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Law Enforcement At A Crossroads of Change

Writing about culture change in policing within today’s challenging environment is no easy task. Due to the implications of culture change within policing agencies in today’s confrontational environment, I have tried to keep focused on what I believe are the prominent internal cultural challenges that law enforcement agencies across the country face today.

While I will specifically address the issue of police culture, we must always remember, that the larger societal culture, which itself, is composed of other “sub-cultures” also factor into the how police culture is formed and operates today. Any attempts to modify police culture MUST also acknowledge the values and beliefs that dominate the general culture. It is that general culture where legislatures on both the state and federal level “operationalize” the values of their communities.

An example of this would be the larger societies values and beliefs regarding justice, race, poverty, crime, and so on. These are the base values that go into laws and laws are a base value in culture and more specifically in police cultures.

So first I have to say that I am offering this perspective only from my personal experiences, without offering references to hard research. I am a long-time law enforcement, corrections and mental health professional, with a career that began in the 1980’s. I also a Master Peace Officer, Mental Health Peace Officer, Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Train the Trainer for the Blue Courage Program and I believe strongly in Community Policing and Restorative Justice. But perhaps my biggest credential is my heart for the profession of law enforcement.

That said, I certainly welcome any dialogue on this issue here at Sawayer Logistics at sawayer.com. So here is my pitch.

Most change within institutionalized settings is unfortunately reactive, as opposed to proactive. This is especially true when in comes to organizational change. The recent violence in America, has once again forced police agencies to reflect on how much or little they should change. Police agencies, by their structure are resistant and slow to change. Some reasons for this are because they are conservative and are accountable to political bodies within the communities they serve. We often hear the adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”. But what exactly is broke and where is broke found?

The George Floyd death would certainly indicate that the four police officers involved were broken in terms of both their actions and inaction that lead to Floyd’s murder. We need to ask ourselves if cops can be murderers and that is very distasteful question to even ask. On its’ face, such thoughts seem to fly in the face of what we as professional peace keepers are mandated to do….Serve and Protect.

Since the Floyd issue is far from an isolated event, it may be time to look for answers about who we serve, how we serve, and why we serve. While minorities are over-represented in such tragic encounters with law enforcement, we tend to focus on race relations when addressing the question of what to do. I would suggest that we all, somewhere in our guts, understand that no new or improved trainings, policies, and procedures will have any lasting effect unless we change our current policing culture and the values within that culture.

Cultures are funny animals. They are often created slowly, over decades. They often take decades to change because by their very nature, they are conservative entities. Changing police culture is substantially more challenging than implementing new policies, procedures and trainings. While there are studies on police cultures, there are not many that specifically provide a “how to” paradigm. All of the literature points to the high level of resistance to police culture change from both within the ranks and from police administrators. It’s a tough mountain to climb.

The recent events in our cities and the degree of national and world attention to those events are pushing us up that mountain. If we are to reach the top, we must see the value of making the climb, even after the voices for change become quiet. We must change police culture because we are professionals bearing some of the strongest and most respected job responsibilities in society. So was there an identifiable starting point that contributed to today’s police culture? Let me suggest that was such a point.  I will also suggest that we have some available tools to help get to a new beginning.

Since Americas trauma and the resulting transformation, law enforcement has been exposed to a new wrinkle within its’ culture. “Para-Militarization” has invaded the cop culture with a vengeance. The war and the warrior mentality, along with almost free military equipment, from helicopters to transports and Humvees, are standard fare in most agencies today.

At the time of 9-11, nothing seemed to out of bounds in our flight to protect the homeland from foreign terrorists. The intent was to never again be the unaware victim. Americans faced new security procedures at their airports and at their banks.

The less obvious change in procedures was occurring in law enforcement agencies, which historically had some type of command and control infrastructure. As a result, the transition to a more militarized culture was somewhat familiar territory. The availability of the military equipment merely solidified that cultural transition.

I remember training’s that I attended, where we were told that we were the “Sheepdogs”, protecting the vulnerable “Sheep” from the terrorist predators. Ironically, the trainings focus was on school violence. This new mantra ultimately was reflected in the idea that we were now the new para-military heroes, deployed to Americas streets in our surplus military equipment and attire, to kick some serious ass.

Somewhere and somehow this new mindset morphed into a permanent part of the police culture in such a way that it became the antithesis of community policing. With foreign enemies largely destroyed on American and foreign soil, the new cop culture with all of its surplus military equipment, seemed like a dog without any cats.

The implementation and deployment of special units know as SWAT teams began to play a central part in departments across the land. In the process, the officers participating in those units began to gain a great deal of cultural influence and the mindset within policing went from “we are part of the community”, to the “community are dumb sheep and we are superior sheepdogs”, to “them vs. us”.

Now to be clear, historically, law enforcement had its’ “suspects” some of which included those who were clearly “not us”.  Foreigners, minorities, the poor, the mentally ill, and the law violators living in our communities.  There was a growing institutionalized prejudice within the policing culture, that, until the last 20 years, wasn’t even discussed in training academies. There were no Humvees or tactical units in most departments back then.  

With the 9-11 terrorists extinguished, the old familiar, “not us” groups became the new “bad guys” or to put in another way, the “them”.  Agency leadership in departments could not resist the offer of getting surplus military equipment to supplement their fleets.  Most departments had few dollars to spare for such costly equipment. It would take little effort to move toward creating SWAT tactical teams to utilize the new armada.

No one objected, not the city councils, not the county commissioners, not the state governors, not the congress, and not even members of the local communities. Without open discussion regarding why and how this para-militarization was happening, the parameters of its’ implementation and its’ goals, the cultural change went underground and out of sight.

The new police culture was now one that had the capacity for aggression and tactical interventions. Community policing, where officers were in personal contact with the man on the street for most departments stopped. Contacts with the public became formal and impersonal. It was now, “them vs. us”.

The cop, sitting in the standard issue patrol car holding the para-military, aggressive mindset doesn’t need a Humvee to feel his power over others anymore.  The “Sheepdog” has now lost it’s protective instinct toward the sheep. There are good sheep and bad sheep…white sheep and black sheep.

Body cameras, which became possible and practical to issue because of technology, were supposed to protect cops and community members alike. Instead they were often resented by line officers as just another piece of “squealer” technology that carried yet another set of policies and procedures that had to be followed.  In actuality, these cameras often have served a preventative function when seen as an officer protection.

So what does all of this imply for changing police interactions with the communities they serve? 

I contend that the violence on American streets will not be solved by just better training alone because the training will not overtake the current police culture. Instead, there has to be more open contact and communication at the “street officer” level with the common and every day community members they serve. 

There needs to be not just more tactical trainings but also a focus on officer mental and spiritual well being.  It’s the only way to stop the “them vs. us” mentality that justified para-military interventions. Yes, we can have working groups and task forces, but the real change is at the street level by empowered cops who have the right mindset and the right heart for the profession and are rewarded for that as opposed to being shamed for it!

The most effective equipment has to be controlled by the heart first and the mind second, which then controls the body. For those of us who are authorized under very limited conditions, to take a life, the heart must be right.

Policies and procedures and trainings don’t change the heart. Open conversations and regular contact with the communities we serve as “street level cops” however does help tremendously.

It’s that contact that can either foster paranoia and hate or goodwill, especially when it involves being in touch with the “them”.

It will take time. Maybe we need to just go ahead and start painting those Humvees in pastels colors now!!

The Blue Courage training program for law enforcement officers and the perspective that it offers on community justice and community policing, should be a critical component of most law enforcement training.  It and similar programs are what is needed now, more than new rules or new procedures or new training, you must change the heart in order to have positive community contact, which takes…well…Blue Courage! 

The BlueCourage.com webpage is full of great articles and other offerings for LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers).