Trusting Police in Mistrustful Times

Since 1973, the Gallup polling organization has charted the ups and downs of confidence/trust in major American Institutions from the United States Supreme Court to the US military;?from organized religion to newspapers. The poll includes ratings of the level of trust and confidence in police.?In the past few years, trust in all these institutions has decreased

Law enforcement has long been concerned about the issue of public trust. Ultimately, effective law enforcement in a democracy runs on community trust.

For 2021, law enforcement earned a combined score of only 51% in the poll’s two categories “a great deal” and “quite a lot” of trust.?Only 51 percent.?This is a lower percentage of trust in police than a few years ago when the trust level reached the high fifties to low sixties.

In 2021, Gallup found the most trusted institution was “small business” with about 70% of people polled noting “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of trust in that institution.?The second most trusted institution was “the military” which rated a combined score of 69 % .?

And the third most trusted ??For 2021 law enforcement is the third most trusted institution in America behind small business and the military.?Only 51%.?But in the midst of a current national epidemic of mistrust 51% places police as America’s third most trusted institution.?

All other institutions rate lower.?Congress, television news, large businesses and the criminal justice system all fall below 20%.?The medical system and organized religion fare better but at only 44% and 37% respectively.

So, does 51% mean we can we rest on our laurels ??No.

Mistrust even in mistrustful times brings little comfort for law enforcement where trust relationships matter every day.??Police are, traditionally, the most responsive government service: available 24/7, with a three-digit telephone number and respond in person to all manner of emergency and non-emergency issues alone or in small numbers.?Often, police respond to situations in which there are disputes and anger and operating from a position of trust can be key to successful outcomes.

The issue of trust emerges more starkly in the Gallup ratings of police when responses broken down by race.?Black Americans in 2021 rate confidence in police at a level of only 19% versus 51% for all racial/ethnic groups combined.?This wider trust gap is at the forefront of current issues of community trust in police.

These numbers not only reflect current reality, they emerge from a long historical record.?Reversing the trust-eroding legacy of this record is important to all of us.??Why??

First, because the collective condition of the lives of black Americans is a barometer of how well America is doing: whether America is what it claims to be. How well America actually does stand for equality and “liberty and justice for all.”

But mistrust of police also has created a barrier to lowering the heartbreaking, unacceptably high victimization rates within black communities. Ultimately, enhancing trust is necessary to law enforcement’s mission of protecting life and property while upholding individual rights.??

This situation cannot be solved with platitudes or sensitivity training or celebrations of “brotherhood week.”?It’s far more important than that.?And far more difficult. ?

The thing we sometimes over-look is that trust is reciprocal.?Law enforcement needs to earn the trust of the community.?That is step one.?But the community also needs to support that by fostering and extending trust.

Trust involves entering into a relationship of mutual risk.?As Americans, we can choose to spin apart or we can take on the difficult work of accepting personal responsibility of pulling ourselves back together.?Taking on the risk is necessary because white America and black America are intricately and acutely linked. We are part of the same profound, amazing and hopeful as well as too often disreputable 402 year history.?The fate and the future of America are tied to this fact.?

In striving to improve trust between citizens and police, simply counting one another’s shortcomings won’t cut it.?And neither will directing anger toward those who point to our own flaws.?Strong, effective, ethical and equitable policing isn’t going to come about by longing for some non-existent “good old days” nor by deciding that a reoccurrence of past blunders or atrocities is somehow inevitable.?

It will only come about by constructive confrontation and the unforgiving necessity of co-operation.

First step ??Let’s talk very frankly about expectations: mutual expectations.?Yes, once again, the greater burden is on law enforcement because . . . well, because nobody forced us to be here. We stepped forward and we volunteered and obligated ourselves when we swore an oath.?

But there is also a burden on citizens.?White citizens and black citizens and all citizens.?A burden to engage in the work of setting expectations for ourselves and our communities.??Essential expectations about safety and order and civility and ethical conduct. Basic, fundamental expectations about what we owe one another. And not just about what America owes all of us.???

Paul A. Pastor, PhD (Yale University) Sheriff of Pierce County Washington, Retired