Procedural Justice: Institutionalizing Procedural Justice

Voiceover

00:00

This is The Beat—a podcast series that keeps you in the know about the latest community policing topics 

facing our nation.

Kimberly Brummett

00:08

Hello and welcome. My name is Kimberly Brummett, and on behalf of the COPS Office, I’d like to 

introduce you to Chief Will Johnson of the Arlington (Texas) Police Department. Chief Johnson is here 

today to discuss procedural justice. Welcome, Chief.

Chief Will Johnson

00:20

Hello.

Brummett

00:21

Chief, why did you make the decision to institutionalize procedural justice in your department?

Johnson

00:28

It was about five or six years ago—whenever I was attending a seminar where Tom Tyler, one of the 

principal founders of this research, gave a lecture. And during this time, he described the historic 

improvements to policing that as a profession we have been able to generate over the last three 

decades. Correspondingly, over that same time period, community satisfaction with the delivery of 

police services was relatively unchanged. And for me, that was a watershed moment that—perhaps we 

as a profession had been using the wrong measurements in terms of measuring our success within the 

community and that we can do a much better job embracing the things that the community is telling us 

that they hold dear. And I think procedural justice does just that.

Brummett

01:21

What organizational transformation did you have to undergo in order to institutionalize procedural 

justice? 

Johnson

01:28

Well, procedural justice, I think like many implementations of core values, starts with the chief’s office. 

It starts with a clear articulation about what the core values of the organization are. And in the context 

of the framework of procedural justice, those are core values of fairness, of transparency, of 
impartiality, and of providing the community an opportunity to have voice as decisions are made, where 

information is shared with the community. And from that point in time, once those core values are 

expressed, internalized, and modeled, both in and outside the organization, then the organizational 

transformation that has to take place has to take place at every level in which the organization learns 

from itself, whether it’s through policy implementation, training, communications, and the discipline 

process. All four of those are areas in which organizations are constantly learning from themselves. And 

then lastly, the fifth category would be [that] you have to select the right people to bring into the 

organization. You have to select the right people to promote within the organization that readily 

embrace the concepts of procedural justice.

Brummett

02:49

What impact does this transformation have for the community?

Johnson

02:53

I think what it does to the community is that it makes an organization—or it allows an organization—to 

be more relational with the community that it serves. People will accept a rising or falling crime rate, but 

they will not accept a police department that doesn’t care, a police department that isn’t fair, that 

doesn’t listen to the concerns of its constituents, that doesn’t act with impartiality. So to the degree that 

the community understands how police departments are trying to operationalize procedural justice as a 

set of core values is key to them sticking with you whenever something goes wrong, because no 

community is immune from some crisis that could happen. And procedural justice offers a social 

contract, if you will, on whether or not the community wants to stick with you through those difficult 

times.

Brummett

03:55

How do you, as a police chief, take the pulse of the community?

Johnson

03:59

Well, I think as a police chief, taking the pulse of the community is something you have to do often and 

at different levels. And so it’s everything from attending community events, service clubs like Rotary 

International, engaging with other systems within the community, the school district, state and local 

government, county government, community groups, businesses, the chamber of commerce. All these 

things offer opportunities to understand what the community is thinking about a given topic. And all of 

them are important, but it’s especially important to take the temperature and to have a relationship, a 

deep relationship with the segments of the community that have been historically underserved. Because 

those are the areas of the community with a potential for miscommunication or for [whom] the 

perception of not having a full voice at the table can be the greatest.
Brummett

05:00

How important is transparency with the community?

Johnson

05:04

I think transparency really speaks to motive. And if you’re transparent in your actions and in your 

decision-making process, it can reduce the opportunity for people to believe that there is a motive, or 

an alternative motive, at play rather than the genuine motive of why the decision was made. So to the 

degree that you can increase transparency, you can increase trust, because people understand your 

motives.

Brummett

05:33

Do you have any suggestions for other chiefs who are interested in implementing procedural justice as 

core principles of their departments?

Johnson

05:40

I would offer as a suggestion that if there’s an interest in implementing procedural justice as a set of 

your core values, you have to spend time with people. You have to share with them why this is 

important and why it’s relevant to them within their job. From an officer’s perspective, procedural 

justice can improve officer safety because if an organization is providing procedural justice to the 

community, then the voluntary compliance with the law is going to increase. And so having those real 

intangible examples that you can share through conversations, both internally and externally, are going 

to be key for an agency to be successful to implement procedural justice. The other thing that I would 

say is you got to stick with it. This is not an easy process to execute. It requires the energy and effort of 

everybody in the organization embracing this change and then sticking through with it on a multiyear 

plan.

Brummett

06:43

Well, Chief, thank you again for your time, expertize, and insights today on procedural justice. 

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06:50

The Beat was brought to you by the United States Department of Justice, COPS Office. The COPS Office 

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Voiceover: Disclaimer

07:06

The opinions contained herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official 

position or polices of the U.S. Department of Justice. References to specific agencies, companies, 

products, or services should not be considered an endorsement by the authors or the U.S. Department 

of Justice. Rather, the references are illustrations to supplement discussion of the issues.