Serve and Protect

As I watch the events of the last couple of weeks unfold, and reflect on past incidents of police/citizen encounters, I recall the words of my police ethics instructor, the late Dr. Michael Caldero, “Police hold a monopoly on the legitimate use of coercive force.” I’ve often shared this trainees, to help them begin to realize the awesome responsibility of law enforcement, and to engage in a discussion of that legitimacy – where it comes from, and how it is maintained.

The short answer is community. Law enforcement agencies attempt to select officers from the community because legitimacy grows out of community association, effective community relations, and most importantly, knowledge. Officers born and raised in the community they police have an understanding of the social, political, and economic issues that intimately inform their response to conflict. This can be a challenge where community members expect to receive a break from the officer who grew up with them, however, as police trainers we must encourage officers to be consistent while remaining open to learning new ways to resolve conflict and restore peace and justice.

As Dr. Caldero pointed out, legitimacy of the police is tenuous at best, and needs constant attention. Though I will never have first hand understanding of racial injustice and resulting disparities, I can actively seek out and learn from those who have and use that knowledge to form more appropriate responses to conflict.

Take, for example, a discussion my husband and I had the other day. He recounted an incident involving an African American patient who sought treatment at the ER he managed. The patient eventually became combative, complaining that he was not being timely treated. Eventually, the white nursing staff called the police after the increasingly agitated patient pushed a nurse. Now, I obviously was not present during this altercation. I do not know exactly why this particular patient was in the ER that day (HIPPA and all), nor do I know specifically why this particular patient became disruptive. But I do know, in general, the medical field has treated African-American patients differently, often skeptical of their complaints, and more hesitant to prescribe pain medication. I asked my husband if nursing staff had acknowledged the legitimacy of the patient’s feelings by communicating an understanding of the racial disparity in medical care, and then assured the patient they were doing their utmost best to provide the same medical care for this patient as all their other patients, if that might have changed the outcome. He agreed, it likely could have.

This is just one example of how the words we chose to use, the ability to communicate an understand of disparity, to acknowledge feelings of anger, frustration, and resentment all matter more than we might realize. Acknowledging the legitimacy of ones feelings is a critical part of conflict resolution.

The pen continues to be our mightiest weapon in law enforcement – meaning our words make a significant impact, but as we see in the new videos released daily our actions still speak louder than those words. Police use force every day, the marked car, uniforms, duty belts, command presence, all give rise to a certain level of force. When words fail, and they will, our force actions must also be consistent.

Our actions must reflect an analytical approach to force options that takes race out of the equation. Ask yourself, what is the suspect doing and what response is necessary and appropriate given the actions and environment. I am going to ask you to go one step further and change the way you think about the application of force. I am going to ask you to think, how do the circumstances limit your actions, i.e., what is the least restrictive action available to resolve the conflict.

Finally, we are all professionals, and as such, must step up to police ourselves. If you see an officer acting inappropriately take a stand and call them out. Police have a monopoly on the legitimate use of coercive force, but to maintain that legitimacy we must think critically about the community who grants us that legitimacy and police ourselves to ensure that we are all acting in the best interests of that community. Who do we serve and protect? The community.