Running Head: HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

INDISCREATIONS
1

How Police Officers Can Regain Community Respect After Police Indiscretions
By:
Susan Dierking
Amanda Hubbard
Kelly DeBolt
Mitch Bredberg
Mark Styx

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

Table of Content
1. Introduction: Page 3 (Group)
2. Step 1: Problem Description and Analysis. Pages 3-4 (Susan Dierking)
3. Step 2: Generating and Elaborating on Possible Solutions. Pages 4-6 (Amanda
4.
5.
6.
7.

Hubbard)
Step 3: Evaluating Possible Solutions. Pages 6-9 (Kelly DeBolt)
Step 4: Consensus Decision Making. Pages 9-10 (Mitch Bredberg)
Step 5: Implementing. Pages 10-12 (Mark Styx)
Conclusion: Pages 12-13 (Group)

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

Introduction
This group has chosen to try and answer how police forces will regain community respect
after these horrifying incidents. We will look into what can be done by police and community
members to help make our streets safer for police and nations youth. We chose this topic in
hopes of finding reliable solutions to help repair and improve our communities.
Step 1: Problem Description and Analysis (Susan Dierking)
Lawlesssness and discrimination in law enforcement have been the foundation of
political power in East St. Louis for years (Chicago Tribune, 1917, p.6). A hundred years ago,
the nation had problems with policing communities and it continues today. Race has been a
leading factor in most of these communities as riots have become common in the United States.
While we are frustrated with recent public cases such as Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Eric
Garner, we need to look past what happened and find ways to improve our communities and
public images.
Before we can repair our problems, we must identify some reasons why these problems
exist. Our culture has been fighting racism for many years. Even with the civil rights
movements, there has never been equality. According to an article in The New York Times, there
are less white residents than white police officers in Baltimore. In Ferguson, most of the
population is African American while the police force is predominantly white. Despite many
lawsuits, Chicago and its outlying areas have grown popular with many Asian and Hispanic
cultures yet the police departments continue to be over fifty percent white.
Creating peace and harmony in a community is a daunting task. Community leaders
continue to try and bring people together to make neighborhoods safe. They rebuild churches,
playgrounds, clean up garbage, and build community centers. All these nice gestures are
wonderful, but having the community trust the police departments is a challenge. Galanes and

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

Adams, 2013, state there are three important ethical principles in establishing trust. These
include working to understand others, communicating to enhance others, and behaving like a
responsible group member.
As we look for solutions to help police departments regain trust of the communities they
serve, we can see law enforcement agencies changing policies. The United States Conference of
Mayors reported officers treating residents with dignity and respect while working together to
build trusting relationships; the community must also treat the officers with dignity and respect.
As we look further into possible solutions in gaining trust between police and
communities, we will look at possible cameras being worn on chests of officers so communities
can see what goes on during patrol. We will also take a look at improved sensitivity training for
officers.
Step 2: Generating and Elaborating on Possible Solutions (Amanda Hubbard)
In step two of the procedural models of problem solving, the group comes up with what
might be done to solve the issue described (Galanes & Adams, 2013). During this step we do not
want to decide on a solution to the issue. The main goal of this step is to brainstorm in order to
come up with creative solutions to the problem. During the brainstorming step on the issue of
police regaining community respect, the group came up with the following four ideas that could
help solve this issue.
Sensitivity training for police officers may help ease tensions between law enforcement
and citizens. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) (2015), states if members of a community feel
their issues are not understood then confidence in law enforcement is severely compromised. The
ADL has designed a program to help law enforcement learn and earn respect in their
communities. This program discusses stereotypes and cultural issues both the community and
officers hold as well as how the community perceives law enforcement and its police safety
implications. It teaches both law enforcement and community members to appreciate the

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

differences and similarities of the different cultures within the community. Moreover, it discusses
negative issues of prejudice and discrimination which empowers them to confront these issues.
Finally, it provides diversity skills which helps with team building and turns knowledge into
skills to help communities.
Community-oriented policing and the community relations model emphasizing working
with the community to solve problems, was started as a reform to police indiscretions.
Community policing means law enforcement going out into the community and forging
relationships with its citizens. They build trust by problem solving with the community.
Community policing bridges the gap between citizens and police by forging the same goal of
preventing and controlling crime. By bridging the gap, relationships and understanding between
police and community members are forged. Furthermore, this helps in solving community issues
(Glenn, R. W. et al, 2003).
Changing the way the community sees law enforcement may not be an easy task. This is
due to how media points out law enforcement indiscretions leading communities to fear the
police. Since law enforcement was established, there has always been police being shunned in
the media for brutality. In 1949, a Los Angeles Times article titled Testimony nears end in vice
squad brutality hearing. In 1943, New Evidence in brutality case starts witness search. In 1938,
beating case inquiry sped: Grand jury may take action against Santa Monica officer. In 1896
Police commissioner: Officer suspended for brutality reinstated by the board. These are all
examples of the media helping cause fear of police in communities. Rarely do police officers
receive acknowledgement of the good deeds they do. Therefore, the media needs to do a better
job of showing the good cops and the good deeds they do. The Huffington Post has numerous
articles they report about where law enforcement went above and beyond to help citizens in their

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

communities. More media outlets need to show these types of stories to help people put faith
back in the police.
Cameras on uniforms sounds like a great idea and would help many issues in police
scuffles. Since the issues in Ferguson and New York City, many people are asking why police do
not have cameras on their uniforms. President Obama is in the process of proposing new
community policing initiatives that would help fund and train police. This includes 50,000 body
cameras (PBS News Hour). By receiving funds for cameras, law enforcement agencies can
protect its citizens and police officers by showing what is happening every time an officer goes
out on a call.
Step 3: Evaluating Possible Solutions (Kelly DeBolt)
Solution one: All police officers should have cameras on their uniforms.
Cameras are in most police cars but these cameras do not give insight on foot chases. If
officers had cameras on their uniforms, we could see the types of interaction occurring outside of
their vehicles. The camera could provide real time insight on what is happening on the scene and
alert dispatchers for additional backup at the scene. Cameras could protect the officer and the
person committing the alleged crime. These tapes would be used in a court of law as evidence of
the encounter. By having these tapes, there would be no question about what happened while the
officers were on scene and they would provide a transparency to ambiguous cases minimizing
bad actions by police officers and suspects (Gillespie, 2014).
Cameras have disadvantages as well. One is the cost. Having cameras placed on every
officer would be expensive and with all the government budget cuts, funding these cameras
would be unlikely. Another disadvantage to cameras would be background noise and movement.
Let us consider a foot chase by a police officer. Usually the police officer runs and breathes hard.
These two factors make it difficult to see what is going on because the camera is constantly

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

moving. Therefore, due to the microphone on the officer, listeners may only be able to hear the
officer and not see what is happening on scene.
Solution Two: Have the news media support the police officers.
News media has a tendency to focus on police officers doing wrong instead of heroic acts
police officers do to help the community. Having the news media support police officers could
help the community see police officers goal in serving and protecting the communities. The
news media could assist in bridging the gap between police officers and the community. Their
support could turn the communities view point of police officers being the villain into police
officers playing a vital role in supporting the community.
As we all know, trying to persuade someone to see a different view point is a difficult
task. Many people see facts from one side and are not willing to look at facts from anothers
point of view. Even if the news media supports the police, there will always be people who
continue to perceive them as villains. Another disadvantage involving police is they may lose
what some people look at as an authoritarian figure. If police officers lose this they may lose
respect within the community. Police officers exist to make people adhere to the law and to
enforce consequences when people do not follow the law. If the news media attempts to give
them a human view, could people in the community think of them as weak? This could result
in what some may perceive as less than an authoritarian figure.
Solution 3: Education on diversity and cultures within the communities.
Educating police officers on different cultures present within the community may be a
solution to this problem. By providing police with education on diversity based upon the variety
of cultures present within their communities, this will help police officers to see people from a
different perspective. Many times, ignorance plays a role in how we perceive a situation. By
providing education on cultures present in the community, this may allow police officers to see
suspects as a person and not a criminal. Currently, police officer training is geared towards
shooting, handcuffing, and the physical part of the job. Naturally, in a stressful situation, the

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

officer will react with what he or she knows best and the physical part of the job is what is
known best (Swarts, 2015). However, if we placed an emphasis on educating police officers on
cultural diversity, they will focus on that as well. By doing this, we may be able to eliminate
some negative perception given to police officers
Some problems with the education may be the cost because government funding
decreases every day. The cost for this training may not be much but if training is not valued by
the police department; it will be one of the first things cut. Another problem with training is the
time needed to train the officers. If we are taking training time away from the logistics of
policing, are we doing what is best for the community? When considering our solutions to this
problem, we need to look at all possible solutions and not be close minded when considering the
best solution. The best solution to this problem may be solution multiplicity; According to
Galanes and Adams (2013), Solution multiplicity is the extent to which there are many different
possible alternatives for solving a particular problem.
Step 4: Consensus Decision Making (Mitch Bredberg)
We contributed many solutions like the news media supporting police officers as well as
police officers having cameras on uniforms. After, we implemented the RISK Technique.
According to Galanes and Adams (2013), the RISK Technique is a procedure for identifying and
dealing with all the risks, fears, doubts, and worries that members have about a new policy or
plan before it is implemented.
Everybody gave their best solution and we all reasoned and backed up our solutions.
However, the optimal solution ended up being a common theme within all the solutions because
it derived from the source of the problem. As a result, once we made the final decision, everyone
was happy with the consensus. The optimal solution is to be educated on diversity and culture of
the communities threatened most by police. We believe this was the best solution because in
order to enhance societys trust in police, everybody needs to step back and learn why all these

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

problems started in the first place. Culture and diversity are so broad and unique at the same
time. Thus, if people can understand the root causes of injustices faced today, we will not make
the same mistakes in the future.
The optimal solution aims to educate the media into learning the bigger picture behind
race issues involving police brutality towards African-Americans instead of reporting about
negativity towards police officers. According to an article in the New York Times in 1949, there
was a protest in Harlem just like events going on today with African-Americans being treated
unfairly. Four Protestant ministers protested against police brutality after an officer shot an
African American male. This education is important because many people rely on the media. The
Baltimore riots are also an example. According to Levy (2015), sixty percent of Americans say
they've been following Gray's death and the subsequent unrest in Baltimore at least somewhat
closely. Forty-seven percent say they've gotten news from local television or radio channels,
forty-three percent from cable news, thirty percent from online news outlets, and thirty percent
from social media. We think of it as a chain reaction. Therefore, in order for everybody to
become educated, society needs to know when this chain reaction fails to happen. As a result,
people will not become attacked with news about riots involving police trying to do their job.
More education needs to be done on certain communities because the rest of the United States
does not know what happens behind the scenes. We only know the general or initial problems the
media portrays. As a society, we need to be on the same page before we start pointing fingers.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation (2015), the
right steps to a better future with police and their communities would be to organize reforms,
form coalitions, monitor police, and educate the public. By doing this, it gives not only the
police, but the public as well, to know more about what is really going on in their organizations
as well as the world. This research from the ACLU helps in confirming the optimal solution of

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

10

how everybody needs to start learning about the root causes of major problems we face on a
daily basis. An important point to make is education starting from the ground up in a sequential
order. The education cannot skip around and assume everybody knows what is going on. This
order is very important because if we want everybody on the same page, we need to understand
the differences of diversity and culture.
Step 5: Implementing (Mark Styx)
According to Smith, the character of law enforcement in the United States is one of its
best features. This feature allows the police force to be held accountable to their community, by
their community. To achieve this, communities and police should be open and honest with each
other about their concerns and expectations. Too often, communities and their police forces view
each other as opposing sides with conflicting interests. Opening the lines of communication
between communities and their police forces will likely decide the fate of our goals. To facilitate
this communication, our first step will be to create a public forum that will bring together police
and community leaders with concerned officers and citizens. This will allow communities to
communicate directly with their police force and enhance the trust on both sides. This forum
should show communities the people who serve as police are a part of the community and their
goals are aligned with the communitys goals.
Relationships are built on trust. Lack of trust between citizens and the police has led to a
strained relationship. This trust needs to be restored to sustain a stable environment. Farmer, Sun,
and Starks suggest cultural diversity training for law enforcement may increase peoples
willingness to cooperate with police officers. Also, the best way to avoid police/public conflicts
is to apply the law impartially. Police forces that are educated on the diversity and culture of the
communities they operate in enhance the trust people have in their police force. Educating the

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

11

police and communities will enable our goals to be met. The police must be educated on the
community in which they serve. Every officer should be aware of the history and culture of the
community. Each member of the police force must exhibit respect for every person and group in
the community they serve. The police force should be educated before they begin serving in a
community as well as routinely over time as the community changes.
The us vs. them attitude of police forces also adds substantial stress to the law
enforcement/community relationship. Chappell and Lanza-Kaduce describe law enforcement as a
paramilitary-bureaucratic organization with intense solidarity and loyalty among members. This
ideology presents a few complications to maintaining a positive enforcement/community
relationship. The two main complications are it creates a culture of mistrust between law
enforcement and outside parties and law enforcement will be less likely to report internal
misconduct to the public. The group climate of law enforcement tends to be overwhelmingly
defensive. Galanes and Adams (2013) describe a defensive climate as one where members
devote significant time and energy into defending their actions or positions. This climate is a
product of the us vs. them attitude of law enforcement as well as the lack of trust between
them and the public. A defensive climate makes any reforms or changes in the groups culture or
processes extremely difficult.
Citizens in the community must be educated on the police force. Citizens should know
why police are operating the way they do and the goals police work towards. The most effective
time to do this is during elementary school and high school. During special circumstances, local
news outlets can inform citizens of the polices operational goals. As police must respect citizens
to be effective, citizens must also respect police for the police to be effective. This mutual respect
will allow police officers to do their jobs effectively while operating in the communitys best

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

12

interest. This strategy of education and communication will be the fulcrum for more effective
police forces that are respected and trusted by their communities.
Conclusion
Regaining respect for police officers is vital to America. Police officers need to feel
supported and valued by their communities. We can do this in several ways. One way we can
support the police officers is to provide them with small cameras. By doing so, there is no
question about how the police officers operate. It would be displayed on the recoded tapes.
Second, we can support them by not focusing on the negative and intimidating part. Instead, we
should focus on the heroic acts. The news media should concentrate on the goal of the police
officers: to serve and protect the community. Our final group decision was to focus on education.
By providing police officers with education on diversity and culture, we give them a way to
respect people for who they are. Education was the most effective way to help bridge the gap
between police officers and the communities they serve. If we do not bridge this gap effectively,
all Americans will lose respect for police officers and will not feel supported by the
communities. As a result, Americans will lose valuable police officers. The end result will be
minimal law enforcement. Thus, decreased law enforcement leads to increased crime within the
communities and increased crime in America.

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

13

References
Anti-Defemation League (2015). Anti-bias training for law enforcement professionals. Retrieved
from http://www.adl.org/education-outreach/anti-bias-education/c/anti-bias-training-forlaw.html#.VZlWlI3QceE. (Amanda Hubbard)
American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation. (2015). Fighting Police Abuse: A
Community Action Manual. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/fighting-police-abusecommunity-action-manual (Mitch Bredberg)
Beating case inquiry sped grand jury mat take action against Santa Monica Officer. (1938,
August 22). The Los Angeles Times, p.A17. (Amanda Hubbard)

Chappell, A., & Lanza-Kaduce, L. (2009). Police Adademy Socialization: Understanding the
Lessons Learned in a Paramilitary- Bureaucratic Organization. Journal of Contemporary
Ethnography, 39(2), 187-214. Retrieved July 6, 2015, from Sage Journals. (Mark Styx)

Farmer, A., Sun, I., & Starks, B. (2015). Willingness to Record Police-Public Encounters: The
Impact of Race and Social and Legal Consciousness. Race and Justice, 10, 1-22.
Retrieved July 6, 2015, from Sage Journals. (Mark Styx)

Galanes, G. J. & Adams, K. (2013). Effective group discussion: Theory and practice. New York,
NY: McGraw Hill. (Kelly DeBolt) (Susan Dierking) (Mitch Bredberg) (Amanda
Hubbard) (Mark Styx)

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

14

Gillespie, N. (2014, December 4). Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/3618870/eric-garnerferguson-cameras-cops/ (Kelly DeBolt)

Glenn, R. W., Pantich, B. R., Barnes-Proby, D., Williams, E., Christian, J., Lewis, M. W.,
Gerwehr, S., & Brannan, D. W. (2003). Training the 21st century police officer:
Redefining police professionalism for the Los Angeles police department. Retrieved from
http://assets.lapdonline.org/assets/pdf/boi_rand_03_03_31.pdf. (Amanda Hubbard)
Levy, A. (2015, May 11). America Is Deeply Divided Over How Media Covers Race, Police
Misconduct. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/11/media-policepoll_n_7259942.html (Mitch Bredberg)

New evidence in brutality case starts witness search. (1943, January 31). The Los Angeles
Times, p. 9. PBS NewsHour (2014, December 17). Making body cameras part of a police
officers uniform. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/making-bodycameras-part-police-officers-uniform/. (Amanda Hubbard)
PBS NewsHour (2014, December 17). Making body cameras part of a police officers
uniform. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/making-body-cameras-partpolice-officers-uniform/. (Amanda Hubbard)
Police Brutality Protested in Harlem. (1949, Nov 14); ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The
New York Times. Pg. 10. (Mitch Bredberg)

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

15

Police commissioner: Officer suspended for brutality reinstated by the board. (1896, March
11). The Los Angeles Times, p. 9. Testimony nears end in vice squad brutality hearing.
(1949, July 10). The Los Angeles Times, p. 7. (Amanda Hubbard)
Smith, B. (1929). Municipal Police Administration. The ANNALS of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, 146(1), 1-27. Retrieved July 6, 2015, from Sage Journals.
(Mark Styx)

Swarts, P. (2015, January 13). Police need better training and community relations, presidential
task force is told. Retrieved from The Washington Times:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/13/police-brutality-solutions-aretraining-community-/?page=all (Kelly DeBolt)

The New York Times. (2015). The Race Gap in Americas Police Departments. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/03/us/the-race-gap-in-americas-policedepartments.html?_r=0 (Susan Dierking)

THE SHAME OF ILLINOIS. (1917, Jul 04). Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1922) Retrieved
from http://0-search.proquest.com.libcat.ferris.edu/docview/174224619?accountid=10825
(Susan Dierking)

HOW POLICE OFFICERS REGAIN COMMUNITY RESPCT AFTER POLICE

16