Commonsence Solutions
The solutions to bring the United States back from the brink of catastrophic governmental system failures rest in our nation’s ability to partner academic knowledge and scientifically proven best policing practices, void of news media sensationalism, to unmuzzle our nation’s police officers. Stuntz (2006) argues restoring faith in law enforcement would require a strategic partnership, sharply focused on causation factors of imprisonment such as poverty, lack of education, and bias policing practices.
This researcher acknowledges the importance of focusing on causation factors as well as extraordinary, well balanced and well-researched work on racial bias in law enforcement being conducted by researchers like Lois James, Ph.D., who assert that racial disparities are irrefutable in law enforcement but suggest that racial disparities do not necessarily equal bias (2019). And, while a focus on disparities is important, the current study and researcher suggest that a sharp focus must also be placed on the muzzling factors that are causing police officers to become less proactive and more doubtful and hesitant to provide fundamental duties to ensure the safety of our communities. Specifically: (a) research on policing that does not accurately portray the lived experience of police officers, (b) infotainment news media, (c) decriminalization, referred to by this researcher as “legalization by legislation,” (d) lack of law enforcement executive support, and (e) counterproductive policies/laws such as The California Act to Save Lives (AB 392) which threatens to be another nail in the coffin of law enforcement. Failure to identify and address the current disparate factors affecting police officers will continue to add to police officers’ fears, frustrations, deaths, and unwillingness to serve and protect the citizens of the United States.
Implications for Action
The Muzzling of the Sheepdog study identified the following implications for further action. The entities or groups are identified, as are the specific steps required to support the actions.
Implication for Action 5 – National K-12 Constitutional Rights Curricula
Based upon the information in this study, this researcher urges that partnerships between the U.S. Department of Education, State Boards of Education, and law enforcement throughout the nation be fostered to design K-12 curricula that seek to teach citizens of the United States their Constitutional Rights and responsibilities under state and federal laws. This approach would be in line with the public health framework of social change and would lead to increased trust in police and the criminal justice system and future decreases in violations of laws leading to police-citizen contacts. Although many of these lessons are taught in history classes, a direct focus on the implications of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and constitutional policing is especially needed within our nation's schools. For instance, the basic laws that cover police contacts should be taught to school-aged youth. The curriculum should focus on indicating what a police officer can and cannot legally do as well as emphasize a citizen’s responsibilities in a police contact. Additionally, citizens should be taught of their duty under the Constitution and State laws to submit to arrest, even in cases of a false arrest. Citizens must also be taught about their recourse for false arrest, the legal process for redress, and the consequences of resisting arrest.
The curriculum should be responsive to the age of the student. For instance, high-school level students should not only attend driver’s training to learn the rules of the road, as young Americans they should be taught about their search and seizure protections granted under the Fourth Amendment as well as what to do and what not to do during a traffic stop by police officers to decrease potential force escalation.
The goal of this type of curriculum and training would be to increase American citizens’ knowledge of the law and to decrease potential force conflicts with law enforcement as a result of resistance based upon ill-informed knowledge of rights.
Additionally, this type of training would be geared toward reducing mistakes in fact by police officers in use of force situations, which has been a factor in police officers shooting unarmed citizens. By creating awareness of the expectations of both police officers and citizens during police contacts, the public and government can align expectations and ensure better outcomes and compliance with the rules of law.
Implication for Action 4 – Tactical Safety Zones
Based on the information in the study, police officer associations and unions should be concerned and proactively working with community rights protection groups to advocate for new laws that protect the public’s right to capture police conduct, but also protect police officers by instituting a tactical safe-zone that prohibits any person from intentionally entering the operational space, for the purpose of recording, filming, or any action that deters, distracts, or interferes with a police officer’s actions during a police officer contact, detention or arrest.
This type of legislation would help to safeguard the public’s interest in transparency and police officers from the weaponized use of the cellphone vigilante journalist claiming to know their rights, who are seeking to encourage negative behaviors by criminal actors in society. They should also work to halt news media’s exploitation of this sort of gorilla-media that further suppresses police officers’ proactivity and jeopardizes officer and public safety.
Implication for Action 3 – Public Safety Charter Schools
Recruitment and retention should be a critical focus of both State and Federal governments. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher recommends law enforcement develop partnerships with school districts and create K-12 public safety charter schools to educate future public safety professionals without compromising current standards for selection to become a police officer, firefighter, or Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). In the current national climate, law enforcement is facing a shortage of qualified candidates. Most police officers, who once served as a major recruiting tool for law enforcement, state they would not want their children to become police officers. Add to this sentiment the recent decriminalization of drug laws across the nation and it becomes clear the pool of qualified candidates is quickly drying up.
Law enforcement is on the verge of a major recruitment crisis, which has not been fully realized. The legalization of marijuana and lowering of penalties for possession of substances, including heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and many other drugs in many states, and increased access to drugs at younger ages means that without meaningful intervention, law enforcement will either be forced to lower its standards for selection or be forced to run short-staffed with an already overworked workforce. At some agencies, loosening of standards regarding drug use disqualifiers has already begun to occur to fill police officer vacancies. The establishment of public safety charter schools will create the opportunity not only to fill future public servant positions but also to enhance future police officers’ skill sets, ethics, and knowledge of communities in unprecedented ways.
Implication for Action 2 – Critical-incident Media Training for Executives
Sheriffs, Chiefs, top-level police executives and command staff need to reevaluate their personal and agencies’ responses to media scrutiny. In the perception of police officers, the response by executive-level law enforcement officials has far too often become one of damming the police officers’ actions. Police officers further perceive police executives make politically driven statements to appease the masses, riled by news media’s sensationalized reporting of police officer-involved incidents, prior to the completion of a full investigation. Furthermore, the perception of police officers is that police executives are bending to political and community pressures and setting negative precedents based on optics rather than legal standing.
The researcher suggests the development of critical-incident media training for police executives that focuses on striking the right balance of (a) news media reporting narrative clarification via release of verified facts, (b) assuring the community of transparency, (c) avoiding speculation or immediate release of body camera footage to appease media or public outcry, (d) focus on the investigative process, rather than allowing trial by public opinion by feeding the media’s appetite for access to video evidence, (e) preservation of police officer confidence by adhering to investigative best practices of presenting or making comments about police officer conduct only after the investigative and administrative processes are complete.
Implication for Action 1 – News Media Ethics Police Academy (NMEPA)
Based on the findings of the current study, the researcher recommends a partnership between a top-ten university journalism program and regionally accredited Police Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Police training academy and the creation of a News Media Ethics Police Academy (NMEPA) focused on the ethical reporting of news stories when police officers are involved. The 15-week certification course of instruction, taught by law enforcement professors, journalism professors, police tactical staff, and professional journalists, would provide an immersive study into present-day policing dynamics, with emphasis on case law, laws of arrest, force science, journalistic ethics, and real-world first-hand knowledge of news media. The admission process should be highly competitive and selection for participation in the NMEPA based upon strong academic performance, clean background, recommendations, and pledge to abide by the highest standards of journalistic integrity. The course would also be open to civilian-oversight Police Commissioners. Upon successful completion, participants would earn a Certificate of Law Enforcement Ethics and Science.
This researcher asserts that a free news media is one of the elements, if not the most important, in a democracy. The Founding Fathers of the United States asserted this belief in the Bill of Rights, by explicit annunciation in the First Amendment, prohibiting Congress from creating any law prohibiting the exercise of free speech, peaceful assembly, petition of the government for redress of grievances, or of the press (United States Constitution, 1789). Although freedom of the press is a right, it comes with great responsibility. In news media’s current form of infotainment presented as hard news, this researcher argues that news media is abusing its power, authority and influence in the name of financial gain and failing to uphold the nine Principles of Journalism (a) journalism’s first obligation is to the truth, (b) its first loyalty is to citizens, (c) its essence is discipline of verification, (d) its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover, (e) it must serve as an independent monitor of power, (f) it must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise, (g) it must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant, (h) it must keep the news comprehensive and proportional, and (i) its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.
In the development of this recommendation, the researcher spoke with news media anchors and producers of prominent news organizations. It became apparent to this researcher that they shared many of the same frustrations as police officers, of feeling criticized by police officers and the public over the job they do as reporters. One news media anchor stated his station often receives “tweets” and e-mails chastising the news station for being too favorable toward police officers. Regarding law enforcement’s perception that news media is slanted or intentionally misleading, they believed this frustration could be the result of the press publishing or broadcasting news stories containing only the information available at the time. They stated its common for stories about police actions to only present the story from the alleged suspect’s point of view because law enforcement is oftentimes unwilling to provide statements to the press about newsworthy events. As discussions continued with the journalist, it became clear to this researcher that the gap between law enforcement and news media was a lack of clear understanding of legal limitations placed on law enforcement involved in ongoing investigations, geared toward protecting the victim, suspect, and the judicial process.
The news media professionals expressed to this researcher that they and many of their colleagues have high regard for law enforcement and the work they do. They acknowledged how law enforcement officers could form the perception that news media has an appetite for sensationalized stories or is motivated to boost ratings, revenues, and relevance. The journalists argued that their intent is to tell good stories, to provide timely, accurate accounts of events, and like police officers, they say journalists are often not well compensated for the work they do.
In relation to law enforcement, Marion (2002) argues news media shapes the American public’s political views and perceptions on crime and the criminal justice system. In 1999, about 19 years after the inception of the 24-hour news cycle, media professionals overwhelmingly stated their profession had blurred the lines between reporting and commentary, and news and entertainment (Rosenstiel et al., 1999). Today, news media is still facing the challenge of addressing perceptions of waning adherence to the Principles of Journalism, especially when reporting on police matters. This gap is particularly precarious concerning the preservation of our Democracy. The aftermath of destruction in Ferguson, Missouri, is just one example of how news media stories lacking accurate, verified, reliable facts, presented in context can incite violence. Like law enforcement, the news media and the press need to be more accountable. News media reforms must be undertaken to restore the profession and journalistic integrity.
Since the inception of law enforcement in the U.S., the profession has undergone reforms to professionalize practice, standards, and ethics of the profession. In the last 30 years, law enforcement has faced an increased number of challenges calling for the profession to reconcile its practice to reflect the ethics and values expressed in the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics. Law enforcement is often criticized for its propensity to “hide behind the badge,” specifically regarding the application of force and perceived bias, which has prompted greater oversight, accountability, and transparency. Law enforcement oversight is at an all-time high and the profession has been held to task to ensure equal enforcement of laws. To its credit, news media reporting on law enforcement has played an important role in bringing to light elements of police misconduct, which has led to the evolution of police practices, education, and training. However, it could be argued that the news media’s current coverage of law enforcement is unintentionally slanted, inaccurate, misleading, and dangerous. This identified gap could be resolved through the creation of the News Media Ethics Police Academy and the formation of an academic-based law enforcement/news media partnership geared toward ensuring public safety through the preservation of news media’s sacred duty, bestowed upon them by our Founding Fathers.
Full Download: https://digitalcommons.brandman.edu/edd_dissertations/249/
By: Dr. Christopher T. Landavazo, EML