of consistent standards leads to a constantly spiraling increase in technology costs. Law enforcement often has to invest in new layers of technology to enable their systems to operate with different systems, and sometimes must also make expensive modifications or additions to legacy systems to support interoperability with newer technology. And these costs do not include the additional funds needed for training. Agencies are often unprepared for the unintended consequences that may accompany the acquisition of new technologies. Implementation of new technologies can cause disruptions to daily routines, lack of buy-in, and lack of understanding of the purpose and appropriate uses of the technologies. It also often raises questions regarding how the new technologies will impact the officer's expectations, discretion, decision-making, and accountability. Inconsistent or non-existent standards also lead to isolated and fractured information systems that cannot effectively manage, store, analyze, or share their data with other systems. As a result, much information is lost or unavailable, which allows vital information to go unused and have no impact on crime reduction efforts. As one witness noted, the development of mature crime analysis and comp-stat processes allows law enforcement to effectively develop policy and deploy resources for crime prevention. But there is a lack of uniformity in data collection throughout law enforcement, and only patchwork methods of near real-time information sharing exist. These problems are especially critical in light of threats from terrorism and cybercrime. 3.1.1 Action Item The federal government should support the development and delivery of training to help law enforcement agencies learn, acquire, and implement technology tools and tactics that are consistent with the best practices of 21st century policing. 3.1.2 Action Item As part of national standards, the issue of technology's impact on privacy concerns should be addressed in accordance with protections provided by constitutional law. Though all constitutional guidelines must be maintained in the performance of law enforcement duties, the legal framework, warrants, etc., should continue to protect law enforcement access to data obtained from cell phones, social media, GPS, and other sources, allowing officers to detect, prevent, or respond to crime. 3.1.3 Action Item Law enforcement agencies should deploy smart technology that is designed to prevent the tampering with or manipulation of evidence in violation of policy. End of Section 8