When Kneeling is Not Enough: How Local Leaders Can Bring Real Police Reform to Their Communities

As the ineptitude of national leadership seems to bring so many of our institutions to their knees, we watched in horror as a uniformed knee ended the life of another black man, George Floyd. I don’t think we will ever forget, nor should we, his calling out for his mama and begging for his life in the words, “I can’t breathe.” His senseless loss of life, so horrifically displayed for the world to see, is a defining moment for our society. George Floyd lost his opportunity to stand up to make a difference; to stand up and change his life or anyone else’s for the better; to just plain stand up. A seemingly racist murderer, with 17 internal affairs investigations involving 18 complaints of misconduct, took that away from him. He did this while adorned in a taxpayer paid police uniform and taxpayer paid protective gear. 

 In what seems to be a clear and long overdue tipping point on systemic racism in police work, many are calling for defunding of police departments and a radical transformation of what “to protect and serve” means. Society vests police officers with extraordinary authority – the power to detain, arrest and use deadly force. That need may never completely go away; however, the application of those authorities is unequal and excessive on the black community and that needs to change now and once and for all. As policy makers, voters, Black Lives Matter and those that stand for a just and humane society are demanding sweeping reforms, what on the short term can local leaders do? How can they involve their communities in police operations and make those operations more transparent? How can they give their constituents, especially those in their marginalized communities, a voice in public safety? In essence, how do they give their police departments back to their communities.

These recommendations come from my own experiences in working with and overseeing police departments.  I was the human resources director serving three different police departments. I also oversaw a municipal police department as a city manager. My experiences were in general law, charter and civil service cities. Everything I propose could be implemented in any of those governance structures. They may seem like small steps, but monumental change doesn’t really happen in government, especially at the federal level. At that level, police reform will be the new gun control. It will be partisan, and everyone will just talk about it. For police reform to grow legs, it will happen at the local level and within communities. These recommendations are for those local leaders and communities who will take this watershed moment and produce the broad, societal steps to stamp out systemic racism.  The recommendations are in the categories of hiring practices & job retention; internal affairs investigations and transparency; and collective bargaining.

Hiring Practices & Job Retention

Community Based Hiring

In most law enforcement agencies, candidates must pass physical agility tests, psychological exams and criminal background checks. There is no community input on these hiring decisions. Community panels are typically reserved for only the top-level positions in law enforcement. 

It is time to include community panels at all levels of police hiring. It is the community that can best determine which candidates will more likely fulfill their service, safety and protection needs. More importantly, community members can best ascertain which officers have the philosophy, attitude and values to help them build their communities.

These community panels should be comprised of members of marginalized groups. In a panel process, the value isn’t only the responses to interview questions, but also to get a sense of how the candidate interacts with different members of a group. Community members from stakeholder groups such as Black Lives Matter; the faith-based community; educational partners and minority-owned small businesses should serve on these panels. The representative members from these groups should be selected by the respective groups, not publicly elected or appointed officials. Lastly, there should be some informal, social time included between the candidate and panelists. I call this the “breaking bread” moments where people can really connect or, in some instances, not. Those moments are invaluable in any hiring process.

Probationary Period

Within the first 90 days of employment, each new officer should be required to attend meetings of these groups and be actively engaged with them; especially those groups representing people of color (POC). Police officers need to know who they serve and join them and help them achieve their respective missions. I am not suggesting officers act as social workers or educators, but rather get involved with these groups and help them with any of their safety and security concerns. If shelter and safety are the first steps towards self-actualization, then officers can ensure all communities have that peace of mind. That will only happen if police officers work within these groups. Officers should submit a report on how they feel they can serve these groups prior to passing their probationary periods. Those reports should be reviewed by the respective group with any comments or suggestions. These community groups should inform the decision of whether or not an officer passes his/her probation period within the department and continues to serve them.

Job Requirements

As it relates to police officer job requirements, those need to be reexamined; especially as it relates to arrest records and some felony convictions. How are members of marginalized communities supposed to have opportunities within these systems when they are disproportionately penalized by them? The relationship between criminal record and hire rate clearly has an adverse impact and that needs to be addressed. Getting more diversity in safety personnel will help the system change from within.

Psychological examinations should not be required just at the time of hire. Police work is tough. Police work is stressful. Police work takes a cumulative toll on the mind and body. There should be recurring psychological tests for sworn, law enforcement personnel. If the examinations detect issues, counseling and other remedies should be required and then a decision made if the officer should remain employed.

Internal Affairs Investigations

Transparency

Depending on the nature of the allegation internal affairs investigations are not always public records. In California, SB-1421 Peace Officer: Release of Records Act was passed in 2018. That law makes certain types of investigatory records available to the public pursuant to the California Public Records Act. Excessive force specifically against POC is not included in that act. The laws around transparency seem to be changing on a state-by-state basis, but at the local level there are measures leaders can put into place. Each department should be required to post the number of internal affairs investigations it is conducting and how many it has conducted in each fiscal year on the agency website. Those statistics should be specifically shared with community-based groups. At public meetings, the community and department should discuss, in general terms, what the department is doing to better serve the community and reduce a trend of increasing investigations.

Police Department Funding

An annual report related to investigations should be sent to the elected body of each agency. Whether that be a City Council or Board of Supervisors, there should be a public discussion about the trends within the agency and what the department is doing to improve relations with the community it serves. Funding for each department should be partially predicated on these reports.

Collective Bargaining

Agreements and Performance

Police union collective bargaining agreements (or memoranda of understanding) should have broader “reopeners.”  Reopeners allow labor agreements to be reopened prior to their expiration to discuss certain terms and conditions. There should be reopeners related to excessive internal affair investigations and other trends that are adversely impacting the community and POC within the community. The majority of costs in the police departments are personnel related and typically “locked in” until the contract expires. There should be annual reopeners so community could provide input on overall police performance, internal affairs investigations and community participation and outreach. If the community is not satisfied, economic packages should be renegotiated.

Community Group Input

At the onset of collective bargaining, community groups should be part of the opening meeting. They should be able to voice their opinion of the department to both the union and the public agency. The needs of the community should be at the forefront of any monetary rewards and their interests should be the touchstones of each and every proposal in the collective bargaining process.

Discipline

The number of steps in the disciplinary process should be reduced and any officer facing termination should have a public hearing. The community has a right to know what the officer is accused of to get to that level of discipline and the justification for the final verdict. The privacy rights of the officer no longer supersede the communities’ interests. These matters should be adjudicated in the public domain.

No matter what shape or form police work may take in the future, some immediate steps need to happen now. Short term political maneuvers such as renaming a department to “public safety” or looking at consent decrees as data for new practices and policies are shallow and ineffective. If consent decrees worked, we wouldn’t be protesting and having these conversations. This moment beckons our local leaders to stand up and engage their communities in police operations and effectuate real change now. The local elected and appointed leaders I know will stand up for their communities, for what is right, and for George Floyd and so many others that needlessly went before him.

Dr. Bell has served in leadership positions in the public and private sector. He holds a masters' degree in public administration with an emphasis in public personnel management. He also holds a doctorate in organizational leadership. He served as Assistant City Manager and City Manager of a Silicon Valley municipal organization where he oversaw the police department. He is currently the Chief HR and Talent Officer for Pierry Inc, A Wunderman Thompson/NA company.