Integrity In Law Enforcement

In my opinion the most important issue facing law enforcement today, is public perceptions of police integrity. Integrity is defined as being honest and impartial (Webster, 2016). Generally speaking, in 2016, mistrust of police is at an all-time high. This sentiment can be seen in the media headlines, by peaceful and sometimes chaotic protests, and the massive amount of police reform bills being sent for review to congress. When there is a pervasive culture of bad behavior within police departments nationwide, there has to be police reform legislation to punish corrupt incompetent officers and sometimes departments.
For example, the Cleveland Police Department was investigated by the Department of Justice and found to be in violation of its citizen’s civil rights by using excessive force (Justice Department Reaches Agreement, 2015). Also, the Baltimore Police Department was found to be in violation of at least four (4) constitutional laws when interacting with its citizens, particularly African Americans (Justice Department Announces Findings, 2016). The aforementioned cases all pertain to the African American inner-city population.
History shows that there has always been mistrust between minority communities and predominately white police departments that police these communities. Furthermore, as long as minority communities remain victims of excessive racial profiling and unwarranted illegal searches, then community and police relationships will continue to fail. Nonetheless, there has to be accountability for police officers old and new when they are in the field making life changing decisions.
With the dominance of mobile cameras and continual evidence of police misconduct, culpability has to be enforced for criminals and police alike. African Americans are being killed whether they are armed or not at an alarming rate. Public outrage has nothing to do with being anti-police but outraged at the lack of unnecessary deadly force being used against minorities. Communities deserve to live without fear of law enforcement. Officers take an oath to protect and serve the community; Officers did not take an oath to protect themselves and no one else. Until officers are prosecuted the same as criminals, for crimes that they have in fact committed, then perceptions of police integrity will not
change. On the positive side, at least 26 states have implemented laws that pertain to police reform since 2014 (Breitenbach, 2015). These changes focus on police training, policies, practices, body cameras, psychiatric evaluations, recruiting and much more. As a result, more attention has been given to the complaints of the disenfranchised that have been ignored for far too long. Despite, legislation that has passed, there is still work to be done by the community, the police, and the governing body to ensure public safety.