| | John,
We can’t reflect on the events of 2020 without acknowledging the acts of kindness seen in neighborhoods throughout the nation. In the face of hardship, people came together and redefined what it means to be a part of a community. Whether it was getting groceries for an elderly neighbor, participating in socially distanced walks around the block, or enjoying a local musician serenading neighbors from their driveway, people came together in solidarity -- recognizing the true value of community and finding a sense of togetherness. People who have chosen public safety as a career are central to the health of their communities. The Law Enforcement Action Partnership stands behind the ideal of policing described by Sir Robert Peel: “the police are the public and the public are the police.” Law enforcement agencies can improve relationships with their communities and make the police safer and more effective by ensuring that all community stakeholders are given a true voice in determining policing priorities. At a time when trust in law enforcement is at its lowest point in three decades, building community trust has never been more important. Chief Mike Butler (Ret.), who recently retired from Longmont (CO) Public Safety, put Peel’s philosophy into action, championing many successful programs that built trust in his community, which he explains below. Chief Butler spent 42 years in local policing, 26 years as chief. During his tenure, he was known for his weekly walks around marginalized neighborhoods to talk with residents. Chief Butler’s way of policing brought the police and the public together. We couldn’t be happier to have him here at LEAP, inspiring others to implement solutions that bring communities -- including the police -- together to work toward common goals. Keep reading to learn more… Happy New Year,
Neill
Major Neill Franklin (Ret.)
Executive Director |
| | In Longmont, we overhauled our entire way of policing. Instead of thinking of our community as a problem to be solved, we began to see our community as full of possibilities. Instead of criminalizing many social and health issues, we started developing a philosophy that emphasized healthy relationships with those who were struggling with addiction, mental health, homelessness, and a variety of other issues. |
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| Instead of utilizing the justice system to deliver services, we leveraged the social capital and goodness within our community. Instead of seeing ourselves as “The Thin Blue Line” that separates good from evil, we initiated many organizational and human resource development processes within our department so we could expand our role from merely being enforcers to becoming ambassadors, guardians, and partners with our community.
All of these shifts required us to rethink, recalibrate, and reset who we, as police, were within our community, what we did, and how we did it. |
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| It led to a change in the profile of who we hired to serve as police officers, the kind of training and education we implemented, our leadership philosophy, management systems and processes, service delivery, and even the architecture of our organization. All of these philosophical and structural changes shifted the nature of our conversations, supported the kind of police department that could add significantly more value to our community, helped us build and sustain the trust we needed to form a variety of partnerships with our community, allowed us to operate from the perspective of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” and ultimately made our community a healthier, safer place. A change in philosophy led to a change in policies. New policies led to different practices. Modified practices led to a variety of new programs. Those programs included a significant emphasis on building healthy relationships between police and our community, particularly those residents who lived in the shadows of our community. We also designed practices that surfaced, activated, and coordinated the social capital in our community. The increased social capital led to the development of relationships between thousands of people in our community who wanted to help and those people who needed help. We knew that much of the work a police officer performs involves heart and going the extra mile, and at the same time, judiciously and carefully utilizing the role of enforcement. |
| Restorative justice, Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), and our Angel Initiative were just a few of the programs that reflected our evolving philosophy in Longmont. Over the years, we referred close to 7,000 people to restorative justice, referred hundreds of people per week to CORE and LEAD, and leveraged several million dollars in free addiction services treatment to those who did not have the financial wherewithal to access treatment.
We formed teams of walking police officers, including myself, who would stroll through neighborhoods in our community. |
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| We requested the assistance of those we met to join the police and others in assisting those who could not assist themselves, encouraging everyone we met to feel and believe they belonged to our community. When everyone is welcomed as a part of the community, we are more likely to take care of that community and invest in it.
There has been considerable emphasis on the reimagining of policing in America. Let’s make 2021 the year when we bring a new policing philosophy to life in our communities. |
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| Law Enforcement Action Partnership
121 Mystic Avenue, Suite 9 | Medford, Massachusetts 02155
[email protected] I 781-393-6985 |
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