IDENTIFY RISK FACTORS AND DEVELOP TARGETED INTERVENTIONS
The next step is to partner with communities to better understand risk factors for inequitable policing and develop targeted interventions to address them.
We give specific recommendations for some initial ways to reduce risk by strengthening written policies and accountability structures, two evidence-informed strategies to reduce the risk of inequitable policing.
Engage the community in reimagining public safety
Focus groups or community surveys may have been set up already to gain insight into the situations driving disparities in stops or use of force incidents. You can then build on those to establish standing community meetings in order to share updates on plans for reform and get ongoing input.
To make standing community meetings successful:
1
Clearly set up committee objectives.
Consider how the committee’s meeting schedule and structure contribute to those goals. Meetings should be scheduled well in advance of implementing a planned reform, and you should provide necessary contextual information for feedback. It is important to continuously collect feedback from community members in racial groups that experience disparities, and engage with that feedback to co-create committee objectives with community members.
2
Act on the feedback received from these community forums to the greatest extent possible, and make it clear when you do so.
3
Discuss the available and potential responses to any identified situations that are associated with disparities.
Ideally, relevant stakeholders would then decide whether police need to be involved in the scenario, or if there are other governmental or community resources that could meet public safety needs, such as mental health services. For more information, see CPE’s guidance on how jurisdictions can assess which resources meet their needs, as well as recommendations on redesigning traffic safety, school safety, and mental health emergency response.
Even if police are the only available resource, departments should consider using less harmful or burdensome methods (such as law enforcement-assisted diversion, specialized mental health teams, use of citation in lieu of arrest, or a change in enforcement priorities). The following policy guidance can help address risk of racial disparities in situations where continued police contact is anticipated.
Improve racial profiling policy
These policies should state that a person’s racial group or other protected characteristics may not be used as a motivating factor in deciding whether to take enforcement action except as part of a specific, reliable suspect description that links a specific person to a particular unlawful incident. Racial profiling policies should also state that information about protected characteristics may only be considered in combination with additional identifying characteristics or information for purposes of identification.
Improve use of force policy
1
Require officers to promptly intervene in the moment and report if they see a fellow officer using excessive force.
2
Mandate that officers provide or call for medical care for any person injured by police use of force, as well as anyone in police custody who requires medical attention.
Specify which officers are covered by the mandate and state that medical aid must be summoned and provided as soon as possible, unless providing or calling for such assistance would be dangerous or impossible. Avoid vague phrases such as “if feasible.”
3
State that use of deadly force is a last resort, and is only authorized when other reasonable alternatives have been exhausted or would clearly be ineffective at preventing an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury.
4
Prohibit the use of chokeholds and neckholds.
Specifically, prohibit the use of any hold or contact with the neck that may inhibit breathing or blood flow or that applies pressure to the front, side, or back of the neck.
5
Restrict the use of restraint methods that can cause breathing impairment or positional asphyxia.
Train officers to recognize and avoid positions and restraints that can unintentionally cause life-threatening breathing impairment. Specifically, prohibit the use of any “hog-tying” technique and the placement of an officer’s body weight on the back of a prone (i.e., flat and chest down), restrained person. Require that officers carefully monitor prone restrained people to ensure they are breathing properly.
6
Clarify expectations around use of weapons associated with use of force disparities.
If data analyses reveal that use of a particular weapon drives use of force disparities, review policies governing use of that weapon to ensure that they are clear and specific enough for an officer, supervisor, or member of the public to know whether an officer’s behavior falls within or outside of policy.
If data analyses reveal that disparities are consistent among uses of all or most types of force, departments should explore broad interventions that reduce the use of all types of force, such as changes to departmental policy and organizational culture.
7
Mandate the use of de-escalation tactics.
Evidence shows that split-second decision-making is a risk factor for racial bias in behavior, including deploying the use of force. Policies on de-escalation can minimize this risk factor by offering specific examples of de-escalation tactics that can be used to reduce the need for force, such as using distance and cover, tactical repositioning, waiting out a suspect, “slowing down” situations to allow for more time for resolution, requesting additional resources, using verbal persuasion, or calling the crisis intervention team. Policies should also instruct officers to consider whether a person’s non-compliance might be the result of a disability, medical issue, mental health problem, or language barrier. To promote de-escalation, require that officers document and explain in use of force reports the de-escalation tactics used to avoid or minimize the need for force.
8
Require officers to use the minimal amount of force necessary.
A growing number of departments have set standards that go beyond the minimum constitutional standard that force be “objectively reasonable” and instead require that force be limited to the minimum amount necessary to effect an arrest or protect the officer or others.
Support policies through organizational culture
1
Require that officers provide a daily narrative description of their vehicle and pedestrian stops, and any use of force incidents, to their supervisors that details the justification for each stop.
Supervisors should review these reports promptly to ensure stops are supported by reasonable suspicion or probable cause, and both stops and uses of force are consistent with department policy. This approach can also be applied to other outcomes, such as searches, that show consistent unexplained disparities.
2
Train officers and supervisors on the standards for their behavior, so that they can approach high-risk situations in the same way.
For example, written policies on interactions with people with disabilities must be supported by specific training on how officers can identify when a person they are engaging with has a condition that may affect their ability to communicate or cooperate. Policy implementation planning should specify how officers will receive information about new policy (for example, during roll call and via email) and when formal training will occur. Because training can be expensive, departments may benefit from a regular training schedule which creates dedicated time for officers to receive training on, for example, policies issued each quarter.
3
Make sure resources support policy.
Officers should have the resources necessary to follow written policy. If, for example, officers are required to call a Crisis Intervention Team when they encounter people experiencing mental health crises, the department should ensure that CIT trained officers are scheduled on every shift.
4
Strengthen accountability systems.
Broadly speaking, social science research demonstrates that people are less likely to fall into patterns of discriminatory behavior when expectations of behavior are clear and unambiguous. Departments and communities may be able to reduce the risk of racially disparate policing by strengthening or creating internal and external systems of accountability, including:
- Early Intervention Systems and Early Warning Systems
- Systems for receiving and investigating civilian complaints
- Force investigation and review procedures
- Disciplinary policies and procedures
- Civilian oversight agencies
5
Identify additional risk factors and opportunities to regulate and redesign public safety services.
By taking the challenging work described in this guidance, you will have made significant progress toward understanding and tackling the racial disparities revealed in your Justice Navigator results. However, you can and should consider additional policy innovations based on local needs to build on this initial guidance. Departments should also work closely with community and local government leaders to identify opportunities to invest in Black and Brown communities.
