The Problem with Injecting National Politics into Local Policing
How do we restore effective municipal police services in America?
Local policing makes up most of the law enforcement agencies in the United States. While there are 65 federal agencies and 27 offices of inspector general, there are 17,000 local law enforcement agencies ranging from city departments to state-run highway patrol bureaus1.
Considering the US population exceeds 330 million people stretching from the shores of the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, customizing the criminal justice system experience to fit the various regional and cultural differences of such a large landmass makes local policing more than necessary.
It’s almost impossible to effectively police such a large nation with a one-size-fits-all law enforcement package, like the national police forces seen in other countries. Rural policing in the cornfields of Nebraska does not translate well to the inner-city policing of Detroit, or the coastal and urban policing of Miami.
However, the riots during the summer of 2020 were a bellwether event that changed the face of policing forever. A well-known incident took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota that May wherein it was ultimately determined in court that a police officer named Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. For the remainder of the summer, and even longer in some cases2, local police departments across the nation had to manage riots and monitor protests calling for police reform.
There’s nothing wrong with exercising the 1st Amendment right to peaceably assemble. The problem arises from the fact that a decentralized network of local law enforcement agencies received criticism for an incident that occurred well outside their various jurisdictions. Some even thousands of miles away.
It took a while for me to parse out why exactly this one incident sparked nationwide protests of local law enforcement. There were other incidents caught on tape of police officers doing things the public disliked or even hated, such as the deaths of Philando Castile3 and Walter Scott4. So why did this incident cause so much consistently applied ire compared to the rest?
There were local protests and even riots after other well-known police killings5, but nothing on the level of nationwide rioting and looting for months on end. Even the Rodney King riots were mostly focused in the Los Angeles area.
A few obvious factors can be noted. The world was embroiled in the early stages of a global pandemic. People were at home with little to do, so they took to living online6. Once George Floyd’s death was broadcast across the internet, everyone became immediately aware and immediately wanted to act.
Furthermore, tensions between law enforcement and local communities have been growing ever since Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Perhaps this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I believe something more is going on, though. Nothing nefarious nor conspiratorial. Rather, ever since the death of Michael Brown, local policing, as a profession, has been dragged into the national spotlight time and again. At any point, a police officer in Texas could be taken to task over the actions of an officer in Illinois perhaps. Or the actions of an officer in Tennessee could force departments in Arizona to mobilize in preparation for rioting in their respective cities.
A key benefit of local policing is that it is tailored to the local area. Dragging local police into the national spotlight effectively creates the most inefficient version of a national police force. Each node is acting independently of the others but is then held to account for the actions of another node of which they have virtually no control or access.
This hamstrings local policing considerably. Instead of local citizenry engaging with their city leadership over the best path forward for their local police department, national narratives take precedence.
Cities like Atlanta heard protesters in 2020 calling their police officers racist toward black people even though over half of the Atlanta Police Department is black7. How can this be? Because a national narrative has taken precedence over local concerns. Even though a federal investigation discovered that Michael Brown never raised his hands in surrender during his encounter with Darren Wilson in 20128, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” could be heard chanted at protests across the nation after George Floyd was killed in 20209.
If national issues commandeer the town square when local matters are being discussed, the root cause of those local issues will, at best, be marginally addressed. At worst, they’ll be completely drowned out by whatever national issue is in the headlines.
So how do we fix this? I’ve defined the problem, but I haven’t provided a solution. The truth is, I don’t have one. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to fixing a problem caused by thinking there can be a one-size-fits-all approach. That’s the beauty of local policing. Each jurisdiction gets to do it their own way.
Through trial and error, we can see which jurisdictions handle getting back on track the best; who was able to push national politics out of their local issues. Then we can copy that approach and tailor it to our own area.
Difficult problems don’t have easy solutions. So, let’s stop trying to create an easy solution to a vastly complex problem. Instead, let’s take the first step by shifting focus from national narratives to local politics. Thinking locally is the only way to create effective solutions to local crime problems.
References
1. IACP. (2018). Types of Law Enforcement Agencies. Discover Policing. https://www.discoverpolicing.org/explore-the-field/types-of-law-enforcement-agencies/
2. Batchelor, T. (2021, February). Portland Protesters Have Caused $2.3 Million in Damage to Federal Buildings. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/portland-protesters-damage-cost-federal-buildings-1566821
3. BBC News. (2017, June). Philando Castile death: Police footage released. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40357355
4. The Associated Press. (2021, April). Judge upholds 20-year sentence for former South Carolina officer who killed Black man. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-upholds-20-year-sentence-former-south-carolina-officer-who-n1264578
5. Shin, A. (2017, August). Recalling the protests, riots after fatal police shooting of Michael Brown. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/recalling-the-protests-riots-after-fatal-police-shooting-of-michael-brown/2017/08/01/9992f044-5a8d-11e7-a9f6-7c3296387341_story.html
6. Abbruzzese, J., Ingram. D, & Click, S. (2020, March). The coronavirus pandemic drove life online. It may never return. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/coronavirus-pandemic-drove-life-online-it-may-never-return-n1169956
7. Coffey Consulting, LLC & American Institutes for Research. (2016). Promising Practices for Increasing Diversity Among First Responders. US Department of Labor. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OASP/legacy/files/FirstResponders_APDCase_Study.pdf
8. Queally, J. (2015, March). Story So Far: Ferguson unrest: What you need to know. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ferguson-unrest-what-you-need-to-know-20150312-htmlstory.html
9. Toloui-Semnani, N. (2020, May). ‘Hands Up Don’t Shoot:’ Brooklyn Erupts in Violence During a Second Night of Protests. Vice News. https://www.vice.com/en/article/3azqmj/hands-up-dont-shoot-brooklyn-erupts-in-violence-during-a-second-night-of-protests