The Obama-appointed task force on “21st Century Policing” is out with its report, recommending reforms like increased transparency with regard to office-involved shootings and moving away from military-style operations like those seen in Ferguson.
The current task force essentially has no authority and is mostly a symbolic move from the administration: the president is under no obligation to listen to them, and many local policing matters are out of his hands anyway. It included 11 members, and was headed by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and George Mason University criminology professor Laurie Robinson.
The task force was particularly concerned by the “decentralized” nature of police forces across the country, and suggested as its “overarching” recommendation the creation of a “National Crime and Justice Task Force” which would “review and evaluate all components of the criminal justice system for the purpose of making recommendations to the country on comprehensive criminal justice reform.”
The report argues that police often become the face of all problems with the justice system, but that “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.”
It also recommends more data to be released on incidents like officer-involved shootings, which are notoriously difficult to track. This, the authors believe, “will demonstrate the transparency to the public that can lead to mutual trust between community and law enforcement.”
When it comes to containing demonstrations, they encourage police to “minimize the appearance of a military operation and avoid using provocative tactics and equipment that undermine civilian trust.”
“[T]he justice system alone cannot solve many of the underlying conditions that give rise to crime,” the report states. “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.”
Obama echoed that sentiment Monday, saying, “A lot of our work is going to involve local police chiefs, local elected officials, states recognizing that the moment is now for us to make these changes. We have a great opportunity, coming out of some great conflict and tragedy, to really transform how we think about community law enforcement relations so that everybody feels safer and our law enforcement officers feel, rather than being embattled, feel fully supported.”
The recommendations come just as the DOJ’s reportedly critical findings on Ferguson are about to be released.
