This paper examines strategies for building rapport between police departments and the communities they serve. Drawing on the U.S. Department of Justice's assessment of the St. Louis County Police Department following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the paper identifies two primary recommendations: increasing racial and ethnic diversity within police ranks to better reflect community demographics, and leveraging social media to disseminate accurate information and counter misinformation during periods of unrest. The paper argues that community trust is the cornerstone of effective policing, and that when trust is absent, cooperation diminishes and public safety suffers. Both internal reform and active community engagement are presented as essential components of lasting police-community relations.
The police force is ultimately accountable to the public in one manner or another. Not only must the police justify their policies and actions relative to public service, but the community will also serve as their most important critic. Various policing organizations have come under intense scrutiny and have received a great deal of negative publicity through mainstream and social media channels. The relationship between a police force and the community it serves is often tense, but with the widespread adoption of smartphones and portable cameras, animosities have reached new heights in some jurisdictions due to improper use of force.
The friction between public servants and the communities they serve has been amplified by such incidents and the publicity they have generated, whether deserved or not. Whatever the circumstances, it is absolutely necessary for police departments in all areas to work to bridge whatever divides exist in the perceptions of the larger community. These tensions not only make policing more difficult, but they can also lead to further escalations of violence on both sides. When the police are not trusted by the community, cooperation decreases at best, and at worst the result can be increases in criminal activity throughout the community.
In response to the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson in August 2014, the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) was tasked with conducting a federal-level assessment of the St. Louis County Police Department. This group found that the department "lacks the training, leadership, and culture necessary to truly engender community policing and to build and sustain trusting relationships with the community" (Gest, 2015). The case of Michael Brown erupted into mass social instability throughout the St. Louis area and in many other urban areas across the country.
One of the issues identified in the DOJ report was that Black officers are "significantly underrepresented" in the ranks of police officer and police sergeant, and "moderately" underrepresented at the lieutenant and captain levels (Gest, 2015). The report made clear that the racial demographics of a police force should roughly mirror those of the communities it serves. In Ferguson, officers were predominantly white while the community was largely African American — a demographic mismatch that contributed to racial tensions in police-community interactions.
Race has long been a significant issue in the United States, and one way to address it within law enforcement is to ensure that police departments are as diverse as the communities they serve. Minority racial and ethnic groups often perceive themselves as the primary targets of abusive treatment during interactions with authorities. Although racial variation in public assessments of police performance in the United States has been documented in prior research, less research has explored the sources of these differences at the intersection of demographic, interactional, and ecological levels (Weitzer, Tuch, & Skogan, 2008).
Understanding these differences on a more holistic level — which can be achieved through intentional diversity within police ranks — may be one way to prevent such problems from growing and to improve community-police relations on a larger scale. When officers reflect the demographic makeup of the communities they patrol, it can foster greater mutual understanding and reduce the perception of systemic bias.
"Using social media to counter misinformation and engage residents"
"Trust as the foundation of effective policing"
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