Should police leaders plan to make major changes in policing strategies every ten years?
Olivia Rueschhoff
As society changes and evolves it is the leaders of law enforcement’s jobs to make changes with
it to better suit society’s needs. What works in a community in one decade can vastly differ from
what it needs in the next, which is why police leaders should assess their department and be
prepared to make some major changes approximately every ten years. These changes can come
in the form of how to aid in public perceptions and adjusting how to handle situations.
The way the public perceives law enforcement massively affects how effective police are
in the community, especially if the department uses community policing strategies. This is
because community policing is based on team effort, as by “working together, the police and the
community can accomplish what neither can accomplish alone” (Hess, Cho, & Orthomann,
2019). Therefore, the police should always be working towards strengthening their relationship
with the public. The public aids the police as “most crime is reported to the police via the public
and much crime is solved with the help of the public who provide information to the police”
(Simpson & Pappas, 2024). The police should always align policies with what would best suit
the public. The perceptions of law enforcement tend to vary from generation to generation. Older
generations such as the baby boomers tend to have a more respectful positive outlook on police,
while newer generations like Gen Z, seem to be more critical and less trusting of law
enforcement. This has especially been seen within the past few years through things such as the
Black Lives Matter Movement. As each generation grows older and new ones emerge then police
need to adapt toward a new attitude of the next generation. It was found in a study that “most
participants report at least some willingness to cooperate with the police… [however]
participants… are more strongly associated with self-initiated requests for police assistance than
police-initiated requests for assistance” (Simpson & Pappas, 2024). It is up to police leaders to
consistently assess what changes need to be made to gain a better public perception which would
make policing in the community more effective.
As society progresses, law enforcement needs to also progress, and this can be done by
adjusting old policies and creating new ones. Within the past decade, attention has significantly
been drawn towards whether police favor certain groups of people over others based on looks
alone. Whether or not police do favor certain ethnic groups or gender, it is known that “although
Black individuals make up somewhere between 11% and 15% of the population of the USA,
they are over a quarter of victims in police-involved fatal shootings in 2018” (Henderson,
Bourgeois, Smith, Ferguson, & Barthelemy, 2024). It is up to police leaders to make policies to
avoid discrimination. These policies can range from extra trainings to more diverse hiring of
officers to better reflect the community’s diversity. By assessing things like required training,
education level, and performance assessments, law enforcement leaders can aim to better serve
the community. Especially since “previous evidence has found that community level mental-
health strain is associated with police misconduct” (Henderson, Bourgeois, Smith, Ferguson, &
Barthelemy, 2024). So, by encouraging the best and holding officers accountable through
policies, the community will also benefit. It takes time to see whether policies truly serve the
intended effect, so reassessing every decade at least should be planned for.
Overall, police leaders should constantly be assessing what needs to change to strengthen the
community and the department. By regularly assessing the effectiveness in both public
perception and policies, then the department can better adapt to the needs of the next generation,
which can vastly differ from the last.
References
Henderson, H., Jennifer, W. B., Smith, S., Ferguson, C. J., & Barthelemy, J. (2024/06//). Police
shootings, violent crime, race and socio‐economic factors in municipalities in the united
states of america. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health : CBMH, 34(3), 296-310.
https://www.proquest.com/criminaljusticeperiodicals/scholarly-journals/police-shootings-
violent-crime-race-socio/docview/3062893282/sem-2?accountid=14982
Hess, K. M., Cho, H., & Orthomann, C. H. (2019). Police Operations in Context. In Police
Operations: Theory and Practice (6th ed., pp. 3-29). Delmar Cengage Learning.
Simpson, R., & Pappas, L. N. (2024/12//). Public perceptions of courts and cooperation with
police. Crime Science, 13(1), 9.
https://www.proquest.com/criminaljusticeperiodicals/scholarly-journals/public-
perceptions-courts-cooperation-with-police/docview/3038445933/sem- 2?
accountid=14982
