Persuasive Speech on Police Reforms

Persuasive Speech Police Reforms

Concerning democratic values, police reforms aim to transform the culture, policies, deals, and practices of organizations run by the police for the police to perform their duties. The main goal of these reforms is to ensure that potentially risky behaviors within the police departments are spotted. This will help in taking preventive steps to reduce the occurrence of police misconduct. Police reforms, for example, in the United States have a history that includes a lot of efforts that involved external commissions like the Wickersham Commission. This commission formulated the reforms, but the police were left to implement them with limited success. Responding to the police brutality in 1981 in the U.S, enforcements from the police departments gave early intervention programs to spot and help reduce police misconduct. First, I am going to provide an analysis of the causes of police reforms. I will discuss the effects of these reforms and finally the solutions after making the statistical analysis.

Several causes have initiated the formation of police reforms; first, in the United States, violence by the police has been the leading cause of death of Black men (Headley 300). Averagely, Blacks who are not armed are three times more likely to be shot by this police than unarmed whites. I can testify that this is not a new problem. Last year, video cameras in the hands of most citizens gave indisputable documentation that revealed actions of police that were violent towards the Black Americans.

The second cause that leads to the police reforms is when the officers fail to meet the standards. The role of a law enforcement officer is to entirely serve humankind and safeguard their lives (Edwards et al.). This is by ensuring they respect the constitutional rights that all men are treated equally and have liberty. Failure to do this causes a breach of their contract hence not meeting their standards as police officers.

The third cause that has led to the formation of the police reforms is the failure of earlier attempts to make meaningful and lasting reforms (Pickett 112). This is regarding the building of trust between communities and police that requires changes that are comprehensive and federal standards that are common to everyone. This proposal can lead to the formation of reform to build accountability and transparency between the community and the officers.

The above-discussed causes affect the citizens because police officers end up not performing their duties well hence the need for reforms (Flores-Macías 525). The effect of police violence is death among young Black men in the United States. The fact that the police use force affects the physical and mental health of Black Americans. The resulting deaths have emotional implications, especially to those who live that reality.

The second effect resulting from misconduct by police officers leads to citizens being imprisoned falsely (Dammert & Lucía 270). In such instances, the police use coercive interrogation and racial profiling; hence they lack valid reasons for imposing laws on the citizens. They end up violating the constitutional rights of most citizens.

The other effect results from a lack of trust between police officers and the community (Kaba & Mariame). Since the integrity of police always dictate in a significant way the level of community trust, when the policy lack legitimacy, the citizens reduce the contact, and their co-operation with the police decreases, which can lead to escalations of contests. This can lead to the death of the police officers.

Consequently, the solution to police violence that claims many people’s lives is reframing policy roles to preserve lives (Weitzer & Ronald). I recommend adopting a demilitarization policy to emphasize how life is the sanctity and should be maintained (Mummolo & Jonathan 10). A standard curriculum and continuous de-escalation training can help provide a conducive environment that ensures the officers’ skills and responses are up to date and appropriate. In addition, mental health encourages proper resources, and a humane approach is given priority in case of a crisis.

Secondly, the following solution for police officers who have not met the required standards is the adoption of policing, which is standardized and professionalized. Through this, I support setting measures for national licensing that ensure consistency and set a baseline of measurements and performance (Terpstra 343). It can also further decertify those officers who no longer meet the requirements in performing their duties (Cheng &Tony). Model procedures and policies is another reform I recommend to create a road map for leaders who reinforce laws—an exam for hiring policy that will help identify candidates in terms of emotional and psychological levels. Lastly, giving consistent training to prepare officers and maintain them fit for their duties.

The final solution is about enhancing accountability and transparency to reduce the level of misconduct. By this, I recommend the adoption of reforms, including a public and national database of officer misconduct (Blair et al.). This will help in providing consistency and transparency. To understand the trends in policing, uniform reporting standards support the generation of reliable data. In case of impartial inquiries of an officer’s misconduct allegation, I recommend an independent investigatory process and, finally, the removal of immunity protections that are qualified to create accountability entirely to gain community trust.

I can advise you to discuss the police reforms by participating in partnerships that involve the police (Harmon 617). This means getting involved in policing activities giving the implications that they are eyes and the ears of the police.

In conclusion, we can generally agree with the ideas provided in the speech about police reform since we have known about what causes the need to come up with these reforms, which are usually due to misconduct among the police and the negative implications they have on us all. Then we should foresee the completion of these reforms to create a good rapport between the police and the community.

Works Cited

Blair, Graeme, et al. “Does community policing build trust in police and reduce crime? Evidence from six coordinated field experiments in the global south.” Science, revise and resubmit (2021). https://web.sas.upenn.edu/ggros/files/2020/12/abd3446_CombinedPDF_v1.pdf

Cheng, Tony. “Input without influence: the silence and scripts of police and community relations.” Social Problems 67.1 (2020): 171-189. https://academic.oup.com/socpro/article-abstract/67/1/171/5427936

Dammert, Lucía. “Challenges of police reform in Latin America.” Routledge handbook of law and society in Latin America. Routledge, 2019. 259-277. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315645193-17/challenges-police-reform-latin-america-luc%C3%ADa-dammert

Edwards, Frank, Hedwig Lee, and Michael Esposito. “Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race-ethnicity, and sex.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116.34 (2019): 16793-16798. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/34/16793?fbclid=IwAR2dUEiKwYaTG6EY2Po5tquAtlIcd8Av1vuKYzMe7-gqosucqBkqg_0PT8s