I NT ERIM REPOR T OF

M AR CH 2015

Recommended citation:

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. 2015. Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

First published March 1, 2015

Revised March 4, 2015
Contents

From the Co-Chairs..................................................................................................................................... v

Members of the Task Force...................................................................................................................... vii

Task Force Staff ......................................................................................................................................... ix

Acknowledgments..................................................................................................................................... xi

Introduction................................................................................................................................................ 1

Pillar One: Building Trust & Legitimacy ...................................................................................................... 7

Pillar Two: Policy & Oversight .................................................................................................................. 19

Pillar Three: Technology & Social Media.................................................................................................. 31

Pillar Four: Community Policing & Crime Reduction................................................................................ 41

Pillar Five: Training & Education............................................................................................................... 51

Pillar Six: Officer Wellness & Safety ......................................................................................................... 61

Implementation........................................................................................................................................ 71

Appendix A. Public Listening Sessions & Witnesses................................................................................. 73

Appendix B. Individuals & Organizations That Submitted Written Testimony ........................................79

Appendix C. Executive Order 13684 of December 18, 2014.................................................................... 83

Appendix D. Task Force Members’ Biographies....................................................................................... 85

Appendix E. Recommendations and Actions ........................................................................................... 89

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing iii
From the Co-Chairs

We wish to thank President Barack Obama for giving us the honor and privilege of leading the 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 nongovernmental organizations through a 

transparent public process to be both enlightening and rewarding, and we again thank him for this 

honor.

Given the urgency of these issues, the President gave the task force an initial 90 days to identify best 

practices and offer recommendations on how policing 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 these 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, Melanca 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 

Copple. 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 Darrel

Stephens 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 example of the type of dialogue that must 

occur in communities throughout the nation.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing v 
While much work remains to be done to address many longstanding 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 Laurie O. Robinson

Co-Chair Co-Chair

vi Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
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, DeKalb County, Georgia

Jose Lopez, Lead Organizer, Make the Road New York

Tracey L. Meares, Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law, Yale Law School 

Brittany N. Packnett, Executive Director, Teach For America, St. Louis, Missouri

Susan Lee Rahr, Executive Director, Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission

Constance Rice, Co-Director, Advancement Project

Sean Michael Smoot, Director and Chief Counsel, Police Benevolent & Protective Association of Illinois

Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative

Roberto Villaseñor, Chief of Police, Tucson Police Department

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing vii
Task Force Staff

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, led by Director 

Ronald L. Davis, provided administrative services, funds, facilities, staff, equipment, and other support 

services as necessary for the task force to carry out its mission:

Executive Director Ronald L. Davis

Chief of Staff Melanca Clark

Communications Director Silas Darden (Office of Justice Programs)

General Counsel Charlotte Grzebien

External Affairs Liaison Danielle Ouellette

External Affairs Liaison Sheryl Thomas

Legislative Liaison Shannon Long 

Project Manager Deborah Spence

Senior Policy Advisor Katherine McQuay

Site Manager Laurel Matthews

Special Assistant Michael Franko

Special Assistant Jennifer Rosenberger

Writer Janice Delaney (Office of Justice Programs)

Writer Faye Elkins

Strategic Applications International (SAI):

1 James Copple, Colleen Copple, Jessica Drake, Jason Drake, 

Steven Minson, Letitia Harmon, Anthony Coulson, Mike McCormack, Shawnee Bigelow, Monica 

Palacio, and Adrienne Semidey

Technical Advisors: Stephen Rickman and Darrel Stephens

Consultant Research Assistants: Jan Hudson, Yasemin Irvin-Erickson, Katie Jares, Erin Kearns, Belen 

Lowrey, and Kristina Lugo

1 SAI provided technical and logistical support through a cooperative agreement with the COPS Office.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing ix

 
Acknowledgments 

The task force received support from other components of the U.S. Department of Justice, including 

the Office of Justice Programs, led by Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason, and the Civil Rights 

Division, led by Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta.

The following individuals from across the U.S. Department of Justice also assisted the task force in its 

work: Eric Agner, Amin Aminfar, Pete Brien, Pamela Cammarata, Erin Canning, Ed Chung, Caitlin Currie, 

Shanetta Cutlar, Melissa Fox, Shirlethia Franklin, Ann Hamilton, Najla Haywood, Esteban Hernandez, 

Arthur Gary, Tammie Gregg, Valerie Jordan, Mark Kappelhoff, John Kim, Kevin Lewis, Robert Listenbee, 

Cynthia Pappas, Scott Pestridge, Channing Phillips, Donte Turner, Melissa Randolph, Margaret 

Richardson, Janice Rodgers, Elizabeth Simpson, Jonathan Smith, Brandon Tramel, and Miriam Vogel. 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing xi
Introduction

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 the 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. 

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.2 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 how to foster strong, collaborative relationships between 

local law enforcement and the communities they protect and to make recommendations to the 

President on how 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.

2 T.R. Tyler, Why People Obey the Law (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990); M.S. Frazer, The Impact of 

the Community Court Model on Defendant Perceptions of Fairness: A Case Study at the Red Hook Community 

Justice Center (New York: Center for Court Innovation, 2006).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 1 

 
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 about 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 nongovernmental organizations, including grass-roots 

movements; and any other members of the public who wished to comment. The listening sessions 

were held in Washington, D.C., January 13; Cincinnati, Ohio, January 30–31; Phoenix, Arizona, February 

13–14; 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’s mission.

Each of the seven public listening sessions addressed a specific aspect of policing and policecommunity 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 cop’s 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 

grass-root 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 chiefs in cities of varying sizes used to 

2 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
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 

effects 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, its 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. Paramount 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 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 3
system . . . must re-examine what they do. They must be honest about the system’s shortcomings with 

the public and with themselves.”3

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 (D-VA) 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. This 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 and passed 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 Beary, 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 communitypolice 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.4

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 caused 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.5

3 The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, The Challenge of Crime in a 

Free Society (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967), 15,

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/42.pdf.

4 Listening Session on Building Trust and Legitimacy (oral testimony of Richard Beary, president, IACP, for the 

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, January 13–14, 2015).

5 Listening Session on the Future of Community Policing (oral testimony of Jeremy Travis, president, John Jay 

College of Criminal Justice, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, January 24, 

2015).

4 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
0.2 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.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 5
Pillar One: Building Trust & Legitimacy

Building trust and nurturing legitimacy on both sides of the police/citizen divide is not only the first 

pillar of this task force’s report but also the foundational principle underlying this inquiry into the 

nature of relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve. For the last two 

decades, 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.6 This decline is in addition to the fact that 

nonwhites have always had less confidence in law enforcement than whites, likely because “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.”7 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 whom 

they believe are acting in procedurally just ways. 

Procedurally just behavior is based on four central principles: 

1. Treating people with dignity and respect

2. Giving individuals ‘voice’ during encounters

3. Being neutral and transparent in decision making

4. Conveying trustworthy motives8

 

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.9

6 Justin McCarthy, “Nonwhites Less Likely to Feel Police Protect and Serve Them,” Gallup: Politics, November 17, 

2014, http://www.gallup.com/poll/179468/nonwhites-less-likely-feel-police-protect-serve.aspx. 

7 Bryan Stevenson, “Confronting Mass Imprisonment and Restoring Fairness to Collateral Review of Criminal 

Cases,” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 41 (Summer 2006): 339–367.

8 Lorraine Mazerolle, Sarah Bennett, Jacqueline Davis, Elise Sargeant, and Matthew Manning, "Legitimacy in 

Policing: A Systematic Review," The Campbell Collection Library of Systematic Reviews 9 (Oslo, Norway: The 

Campbell Collaboration, 2013). 

9 Tom Tyler, Jonathon Jackson, and Ben Bradford, “Procedural Justice and Cooperation,” in Encyclopedia of 

Criminology and Criminal Justice, eds. Gerben Bruinsma and David Weisburd (New York: Springer, 2014), 4011–

4024.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 7 

 
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.10 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,11 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 upon race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or

other attributes.12 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,

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.13

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.

10 Nicole Haas et al., “Explaining Officer Compliance: The Importance of Procedural Justice and Trust inside a 

Police Organization,” Criminology and Criminal Justice (January 2015), doi: 10.1177/1748895814566288; COPS 

Office, “Comprehensive Law Enforcement Review: Procedural Justice and Legitimacy,” accessed February 28, 

2015, http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/Procedural-Justice-and-Legitimacy-LE-Review-Summary.pdf. 

11 Lorie Fridell, “This is Not Your Grandparents’ Prejudice: The Implications of the Modern Science of Bias for 

Police Training,” Translational Criminology (Fall 2013):10–11.

12 Susan Fiske, “Are We Born Racist?” Greater Good (Summer 2008):14–17.

13 Listening Session on Building Trust and Legitimacy (oral testimony of Jennifer Eberhardt for the President’s 

Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, January 13, 2015).

8 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
The first witnesses at the task force sessions on Pillar One also directly addressed 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 Sherrilyn Ifill, who said of youth in poor communities,

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.14 

The task force’s 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 sheriffs’ 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, “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.” 

Law enforcement cannot build community trust if it is seen as an occupying force coming in from 

outside to rule and control the community. 

14 Listening Session on Building Trust and Legitimacy (oral testimony of Sherrilyn Ifill, president and directorcounsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 

Washington, DC, January 13, 2015); “Statement by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.” (written 

testimony submitted for listening session at Washington, DC, January 13, 2015). 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 9 

 
As task force member Susan Rahr wrote

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 

soldier’s mission is that of a warrior: to conquer. The rules of engagement are decided 

before the battle. The police officer’s 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.15

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 Tracey Meares has written.16 The values and ethics of the agency will 

guide officers in their decision-making process; they cannot just 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. 

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 the history and to change the culture within both the police forces and the 

communities. 

15 Sue Rahr, “Transforming the Culture of Policing from Warriors to Guardians in Washington State,” 

International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training Newsletter 25, no. 4 

(2014): 3–4.

16 Tracey L. Meares, “Rightful Policing,” New Perspectives in Policing Bulletin (Washington, DC: National Institute 

of Justice, 2015), NCJ 248411. 

10 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts described 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.

17

Ultimately, the Baltimore police created the Professional Standards and Accountability Bureau, tasked 

with rooting out corruption, holding officers accountable, and implementing national best practices for 

polices 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.18

1.2.1 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should develop and disseminate case studies that 

provide examples where past injustices were publically 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.

17 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Building Community Policing Organizations 

(oral testimony of Anthony Batts, commissioner, Baltimore Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 

21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015).

18 Ibid.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 11

 
Figure 1. Community members’ confidence in their police officers

12 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

Note: Survey conducted August 20–24, 2014. Voluntary responses of “None” and “Don’t know/Refused” not shown. Blacks 

and Whites include only non-Hispanics. Hispanics are of any race.

Source: Jens Manuel Krogstad, “Latino Confidence in Local Police Lower than among Whites,” Pew Research Center, August 

28, 2014, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/08/28/latino-confidence-in-local-police-lower-than-among-whites/. 
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 

officers’ 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, they 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.19

19 Tim Richardson (senior legislative liaison, Fraternal Order of Police), in discussion with Ajima Olaghere 

(research assistant, COPS Office, Washington, DC), October 2014.

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 nonenforcement 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 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 13

 
or enforcement action. Witness Laura Murphy, for example, pointed out how when law enforcement 

targets people of color for the isolated actions of a few, it tags an entire community as lawless when in 

actuality 95 percent are law-abiding.20 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.21 

In recent years, agencies across the county have begun to institutionalize community trust building 

endeavors. They have 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 The 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, nonenforcement interactions with police. Agencies should also publicize 

the beneficial outcomes and images of positive, trust-building partnerships and initiatives. 

20 Listening Session on Building Trust and Legitimacy (oral testimony of Laura Murphy to the President’s Task 

Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, January 13, 2015).

21 Listening Session on Building Trust and Legitimacy—Community Representatives: Building Community Policing 

Organizations (oral testimony of Carmen Perez, executive director, The Gathering for Justice, for the President’s 

Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, January 13, 2015).

14 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
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.22

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.

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. 

22 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Youth and Law Enforcement (oral testimony of 

Michael Reynolds, co-president, Youth Power Movement, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 

Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 15

 
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 in 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 

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.23 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.24 

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. 

23 Lorie Fridell, “Racially Biased Policing: The Law Enforcement Response to the Implicit Black-Crime Association,” 

in Racial Divide: Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Criminal Justice System, eds. Michael J. Lynch, E. Britt Patterson, and 

Kristina K. Childs (Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press, 2008), 51.

24 Ibid., 51–52.

16 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
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 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 do 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 nonserious 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 nonserious criminal offenders.25

In 2011, the Major Cities Chiefs Association recommended nine points to Congress and the President 

on this issue, noting that “immigration is a federal policy issue between the United States 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.”26

25 Listening Session on Building Trust and Legitimacy: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties (oral testimony of Maria Teresa 

Kumar, president and CEO, Voto Latino, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, 

January 13, 2015).

26 “Major Cities Chiefs Association Immigration Position October 2011,” accessed February 26, 2015, 

http://majorcitieschiefs.com/pdf/news/immigration_position112811.pdf. 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 17

 
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.

27

1.9.3 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should remove civil immigration information 

from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database.28

27 Listening Session on Building Trust and Legitimacy (written testimony of Nicholas Turner, president and 

director, Vera Institute of Justice, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, 

January 13, 2015). 

28 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction (written testimony of Javier Valdes, executive 

director, Make the Road New York, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 

13–14, 2015). 

18 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
Pillar Two: Policy & Oversight

The issues addressed in Pillar One 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 nondeadly 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 in an atmosphere of nonjudgmental and safe 

sharing of views with fellow officers about how they behaved in use of force situations. At one 

listening session, Geoffrey 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 

and response to suspects.29

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.”30

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.”31

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. 

29 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight: Use of Force Research and Policies (oral testimony of Geoffrey 

Alpert, professor, University of South Carolina, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, 

OH, January 30, 2015). 

30 “Recommendations to the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing,” Listening Session on Training and 

Education (written testimony of Anthony Braga et al., Ad Hoc Committee to the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing, Division of Policing, American Society of Criminology, February 13–14, 2015). 

31 Ibid.

Expanded 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 19

 
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 Investigation’s (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.32

2.1 RECOMMENDATION: 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 is 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.33

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.

32 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight: Mass Demonstrations (oral testimony of Garry McCarthy, chief of 

police, Chicago Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, 

January 31, 2015); Listening Session on Policy and Oversight: Mass Demonstrations (oral testimony of Rodney

Monroe, chief of police, Charlotte-Mecklenberg [NC] Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 30, 2015).

33 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight: Civilian Oversight (oral testimony of Charlie Beck, chief, Los Angeles 

Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 30, 2015). 

20 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
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.34

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.”35

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. 

34 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight: Use of Force Investigations and Oversight (oral testimony of Chuck 

Wexler, executive director, Police Executive Research Forum, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century 

Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 30, 2015). 

35 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight (written testimony of James Palmer, executive director, Wisconsin 

Professional Police Association, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 

30–31, 2015). 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 21

 
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 nonfatal, 

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 reenacted in 

2014, but this is a voluntary reporting program. 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 reported data should include information 

on the circumstances of the use of force, as well as the race, gender, and age of the decedents. 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.

2.3 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies are encouraged to implement nonpunitive 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 

22 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
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.36

What distinguishes sentinel event reviews from other kinds of internal investigations of apparent 

errors is that they are nonadversarial. 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 nondisclosure, for example—police officers, 

who have the very best information about how things really work and what really 

happened, 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/punitive-based discipline, adopting instead “education-based” 

disciplinary procedures and policies.37 

2.4 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies are encouraged to adopt identification 

procedures that 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.38

36 James M. Doyle, “Learning from Error in the Criminal Justice System: Sentinel Event Reviews,” Mending Justice: 

Sentinel Event Reviews (Special Report from the National Institute of Justice, September 2014): 3–20. 

37 Sean Smoot, “Punishment-Based vs. Education-Based Discipline: A Surmountable Challenge?” in Mending 

Justice: Sentinel Event Reviews (Special Report from the National Institute of Justice, September 2014): 48–50.

38 Samuel R. Gross et al., “Rate of False Conviction of Criminal Defendants who are Sentenced to Death,” 

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111, no. 20 (2014): 7230–7235. 

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/20/7230.full.pdf+html. 

Many 

factors, including external conditions and the witness’s emotional state and biases, influence what a 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 23

 
witness sees or thinks she sees. Memories can be forgotten, reconstructed, updated, and distorted. 

Meanwhile, policies governing law enforcement procedures for conducting and recording 

identifications are not standard, and policies and practices to address the issue of misidentification 

vary widely. 

2.5 RECOMMENDATION: All federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies should report 

and make available to the public census data regarding the composition of their 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 has called for the DOJ 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.”39 

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. 

2.6 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should be encouraged to collect, maintain, and 

analyze demographic data on all detentions (stops, frisks, 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 age 16 or older about experiences with police during the prior 12 months.40

39 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight: Law Enforcement Culture and Diversity (oral testimony of Malik Aziz, 

chairman, National Black Police Association, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, 

OH, January 30, 2015).

40 Lynn Langton and Matthew Durose, Police Behavior during Traffic and Street Stops, 2011, Special Report 

(Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013), NCJ 242937; Matthew Durose and 

Lynn Langton, Requests for Police Assistance, 2011, Special Report (Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs 

Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013), NCJ 242938. 

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 Lorie Fridell’s 

24 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
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. 

2.6.1 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.

2.7 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should 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 Garry McCarthy of the Chicago Police Department

detailed his 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.41

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.”42

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.

41 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight (oral testimony of Garry McCarthy, Chicago Police Department, to 

the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 30, 2015).

42 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight (written testimony of Edward MacGuire, American University, for the 

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 30, 2015).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 25

 
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. 

This group has been tasked by the Executive Order 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.

2.8 RECOMMENDATION: 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 Buchner 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.43

43 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight (oral testimony of Brian Buchner, president, National Association for 

Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, 

January 30, 2015).

2.8.1 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 FY 2015, which include 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 

26 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
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. 

2.8.2 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 this structure, potentially with some matching 

grants and funding.

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:

One only needs to paint a quick picture of the state of policing to understand the dire 

need for reform. First, there are local and federal incentives that instigate arrests. At 

the local level, cities across the country generate much of their revenue through court 

fines and fees, with those who can’t pay subject to arrest and jail time. These debtors’

prisons are found in cities like Ferguson, where the number of arrest warrants in 

2013—33,000—exceeded its population of 21,000. Most of the warrants were for 

driving violations.44

2.10 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement officers should be required to seek consent before a 

search and explain that a person has the 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 establish search and seizure procedures 

related to LGBTQ and transgender populations and adopt as policy the recommendation from the 

President’s HIV/AIDS Task Force to cease using the possession of condoms as the sole evidence of 

vice. 

44 Listening Session on Trust and Legitimacy (oral testimony of Laura Murphy, director of the Washington 

Legislative Office, American Civil Liberties Union, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 

Washington, DC, January 13, 2015); Joseph Shapiro, “In Ferguson, Court Fines and Fees Fuel Anger,” NPR.com,

last updated August 25, 2014, http://www.npr.org/2014/08/25/343143937/in-ferguson-court-fines-and-feesfuel-anger; In For A Penny: The Rise of America’s Debtors’ Prisons (New York: American Civil Liberties Union, 

2010), http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/InForAPenny_web.pdf. 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 27

 
2.12 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should adopt and enforce policies prohibiting 

profiling and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, age, gender, gender 

identity/expression, sexual orientation, immigration status, disability, housing status, occupation, 

and/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

Gender and sexuality-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.45

Invasive searches should never be used for the sole purpose of determining gender identity, and an 

individual’s gender identity should be respected in lock-ups and holding cells to the extent that the 

facility allows for gender segregation. And witness Linda Sarsour spoke to how

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 (FOIA) requests, and lawsuits that agencies target communities by 

religion and national origin.46

2.12.1 ACTION ITEM: The Bureau of Justice Statistics should add questions concerning sexual 

harassment of and misconduct toward LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming people by law 

enforcement officers to the Police Public Contact Survey. 

2.12.2 ACTION ITEM: The Centers for Disease Control should add questions concerning sexual 

harassment of and misconduct toward LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming people by law 

enforcement officers to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey.

2.12.3 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.47

45 Listening Session on Training and Education (oral testimony of Andrea Ritchie, founder of Streetwise and Safe, 

for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 14, 2015).

46 Listening Session on Training and Education (oral testimony of Linda Sarsour, Advocacy And Civic Engagement 

coordinator for the National Network for Arab American Communities, for the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 14, 2015).

47 IACP, Addressing Sexual Offenses and Misconduct by Law Enforcement: Executive Guide (Alexandria, VA: 

International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2011).

28 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
2.13 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 towards shared services, regional 

training, and consolidation.

Half of all law enforcement agencies in the United States have fewer than ten officers, and nearly 

three-quarters have fewer than 25 officers.48 Lawrence Sherman noted in his testimony that “so many 

problems of organizational quality control are made worse by the tiny size of most local police 

agencies . . . less than 1 percent of 17,985 U.S. police agencies meet the English minimum of 1,000 

employees or more.”49 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. 

Table 1. Full-time state and local law enforcement employees, by size of agency, 2008 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 29

 

Source: Brian A. Reaves, “Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2008,”Bulletin (Washington, DC: Bureau of 

Justice Statistics, July 2011), http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/csllea08.pdf. 

48 Brian A. Reaves, Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2008, Bulletin (Washington, DC: Office 

of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011), NCJ 233982. 

49 Listening Session on the Future of Community Policing (oral testimony of Lawrence Sherman, Cambridge 

University, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, February 24, 2015).
2.14 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 Decertification Index to serve as the 

National Register of Decertified Officers with the goal of covering all agencies within the United 

States and its territories. 

The National Decertification 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 “wherein a police officer is discharged for improper conduct and loses 

his/her certification in that state . . . [only to relocate] to another state and hire on with another police 

department.”50 Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) boards can record administrative actions 

taken against certified police and correctional officers. Currently the criteria for reporting an 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 “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.”51

2.15 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should adopt policies requiring officers to 

provide their names to individuals they have stopped, along with the reason for the stop, the reason 

for a search if one is conducted, and a card with information on how to reach the civilian complaint 

review board.

 

50 “National Decertification Index—FAQs,” accessed February 27, 2015, 

https://www.iadlest.org/Portals/0/Files/NDI/FAQ/ndi_faq.html. 

51 Roger L. Goldman, “Police Officer Decertification: Promoting Police Professionalism through State Licensing 

and the National Decertification Index,” Police Chief 81 (November 2014): 40–42, 

http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=3538&issue_id=1

12014. 

30 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Pillar Three: Technology & Social Media

We live in a time when technology and its many uses are advancing far more quickly than are policies 

and laws. “Technology” available to law enforcement today includes everything from body-worn 

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,52 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.53

52 Elizabeth Groff and Tom McEwen, Identifying and Measuring the Effects of Information Technologies on Law 

Enforcement Agencies: The Making Officer Redeployment Effective Program (Washington, DC: Office of 

Community Oriented Policing Services, 2008), http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/Publications/e08084156-IT.pdf; 

Christopher S. Koper, Cynthia Lum, James J. Willis, Daniel J. Woods, and Julie Hibdon, Realizing the Potential of 

Technology in Policing: A Multi-Site Study of the Social, Organizational, and Behavioral Aspects of Implementing 

Police Technologies (Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 2015), http://cebcp.org/wp-content/evidencebased-policing/ImpactTechnologyFinalReport. 

53 IACP Technology Policy Framework (Alexandria, VA: International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2014), 

http://www.theiacp.org/Portals/0/documents/pdfs/IACP%20Technology%20Policy%20Framework%20January%

202014%20Final.pdf. 

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 Bueermann, retired chief of the Redlands (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 used the gold standard of research models, a randomized 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 31

 
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 are highly suggestive that the use of BWCs by the police can significantly reduce both 

officer use of force and complaints against officers. They found that the officers wearing the cameras 

had 87.5 percent fewer incidents of use of force and 59 percent 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 are highly 

suggestive that this increase in self-awareness contributes to more positive outcomes in police-citizen 

interaction.54

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.55

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.56 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 work with the public and other partners in the justice system to 

develop appropriate policies and procedures for use. 

54 Listening Session on Technology and Social Media: Body Cameras-Research and Legal Considerations (oral 

testimony of Jim Bueermann, president, Police Foundation, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century 

Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 31, 2015); Ariel Barak, William A. Farrar, and Alex Sutherland, “The Effect of 

Police Body-Worn Cameras on Use of Force and Citizens’ Complaints Against the Police: A Randomized 

Controlled Trial,” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 2014. 

55 Lindsay Miller and Jessica Toliver, Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and 

Lessons Learned (Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2014), vii, http://ric-zaiinc.com/Publications/cops-p296-pub.pdf. 

56 Ibid., 1. 

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 

32 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
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.57 

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 and interaction that a department and a 

community can attain online.58

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 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.59 

57 Police Executive Research Forum, Social Media and Tactical Considerations for Law Enforcement (Washington, 

DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2013), http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p261-

pub.pdf. 

58 Edward F. Davis III, Alejandro A. Alves, and David Alan Sklansky, “Social Media and Police Leadership: Lessons 

from Boston,” New Perspectives in Policing (Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, March 2014), 

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/content/download/67536/1242954/version/1/file/SocialMediaandPoliceLeadershi

p-03-14.pdf. 

59 Koper et al., Potential of Technology in Policing (see note 52). 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 33

 
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 

CompStat 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.60 These problems are especially 

critical in light of the 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 manipulating of evidence in violation of policy.

3.2 RECOMMENDATION: The implementation of appropriate technology by law enforcement agencies 

should be designed considering local needs and aligned with national standards. 

While standards should be created for development and research of technology at the national level, 

implementation of developed technologies should remain a local decision to address the needs and 

resources of the community.

In addition to the expense of acquiring technology, implementation and training also requires funds, as 

well as time, personnel, and physical capacity. A case in point is the Phoenix Police Department’s 

adoption of BWCs mentioned by witness Michael White, who said that the real costs came on the back 

end for managing the vast amount of data generated by the cameras. He quoted the Chief of the 

Phoenix Police Department as saying that it would cost their department $3.5 million to not only outfit 

all of their officers with the cameras but also successfully manage the program. 

3.2.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should encourage public engagement and 

collaboration, including the use of community advisory bodies, when developing a policy for the use 

of a new technology. 

60 Listening Session on Technology and Social Media (oral testimony of Elliot Cohen, Maryland State Police, for 

the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 31, 2015).

34 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
Local residents will be more accepting of and respond more positively to technology when they have 

been informed of new developments and their input has been encouraged. How police use technology 

and how they share that information with the public is critical. Task force witness Jim Bueermann, 

president of the Police Foundation, addressed this issue, noting that concerns about BWCs include 

potential compromises to the privacy of both officers and citizens, who are reluctant to speak to police 

if they think they are being recorded. And as the task force co-chair, Charles Ramsey, noted, “Just 

having the conversation can increase trust and legitimacy and help departments make better 

decisions.” 

3.2.2 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should include an evaluation or assessment process 

to gauge the effectiveness of any new technology, soliciting input from all levels of the agency, from 

line officer to leadership, as well as assessment from members of the community.61 

Witnesses suggested that law enforcement agencies create an advisory group when adopting a new 

technology.62 Ideally, it would include line officers, union representatives, and members from other 

departmental units, such as research and planning, technology, and internal affairs. External 

stakeholders, such as representatives from the prosecutor’s office, the defense bar, advocacy groups, 

and citizens should also be included, giving each group the opportunity to ask questions, express their 

concerns, and offer suggestions on policy and training. 

3.2.3. ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should adopt the use of new technologies that will 

help them better serve people with special needs or disabilities.

3.3 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should develop best practices that can be 

adopted by state legislative bodies to govern the acquisition, use, retention, and dissemination of 

auditory, visual, and biometric data by law enforcement.

These model policies and practices should at minimum address technology usage and data and 

evidence acquisition and retention, as well as privacy issues, accountability and discipline. They must 

also consider the impact of data collection and use on public trust and police legitimacy.

3.3.1 ACTION ITEM: As part of the process for developing best practices, the U.S. Department of 

Justice should consult with civil rights and civil liberties organizations, as well as law enforcement 

research groups and other experts, concerning the constitutional issues that can arise as a result of 

the use of new technologies. 

61 Sharon Stolting, Shawn Barrett, and David Kurz, Best Practices Guide for Acquisition of New Technology 

(Alexandria, VA: International Association of Chiefs of Police, n.d.), http://www.theiacp.org/portals/0/pdfs/BPNewTechnology.pdf. 

62 Listening Session on Technology and Social Media: Body Cameras—Research and Legal Considerations (oral 

testimony of Michael White, professor, Arizona State University, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century 

Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 31, 2015).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 35

 
3.3.2 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should create toolkits for the most effective and 

constitutional use of multiple forms of innovative technology that will provide state, local, and tribal 

law enforcement agencies with a one-stop clearinghouse of information and resources. 

3.3.3. ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should review and consider the Bureau of Justice 

Assistance’s (BJA) Body Worn Camera Toolkit to assist in implementing BWCs. 

A Body-Worn Camera Expert Panel of law enforcement leaders, recognized practitioners, national 

policy leaders, and community advocates convened a two-day workshop in February, 2015 to develop 

a toolkit and provide guidance and model policy for law enforcement agencies implementing BWC

programs. Subject matter experts contributed ideas and content for the proposed toolkit while a panel 

composed of privacy and victim advocates contributed ideas and content for the toolkit to broaden 

input and ensure transparency.

3.4 RECOMMENDATION: Federal, state, local, and tribal legislative bodies should be encouraged to 

update public record laws. 

The quickly evolving nature of new technologies that collect video, audio, information, and biometric 

data on members of the community can cause unforeseen consequences. Public record laws, which 

allow public access to information held by government agencies, including law enforcement, should be 

modified to protect the privacy of the individuals whose records they hold and to maintain the trust of 

the community.

Issues such as the accessibility of video captured through dashboard or body-worn cameras are 

especially complex. So too are the officer use of force events that will be captured by video camera 

systems and then broadcast by local media outlets. Use of force, even when lawful and appropriate, 

can negatively influence public perception and trust of police. Sean Smoot, task force member, 

addressed this by recalling the shooting of a Flagstaff, Arizona, police officer whose death was 

recorded by his BWC. Responding to public record requests by local media, the police department 

released the graphic footage, which was then shown on local TV and also on YouTube.63 This 

illustration also raises questions concerning the recording of police interactions with minors and the 

appropriateness of releasing those videos for public view given their inability to give informed consent 

for distribution. 

63 Listening Session on Technology and Social Media (Sean Smoot, task force member, for the President’s Task 

Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 31, 2015).

36 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
3.5 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should adopt model policies and best practices for 

technology-based community engagement that increases community trust and access. 

These policies and practices should at a minimum increase transparency and accessibility, provide 

access to information (crime statistics, current calls for service), allow for public posting of policy and 

procedures, and enable access and usage for persons with disabilities. They should also address issues 

surrounding the use of new and social media, encouraging the use of social media as a means of 

community interaction and relationship building, which can result in stronger law enforcement. As 

witness Elliot Cohen noted, 

We have seen social media support policing efforts in gathering intelligence during 

active assailant incidents: the Columbia Mall shooting and the Boston Marathon 

bombing. Social media allowed for a greater volume of information to be collected in 

an electronic format, both audibly and visually.64 

Table 2. What types of social media does your agency currently use, and what types of 

social media do you plan to begin using within the next 2 to 5 years?

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 37

 

Note: PERF, with the support of the COPS Office and Target Corporation, disseminated a “Future of Policing” survey in 2012 

to more than 500 police agencies; nearly 200 responded.

Source: Police Executive Research Forum, Future Trends in Policing (Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing 

Services, 2014), http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p282-pub.pdf. 

64 Listening Session on Technology and Social Media: Technology Policy (oral testimony of Elliot Cohen, 

lieutenant, Maryland State Police, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 

31, 2015).
But to engage the community, social media must be responsive and current. Said Bill Schrier, 

“Regularly refresh the content to maintain and engage the audience, post content rapidly during 

incidents to dispel rumors, and use it for engagement, not just public information.”65 False or incorrect 

statements made via social media, mainstream media, and other means of technology deeply harm 

trust and legitimacy and can only be overcome with targeted and continuing community engagement 

and repeated positive interaction. Agencies need to unequivocally discourage falsities by underlining 

how harmful they are and how difficult they are to overcome. 

Agencies should also develop policies and practices on social media use that consider individual officer 

expression, professional representation, truthful communication, and other concerns that can impact 

trust and legitimacy.

3.6 RECOMMENDATION: The Federal Government should support the development of new “less than 

lethal” technology to help control combative suspects. 

The fatal shootings in Ferguson, Cleveland, and elsewhere have put the consequences of use of force 

front and center in the national news. Policies and procedures must change, but so should the 

weaponry. New technologies such as conductive energy devices (CED) have been developed and may 

be used and evaluated to decrease the number of fatal police interventions. Studies of CEDs have 

shown them to be effective at reducing both officer and civilian injuries. For example, in one study that 

compared seven law enforcement agencies that use CEDs with six agencies that do not, researchers 

found a 70 percent decrease in officer injuries and a 40 percent decrease in suspect injures.66 But new 

technologies should still be subject to the appropriate use of force continuum restrictions. And Vincent 

Talucci made the point in his testimony that over-reliance on technological weapons can also be 

dangerous.67 

65 Listening Session on Technology and Social Media: Technology Policy (oral testimony of Bill Schrier, senior 

policy advisor, Office of the Chief Information Officer, State of Washington, for the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 31, 2015).

66 Bruce Taylor et al., Comparing Safety Outcomes in Police Use-Of-Force Cases for Law Enforcement Agencies 

That Have Deployed Conducted Energy Devices and A Matched Comparison Group That Have Not: A QuasiExperimental Evaluation (Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 2009), 

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/237965.pdf; John M. MacDonald, Robert J. Kaminski, and Michael R. 

Smith, “The Effect of Less-Lethal Weapons on Injuries in Police Use-of-Force Events,” American Journal of Public 

Health 99, no. 12 (2009) 2268–2274, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2775771/pdf/2268.pdf; 

Bruce G. Taylor and Daniel J. Woods, “Injuries to Officers and Suspects in Police Use-of-Force Cases: A QuasiExperimental Evaluation,” Police Quarterly 13, no. 3 (2010): 260–289, 

http://pqx.sagepub.com/content/13/3/260.full.pdf. 

67 Listening Session on Technology and Social Media (oral testimony of Vincent Talucci, International Association 

of Chiefs of Police, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 31, 2015). 

38 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
3.6.1 ACTION ITEM: Relevant federal agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Defense and 

Justice, should expand their efforts to study the development and use of new less than lethal

technologies and evaluate their impact on public safety, reducing lethal violence against citizens, 

Constitutionality, and officer safety. 

3.7 RECOMMENDATION: The Federal Government should make the development and building of 

segregated radio spectrum and increased bandwidth by FirstNet for exclusive use by local, state, 

tribal, and federal public safety agencies a top priority.68

A national public safety broadband network which creates bandwidth for the exclusive use of law 

enforcement, the First Responder Network (FirstNet) is considered a game-changing public safety 

project, which would allow instantaneous communication in even the most remote areas whenever a 

disaster or incident occurs. It can also support many other technologies, including video transmission 

from BWCs. 

68 Listening Session on Technology and Social Media: Technology Policy (oral testimony of Bill Schrier, senior 

policy advisor, Office of the Chief Information Officer, State of Washington, for the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 31, 2015).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 39

 
Pillar Four: Community Policing & Crime 

Reduction

Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the 

systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactively address the immediate 

conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime.69

Over the past few decades, rates of both violent and property crime have dropped dramatically across 

the United States.70 However, some communities and segments of the population have not benefited 

from the decrease as much as others, and some not at all.71 Though law enforcement must 

concentrate their efforts in these neighborhoods to maintain public safety, sometimes those specific 

efforts arouse resentment in the neighborhoods the police are striving to protect. 

Police interventions must be implemented with strong policies and training in place, rooted in an 

understanding of procedural justice. Indeed, without that, police interventions can easily devolve into 

racial profiling, excessive use of force, and other practices which disregard civil rights, causing negative 

reactions from people living in already challenged communities.

Yet mutual trust and cooperation, two key elements of community policing, are vital to protecting 

residents of these communities from the crime that plagues them. By combining a focus on 

intervention and prevention through problem solving with building collaborative partnerships with 

schools, social services, and other stakeholders, community policing not only improves public safety

but also enhances social connectivity and economic strength, which increases community resilience to 

crime. And, as noted by one speaker, it improves job satisfaction for line officers, too.

In his testimony to the task force, Camden County, New Jersey, Police Chief J. Scott Thomson noted 

that community policing starts on the street corner, with respectful interaction between a police 

officer and a local resident, a discussion that need not be related to a criminal matter.72 In fact, it is

important that not all interactions be based on emergency calls or crime investigations. 

69 Community Policing Defined (Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2014), 

http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p157-pub.pdf. 

70 “Crime Statistics for 2013 Released: Decrease in Violent Crimes and Property Crimes,” Federal Bureau of 

Investigation, last modified November 10, 2014, http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/november/crimestatistics-for-2013-released/crime-statistics-for-2013-released. 

71 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Building Community Policing Organizations 

(oral testimony of Chris Magnus, chief, Richmond [CA] Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015).

72 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Using Community Policing to Reduce Crime 

(oral testimony of J. Scott Thomson, chief, Camden County [NJ] Police Department, for the President’s Task Force 

on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 41

 
Another aspect of community policing that was discussed in the listening session on this topic is the 

premise that officers enforce the law with the people not just on the people. In reflecting this belief, 

some commented on the negative results of zero tolerance policies, which mete out automatic and 

predetermined actions by officers regardless of extenuating circumstances.

Community policing requires the active building of positive relationships with members of the 

community—on an agency as well as on a personal basis. This can be done through assigning officers 

to geographic areas on a consistent basis, so that through the continuity of assignment they have the 

opportunity to know the members of the community. It can also be aided by the use of programs such 

as Eagle County, Colorado’s Law Enforcement Immigrant Advisory Committee, which the police 

department formed with Catholic Charities to help the local immigrant community.73 This type of 

policing also requires participation in community organizations, local meetings and public service 

activities. 

To be most effective, community policing also requires collaborative partnerships with agencies 

beyond law enforcement, such as Philadelphia’s successful Police Diversion Program described by 

Kevin Bethel, Deputy Commissioner of Patrol Operations in the Philadelphia Police Department in his 

testimony to the task force.74 This partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, 

the school district, the District Attorney’s office, Family Court, and other stakeholders significantly 

reduced the number of arrests of minority youths for minor offenses.

Problem solving, another key element of community policing, is critical to prevention. And problems 

must be solved in partnership with the community in order to effectively address chronic crime and 

disorder problems. As Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Director Ronald L. Davis has 

said, “We need to teach new recruits that law enforcement is more than just cuffing ‘perps’—it’s 

understanding why people do what they do.”75 

73 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Building Community Policing Organizations 

(oral testimony of Chris Magnus, chief, Richmond [CA] Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015).

74 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Using Community Policing to Reduce Crime 

(oral testimony of Kevin Bethel, deputy police commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department, for the President’s 

Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015). 

75 Faye Elkins, “Five COPS Office Directors Look Back and Think Forward at the 20th Anniversary Celebration,” 

Community Policing Dispatch 8, no. 1 (January 12, 2014), http://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/01-

2015/cops_office_20th_anniversary.asp. 

42 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
In summary, law enforcement’s obligation is not only to reduce crime but also to do so fairly while 

protecting the rights of citizens. Any prevention strategy that unintentionally violates civil rights,

compromises police legitimacy, or undermines trust is counterproductive from both ethical and costbenefit perspectives. Ignoring these considerations can have both financial costs (e.g., law suits) and 

social costs (e.g., loss of public support). 

It must also be stressed that the absence of crime is not the final goal of law enforcement. Rather, it is 

the promotion and protection of public safety while respecting the dignity and rights of all. And public 

safety and well-being cannot be attained without the community’s belief that their well-being is at the 

heart of all law enforcement activities. It is critical to help community members see police as allies 

rather than as an occupying force and to work in concert with other community stakeholders to create 

more economically and socially stable neighborhoods. 

4.1 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should develop and adopt policies and strategies 

that reinforce the importance of community engagement in managing public safety. 

Community policing is not just about the relationship between individual officers and individual 

neighborhood residents. It is also about the relationship between law enforcement leaders and leaders 

of key institutions in a community, such as churches, businesses, and schools, supporting the 

community’s own process to define prevention and reach goals. 

Law enforcement agencies cannot ensure the safety of communities alone but should seek to 

contribute to the strengthening of neighborhood capacity to prevent and reduce crime through 

informal social control. More than a century of research shows that informal social control is a much 

more powerful mechanism for crime control and reduction than is formal punishment. And perhaps 

the best evidence for the preventive power of informal social control may be the millions of unguarded 

opportunities to commit crime that are passed up each day.76 

4.1.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should consider adopting preferences for seeking 

“least harm” resolutions, such as diversion programs or warnings and citations in lieu of arrest for 

minor infractions. 

4.2 RECOMMENDATION: Community policing should be infused throughout the culture and 

organizational structure of law enforcement agencies.

76 Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson, “Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activities Approach,”

American Sociological Review 44 (August 1979): 588–607.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 43

 
Community policing must be a way of doing business by an entire police force, not just a specialized 

unit of that force.77 The task force heard testimony from Chief J. Scott Thomson of Camden County, 

New Jersey, who noted that

Community policing cannot be a program, unit, strategy or tactic. It must be the core 

principle that lies at the foundation of a police department’s culture. The only way to 

significantly reduce fear, crime, and disorder and then sustain these gains is to 

leverage the greatest force multiplier: the people of the community.78

This message was closely echoed by Chris Magnus, the police chief in Richmond, California. To build a 

more effective partnership with residents and transform culture within the police department as well 

as in the community, the Richmond police made sure that all officers, not just a select few, were doing 

community policing and neighborhood problem solving. Every officer is expected to get to know the 

residents, businesses, community groups, churches, and schools on their beat and work with them to 

identify and address public safety challenges, including quality of life issues such as blight. Officers 

remain in the same beat or district for several years or more—which builds familiarity and trust.79

Testimony from a number of witnesses also made clear that hiring, training, evaluating, and promoting 

officers based on their ability and track record in community engagement—not just traditional 

measures of policing such as arrests, tickets, or tactical skills—is an equally important component of 

the successful infusion of community policing throughout an organization. 

4.2.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should evaluate officers on their efforts to engage 

members of the community and the partnerships they build. Making this part of the performance 

evaluation process places an increased value on developing partnerships.

4.2.2 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should evaluate their patrol deployment practices to 

allow sufficient time for patrol officers to participate in problem solving and community 

engagement activities.

4.2.3 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice and other public and private entities should 

support research into the factors that have led to dramatic successes in crime reduction in some 

communities through the infusion of non-discriminatory policing and to determine replicable factors 

that could be used to guide law enforcement agencies in other communities.

77 Tracey Meares, “Praying for Community Policing,” California Law Review 90 (2002): 1593–1634, 

http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/518/. 

78 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Using Community Policing to Reduce Crime 

(oral testimony of J. Scott Thomson, chief, Camden County [NJ] Police Department, for the President’s Task Force 

on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015).

79 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Building Community Policing Organizations 

(oral testimony of Chris Magnus, chief, Richmond [CA] Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015).

44 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
4.3 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should engage in multidisciplinary, community 

team approaches for planning, implementing, and responding to crisis situations with complex 

causal factors. 

Collaborative approaches that engage professionals from across systems have emerged as model 

practices for addressing community problems that are not resolvable by the police alone. These team 

approaches call upon law enforcement agencies, service providers, and community support networks 

to work together to provide the right resources for the situation and foster sustainable change. 

Multiple witnesses before the task force spoke of departments who coordinate mental health 

response teams that include mental health professionals, social workers, crisis counselors, and other 

professionals making decisions alongside the police regarding planning, implementing, and responding 

to mental health crisis situations. But this model is applicable to a number of community problems 

that regularly involve a police response including homelessness, substance abuse, domestic violence, 

human trafficking, and child abuse. Ultimately, the idea is for officers to be trained and equipped to 

make use of existing community resources in the diffusion of crisis situations. 

4.3.1 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should collaborate with others to develop and 

disseminate baseline models of this crisis intervention team approach that can be adapted to local 

contexts.

4.3.3 ACTION ITEM: Communities should look to involve peer support counselors as part of 

multidisciplinary teams when appropriate. Persons who have experienced the same trauma can 

provide both insight to the first responders and immediate support to individuals in crisis.

4.3.4 ACTION ITEM: Communities should be encouraged to evaluate the efficacy of these crisis 

intervention team approaches and hold agency leaders accountable for outcomes. 

4.4 RECOMMENDATION: Communities should support a culture and practice of policing that reflects 

the values of protection and promotion of the dignity of all, especially the most vulnerable. 

The task force heard many different ways of describing a positive culture of policing. David Kennedy 

suggested there could be a Hippocratic Oath for Policing: First, Do No Harm.80 Law enforcement 

officers’ goal should be to avoid use of force if at all possible, even when it is allowed by law and by 

policy. Terms such as fair and impartial policing, rightful policing, Constitutional policing, neighborhood 

policing, procedural justice, and implicit bias training all address changing the culture of policing. 

Respectful language; thoughtful and intentional dialogue about the perception and reality of profiling 

and the mass incarceration of minorities; and consistent involvement, both formal and informal, in 

community events all help ensure that relationships of trust between police and community will be 

built. The vision of policing in the 21st century should be that of officers as guardians of human and 

constitutional rights.

80 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Using Community Policing to Reduce Crime 

(oral testimony of David Kennedy, professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, for the President’s Task Force 

on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 45

 
4.4.1 ACTION ITEM: Because offensive or harsh language can escalate a minor situation, law 

enforcement agencies should underscore the importance of language used and adopt policies 

directing officers to speak to individuals with respect.

4.4.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should develop programs that create opportunities 

for patrol officers to regularly interact with neighborhood residents, faith leaders, and business 

leaders. 

4.5 RECOMMENDATION: Community policing emphasizes working with neighborhood residents to coproduce public safety. Law enforcement agencies should work with community residents to identify 

problems and collaborate on implementing solutions that produce meaningful results for the 

community. 

As Delores Jones Brown testified, “Neighborhood policing provides an opportunity for police 

departments to do things with residents in the co-production of public safety rather than doing things 

to or for them.”81 Community policing is not just about the behavior and tactics of police; it is also 

about the civic engagement and capacity of communities to improve their own neighborhoods, their 

quality of life, and their sense of safety and well-being. Members of communities are key partners in 

creating public safety, so communities and police need mechanisms to engage with each other in 

consistent and meaningful ways. One model for formalizing this engagement is through a civilian 

governance system such as is found in Los Angeles. As Chief Charles Beck explained in testimony to the 

task force,

The Los Angeles Police Department is formally governed by the Board of Police 

Commissioners, a five-person civilian body with each member appointed by the 

mayor. The Commission has formal authority to hire the Chief of Police, to set broad 

policy for the department, and to hold the LAPD and its chief accountable to the 

people.82

Community policing, therefore, is concerned with changing the way in which citizens respond to police 

in more constructive and proactive ways. If officers feel unsafe and threatened, their ability to operate 

in an open and shared dialogue with community is inhibited. On the other hand, the police have the 

responsibility to understand the culture, history, and quality of life issues of the entire community—

youth, elders, faith communities, special populations—and to educate the community, including its 

children, on the role and function of police and ways the community can protect itself, be part of 

solving problems, and prevent crime. Community and police jointly share the responsibility for civil 

dialogue and interaction. 

81 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Community Policing and Crime Prevention 

Research (oral testimony of Delores Jones Brown, professor, Department of Law, Police Science & Criminal 

Justice Administration, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century 

Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015).

82 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight: Civilian Oversight (oral testimony of Charles Beck, chief, Los Angeles 

Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 30, 2015). 

46 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
4.5.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should schedule regular forums and meetings where 

all community members can interact with police and help influence programs and policy.

4.5.2 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should engage youth and communities in joint 

training with law enforcement, citizen academies, ride-alongs, problem solving teams, community 

action teams, and quality of life teams.

4.5.3. ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should establish formal community/citizen advisory 

committees to assist in developing crime prevention strategies and agency policies as well as 

provide input on policing issues. 

Larger agencies should establish multiple committees to ensure they inform all levels of the 

organization. The makeup of these committees should reflect the demographics of the community or 

neighborhood being served.

4.5.4 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should adopt community policing strategies that 

support and work in concert with economic development efforts within communities. 

As several witnesses, including Bill Geller, testified, public safety and the economic health of 

communities go hand in hand.83 It is therefore important for agencies to work with local, state, and 

federal partners on projects devoted to enhancing the economic health of the communities in which 

departments are located.

4.6 RECOMMENDATION: Communities should adopt policies and programs that address the needs of 

children and youth most at risk for crime or violence and reduce aggressive law enforcement tactics 

that stigmatize youth and marginalize their participation in schools and communities. 

The past decade has seen an explosion of knowledge about adolescent development and the 

neurological underpinnings of adolescent behavior. Much has also been learned about the pathways 

by which adolescents become delinquent, the effectiveness of prevention and treatment programs, 

and the long-term effects of transferring youths to the adult system and confining them in harsh 

conditions. These findings have raised doubts about a series of policies and practices of “zero 

tolerance” that have contributed to increasing the school-to-prison pipeline by criminalizing the 

behaviors of children as young as kindergarten age. Noncriminal offenses can escalate to criminal 

charges when officers are not trained in child and adolescent development and are unable to 

recognize and manage a child’s emotional, intellectual, and physical development issues. School 

district policies and practices that push students out of schools and into the juvenile justice system 

cause great harm and do no good.

83 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Community Policing and Crime Prevention 

Research (oral testimony of Bill Geller, director, Geller & Associates, for the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015). 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 47

 
One witness told the task force a stunning story about what happened to him one day when he was a 

high school freshman: 

As I walked down the hall, one of the police officers employed in the school noticed I 

did not have my identification badge with me. Before I could explain why I did not 

have my badge, I was escorted to the office and suspended for an entire week. I had to 

leave the school premises immediately. Walking to the bus stop, a different police 

officer pulled me over and demanded to know why I was not in school. As I tried to 

explain, I was thrown into the back of the police car. They drove back to my school to 

see if I was telling the truth, and I was left waiting in the car for over two hours. When 

they came back, they told me I was in fact suspended, but because the school did not 

provide me with the proper forms, my guardian and I both had to pay tickets for me 

being off of school property. The tickets together were 600 dollars, and I had a court 

date for each one. Was forgetting my ID worth missing school? Me being kicked out of 

school did not solve or help anything. I was at home alone watching Jerry Springer, 

doing nothing.84

4.6.1 ACTION ITEM: Education and criminal justice agencies at all levels of government should work 

together to reform policies and procedures that push children into the juvenile justice system.85 

4.6.2 ACTION ITEM: In order to keep youth in school and to keep them from criminal and violent 

behavior, law enforcement agencies should work with schools to encourage the creation of 

alternatives to student suspensions and expulsion through restorative justice, diversion, counseling, 

and family interventions. 

4.6.3 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to encourage the use of 

alternative strategies that involve youth in decision making, such as restorative justice, youth courts, 

and peer interventions. 

The Federal Government could incentivize schools to adopt this practice by tying federal funding to 

schools implementing restorative justice practices.

4.6.4 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to adopt an instructional 

approach to discipline that uses interventions or disciplinary consequences to help students develop 

new behavior skills and positive strategies to avoid conflict, redirect energy, and refocus on learning.

84 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Prevention (oral testimony of Michael Reynolds for the 

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015). 

85 For more information about such policies and procedures, see the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights 

Division and U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, “Joint ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter,” last updated 

February 4, 2014, http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.html. 

48 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
4.6.5 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to develop and monitor 

school discipline policies with input and collaboration from school personnel, students, families, and 

community members. These policies should prohibit the use of corporal punishment and electronic 

control devices.

4.6.6 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to create a continuum of 

developmentally appropriate and proportional consequences for addressing ongoing and escalating 

student misbehavior after all appropriate interventions have been attempted.

4.6.7 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should work with communities to play a role in 

programs and procedures to reintegrate juveniles back into their communities as they leave the 

juvenile justice system. 

Although this recommendation—and therefore its action items—specifically focuses on juveniles, this 

task force believes that law enforcement agencies should also work with communities to play a role in 

re-entry programs for adults leaving prisons and jails.

4.6.8 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies and schools should establish memoranda of 

agreement for the placement of School Resource Officers that limit police involvement in student 

discipline. 

Such agreements could include provisions for special training for School Resource Officers to help 

them better understand and deal with issues involving youth.

4.6.9 ACTION ITEM: The Federal Government should assess and evaluate zero tolerance strategies 

and examine the role of reasonable discretion when dealing with adolescents in consideration of 

their stages of maturation or development. 

4.7 RECOMMENDATION: Communities need to affirm and recognize the voices of youth in community 

decision making, facilitate youth-led research and problem solving, and develop and fund youth 

leadership training and life skills through positive youth/police collaboration and interactions.

Youth face unique challenges when encountering the criminal justice system. Law enforcement 

contacts for apparent infractions create trauma and fear in children and disillusionment in youth, but 

proactive and positive youth interactions with police create the opportunity for coaching, mentoring, 

and diversion into constructive alternative activities. Moving testimony from a panel of young people 

allowed the task force members to hear how officers can lead youth out of the conditions that keep 

them in the juvenile justice system and into self-awareness and self-help.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 49
Phoenix native Jose Gonzales, 21, first went to jail at age nine and had a chaotic childhood; but in 

turning his life towards a productive and healthy future, he vividly remembers one officer who made a 

difference: 

Needless to say, I have had a fair amount of interaction with law enforcement in my 

youth. Some has been very positive. Like the time that a School Resource Officer got 

me involved in an after school club. Officer Bill D. helped me stop being a bad kid and 

assisted with after school activities. He sought me out to be a part of a club that 

included all sorts of youth—athletes, academics—and helped me gain confidence in 

reaching out to other social circles beyond my troubled community. The important 

idea I’d like to convey is that approach is everything.86 

4.7.1 ACTION ITEM: Communities and law enforcement agencies should restore and build trust 

between youth and police by creating programs and projects for positive, consistent, and persistent 

interaction between youth and police. 

4.7.2 ACTION ITEM: Communities should develop community- and school-based evidence-based 

programs that mitigate punitive and authoritarian solutions to teen problems.

86 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Youth and Law Enforcement (oral testimony of 

Jose Gonzales for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015).

50 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
Pillar Five: Training & Education

As our nation becomes more pluralistic and the scope of law enforcement’s responsibilities expands, 

the need for more and better training has become critical. Today’s line officers and leaders must meet 

a wide variety of challenges including international terrorism, evolving technologies, rising 

immigration, changing laws, new cultural mores, and a growing mental health crisis. All states, 

territories, and the District of Columbia should establish standards for hiring, training, and education.

The skills and knowledge required to effectively deal with these issues requires a higher level of 

education as well as extensive and ongoing training in specific disciplines. The task force discussed 

these needs in depth, making recommendations for basic recruit and in-service training, as well as 

leadership development in a wide variety of areas:

• Community policing and problem-solving principles 

• Interpersonal and communication skills

• Bias awareness

• Scenario-based, situational decision making

• Crisis intervention

• Procedural justice and impartial policing

• Trauma and victim services

• Mental health issues 

• Analytical research and technology 

• Languages and cultural responsiveness 

Many who spoke before the task force recommended that law enforcement partner with academic 

institutions; organizations such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Major 

Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA), the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives

(NOBLE), and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF); and other sources of appropriate training. 

Establishing fellowships and exchange programs with other agencies was also suggested. 

Other witnesses spoke about the police education now offered by universities, noting that 

undergraduate criminal justice and criminology programs provide a serviceable foundation but that 

short courses of mixed quality and even some graduate university degree programs do not come close 

to addressing the needs of 21st-century law enforcement. 

In addition to discussion of training programs and educational expectations, witnesses at the listening 

session made clear that approaches to recruitment, hiring, evaluation, and promotion are also 

essential to developing a more highly educated workforce with the character traits and social skills 

that enable effective policing and positive community relationships.

To build a police force capable of dealing with the complexity of the 21st century, it is imperative that 

agencies place value on both educational achievements and socialization skills when making hiring 

decisions. Hiring officers who reflect the community they serve is also important not only to external 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 51
relations but also to increasing understanding within the agency. On the other hand, task force 

member Connie Rice described the best line officer she knew—White, but better at relating to the 

African-American community than his Black colleagues. Her recommendation was to look for the 

character traits that support fairness, compassion, and cultural sensitivity.87

The need for understanding, tolerance, and sensitivity to African Americans, Latinos, recent 

immigrants, Muslims, and the LGBTQ community was discussed at length at the listening session, with 

witnesses giving examples of unacceptable behavior in law enforcement’s dealings with all of these 

groups. Participants also discussed the need to move towards practices that respect all members of 

the community equally and away from policing tactics that can unintentionally lead to excessive 

enforcement against minorities. 

Witnesses noted that officers need to develop the skills and knowledge necessary in the fight against 

terrorism by gaining an understanding of the links between normal criminal activity and terrorism, for 

example. What is more, this training must be ongoing, as threats and procedures for combatting 

terrorism evolve. 

The need for realistic, scenario based training to better manage interactions and minimize using force 

was discussed by a number of witnesses. Others focused more on content than delivery: Dennis 

Rosenbaum suggested putting procedural justice at the center of training, not on the fringes.88 Ronal 

Serpas recommended training on the effects of violence not only on the community and individual 

victims but also on police officers themselves, noting that exposure to violence can make individuals 

more prone to violent behavior.

89 And witnesses Bruce Lipman and David Friedman both spoke about 

providing officers with historical perspectives of policing in order to provide context as to why some 

communities have negative feelings towards the police and improve understanding of the role of the 

police in a democratic society.90 

87 Listening Session on Training and Education (Connie Rice, task force member, for the President’s Task Force on 

21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 14, 2015). 

88 Listening Session on Community Policing and Crime Reduction: Community Policing and Crime Prevention 

Research (oral testimony of Dennis Rosenbaum, professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, for the President’s 

Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13, 2015). 

89 Listening Session on Training and Education: Special Training on Building Trust (oral testimony of Ronal Serpas, 

advisory board member, Cure Violence Chicago, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, 

AZ, February 14, 2015).

90 Listening Session on Training and Education: Special Training on Building Trust (oral testimony of David C. 

Friedman, director of National Law Enforcement Initiatives, Anti-Defamation League, for the President’s Task 

Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 14, 2015); Listening Session on Training and Education: 

Special Training on Building Trust (oral testimony of Bruce Lipman, Procedural Justice Training, for the President’s 

Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 14, 2015).

Though today’s law enforcement professionals are highly trained and highly skilled operationally, they 

must develop specialized knowledge and understanding that enable fair and procedurally just policing 

and allow them to meet a wide variety of new challenges and expectations. Tactical skills are 

52 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
important, but attitude, tolerance, and interpersonal skills are equally so. And to be effective in an 

ever-changing world, training must continue throughout an officer’s career. 

The goal is not only effective, efficient policing but also procedural justice and fairness. Following are 

the task force’s recommendations for implementing career-long education and training practices for 

law enforcement in the 21st century. 

5.1 RECOMMENDATION: The Federal Government should support the development of partnerships 

with training facilities across the country to promote consistent standards for high quality training 

and establish training innovation hubs. 

A starting point for changing the culture of policing is to change the culture of training academies. The 

designation of certain training academies as federally supported regional “training innovation hubs”

could act as leverage points for changing training culture while taking into consideration regional 

variations. Federal funding would be a powerful incentive to these designated academies to conduct 

the necessary research to develop and implement the highest quality curricula focused on the needs of 

21st century American policing, along with cutting edge delivery modalities.

5.1.1 ACTION ITEM: The training innovation hubs should develop replicable model programs that use 

adult-based learning and scenario based training in a training environment modeled less like boot 

camp. Through these programs the hubs would influence nationwide curricula, as well as 

instructional methodology. 

5.1.2 ACTION ITEM: The training innovation hubs should establish partnerships with academic 

institutions to develop rigorous training practices, evaluation, and the development of curricula 

based on evidence-based practices. 

5.1.3 ACTION ITEM: The Department of Justice should build a stronger relationship with the 

International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement (IADLEST) in order to leverage their 

network with state boards and commissions of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). 

The POSTs are critical to the development and implementation of statewide training standards and the 

certification of instructors and training courses, as well as integral to facilitating communication, 

coordination, and influence with the more than 650 police academies across the nation. This 

relationship would also serve as a pipeline for disseminating information and creating discussion 

around best practices. 

5.2 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should engage community members in the 

training process. 

Not only can they make important contributions to the design and implementation of training that 

reflects the needs and character of their community but it is also important for police training to be as 

transparent as possible. This will result in both a better informed public and a better informed officer. 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 53
Where appropriate and through managed programs, the community would

• learn about and evaluate the existing training within departments;

• provide input into shaping that some training content and delivery;

• in some cases, participate in training alongside officers.

5.2.1 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should conduct research to develop and 

disseminate a toolkit on how law enforcement agencies and training programs can integrate

community members into this training process.

5.3 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should provide leadership training to all 

personnel throughout their careers. 

Standards and programs need to be established for every level of leadership from the first line to 

middle management to executive leadership. If there is good leadership and procedural justice within 

the agency, the officers are more likely to behave according to those standards in the community. As 

Chief Edward Flynn of the Milwaukee Police Department noted, “Flexible, dynamic, insightful, ethical 

leaders are needed to develop the informal social control and social capital required for a civil society 

to flourish.”91 One example of leadership training is Leading Police Organizations, a program 

developed by the IACP and modeled after the West Point Leadership Program, which offers training for 

all levels of agency management in programs based on a behavioral science approach to leading 

people groups, change, and organizations, focusing on the concept of “every officer a leader.” 

5.3.1 ACTION ITEM: Recognizing that strong, capable leadership is required to create cultural 

transformation, the U.S. Department of Justice should invest in developing learning goals and model 

curricula/training for each level of leadership.

This training should focus on organizational procedural justice, community policing, police 

accountability, teaching, coaching, mentoring, and communicating with the media and the public. 

Chief Kim Jacobs noted this in her testimony discussing current issues with training on reviewing 

investigations of police actions and prepare comprehensive reports for all stakeholders, including the 

media and citizens.92 These standards should also influence requirements for promotion and 

continuing/ongoing education should also be required to maintain leadership positions. 

5.3.2 ACTION ITEM: The Federal Government should encourage and support partnerships between 

law enforcement and academic institutions to support a culture that values ongoing education and 

the integration of current research into the development of training, policies, and practices. 

91 Listening Session on Training and Education (oral testimony of Edward Flynn, chief, Milwaukee Police 

Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 14, 2015).

92 Listening Session on Training and Education (oral testimony of Kim Jacobs, chief, Columbus [OH] Division of 

Police, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 14, 2015).

54 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
5.3.3 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should support and encourage cross-discipline 

leadership training. 

This can be within the criminal justice system but also across governments, non-profits, and the 

private sector, including social services, legal aid, businesses, community corrections, education, the 

courts, mental health organizations, civic and religious organizations, and others. When people come 

together from different disciplines and backgrounds, there is a cross-fertilization of ideas that often 

leads to better solutions. Furthermore, by interacting with a more diverse group of professionals, 

police can establish a valuable network of contacts whose knowledge and skills differ from but 

complement their own. This opportunity does exist for front-line staff on a variety specialty topics but 

also needs to happen at decision/policy maker levels. For example, the National Alliance for Drug 

Endangered Children is an especially appropriate model for the value of cross-discipline training. Their 

written testimony to the task force explains how their training approach focuses on the formation of 

community partnerships that engage law enforcement and professionals from multiple disciplines to 

collaboratively identify and protect drug endangered children and their families.93 

5.4 ECOMMENDATION

institutions of higher education, a national postgraduate institute of policing for senior executives 

with a standardized curriculum preparing them to lead agencies in the 21st century.

To advance American law enforcement, we must advance its leadership. To that end, the task force 

recommends the establishment of a top quality graduate institute of policing to provide ongoing 

leadership training, education, and research programs which will enhance the quality of law 

enforcement culture, knowledge, skills, practices and policies. Modeled after the Naval Postgraduate 

School in Monterey, California, this institute will be staffed with subject matter experts and instructors 

drawn from the nation’s top educational institutions, who will focus on the real world problems that 

challenge today’s and tomorrow’s law enforcement, teaching practical skills and providing the most 

current information for improving policing services throughout the nation. This institute could even, as 

witness Lawrence Sherman proposed, “admit qualified applicants to a three-month residential course 

for potential police executives, concluding in an assessment center and examination that would certify 

qualified graduates to serve as chief police executives anywhere in the United States.”94

R : The U.S. Department of Justice should develop, in partnership with 

93 Listening Session on Training and Education (written testimony of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered 

Children for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 14, 2015).

94 Listening Session on The Future of Community Policing (oral testimony of Lawrence Sherman, Wolfson 

Professor of Criminology, University of Cambridge, and Distinguished University Professor, University of 

Maryland, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, February 24, 2015).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 55

 
5.5 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should instruct the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation to modify the curriculum of the National Academy at Quantico to include prominent 

coverage of the topical areas addressed in this report. In addition, the COPS Office and the Office of 

Justice Programs should work with law enforcement professional organizations to encourage 

modification of their curricula in a similar fashion.95

The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) and the Office of Justice Programs

(OJP) should work with the law enforcement professional organizations to encourage modification of 

their curricula—for example, the Senior Management Institute for Police run by PERF and the Police 

Executive Leadership Institute managed by the Major Cities Chiefs Association.

5.6 RECOMMENDATION: POSTs should make Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) a part of both basic 

recruit and in-service officer training. 

Crisis intervention training (CIT) was developed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1988 and has been shown 

to improve police ability to recognize symptoms of a mental health crisis, enhance their confidence in 

addressing such an emergency, and reduce inaccurate beliefs about mental illness.96 It has been found 

that after completing CIT orientation, officers felt encouraged to interact with people suffering a 

mental health crisis and to delay their “rush to resolution.”97 Dr. Randolph Dupont, Chair of the 

Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Memphis, spoke to the task force 

about the effectiveness of the Memphis Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), which stresses verbal 

intervention and other de-escalation techniques. 

Noting that empathy training is an important component, Dr. Dupont said the Memphis CIT includes 

personal interaction between officers and individuals with mental health problems. Officers who had 

contact with these individuals felt more comfortable with them, and hospital mental health staff who 

participated with the officers had more positive views of law enforcement. CIT also provides a unique 

opportunity to develop cross-disciplinary training and partnerships. 

5.6.1 ACTION ITEM: Because of the importance of this issue, Congress should appropriate funds to 

help support law enforcement crisis intervention training.

95 Listening Session on Training and Education: Supervisory, Leadership and Management Training (oral 

testimony of Kimberly Jacobs, chief, Columbus [OH] Division of Police, for the President’s Task Force on 21st 

Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 14, 2015); Listening Session on Training and Education (e-mail of Annie 

McKee, senior fellow, University of Pennsylvania, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing,

Phoenix, AZ, February 13–14, 2015); Listening Session on Training and Education (written testimony of Anthony 

Braga et al. for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Phoenix, AZ, February 13–14, 2015).

96 Natalie Bonfine, Christian Ritter, and Mark R. Munetz, “Police Officer Perceptions of the Impact of Crisis 

Intervention Team (CIT) Programs,” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 37, no. 4 (July–August 2014): 

341–350, doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2014.02.004.

97 Kelly E. Canada, Beth Angell, and Amy C. Watson, “Crisis Intervention Teams in Chicago: Successes on the 

Ground,” Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations 10, no. 1–2 (2010), 86–100, doi:10.1080/15332581003792070.

56 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
5.7 RECOMMENDATION: POSTs should ensure that basic officer training includes lessons to improve 

social interaction as well as tactical skills. 

These include topics such as critical thinking, social intelligence, implicit bias, fair and impartial 

policing, historical trauma, and other topics that address capacity to build trust and legitimacy in 

diverse communities and offer better skills for gaining compliance without the use of physical force. 

Basic recruit training must also include tactical and operations training on lethal and nonlethal use of 

force with an emphasis on de-escalation and tactical retreat skills. 

5.8 RECOMMENDATION: POSTs should ensure that basic recruit and in-service officer training include 

curriculum on the disease of addiction. 

It is important that officers be able to recognize the signs of addiction and respond accordingly when 

they are interacting with people who may be impaired as a result of their addiction. Science has 

demonstrated that addiction is a disease of the brain—a disease that can be prevented and treated

and from which people can recover. The growing understanding of this science has led to a number of 

law enforcement agencies equipping officers with overdose-reversal drugs such as naloxone and the 

passage of legislation in many states that shield any person from civil and criminal liability if they 

administer naloxone.

The Obama Administration’s drug policy reflects this understanding and emphasizes access to 

treatment over incarceration, pursuing “smart on crime” rather than “tough on crime” approaches to 

drug-related offenses, and support for early health interventions designed to break the cycle of drug 

use, crime, incarceration, and re-arrest.98 And the relationship between incarceration and addiction is 

a significant one. A 2004 survey by the U.S. Department of Justice estimated that about 70 percent of 

state and 64 percent of federal prisoners regularly used drugs prior to incarceration.99

98 A Drug Policy for the 21st Century, July 2014, accessed February 27, 2015, 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/drugpolicyreform. 

99 C. Mumola and J.C. Karberg, Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoners, 2004 (Washington, DC: 

U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007),

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/dudsfp04.pdf. 

5.9 RECOMMENDATION: POSTs should ensure both basic recruit and in-service training incorporates 

content around recognizing and confronting implicit bias and cultural responsiveness. 

As the nation becomes more diverse, it will become increasingly important that police officers be

sensitive to and tolerant of differences. It is vital that law enforcement provide training that recognizes 

the unique needs and characteristics of minority communities, whether they are victims or witnesses 

of crimes, subjects of stops, or criminal suspects. 

Keeshan Harley, a young Black man, testified that he estimates that he’s been stopped and frisked 

more than 100 times and that he felt that the problem is not just a few individual bad apples, but the 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 57

 
systemic way policing treats certain communities—including low-income and young people, African 

Americans, LGBTQ people, the homeless, immigrants, and people with psychiatric disabilities. In so 

doing, police have produced communities of alienation and resentment.100 He is arguably not alone in 

his opinions, given that research has shown that “of those involved in traffic and street stops, a smaller 

percentage of Blacks than Whites believed the police behaved properly during the stop.”101 

And in a 2012 Survey of LGBTQ/HIV contact with police, 25 percent of respondents with any recent 

police contact reported at least one type of misconduct or harassment, such as being accused of an 

offense they did not commit, verbal assault, being arrested for an offense they did not commit, sexual 

harassment, physical assault, or sexual assault.102 

5.9.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should implement ongoing, top down training for all 

officers in cultural diversity and related topics that can build trust and legitimacy in diverse 

communities. This should be accomplished with the assistance of advocacy groups that represent 

the viewpoints of communities that have traditionally had adversarial relationships with law 

enforcement. 

5.9.2 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should implement training for officers that covers 

policies for interactions with the LGBTQ population, including issues such as determining gender 

identity for arrest placement, the Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities, and immigrant or 

non-English speaking groups, as well as reinforcing policies for the prevention of sexual misconduct 

and harassment. 

5.10 RECOMMENDATION: POSTs should require both basic recruit and in-service training on policing 

in a democratic society. 

Police officers are granted a great deal of authority, and it is therefore important that they receive 

training on the Constitutional basis of and the proper use of that power and authority. Particular focus 

should be placed on ensuring that Terry stops103 are conducted within constitutional guidelines.

100 Listening Session on Training and Education: Voices in the Community (oral testimony of Keeshan Harley, 

member, Communities United for Police Reform, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing,

Phoenix, AZ, February 14, 2015); see also Tracey L. Meares, “Programming Errors: Understanding the 

Constitutionality of Stop-and-Frisk as a Program, Not an Incident,” University of Chicago Law 

Review (forthcoming).

101 Lynn Langton, and Matthew Durose, Police Behavior During Traffic and Street Stops, 2011, Special Report

(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013), NCJ 242937. 

102 Listening Session on Policy and Oversight (written testimony of Lambda Legal for the President’s Task Force on 

21st Century Policing, Cincinnati, OH, January 30–31, 2015); Lambda Legal, Protected and Served? Survey of 

LGBT/HIV Contact with Police, Courts, Prisons, and Security, 2014, accessed February 28, 2015, 

http://www.lambdalegal.org/protected-and-served. 

103 Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968). 

58 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
5.11 RECOMMENDATION: The Federal Government, as well as state and local agencies, should 

encourage and incentivize higher education for law enforcement officers. 

While many believe that a higher level of required education could raise the quality of officer 

performance, law enforcement also benefits from a diverse range of officers who bring their cultures, 

languages, and life experiences to policing. Offering entry level opportunities to recruits without a 

college degree can be combined with the provision of means to obtain higher education throughout 

their career, thereby ensuring the benefits of a diverse staff with a well-educated police force and an 

active learning culture. Current student loan programs allow repayment based on income, and some 

already provide tuition debt forgiveness after 120 months of service in the government or nonprofit 

sector. 

5.11.1 ACTION ITEM: The Federal Government should create a loan repayment and forgiveness 

incentive program specifically for policing. 

This could be modeled on similar programs that already exist for government service and other fields

or the reinstitution of funding for programs such as the 1960s and 70s Law Enforcement Education 

Program. 

Table 3. College degree requirements for full-time instructors in state and local law 

enforcement training academies, by type of operating agency, 2006 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 59

Source: Brian A. Reaves, “State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2006,” Special Report (Washington, DC: 

Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009), http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/slleta06.pdf. 
5.12 RECOMMENDATION: The Federal Government should support research into the development of 

technology that enhances scenario based training, social interaction skills, and enables the 

dissemination of interactive distance learning for law enforcement. 

This will lead to new modalities that enhance the effectiveness of the learning experience, reduce 

instructional costs, and ensure the broad dissemination of training through platforms that do not 

require time away from agencies. 

This would be especially helpful for smaller and more rural departments who cannot spare the time for 

their officers to participate in residential/in-person training programs. Present day technologies should 

also be employed more often—web based learning, behavior evaluations through body worn camera 

videos, software programs for independent learning, scenario-based instruction through videos, and 

other methods. This can also increase access to evidence based research and other sources of 

knowledge.

5.13 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should support the development and 

implementation of improved Field Training Officer programs. 

This is critical in terms of changing officer culture. Field Training Officers impart the organizational 

culture to the newest members. The most common current program, known as the San Jose Model, is 

more than 40 years old and is not based on current research knowledge of adult learning modalities. In 

many ways it even conflicts with innovative training strategies that encourage problem-based learning 

and support organizational procedural justice. 

5.13.1 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should support the development of broad Field 

Training Program standards and training strategies that address changing police culture and 

organizational procedural justice issues that agencies can adopt and customize to local needs. 

A potential model for this is the Police Training Officer program developed by the COPS Office in 

collaboration with PERF and the Reno (Nevada) Police Department. This problem based learning 

strategy used adult learning theory and problem solving tools to encourage new officers to think with 

a proactive mindset, enabling the identification of and solution to problems within their communities.

5.13.2 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should provide funding to incentivize agencies 

to update their Field Training Programs in accordance with the new standards. 

60 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Pillar Six: Officer Wellness & Safety

Most law enforcement officers walk into risky situations and encounter tragedy on a regular basis. 

Some, such as the police who responded to the carnage of Sandy Hook Elementary School, witness 

horror that stays with them for the rest of their lives. Others are physically injured in carrying out their 

duties, sometimes needlessly, through mistakes made in high stress situations. The recent notable 

deaths of officers are stark reminders of the risk officers face. As a result, physical, mental, and 

emotional injuries plague many law enforcement agencies.

However, a large proportion of officer injuries and deaths are not the result of interaction with 

criminal offenders but the outcome of poor physical health due to poor nutrition, lack of exercise, 

sleep deprivation, and substance abuse. Yet these causes are often overlooked or given scant 

attention. Many other injuries and fatalities are the result of vehicular accidents.

The wellness and safety of law enforcement officers is critical not only to themselves, their colleagues, 

and their agencies but also to public safety. An officer whose capabilities, judgment, and behavior are 

adversely affected by poor physical or psychological health may not only be of little use to the 

community he or she serves but also a danger to it and to other officers. As task force member Tracey 

Meares observed, “Hurt people can hurt people.”104 

Commenting on the irony of law enforcement’s lack of services and practices to support wellness and 

safety, Dr. Laurence Miller observed in his testimony that supervisors would not allow an officer to go 

on patrol with a deficiently maintained vehicle, an un-serviced duty weapon, or a malfunctioning 

radio—but pay little attention to the maintenance of what is all officers’ most valuable resource: their 

brains.105 

Officer suicide is also a problem: a national study using data of the National Occupational Mortality 

Surveillance found that police died from suicide 2.4 times as often as from homicides. And though 

depression resulting from traumatic experiences is often the cause, routine work and life stressors—

serving hostile communities, working long shifts, lack of family or departmental support—are frequent 

motivators too. 

In this pillar, the task force focused on many of the issues that impact and are impacted by officer 

wellness and safety, focusing on strategies in several areas: physical, mental, and emotional health; 

vehicular accidents; officer suicide; shootings and assaults; and the partnerships with social services, 

unions, and other organizations that can support solutions. 

104 Listening Session on Officer Safety and Wellness (comment of Tracey Meares, task force member, for the 

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, February 23, 2015).

105 Listening Session on Officer Safety and Wellness (oral testimony of Laurence Miller, psychologist, for the 

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, February 23, 2015).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 61

 
Physical injuries and death in the line of duty, while declining, are still too high. According to estimates 

of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 100,000 law enforcement professionals are injured in the 

line of duty each year. Many are the result of assaults, which underscores the need for body armor, 

but most are due to vehicular accidents. 

To protect against assaults, Orange County (Florida) Sheriff Jerry Demings talked about immersing new 

officers in simulation training that realistically depicts what they are going to face in the real world. “I 

subscribe to an edict that there is no substitute for training and experience . . . deaths and injuries can 

be prevented through training that is both realistic and repetitive.”106

But to design effective training first requires collecting substantially more information about the 

nature of injuries sustained by officers on the job. Dr. Alexander Eastman’s testimony noted that the 

field of emergency medicine involves the analysis of vast amounts of data with regard to injuries in 

order to improve prevention as well as treatment.

In order to make the job of policing more safe, a nationwide repository for [law 

enforcement officer] injuries sustained is desperately needed. A robust database of 

this nature, analyzed by medical providers and scientists involved in law enforcement, 

would allow for recommendations in tactics, training, equipment, medical care and 

even policies/procedures that are grounded in that interface between scientific 

evidence, best medical practice and sound policing.107

Poor nutrition and fitness are also serious threats, as is sleep deprivation. Many errors in judgment can 

be traced to fatigue, which also makes it harder to connect with people and control emotions. But 

administrative changes such as reducing work shifts can improve officer’s feelings of well-being, and 

the implementation of mental health strategies can lessen the impact of the stress and trauma. 

However, the most important factor to consider when discussing wellness and safety is the culture of 

law enforcement, which needs to be transformed. Support for wellness and safety should permeate all 

practices and be expressed through changes in procedures, requirements, attitudes, and behaviors. An 

agency work environment in which officers do not feel they are respected, supported, or treated fairly 

is one of the most common sources of stress. And research indicates that officers who feel respected 

by their supervisors are more likely to accept and voluntarily comply with departmental policies. This 

transformation should also overturn the tradition of silence on psychological problems, encouraging 

officers to seek help without concern about negative consequences. 

106 Listening Session on Officer Safety and Wellness: Officer Safety (oral testimony of Jerry Demings, sheriff, 

Orange County, FL, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, February 23, 2015). 

107 Listening Session on Officer Safety and Wellness: Officer Safety (oral testimony of Dr. Alexander Eastman, 

lieutenant and deputy medical director, Dallas Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century 

Policing, Washington, DC, February 23, 2015). 

62 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
Partnerships are another crucial element. An agency cannot successfully tackle these issues without 

partners such as industrial hygienists, chaplains, unions, and mental health providers. But no program 

can succeed without buy-in from agency leadership as well as the rank and file.

The “bulletproof cop” does not exist. The officers who protect us must also be protected—against 

incapacitating physical, mental, and emotional health problems as well as against the hazards of their 

job. Their wellness and safety are crucial for them, their colleagues, and their agencies, as well as the 

well-being of the communities they serve.

6.1 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should enhance and further promote its 

multi-faceted officer safety and wellness initiative. 

As noted by all task force members during the listening session, wellness and safety supports public 

safety. Officers who are mentally or physical incapacitated cannot serve their communities adequately 

and can be a danger to the people they serve, to their fellow officers, and to themselves. 

6.1.1 ACTION ITEM: Congress should establish and fund a national “Blue Alert” warning system. 

Leveraging the current Amber Alert program used to locate abducted children, the Blue Alert would 

enlist the help of the public in finding suspects after a law enforcement officer is killed in the line of 

duty. Some similar state systems do exist, but there are large gaps; a national system is needed. In 

addition to aiding the apprehension of suspects, it would send a message about the importance of 

protecting law enforcement from undue harm.

6.1.2 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice, in partnership with the U.S. Department of 

Health and Human Services, should establish a task force to study mental health issues unique to 

officers and recommend tailored treatments. 

Law enforcement officers are subject to more stress than the general population owing to the nature 

of their jobs. In addition to working with difficult—even hostile—individuals, responding to tragic 

events, and sometimes coming under fire themselves, they suffer from the effects of everyday 

stressors—the most acute of which often come from their agencies, because of confusing messages or 

non-supportive management; and their families, who do not fully understand the pressures the 

officers face on the job. And as witness Laurence Miller said, “When both work and family relations 

fray, the individual’s coping abilities can be stretched to the limit, resulting in alcohol abuse, domestic 

violence, overaggressive policing, even suicide.”108 

108 Listening Session on Officer Safety and Wellness (oral testimony of Laurence Miller, psychologist, for the 

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, February 23, 2015).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 63

 
To add to the problems of those suffering from psychological distress, law enforcement culture has not 

historically supported efforts to treat or even acknowledged mental health problems, which are 

usually seen as a sign of “weakness.” The challenges and treatments of mental health issues should 

therefore be viewed within the context of law enforcement’s unique culture and working 

environment.

This task force should also look to establish a national toll-free mental health hotline specifically for 

police officers. This would be a fast, easy, and confidential way for officers to get advice whenever 

they needed to; and because they would be anonymous, officers would be more likely to take 

advantage of this resource. Since nobody understands the challenges an officer faces like another 

officer, it should be peer driven—anonymously connecting callers to officers who are not in the same 

agency and who could refer the caller to professional help if needed. An advisory board should be 

formed to guide the creation of this hotline service.

6.1.3 ACTION ITEM: The Federal Government should support the continuing research into the 

efficacy of an annual mental health check for officers, as well as fitness, resilience, and nutrition. 

Currently, most mental health checks are ordered as interventions for anger management or 

substance abuse and are ordered reactively after an incident. Mental health checks need to be more 

frequent to prevent problems. Because officers are exposed to a wide range of stressors on a 

continuous basis as part of their daily routines, mental and physical health check-ups should be 

conducted on an ongoing basis. Furthermore, officer nutrition and fitness issues change with time, 

varying widely from those of the new academy graduate to those of the veteran who has spent the last 

five years sitting in a squad car. Many health problems—notably cardiac issues—are cumulative.

6.1.4. ACTION ITEM: Pension plans should recognize fitness for duty examinations as definitive 

evidence of valid duty or non-duty related disability. 

Officers who have been injured in the line of duty can exist in limbo, without pay, unable to work but 

also unable to get benefits because the “fitness for duty” examinations given by their agencies are not 

recognized as valid proof of disability. And since officers, as public servants, cannot receive social 

security, they can end up in a precarious financial state.

6.1.5 ACTION ITEM: Public Safety Officer Benefits (PSOB) should be provided to survivors of officers 

killed while working, regardless of whether the officer used safety equipment (seatbelt or antiballistic vest) or if officer death was the result of suicide attributed to a current diagnosis of dutyrelated mental illness, including but not limited to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

64 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Families should not be penalized because an officer died in the line of duty but was not wearing a seat 

belt or body armor. Though these precautions are very important and strongly encouraged, there are 

occasions when officers can be more effective without them.109 

A couple of situations were mentioned by task force member Sean Smoot, who described the efforts 

of an officer who took off his seat belt to tend to the injuries of a victim in the back of the car as his 

partner sped to the hospital. Another scenario he mentioned was the rescue of a drowning woman by 

an officer who shed his heavy body armor to go into the water. Charles Ramsey, task force co-chair, 

also noted that these types of situations could be further mitigated by the invention of seatbelts that 

officers could quickly release without getting tangled on their belts, badges, and radios, as well as body 

armor that is lighter and more comfortable.

6.2 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should promote safety and wellness at every level 

of the organization. 

Safety and wellness issues affect all law enforcement professionals, regardless of their management 

status, duty, or tenure. Moreover, line officers are more likely to adopt procedures or change practices 

if they are advised to do so by managers who also model the behavior they encourage. According to 

witness David Orr, buy-in from the leaders as well as the rank and file is essential to the success of any 

program.110 

6.2.1 ACTION ITEM: Though the Federal Government can support many of the programs and best 

practices identified by the U.S. Department of Justice initiative described in recommendation 6.1, 

the ultimate responsibility lies with each agency. 

Though legislation and funding from the Federal Government is necessary in some cases, most of the 

policies, programs, and practices recommended by the task force can and should be implemented at 

the local level. It is understood, however, that there are no “one size fits all” solutions and that 

implementation will vary according to agency size, location, resources, and other factors. 

6.3 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should encourage and assist departments in 

the implementation of scientifically supported shift lengths by law enforcement. 

109 Listening Session on Officer Safety and Wellness: Voices from the Field (oral testimony of William Johnson, 

executive director, National Association of Police Organizations, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century 

Policing, Washington, DC, February 23, 2015). 

110 Listening Session on Officer Safety and Wellness (oral testimony of David Orr, sergeant, Norwalk [CT] Police 

Department, to the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, February 23, 2015).

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 65

 
It has been established by significant bodies of research that long shifts can not only cause fatigue, 

stress, and decreased ability to concentrate but also lead to other more serious consequences.111

Fatigue and stress undermine not only the immune system but also the ability to work at full capacity, 

make decisions, and maintain emotional equilibrium. Though long shifts are understandable in the 

case of emergencies, as a standard practice they can lead to poor morale, poor job performance, 

irritability, and errors in judgment that can have serious, even deadly, consequences. 

6.3.1 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should fund additional research into the efficacy 

of limiting the total number of hours an officer should work within a 24–48 hour period, including 

special findings on the maximum number of hours an officer should work in a high risk or high stress 

environment (e.g., public demonstrations or emergency situations). 

6.4 RECOMMENDATION: Every law enforcement officer should be provided with individual tactical 

first aid kits and training as well as anti-ballistic vests. 

Task force witness Dr. Alexander Eastman, who is a trauma surgeon as well as a law enforcement 

professional, noted that tactical first aid kits would significantly reduce the loss of both officer and 

civilian lives due to blood loss. Already available to members of the military engaged in combat 

missions, these kits are designed to save lives by controlling hemorrhaging. They contain tourniquets, 

an Olaes modular bandage, and QuikClot gauze and would be provided along with training in 

hemorrhage control. Dr. Eastman estimated that the kits could cost less than $50 each and require 

about two hours of training, which could be provided through officers who have completed “train the 

trainer” programs.112

This would be a national adoption of the Hartford Consensus, which calls for agencies to adopt 

hemorrhage control as a core law enforcement skill and to integrate rescue/emergency medical 

services personnel into community-wide active shooter preparedness and training. These activities 

would complement the current “Save Our Own” law enforcement-based hemorrhage control 

programs.113

111 Bryan Vila, Tired Cops: The Importance of Managing Police Fatigue, (Washington, DC: Police Executive 

Research Forum, 2000); Mora L. Fiedler, Officer Safety and Wellness: An Overview of the Issues (Washington, DC: 

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2011), 4, http://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/OSWG/e091120401-

OSWGReport.pdf. 

112 Listening Session on Officer Safety and Wellness: Officer Safety (oral testimony of Dr. Alexander Eastman, 

lieutenant and deputy medical director, Dallas Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century 

Policing, Washington, DC, February 23, 2015).

113 M. Jacobs Lenworth, Jr., “Joint Committee to Create a National Policy to Enhance Survivability from Mass 

Casualty Shooting Events: Hartford Consensus II,” Journal of the American College of Surgeons 218, no. 3 (March 

2014): 476–478.

66 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
To further reduce officer deaths, the task force also strongly recommends the provision of body armor 

to all officers with replacements when necessary. 

6.4.1 ACTION ITEM: Congress should authorize funding for the distribution of law enforcement 

individual tactical first-aid kits.

6.4.2 ACTION ITEM: Congress should reauthorize and expand the Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) 

program. 

Created by statute in 1998, this program is a unique U.S. Department of Justice initiative designed to 

provide a critical resource to state and local law enforcement. Based on data collected and recorded 

by Bureau of Justice Assistance staff, in FY 2012 protective vests were directly attributed to saving the 

lives of at least 33 law enforcement and corrections officers. 

6.5 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should expand efforts to collect and analyze 

data not only on officer deaths but also on injuries and “near misses.” 

Another recommendation mentioned by multiple witnesses is the establishment of a nationwide 

repository of data on law enforcement injuries, deaths, and near misses. Though the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation (FBI) does maintain a database of information pertinent to police procedures on officers 

killed in the line of duty, it does not contain the medical details that could be analyzed by medical 

providers and scientists to improve medical care, tactics, training, equipment, and procedures that

would prevent or reduce injuries and save lives. The Police Foundation, with the support of a number 

of other law enforcement organizations, launched an online Law Enforcement Near Miss Reporting 

System in late 2014, but it is limited in its ability to systematically analyze national trends in this 

important data by its voluntary nature.114

6.6 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should adopt policies that require officers to wear 

seat belts and bullet-proof vests and provide training to raise awareness of the consequences of 

failure to do so. 

According to task force witness Craig Floyd, traffic accidents have been the number one cause of 

officer fatalities in recent years, and nearly half of those officers were not wearing seat belts.115 He 

suggests in-car cameras and seat belt sensors to encourage use along with aggressive safety 

campaigns. Some witnesses endorsed mandatory seat belt policies as well. 

114 Deborah L. Spence, “One on One with LEO Near Miss,” Community Policing Dispatch 8, no. 2 (February 2015),

http://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/02-2015/leo_near_miss.asp. 

115 Listening Session on Officer Safety and Wellness (oral testimony of Craig Floyd, National Law Enforcement 

Officer Memorial Foundation, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, February 

23, 2015). 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 67

 
The Prince George’s County Arrive Alive Campaign initiated by task force witness Chief Mark Magraw 

to promote 100 percent seat belt usage relied on incentives and peer pressure for success. The 

message was, “it is not just about you, it is also about your family and your department.”116

There were also many calls for mandatory requirements that all officers wear soft body armor any

time they are going to be engaging in enforcement activities, uniformed or not. It was also suggested

that law enforcement agencies be required to provide these for all commissioned personnel.

6.7 RECOMMENDATION: Congress should develop and enact peer review error management 

legislation. 

The task force recommends that Congress enact legislation, similar to the Healthcare Quality 

Improvement Act of 1986,

117 that would support the development of an effective peer review error 

management system for law enforcement similar to what exists in medicine. A robust but nonpunitive 

peer review error management program—in which law enforcement officers could openly and frankly 

discuss their own or others’ mistakes or near misses without fear of legal repercussions—would go a 

long way toward reducing injuries and fatalities by improving tactics, policies, and procedures. 

Protecting peer review error management findings from being used in legal discovery would enable 

the widespread adoption of this program by law enforcement. 

The Near Miss anonymous reporting system developed by the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C. 

currently collects anonymous data that can be very helpful in learning from and preventing mistakes, 

fatalities, and injuries—but a program that enabled peer review of errors would provide even more 

valuable perspectives and solutions.

6.8 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Transportation should provide technical assistance 

opportunities for departments to explore the use of vehicles equipped with vehicle collision 

prevention “smart car” technology that will reduce the number of accidents. 

Given that the FBI’s 2003 to 2012 Law Enforcement Officers Killed in Action report showed that 49 

percent of officer fatalities were a result of vehicle-related accidents, the need for protective devices 

cannot be understated. New technologies such as vehicle prevention systems should be explored.

116 Listening Session on Officer Safety and Wellness (oral testimony of Mark Magraw, chief, Prince Georges 

County [MD] Police Department, for the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Washington, DC, 

February 23, 2015).

117 The Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (HCQIA), 42 USC §11101 et seq., sets out standards for 

professional review actions. If a professional review body meets these standards, then neither the professional 

review body nor any person acting as a member or staff to the body will be liable in damages under most federal 

or state laws with respect to the action. For more information, see “Medical Peer Review,” American Medical 

Association, accessed February 28, 2015, http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/legaltopics/medical-peer-review.page.

68 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

 
Figure 2. Total fatalities from 1964–2014

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 69

Source: “126 Law Enforcement Fatalities Nationwide in 2014,” Preliminary 2014 Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities Report

(Washington, DC: National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, December 2014), 

http://www.nleomf.org/assets/pdfs/reports/Preliminary-2014-Officer-Fatalities-Report.pdf. 
Implementation 

The members of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing are convinced that these 59 

concrete recommendations for research, action, and further study will bring long-term improvements 

to the ways in which law enforcement agencies interact with and bring positive change to their 

communities. But we also recognize that the Administration, through policies and practices already in 

place, can start right now to move forward on the bedrock recommendations in this report. 

Accordingly, we propose the following items for immediate action.

7.1 RECOMMENDATION: The President should direct all federal law enforcement agencies to review 

the recommendations made by the Task Force on 21st Century Policing and, to the extent 

practicable, to adopt those that can be implemented at the federal level. 

7.2 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should explore public-private partnership 

opportunities, starting by convening a meeting with local, regional, and national foundations to 

discuss the proposals for reform described in this report and seeking their engagement and support 

in advancing implementation of these recommendations.

7.3 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should charge its Office of Community 

Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) with assisting the law enforcement field in addressing 

current and future challenges. 

For recommendation 7.3, the COPS Office should consider taking actions including but not limited to 

the following: 

• Create a National Policing Practices and Accountability Division within the COPS Office.

• Establish national benchmarks and best practices for federal, state, local, and tribal police 

departments.

• Provide technical assistance and funding to national, state, local, and tribal accreditation bodies 

that evaluate policing practices.

• Recommend additional benchmarks and best practices for state training and standards boards.

• Provide technical assistance and funding to state training boards to help them meet national 

benchmarks and best practices in training methodologies and content.

• Prioritize grant funding to departments meeting benchmarks.

• Support departments through an expansion of the COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 71
• Collaborate with universities, the Office of Justice Programs and its bureaus (Bureau of Justice 

Assistance [BJA], Bureau of Justice Statistics [BJS], National Institute of Justice [NIJ], and Office of 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [OJJDP]), and others to review research and literature 

in order to inform law enforcement agencies about evidence-based practices and to identify areas 

of police operations where additional research is needed.

• Collaborate with the BJS to

• establish a central repository for data concerning police use of force resulting in death, as well 

as in-custody deaths, and disseminate this data for use by both community and police;

• provide local agencies with technical assistance and a template to conduct local citizen 

satisfaction surveys;

• compile annual citizen satisfaction surveys based on the submission of voluntary local surveys, 

develop a national level survey as well as surveys for use by local agencies and by small 

geographic units, and develop questions to be added to the National Crime Victimization 

Survey relating to citizen satisfaction with police agencies and public trust.

• Collaborate with the BJS and others to develop a template of broader indicators of performance 

for police departments beyond crime rates alone that could comprise a Uniform Justice Report.

• Collaborate with the NIJ and the BJS to publish an annual report on the “State of Policing” in the 

United States.

• Provide support to national police leadership associations and national rank and file 

organizations to encourage them to implement task force recommendations.

• Work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to ensure that community policing tactics in 

state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies are incorporated into their role in homeland 

security.

72 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Appendix A. Public Listening Sessions & 

Witnesses

The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing hosted multiple public listening sessions to gain 

broad input and expertise from stakeholders. The information collected in these meetings informed 

and advised the task force in developing its recommendations.

Listening Session 1: Building Trust & Legitimacy

Washington, D.C., January 13, 2015

Panel One: Subject Matter Experts

Jennifer Eberhardt, Associate Professor of Psychology, Stanford University

Charles Ogletree, Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Tom Tyler, Macklin Fleming Professor of Law and Professor of Psychology, Yale Law School

Samuel Walker, Emeritus Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska Omaha

Panel Two: Community Representatives

Carmen Perez, Executive Director, The Gathering for Justice

Jim St. Germain, Co-Founder, Preparing Leaders of Tomorrow, Inc.

Jim Winkler, President and General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA

Panel Three: Law Enforcement Organizations

Richard Beary, President, International Association of Chiefs of Police

Chuck Canterbury, National President, Fraternal Order of Police

Andrew Peralta, National President, National Latino Peace Officers Association

Richard Stanek, Immediate Past President, Major County Sheriffs’ Association

Panel Four: Civil Rights / Civil Liberties

Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel, National Association for the Advancement of Colored 

People Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Maria Teresa Kumar, President and CEO, Voto Latino

Laura Murphy, Director, Washington Legislative Office, American Civil Liberties Union

Vikrant Reddy, Senior Policy Analyst, Texas Public Policy Foundation Center for Effective Justice

Panel Five: Mayors

Kevin Johnson, Mayor, Sacramento

Michael Nutter, Mayor, Philadelphia

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor, Baltimore

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 73
Listening Session 2: Policy & Oversight

Cincinnati, Ohio, January 30, 2015

Panel One: Use of Force Research and Policies

Geoffrey Alpert, Professor, University of South Carolina

Mick McHale, Vice President, National Association of Police Organizations

Harold Medlock, Chief, Fayetteville (North Carolina) Police Department

Rashad Robinson, Executive Director, Color of Change

Panel Two: Use of Force Investigations and Oversight

Sim Gill, District Attorney, Salt Lake County, Utah

Jay McDonald, President, Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio

Kirk Primas, Deputy Chief, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

Chuck Wexler, Executive Director, Police Executive Research Forum

Panel Three: Civilian Oversight

Charlie Beck, Chief, Los Angeles Police Department

Brian Buchner, President, National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement

Darius Charney, Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights

Panel Four: Mass Demonstrations

Christina Brown, Member, Black Lives Matter: Cincinnati

Garry McCarthy, Superintendent, Chicago Police Department

Rodney Monroe, Chief, Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Police Department

Sean Whent, Chief, Oakland (California) Police Department

Panel Five: Law Enforcement Culture and Diversity

Malik Aziz, National Chairman, National Black Police Association

Hayley Gorenberg, Deputy Legal Director, Lambda Legal

Kathy Harrell, President, Fraternal Order of Police, Queen City Lodge #69, Cincinnati, Ohio

Barbara O’Connor, President, National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives

74 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Listening Session 3: Technology & Social Media

Cincinnati, Ohio, January 31, 2015 

Panel One: Body Cameras—Research and Legal Considerations

Jim Bueermann, President, Police Foundation

Scott Greenwood, Attorney

Tracie Keesee, Co-Founder and Director of Research Partnerships, Center for Policing Equity

Bill Lewinski, Executive Director, Force Science Institute

Michael White, Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University

Panel Two: Body Cameras—Implementation

Johanna Miller, Advocacy Director, New York Civil Liberties Union

Ken Miller, Chief, Greenville (South Carolina) Police Department

Kenton Rainey, Chief, Bay Area Rapid Transit, San Francisco

Richard Van Houten, Sergeant, Fort Worth (Texas) Police Officers Association

Panel Three: Technology Policy

Eliot Cohen, Lieutenant, Maryland State Police

Madhu Grewal, Policy Counsel, The Constitution Project

Bill Schrier, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the Chief Information Officer, State of Washington

Vincent Talucci, Executive Director / Chief Executive Officer, International Association of Chiefs of 

Police 

Panel Four: Social Media, Community Digital Engagement and Collaboration

Hassan Aden, Director, Research and Programs, International Association of Chiefs of Police

DeRay McKesson, This is the Movement

Steve Spiker, Research and Technology Director, Urban Strategies Council

Lauri Stevens, Founder and Principal Consultant, LAwS Communications

Listening Session 4: Community Policing & Crime Reduction

Phoenix, Arizona, February 13, 2015

Panel One: Community Policing and Crime Prevention Research

Bill Geller, Director, Geller & Associates

Dr. Delores Jones-Brown, Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York 

Dr. Dennis Rosenbaum, Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Dr. Wesley G. Skogan, Professor, Northwestern University

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 75
Panel Two: Building Community Policing Organizations

Anthony Batts, Police Commissioner, Baltimore Police Department

Jeffrey Blackwell, Chief, Cincinnati (Ohio) Police Department

Chris Magnus, Chief, Richmond (California) Police Department

Patrick Melvin, Chief, Salt River Police Department (Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community)

Panel Three: Using Community Policing to Reduce Crime

Kevin Bethel, Deputy Police Commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department

Melissa Jones, Senior Program Officer, Boston’s Local Initiatives Support Corporation

David Kennedy, Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York

J. Scott Thomson, Chief, Camden County (New Jersey) Police Department

George Turner, Chief, Atlanta Police Department

Panel Four: Using Community Policing to Restore Trust

Rev. Jeff Brown, Rebuilding Every City Around Peace

Dwayne Crawford, Executive Director, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives 

Justin Hansford, Assistant Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law

Cecil Smith, Chief, Sanford (Florida) Police Department

Panel Five: Youth and Law Enforcement

Delilah Coleman, Member, Navajo Nation (Senior at Flagstaff High School)

Jose Gonzales, Alumnus, Foster Care and Crossover Youth

Jamecia Luckey, Youth Conference Committee Member, Cocoa (Florida) Police Athletic League

Nicholas Peart, Staff Member, The Brotherhood-Sister Sol (Class Member, Floyd, et al. v. City of New 

York, et al.) 

Michael Reynolds, Co-President, Youth Power Movement

Listening Session 5: Training & Education

Phoenix, Arizona, February 14, 2015

Panel One: Basic Recruit Academy

Arlen Ciechanowski, President, International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards 

and Training

William J. Johnson, Executive Director, National Association of Police Organizations

Benjamin B. Tucker, First Deputy Commissioner, New York City Police Department

Dr. Steven Winegar, Coordinator, Public Safety Leadership Development, Oregon Department of 

Public Safety Standards and Training

76 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Panel Two: In-Service Training

Dr. Scott Decker, Professor, Arizona State University

Aaron Danielson, President, Public Safety Employee Association/AFSCME Local 803, Fairbanks, Alaska

Dr. Cheryl May, Director, Criminal Justice Institute and National Center for Rural Law Enforcement

John Ortolano, President, Arizona Fraternal Order of Police

Gary Schofield, Deputy Chief, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

Panel Three: Supervisory, Leadership and Management Training

Edward Flynn, Chief, Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Police Department

Sandra Hutchens, Sheriff, Orange County (California) Sheriff’s Department

Kimberly Jacobs, Chief, Columbus (Ohio) Division of Police

John Layton, Sheriff, Marion County (Indiana) Sheriff’s Office

Dr. Ellen Scrivner, Executive Fellow, Police Foundation

Panel Four: Voices in the Community

Allie Bones, MSW, Chief Executive Officer, Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence 

Renaldo Fowler, Staff Advocate, Arizona Center for Disability Law

Keeshan Harley, Member, Communities United for Police Reform

Andrea Ritchie, Senior Policy Counsel, Streetwise and Safe

Linda Sarsour, Director, Arab American Association of New York

Panel Five: Special Training on Building Trust

Lt. Sandra Brown (retired), Principal Trainer, Fair and Impartial Policing

Dr. Randolph Dupont, Professor and Clinical Psychologist, University of Memphis

David C. Friedman, Director of National Law Enforcement Initiatives, Anti-Defamation League

Lt. Bruce Lipman (retired), Procedural Justice Training

Dr. Ronal Serpas, Advisory Board Member, Cure Violence Chicago

Listening Session 6: Officer Safety & Wellness

Washington, DC, February 23, 2015

Panel One: Officer Wellness

Dr. Laurence Miller, Clinical Psychologist

David Orr, Sergeant, Norwalk (Connecticut) Police Department

Dr. Sandra Ramey, Professor, University of Iowa

Dr. John Violanti, Professor, State University of New York Buffalo

Yost Zakhary, Public Safety Director, City of Woodway, Texas

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 77
Panel Two: Officer Safety

Jane Castor, Chief, Tampa (Florida) Police Department

Jerry L. Demings, Sheriff, Orange County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office

Dr. Alexander L. Eastman, Lieutenant and Deputy Medical Director, Dallas Police Department

Craig W. Floyd, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial 

Fund

Panel Three: Voices from the Field

Dianne Bernhard, Executive Director, Concerns of Police Survivors

Robert Bryant, Chief, Penobscot Nation

Chuck Canterbury, National President, Fraternal Order of Police

William J. Johnson, Executive Director, National Association of Police Organizations

Jonathan Thompson, Executive Director, National Sheriffs’ Association

Panel Four: Labor/Management Relations

Dr. Chuck Wexler, Executive Director, Police Executive Research Forum

Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, Gary, Indiana

Mark Magaw, Chief, Prince George’s County (Maryland) Police Department

Jim Pasco, Executive Director, Fraternal Order of Police

Dustin Smith, President, Sacramento (California) Police Officers Association

Listening Session 7: Future of Community Policing

Washington, DC, February 24, 2015

Panel: Future of Community Policing

Dr. Phillip Goff, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles

Jim McDonnell, Sheriff, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

Dr. Daniel Nagin, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Lawrence Sherman, Professor, University of Cambridge, U.K.

Jeremy Travis, President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York

78 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Appendix B. Individuals & Organizations That 

Submitted Written Testimony

In addition to receiving testimony from those individuals that appeared as witnesses during public 

listening sessions, the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing accepted written testimony from 

any individual or organization to ensure that its information gathering efforts included as many people 

and perspectives as possible. The task force thanks the individuals and organizations who submitted 

written testimony for their time and expertise.

This list reflects organizational affiliation at the time of testimony submission and may not represent 

submitters’ current positions.

Individuals

Robert Abraham, Chair, Gang Resistance 

Education & Training (GREAT) National Policy 

Board

Phillip Agnew, Executive Director, Dream 

Defenders 

Kilolo Ajanaku, National Executive Director, 

World Conference of Mayors’ Dr. Martin 

Luther King, Jr. American Dream Initiative

Barbara Attard, Past President, National 

Association for Civilian Oversight of Law 

Enforcement

Paul Babeu, Vice President, Arizona Sheriffs 

Association

Monifa Bandele, Communities United for Police 

Reform

Dante Barry, Executive Director, Million Hoodies

Michael Bell, Lt. Colonel (retired), United States 

Air Force

Michael Berkow, Chief, Savannah (Georgia) 

Police Department

Greg Berman and Emily Gold LaGratta, Center 

for Court Innovation

Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder and CEO, 

PolicyLink 

Mark Bowman, Assistant Professor of Justice 

Studies, Methodist University

Eli Briggs, Director of Government Affairs, 

National Association of County and City 

Health Officials (NACCHO)

Cherie Brown, Executive Director, National 

Coalition Building Institute

Steven Brown, Journalist / Public Relations 

Consultant

Chris Calabrese, Senior Policy Director, Center 

for Democracy and Technology—with Jake 

Laperruque, Fellow on Privacy, Surveillance, 

and Security

Melanie Campbell, President and CEO, National 

Coalition on Black Civic Participation

Mo Canady, Executive Director, National 

Association of School Resource Officers 

(NASRO)

Hugh Carter Donahue, Adjunct Professor, 

Department of History, Rowan University

Anthony Chapa, President, Hispanic American 

Police Command Officers Association

Lorig Charkoudian, Executive Director, 

Community Mediation Maryland

Ralph Clark, President and CEO, SST Inc.

Faye Coffield

The Hon. LaDoris Cordell, Office of the 

Independent Police Auditor, San Jose, 

California 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 79
Jill Corson Lake, Director of Global Advising, 

Parsons The New School for Design

David Couper, Chief of Police (retired), 

Minneapolis Police Department

Madeline deLone, Executive Director, The 

Innocence Project—with Marvin Anderson, 

Board Member

Jimmie Dotson, Police Chief (retired), Houston 

Independent School District / GeoDD 

GeoPolicing Team

Ronnie Dunn, Professor, Cleveland State 

University

Lauren-Brooke Eisen and Nicole Fortier –

Counsel, Justice Program, Brennan Center 

for Justice at NYU School of Law

Christian Ellis, CEO, Alternative Ballistics

Jeffrey Fagan, Professor of Law, Columbia Law 

School

Mai Fernandez, Executive Director, National 

Center for Victims of Crime

Johnny Ford, Founder, Alabama Conference of 

Black Mayors and Mayor, Tuskegee, Alabama

Lisa Foster, Director, Access to Justice Initiative, 

U.S. Department of Justice

Neill Franklin, Executive Director, Law 

Enforcement Against Prohibition

S. Gabrielle Frey, Interim Executive Director, 

National Association of Community 

Mediation

Lorie Fridell, Associate Professor of Criminology, 

University of South Florida

Ethan Garcia, Youth Specialist, Identity Inc.

Michael Gennaco, Principal, OIR Group

Al Gerhardstein, Civil Rights Attorney

James Gierach, Executive Board Vice Chairman, 

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Fred Ginyard, Organizing Director, Fabulous 

Independent Educated Radical for 

Community Empowerment (FIERCE)

Mark Gissiner, Past President, International 

Association for Civilian Oversight of Law 

Enforcement

Becca Gomby, SDR Academy

Rev. Aaron Graham, Lead Pastor, The District 

Church

Fatima Graves, Vice President, National 

Women’s Law Center—with Lara S. 

Kaufmann, Senior Counsel and Director of 

Education Policy for At-Risk Students

Virgil Green, Chairman, Future America National 

Crime Solution Commission

Sheldon Greenberg, Professor, School of 

Education, Division of Public Safety 

Leadership, The Johns Hopkins University

Robert Haas, Police Commissioner, Cambridge 

(Massachusetts) Police Department

W. Craig Hartley, Executive Director, CALEA

Steven Hawkins, Executive Director, Amnesty 

International USA

Louis Hayes, The Virtus Group, Inc.

Wade Henderson, President and CEO, The 

Leadership Conference on Civil and Human 

Rights—with Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice 

President

Maulin Chris Herring, Trainer/Consultant, Public 

Safety

Sandy Holman, Director, The Culture CO-OP

Zachary Horn and Kent Halverson, Aptima, 

Inc.—with Rebecca Damari and Aubrey 

Logan-Terry, Georgetown University

Tanya Clay House, Director of Public Policy, 

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under 

Law

Melanie Jeffers

Megan Johnston, Executive Director, Northern 

Virginia Mediation Service

Nola Joyce, Deputy Commissioner, Philadelphia 

Police Department

Keith Kauffman, Captain, Hawthorne (California) 

Police Department

Gwendolyn Puryear Keita, Executive Director, 

American Psychological Association, Public 

Interest Directorate

Stanley Knee, Chief, Austin (Texas) Police 

Department

Laura Kunard, Senior Research Scientist, CNA 

Corporation

80 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
David Kurz, Chief, Durham (New Hampshire) 

Police Department 

Deborah Lauter, Director of Civil Rights, AntiDefamation League—with Michael 

Lieberman, Washington Counsel

Cynthia Lum and Christopher Koper, George 

Mason University, Center for Evidence-Based 

Crime Policy

Bruce Lumpkins

Edward Maguire, Professor of Justice, Law & 

Criminology, American University

Baron Marquis

Travis Martinez, Lieutenant, Redlands 

(California) Police Department 

Mike Masterson, Chief, Boise (Idaho) Police 

Department

Andrew Mazzara, Executive Director, 

International Law Enforcement Forum—with 

Colin Burrows QMP (U.K.), ILEF Advisory 

Board Chair

R. Paul McCauley, Past President, Academy of 

Criminal Justice Sciences

V. Michael McKenzie

Harvey McMurray, Chair, Department of 

Criminal Justice, North Carolina Central 

University

Pamela Meanes, President, National Bar 

Association

Doug Mellis, President, Massachusetts Chiefs of 

Police Association—with Brian Kyes, 

President, Massachusetts Major City Chiefs 

Association

Seth Miller, President, The Innocence Network

Charlene Moe, Program Coordinator, Center for 

Public Safety and Justice, Institute of 

Government and Public Affairs, University of 

Illinois

Marc Morial, CEO, National Urban League

Richard Myers, Chief, Newport News (Virginia) 

Police Department

Toye Nash, Sergeant, Phoenix Police Department

Rebecca Neri and Anthony Berryman – UCLA 

Improvement by Design Research Group

Chuck Noerenberg, President, National Alliance 

for Drug Endangered Children

Newell Normand, Sheriff, Jefferson Parish 

(Louisiana) Sherriff’s Office—submitted with 

Adrian Garcia, Sheriff, Harris County (Texas) 

Sheriff’s Office; David Mahoney, Sheriff, 

Dane County (Wisconsin) Sheriff’s Office; 

Anthony Normore, Ph.D., Criminal Justice 

Commission for Credible Leadership 

Development; and Mitch Javidi, Ph.D., 

International Academy of Public Safety

Gbadegesin Olubukola, St. Louis University

Patrice O’Neill, CEO/Executive Producer, Not In 

Our Town

Jim Palmer, Executive Director, Wisconsin 

Professional Police Association

Julie Parker, Media Relations Division Director, 

Prince George’s County (Maryland) Police 

Department

George Patterson, Associate Professor, City 

University of New York

David Perry, President, International Association 

of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators 

(IACLEA)

Megan Price, Director, Insight Conflict 

Resolution Program, School for Conflict 

Analysis and Resolution, George Mason 

University

Sue Quinn, Past President, National Association 

for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement

Tess Raser, Teacher, Brooklyn, New York

Darakshan Raja, Program Manager, Washington 

Peace Center

Sir Desmond Rea and Robin Masefield, Northern 

Ireland Policing Board

Nuno Rocha

Edwin Roessler, Jr., Chief, Fairfax County 

(Virginia) Police Department

Jeffrey Rojek, University of Texas at El Paso

Iris Roley, Black United Front of Cincinnati

Julia Ryan, Community Safety Initiative Director, 

LISC

Robert Samuels, Former Acting Director, DOJ 

Executive Office for Weed and Seed

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 81
Kami Chavis Simmons, Professor of Law and 

Director of the Criminal Justice Program, 

Wake Forest University School of Law

Russell Skiba, Professor and Director, Equity 

Project at Indiana University

Ronald Sloan, President, Association of State 

Criminal Investigative Agencies

Samuel Somers, Jr., Chief, Sacramento Police 

Department

Don Tijerina, President, Hispanic American 

Police Command Officers Association

Nicholas Turner, President and Director, Vera 

Institute of Justice

James Unnever, Professor of Criminology, 

University of South Florida

Javier Valdes, Executive Director, Make the Road 

New York

Kim Vansell, Director, National Center for 

Campus Public Safety

Nina Vinik, Program Director, Gun Violence 

Prevention, The Joyce Foundation

Vincent Warren, Executive Director, Center for 

Constitutional Rights

Barbara Weinstein, Associate Director, Religious 

Action Center of Reform Judaism

Jenny Yang, Chair, U.S. Equal Employment 

Opportunity Commission

Organizations

American Friends Service Committee

American Society of Criminology, Division of 

Policing, Ad Hoc Committee to the 

President’s Task Force on 21st Century 

Policing (Anthony Braga, Rod K. Brunson, 

Gary Cordner, Lorie Fridell, Matthew 

Hickman, Cynthia Lum, Stephen D. 

Mastrofski, Jack McDevitt, Dennis P. 

Rosenbaum, Wesley G. Skogan, and William 

Terrill) 

Center for Popular Democracy

Civil Rights Coalition on Police Reform

CNA Corporation (George Fachner, Michael D. 

White, James R. Coldren, Jr., and James K. 

Stewart) 

Color of Change

Dignity in Schools Campaign

Ethics Bureau at Yale (Lawrence Fox, Supervising 

Lawyer)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

International Association for Human Values 

(IAHV) / Works of Wonder International

John F. Kennedy School of Government

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)

Major County Sheriffs’ Association

National Action Network (NAN)

National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law 

Enforcement

National Association of Counties

National Association of Police Organizations 

National Association of Women Law 

Enforcement Executives

National Collaborative for Health Equity, Dellums 

Commission

National Fraternal Order of Police

National Organization of Black Law Enforcement 

Executives (NOBLE)

National Sheriffs’ Association

PICO National Network

Public Science Project 

Santa Fe College and the Santa Fe Police 

Department, Gainesville, Florida

Streetwise & Safe

Team Kids

“Think Tank Johnny” 

82 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Appendix C. Executive Order 13684 of December 

18, 2014

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of 

America, and in order to identify the best means to provide an effective partnership between law 

enforcement and local communities that reduces crime and increases trust, it is hereby ordered as 

follows: 

Section 1. Establishment. There is established a President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (Task 

Force). 

Sec. 2. Membership. (a) The Task Force shall be composed of not more than eleven members 

appointed by the President. The members shall include distinguished individuals with relevant 

experience or subject-matter expertise in law enforcement, civil rights, and civil liberties.

(b) The President shall designate two members of the Task Force to serve as Co-Chairs.

Sec. 3. Mission. (a) The Task Force shall, consistent with applicable law, identify best practices and 

otherwisemake recommendations to the President on how policing practices can promote effective 

crime reduction while building public trust.

(b) The Task Force shall be solely advisory and shall submit a report to the President by March 2, 2015.

Sec. 4. Administration. (a) The Task Force shall hold public meetings and engage with Federal, State, 

tribal, and local officials, technical advisors, and nongovernmental organizations, among others, as 

necessary to carry out its mission.

(b) The Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services shall serve as Executive Director 

of the Task Force and shall, as directed by the Co-Chairs, convene regular meetings of the Task Force 

and supervise its work. 

(c) In carrying out its mission, the Task Force shall be informed by, and shall strive to avoid duplicating, 

the efforts of other governmental entities.

(d) The Department of Justice shall provide administrative services, funds, facilities, staff, equipment, 

and other support services as may be necessary for the Task Force to carry out its mission to the 

extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(e) Members of the Task Force shall serve without any additional compensation for their work on the 

Task Force, but shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem, to the extent permitted by law for 

persons serving intermittently in the Government service (5 U.S.C.5701-5707).

Sec. 5. Termination. The Task Force shall terminate 30 days after the President requests a final report 

from the Task Force.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 83
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to a department, agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, 

administrative, or legislative proposals. 

(b) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 

enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or 

entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(c) Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.) (the “Act”) may apply to 

the Task Force, any functions of the President under the Act, except for those in section 6 of the Act, 

shall be performed by the Attorney General.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

December 18, 2014.

84 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Appendix D. Task Force Members’ Biographies

Co-Chairs

Charles Ramsey 

Charles Ramsey is the commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD), a position he has 

held since 2008. Since 2010, he has served as president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the 

Police Executive Research Forum. Commissioner Ramsey began his law enforcement career in 1968 as 

a cadet with the Chicago Police Department (CPD). Over the next 30 years, he held various positions 

with the CPD, including commander of the Narcotics Division, deputy chief of the Patrol Division, and 

deputy superintendent, a role he held from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, he was named chief of the 

Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), where he served until early 2007. 

In 2007, Commissioner Ramsey served on the Independent Commission on Security Forces of Iraq, 

leading a review of the Iraqi Police Force. In addition to his current role at the PPD, he also serves as a 

member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council. Commissioner Ramsey received a BS and MS from 

Lewis University.

Laurie Robinson 

Laurie Robinson is the Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at George 

Mason University, a position she has held since 2012. She served as assistant attorney general for the 

Office of Justice Programs (OJP) in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) from 2009 to 2012. Prior to 

that, Ms. Robinson served as the Principal deputy assistant attorney general for OJP and acting 

assistant attorney general for OJP. Previously, she was a member of the Obama-Biden Transition 

Team. From 2003 to 2009, Ms. Robinson was the director of the Master of Science Program in 

Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1993 to 2000, she served her first term as 

assistant attorney general for OJP. Before joining DOJ, Ms. Robinson spent over 20 years with the 

American Bar Association, serving as assistant staff director of the Criminal Justice Section from 1972 

to 1979, director of the Criminal Justice Section from 1979 to 1993, and director of the Professional 

Services Division from 1986 to 1993. She is a senior fellow at the George Mason University Center for 

Evidence-Based Crime Policy and serves as co-chair of the Research Advisory Committee for the 

International Association of Chiefs of Police. She also serves on the board of trustees of the Vera 

Institute of Justice. Ms. Robinson received a BA from Brown University.

Members

Cedric L. Alexander

Cedric L. Alexander is the deputy chief operating officer for Public Safety in DeKalb County, Georgia, a 

position he has held since late 2013. Dr. Alexander is also the national president of the National 

Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. In 2013, he served as chief of police for the DeKalb 

County Police Department. Prior to this, Dr. Alexander served as federal security director for the 

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport from 2007 to 

2013. And from 2006 to 2007, he was deputy commissioner of the New York State Division of Criminal 

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 85
Justice Services. From 2005 to 2006, Dr. Alexander was chief of the Rochester (New York) Police 

Department (RPD), where he previously served as deputy chief of police from 2002 to 2005. Before 

joining RPD, Dr. Alexander was a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of 

Rochester Medical Center from 1998 to 2002. He began his career as a deputy sheriff in Florida from 

1977 to 1981, before joining the Miami-Dade Police Department, where he was as an officer and 

detective from 1981 to 1992. He received a BA and MS from St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida, 

and a PsyD from Wright State University.

Jose Lopez

Jose Lopez is currently the lead organizer at Make the Road New York (MRNY), a Brooklyn-based nonprofit community organization focused on civil rights, education reform, and combating poverty. He 

became lead organizer of MRNY in 2013. Mr. Lopez began his career in 2000 as youth organizer with 

Make the Road by Walking, which later merged with the Latin American Integration Center to form 

MRNY in 2007. He continued to serve as youth organizer with MRNY until 2009 when he became 

senior organizer. Since 2011, Mr. Lopez has represented MRNY on the steering committee of 

Communities United for Police Reform, a New York City organization advocating for law enforcement 

reform. From 2001 to 2004, he was an active contributor to the Radio Rookies Project, an initiative of 

New York Public Radio. He received a BA from Hofstra University.

Tracey L. Meares

Tracey Meares is the Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law at Yale Law School, a position she has 

held since 2007. From 2009 to 2011, she also served as deputy dean of Yale Law School. Before joining 

the faculty at Yale, she served as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School from 1995 to 

2007. She has served on the Committee on Law and Justice, a National Research Council Standing 

Committee of the National Academy of Sciences. She was appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder 

to serve on the inaugural U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs Science Advisory 

Board. She also currently serves on the board of directors of the Joyce Foundation. Ms. Meares began 

her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Harlington Wood, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 

Seventh Circuit. She later served as a trial attorney in the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of 

Justice. Ms. Meares received a BS from the University of Illinois and a JD from the University of Chicago 

Law School.

Brittany N. Packnett

Brittany Packnett is currently executive director of Teach For America in St. Louis, Missouri, a position 

she has held since 2012. From 2010 to 2012, she was a director on the Government Affairs Team at 

Teach For America. Ms. Packnett was a legislative assistant for the U.S. House of Representatives from 

2009 to 2010. From 2007 to 2009, she was a third grade teacher in Southeast Washington, D.C., as a 

member of the Teach For America Corps. Ms. Packnett has volunteered as executive director of Dream 

Girls DMV, a mentoring program for young girls, and was the founding co-chair of The Collective-DC, a 

regional organization for Teach For America alumni of color. She currently serves on the board of New 

City School, the COCA (Center of Creative Arts) Associate Board, the Urban League of Metro St. Louis 

Education Committee, and the John Burroughs School Board Diversity Committee. Ms. Packnett 

received a BA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MA from American University.

86 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Susan Lee Rahr

Susan Rahr is executive director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, a 

position she has held since 2012. From 2005 to 2012, she served as the first female sheriff in King 

County, Washington. Ms. Rahr spent over 30 years as a law enforcement officer, beginning as a patrol 

officer and undercover narcotics officer. While serving with the King County Sheriff’s Office, she held 

various positions including serving as the commander of the Internal Investigations and Gang Units; 

commander of the Special Investigations Section; and police chief of Shoreline, Washington. Ms. Rahr 

received a BA from Washington State University. She has served as a member of the National Institute 

of Justice and Harvard Kennedy School Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety; president of 

the Washington State Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, and an executive board member of the 

National Sheriffs’ Association.

Constance Rice

Constance Rice is a civil rights attorney and co-director of the Advancement Project, an organization 

she co-founded in 1999. In 2003, Ms. Rice was selected to lead the Blue Ribbon Rampart Review Panel, 

which investigated the largest police corruption scandal in Los Angeles Police Department history. In 

1991, Ms. Rice joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and she became co-director of 

the Los Angeles office in 1996. She was previously an associate at Morrison & Foerster and began her 

legal career as a law clerk to Judge Damon J. Keith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Ms. 

Rice received a BA from Harvard College and a JD from the New York University School of Law.

Sean Michael Smoot

Sean Smoot is currently director and chief counsel for the Police Benevolent & Protective Association 

of Illinois (PB&PA) and the Police Benevolent Labor Committee (PBLC), positions he has held since 

2000. He began his career with PB&PA and PBLC as a staff attorney in 1995, before becoming chief 

counsel of both organizations in 1997. Since 2001, Mr. Smoot has served as the treasurer of the 

National Association of Police Organizations and has served on the Advisory Committee for the 

National Law Enforcement Officers’ Rights Center since 1996. From 2008 to 2009, he was a policy 

advisor to the Obama-Biden Transition Project on public safety and state and local police issues and 

was a member of the National Institute of Justice and Harvard Kennedy School of Government 

Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety from 2008 to 2011. Mr. Smoot served as police 

commissioner of Leland Grove, Illinois, from 1998 to 2008. He received a BS from Illinois State 

University and a JD from Southern Illinois University School of Law.

Bryan Stevenson

Bryan Stevenson is founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a private, 

nonprofit organization headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. In addition to directing the EJI since 

1989, he is a clinical professor at New York University School of Law. He previously has served as a 

visiting professor of law at the University of Michigan School of Law. Mr. Stevenson has received the 

American Bar Association’s Wisdom Award for public service, the ACLU’s National Medal of Liberty, 

and the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award Prize. Mr. Stevenson received a BA from Eastern 

College (now Eastern University), a JD from Harvard Law School, and an MPP from the John F. Kennedy 

School of Government at Harvard University.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 87
Roberto Villaseñor

Roberto Villaseñor is chief of police for the Tucson (Arizona) Police Department (TPD), a position he 

has held since 2009. He joined the TPD in 1980 and has served as officer, sergeant, lieutenant, and 

captain and as assistant chief from 2000 to 2009. Chief Villaseñor was named Officer of the Year for 

the TPD in 1996 and has been awarded the TPD Medal of Merit three times. He also received the TPD 

Medal of Distinguished Service. Chief Villaseñor is the incoming president of the Arizona Association of 

Chiefs of Police and a board member of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). He received a BS 

from Park University and a MEd from Northern Arizona University. 

88 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
Appendix E. Recommendations and Actions

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.

0.2 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.

1.1 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement culture should embrace a guardian mindset to build public 

trust and legitimacy. Toward that end, police and sheriffs’ 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.

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.

1.2.1 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should develop and disseminate case 

studies that provide examples where past injustices were publically 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.

1.4 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should promote legitimacy internally within the 

organization by applying the principles of procedural justice.

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.

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.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 89
1.5 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should proactively promote public trust by initiating 

positive nonenforcement activities to engage communities that typically have high rates of 

investigative and enforcement involvement with government agencies.

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.

1.5.3 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should create opportunities in schools and 

communities for positive, nonenforcement interactions with police. Agencies should also 

publicize the beneficial outcomes and images of positive, trust-building partnerships and 

initiatives.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

90 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
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.

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.

1.9 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should build relationships based on trust with 

immigrant communities. This is central to overall public safety.

1.9.1 ACTION ITEM: Decouple federal immigration enforcement from routine local policing for 

civil enforcement and nonserious crime.

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 remove civil immigration 

information from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database.

2.1 RECOMMENDATION: 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.

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.

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.

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.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 91
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 

nonfatal, as well as any in-custody death.

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.

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.

2.3 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies are encouraged to implement nonpunitive peer 

review of critical incidents separate from criminal and administrative investigations.

2.4 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies are encouraged to adopt identification procedures 

that implement scientifically supported practices that eliminate or minimize presenter bias or 

influence.

2.5 RECOMMENDATION: All federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies should report and 

make available to the public census data regarding the composition of their departments including 

race, gender, age, and other relevant demographic data.

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.

2.6 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should be encouraged to collect, maintain, and 

analyze demographic data on all detentions (stops, frisks, searches, summons, and arrests). This data 

should be disaggregated by school and non-school contacts.

2.6.1 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.

2.7 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should 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.

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.

92 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
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.

2.8 RECOMMENDATION: 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.

2.8.1 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.

2.8.2 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 this structure, 

potentially with some matching grants and funding.

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.

2.10 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement officers should be required to seek consent before a search 

and explain that a person has the 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.

2.12 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should adopt and enforce policies prohibiting 

profiling and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, age, gender, gender 

identity/expression, sexual orientation, immigration status, disability, housing status, occupation, 

and/or language fluency.

2.12.1 ACTION ITEM: The Bureau of Justice Statistics should add questions concerning sexual 

harassment of and misconduct toward LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming people by law 

enforcement officers to the Police Public Contact Survey.

2.12.2 ACTION ITEM: The Centers for Disease Control should add questions concerning sexual 

harassment of and misconduct toward LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming people by law 

enforcement officers to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey.

2.12.3 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.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 93
2.13 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 towards shared services, regional 

training, and consolidation.

2.14 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 Decertification Index to serve as the National 

Register of Decertified Officers with the goal of covering all agencies within the United States and its 

territories. 

2.15 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should adopt policies requiring officers to 

provide their names to individuals they have stopped, along with the reason for the stop, the reason 

for a search if one is conducted, and a card with information on how to reach the civilian complaint 

review board.

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.

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.

3.1.3 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should deploy smart technology that is designed 

to prevent the tampering with or manipulating of evidence in violation of policy.

3.2 RECOMMENDATION: The implementation of appropriate technology by law enforcement agencies 

should be designed considering local needs and aligned with national standards.

3.2.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should encourage public engagement and 

collaboration, including the use of community advisory bodies, when developing a policy for 

the use of a new technology.

3.2.2 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should include an evaluation or assessment 

process to gauge the effectiveness of any new technology, soliciting input from all levels of the 

agency, from line officer to leadership, as well as assessment from members of the 

community.

3.2.3. ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should adopt the use of new technologies that 

will help them better serve people with special needs or disabilities.

94 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
3.3 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should develop best practices that can be 

adopted by state legislative bodies to govern the acquisition, use, retention, and dissemination of 

auditory, visual, and biometric data by law enforcement.

3.3.1 ACTION ITEM: As part of the process for developing best practices, the U.S. Department of 

Justice should consult with civil rights and civil liberties organizations, as well as law 

enforcement research groups and other experts, concerning the constitutional issues that can 

arise as a result of the use of new technologies.

3.3.2 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should create toolkits for the most effective 

and constitutional use of multiple forms of innovative technology that will provide state, local, 

and tribal law enforcement agencies with a one-stop clearinghouse of information and 

resources.

3.3.3. ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should review and consider the Bureau of

Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Body Worn Camera Toolkit to assist in implementing BWCs.

3.4 RECOMMENDATION: Federal, state, local, and tribal legislative bodies should be encouraged to 

update public record laws.

3.5 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should adopt model policies and best practices for 

technology-based community engagement that increases community trust and access.

3.6 RECOMMENDATION: The Federal Government should support the development of new “less than 

lethal” technology to help control combative suspects.

3.6.1 ACTION ITEM: Relevant federal agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Defense and

Justice, should expand their efforts to study the development and use of new less than lethal 

technologies and evaluate their impact on public safety, reducing lethal violence against 

citizens, Constitutionality, and officer safety.

3.7 RECOMMENDATION: The Federal Government should make the development and building of 

segregated radio spectrum and increased bandwidth by FirstNet for exclusive use by local, state, tribal, 

and federal public safety agencies a top priority.

4.1 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should develop and adopt policies and strategies 

that reinforce the importance of community engagement in managing public safety.

4.1.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should consider adopting preferences for 

seeking “least harm” resolutions, such as diversion programs or warnings and citations in lieu 

of arrest for minor infractions.

4.2 RECOMMENDATION: Community policing should be infused throughout the culture and 

organizational structure of law enforcement agencies.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 95
4.2.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should evaluate officers on their efforts to 

engage members of the community and the partnerships they build. Making this part of the 

performance evaluation process places an increased value on developing partnerships.

4.2.2 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should evaluate their patrol deployment 

practices to allow sufficient time for patrol officers to participate in problem solving and 

community engagement activities.

4.2.3 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice and other public and private entities should 

support research into the factors that have led to dramatic successes in crime reduction in 

some communities through the infusion of non-discriminatory policing and to determine 

replicable factors that could be used to guide law enforcement agencies in other communities.

4.3 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should engage in multidisciplinary, community team 

approaches for planning, implementing, and responding to crisis situations with complex causal 

factors.

4.3.1 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should collaborate with others to develop 

and disseminate baseline models of this crisis intervention team approach that can be adapted 

to local contexts.

4.3.3 ACTION ITEM: Communities should look to involve peer support counselors as part of 

multidisciplinary teams when appropriate. Persons who have experienced the same trauma 

can provide both insight to the first responders and immediate support to individuals in crisis.

4.3.4 ACTION ITEM: Communities should be encouraged to evaluate the efficacy of these crisis 

intervention team approaches and hold agency leaders accountable for outcomes.

4.4 RECOMMENDATION: Communities should support a culture and practice of policing that reflects the 

values of protection and promotion of the dignity of all, especially the most vulnerable.

4.4.1 ACTION ITEM: Because offensive or harsh language can escalate a minor situation, law 

enforcement agencies should underscore the importance of language used and adopt policies 

directing officers to speak to individuals with respect.

4.4.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should develop programs that create

opportunities for patrol officers to regularly interact with neighborhood residents, faith 

leaders, and business leaders.

4.5 RECOMMENDATION: Community policing emphasizes working with neighborhood residents to coproduce public safety. Law enforcement agencies should work with community residents to identify 

problems and collaborate on implementing solutions that produce meaningful results for the 

community.

4.5.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should schedule regular forums and meetings 

where all community members can interact with police and help influence programs and 

policy.

96 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
4.5.2 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should engage youth and communities in joint 

training with law enforcement, citizen academies, ride-alongs, problem solving teams, 

community action teams, and quality of life teams.

4.5.3. ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should establish formal community/citizen 

advisory committees to assist in developing crime prevention strategies and agency policies as 

well as provide input on policing issues.

4.5.4 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should adopt community policing strategies that 

support and work in concert with economic development efforts within communities.

4.6 RECOMMENDATION: Communities should adopt policies and programs that address the needs of 

children and youth most at risk for crime or violence and reduce aggressive law enforcement tactics 

that stigmatize youth and marginalize their participation in schools and communities.

4.6.1 ACTION ITEM: Education and criminal justice agencies at all levels of government should 

work together to reform policies and procedures that push children into the juvenile justice 

system. 

4.6.2 ACTION ITEM: In order to keep youth in school and to keep them from criminal and 

violent behavior, law enforcement agencies should work with schools to encourage the 

creation of alternatives to student suspensions and expulsion through restorative justice, 

diversion, counseling, and family interventions.

4.6.3 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to encourage the use 

of alternative strategies that involve youth in decision making, such as restorative justice, 

youth courts, and peer interventions.

4.6.4 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to adopt an 

instructional approach to discipline that uses interventions or disciplinary consequences to 

help students develop new behavior skills and positive strategies to avoid conflict, redirect 

energy, and refocus on learning.

4.6.5 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to develop and 

monitor school discipline policies with input and collaboration from school personnel, 

students, families, and community members. These policies should prohibit the use of corporal 

punishment and electronic control devices.

4.6.6 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should work with schools to create a continuum 

of developmentally appropriate and proportional consequences for addressing ongoing and 

escalating student misbehavior after all appropriate interventions have been attempted.

4.6.7 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should work with communities to play a role in 

programs and procedures to reintegrate juveniles back into their communities as they leave 

the juvenile justice system.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 97
4.6.8 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies and schools should establish memoranda of 

agreement for the placement of School Resource Officers that limit police involvement in 

student discipline.

4.6.9 ACTION ITEM: The Federal Government should assess and evaluate zero tolerance 

strategies and examine the role of reasonable discretion when dealing with adolescents in 

consideration of their stages of maturation or development.

4.7 RECOMMENDATION: Communities need to affirm and recognize the voices of youth in community 

decision making, facilitate youth-led research and problem solving, and develop and fund youth 

leadership training and life skills through positive youth/police collaboration and interactions. 

4.7.1 ACTION ITEM: Communities and law enforcement agencies should restore and build trust 

between youth and police by creating programs and projects for positive, consistent, and 

persistent interaction between youth and police.

4.7.2 ACTION ITEM: Communities should develop community- and school-based evidencebased programs that mitigate punitive and authoritarian solutions to teen problems.

5.1 RECOMMENDATION: The Federal Government should support the development of partnerships with 

training facilities across the country to promote consistent standards for high quality training and 

establish training innovation hubs.

5.1.1 ACTION ITEM: The training innovation hubs should develop replicable model programs 

that use adult-based learning and scenario based training in a training environment modeled 

less like boot camp. Through these programs the hubs would influence nationwide curricula, 

as well as instructional methodology.

5.1.2 ACTION ITEM: The training innovation hubs should establish partnerships with academic 

institutions to develop rigorous training practices, evaluation, and the development of 

curricula based on evidence-based practices.

5.1.3 ACTION ITEM: The Department of Justice should build a stronger relationship with the 

International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement (IADLEST) in order to leverage their 

network with state boards and commissions of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).

5.2 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should engage community members in the training 

process. 

5.2.1 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should conduct research to develop and 

disseminate a toolkit on how law enforcement agencies and training programs can integrate 

community members into this training process.

98 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
5.3 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should provide leadership training to all personnel 

throughout their careers.

5.3.1 ACTION ITEM: Recognizing that strong, capable leadership is required to create cultural 

transformation, the U.S. Department of Justice should invest in developing learning goals and 

model curricula/training for each level of leadership.

5.3.2 ACTION ITEM: The Federal Government should encourage and support partnerships 

between law enforcement and academic institutions to support a culture that values ongoing 

education and the integration of current research into the development of training, policies, 

and practices.

5.3.3 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should support and encourage crossdiscipline leadership training.

5.4 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should develop, in partnership with institutions 

of higher education, a national postgraduate institute of policing for senior executives with a 

standardized curriculum preparing them to lead agencies in the 21st century.

5.5 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should instruct the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation to modify the curriculum of the National Academy at Quantico to include prominent 

coverage of the topical areas addressed in this report. In addition, the COPS Office and the Office of 

Justice Programs should work with law enforcement professional organizations to encourage 

modification of their curricula in a similar fashion.

5.6 RECOMMENDATION: POSTs should make Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) a part of both basic recruit 

and in-service officer training.

5.6.1 ACTION ITEM: Because of the importance of this issue, Congress should appropriate funds 

to help support law enforcement crisis intervention training.

5.7 RECOMMENDATION: POSTs should ensure that basic officer training includes lessons to improve 

social interaction as well as tactical skills.

5.8 RECOMMENDATION: POSTs should ensure that basic recruit and in-service officer training include 

curriculum on the disease of addiction.

5.9 RECOMMENDATION: POSTs should ensure both basic recruit and in-service training incorporates 

content around recognizing and confronting implicit bias and cultural responsiveness.

5.9.1 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should implement ongoing, top down training 

for all officers in cultural diversity and related topics that can build trust and legitimacy in 

diverse communities. This should be accomplished with the assistance of advocacy groups that 

represent the viewpoints of communities that have traditionally had adversarial relationships 

with law enforcement.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 99
5.9.2 ACTION ITEM: Law enforcement agencies should implement training for officers that 

covers policies for interactions with the LGBTQ population, including issues such as 

determining gender identity for arrest placement, the Muslim, Arab, and South Asian 

communities, and immigrant or non-English speaking groups, as well as reinforcing policies for 

the prevention of sexual misconduct and harassment.

5.10 RECOMMENDATION: POSTs should require both basic recruit and in-service training on policing in a 

democratic society.

5.11 RECOMMENDATION: The Federal Government, as well as state and local agencies, should 

encourage and incentivize higher education for law enforcement officers.

5.11.1 ACTION ITEM: The Federal Government should create a loan repayment and forgiveness 

incentive program specifically for policing.

5.12 RECOMMENDATION: The Federal Government should support research into the development of 

technology that enhances scenario based training, social interaction skills, and enables the 

dissemination of interactive distance learning for law enforcement.

5.13 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should support the development and 

implementation of improved Field Training Officer programs.

5.13.1 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should support the development of broad 

Field Training Program standards and training strategies that address changing police culture 

and organizational procedural justice issues that agencies can adopt and customize to local 

needs.

5.13.2 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should provide funding to incentivize 

agencies to update their Field Training Programs in accordance with the new standards.

6.1 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should enhance and further promote its multifaceted officer safety and wellness initiative.

6.1.1 ACTION ITEM: Congress should establish and fund a national “Blue Alert” warning system.

6.1.2 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice, in partnership with the U.S. Department of 

Health and Human Services, should establish a task force to study mental health issues unique 

to officers and recommend tailored treatments.

6.1.3 ACTION ITEM: The Federal Government should support the continuing research into the 

efficacy of an annual mental health check for officers, as well as fitness, resilience, and 

nutrition.

6.1.4. ACTION ITEM: Pension plans should recognize fitness for duty examinations as definitive 

evidence of valid duty or non-duty related disability.

100 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
6.1.5 ACTION ITEM: Public Safety Officer Benefits (PSOB) should be provided to survivors of 

officers killed while working, regardless of whether the officer used safety equipment (seatbelt 

or anti-ballistic vest) or if officer death was the result of suicide attributed to a current 

diagnosis of duty-related mental illness, including but not limited to post-traumatic stress 

disorder (PTSD).

6.2 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should promote safety and wellness at every level of 

the organization.

6.2.1 ACTION ITEM: Though the Federal Government can support many of the programs and 

best practices identified by the U.S. Department of Justice initiative described in 

recommendation 6.1, the ultimate responsibility lies with each agency.

6.3 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should encourage and assist departments in the 

implementation of scientifically supported shift lengths by law enforcement.

6.3.1 ACTION ITEM: The U.S. Department of Justice should fund additional research into the 

efficacy of limiting the total number of hours an officer should work within a 24–48 hour 

period, including special findings on the maximum number of hours an officer should work in a 

high risk or high stress environment (e.g., public demonstrations or emergency situations).

6.4 RECOMMENDATION: Every law enforcement officer should be provided with individual tactical first 

aid kits and training as well as anti-ballistic vests.

6.4.1 ACTION ITEM: Congress should authorize funding for the distribution of law enforcement 

individual tactical first-aid kits.

6.4.2 ACTION ITEM: Congress should reauthorize and expand the Bulletproof Vest Partnership 

(BVP) program.

6.5 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should expand efforts to collect and analyze 

data not only on officer deaths but also on injuries and “near misses.”

6.6 RECOMMENDATION: Law enforcement agencies should adopt policies that require officers to wear 

seat belts and bullet-proof vests and provide training to raise awareness of the consequences of failure 

to do so.

6.7 RECOMMENDATION: Congress should develop and enact peer review error management legislation.

6.8 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Transportation should provide technical assistance 

opportunities for departments to explore the use of vehicles equipped with vehicle collision 

prevention “smart car” technology that will reduce the number of accidents.

7.1 RECOMMENDATION: The President should direct all federal law enforcement agencies to review the 

recommendations made by the Task Force on 21st Century Policing and, to the extent practicable, to 

adopt those that can be implemented at the federal level.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 101
7.2 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should explore public-private partnership 

opportunities, starting by convening a meeting with local, regional, and national foundations to discuss 

the proposals for reform described in this report and seeking their engagement and support in 

advancing implementation of these recommendations.

7.3 RECOMMENDATION: The U.S. Department of Justice should charge its Office of Community Oriented 

Policing Services (COPS Office) with assisting the law enforcement field in addressing current and 

future challenges.

For recommendation 7.3, the COPS Office should consider taking actions including but not limited to 

the following: 

• Create a National Policing Practices and Accountability Division within the COPS Office.

• Establish national benchmarks and best practices for federal, state, local, and tribal police 

departments.

• Provide technical assistance and funding to national, state, local, and tribal accreditation bodies 

that evaluate policing practices.

• Recommend additional benchmarks and best practices for state training and standards boards.

• Provide technical assistance and funding to state training boards to help them meet national 

benchmarks and best practices in training methodologies and content.

• Prioritize grant funding to departments meeting benchmarks.

• Support departments through an expansion of the COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative.

• Collaborate with universities, the Office of Justice Programs and its bureaus (Bureau of Justice 

Assistance [BJA], Bureau of Justice Statistics [BJS], National Institute of Justice [NIJ], and Office of 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [OJJDP]), and others to review research and literature 

in order to inform law enforcement agencies about evidence-based practices and to identify areas 

of police operations where additional research is needed.

• Collaborate with the BJS to

• establish a central repository for data concerning police use of force resulting in death, as well 

as in-custody deaths, and disseminate this data for use by both community and police;

• provide local agencies with technical assistance and a template to conduct local citizen 

satisfaction surveys;

102 Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing
• compile annual citizen satisfaction surveys based on the submission of voluntary local surveys, 

develop a national level survey as well as surveys for use by local agencies and by small 

geographic units, and develop questions to be added to the National Crime Victimization 

Survey relating to citizen satisfaction with police agencies and public trust.

• Collaborate with the BJS and others to develop a template of broader indicators of performance 

for police departments beyond crime rates alone that could comprise a Uniform Justice Report.

• Collaborate with the NIJ and the BJS to publish an annual report on the “State of Policing” in the 

United States.

• Provide support to national police leadership associations and national rank and file 

organizations to encourage them to implement task force recommendations.

• Work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to ensure that community policing tactics in 

state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies are incorporated into their role in homeland 

security.

Interim Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 103