Transcripts For CSPAN Presidents Task Force On 21st Century

Do the kind of Risk Assessment that you did as an officer. To ensure that the presence of an officer might not be needed but we can help support those students who might be making some of the wrong choices. I certainly feel that there needs to be more. I think training is provided to educators. I was with an educator for 17 years. He was a teacher. I think because he also came from a similar community that a lot of young people came from, young people were able to relate to him. Also i think train inging, Training Resources available at your fingertips to know what the alternative is. Who can come into your school where a lot of people were being referred to the system from. We were able to have a Community Based organization there present every single day and made available to educators as well as the administration as an alternative. They would walk around the campus making sure young people were safe because what you said earlier, we have resource officers to protect the school from certain crimes. But not all young people are criminals. We were able to incorporate those types of programs as well as they were peer educators, peer conflict resolution and nonviolence warriors that were able to talk down their peers. Peer education as well as contracting Community Based organizations that know how to deal with that type of conflict in school and more training and Services Made available to educators. Thank you. Very moving testimony. Youve given us a lot of suggestions. Could you prioritize them for me. Everything from Training Resources, cops being fluent in the community, race studies. Could you just the top two, each of you. If we had to limit it. I hope there will be more antiracist and antisexist training for officers. It needs to be beyond our police forces. She really needs to be throughout society. When i was in my early 20s, a white kid from a nonstruggling family. It was assumed that i grew up in a family that was antiracist. I realized how much im a child of white privilege. That ongoing kind of training is incredibly, changes world views and is important for all of us. I hope that can become systematic throughout our police forces. Reevaluation of current trainings as well as new trainings. And system accountability. I would say to incentivize Quality Police work. Not just how many people you arrest and how many perps you bring in. I think for me this would be number one. Number two would be, again teaching the Police Officers the history of this nation and what causes some of the things that have them have to go into these communities in the first place. No disrespect but many of these officers patrolling the streets, my friend who is a Police Officer work closely with them. They do not understand why they have to do some of the things that they do. I dont blame them. I dont fault them. They never had to learn it. They grew up in a different environment. Now theyre just following the system that asks them for a specific issue or numbers or whatever it may be. Training and helping the officers to understand the communities they are working in and some of the things that took place in society that caused them to have to be in in the first place. I think that would really help. Those are the main two for me. Our final question is from sean. Thank you. I echo my colleagues appreciation for the panel. I appreciate you miss perez you bringing up the sports and outreach program. Thats worked. Thats work the unions have done a lot on their own both in terms of getting the Police Officer members participate but also in funding. Often we do that partnering with churches and other Community Groups. My question for the panel is if you could give us a specific recommendation, we know there are programs that have been hugely successful. I think one of the best is to hat tip to los angeles the , watts football program. The city of los angeles has made that a budgetary priority. What can we do working together and i guess specifically what recommendation would put forward to facilitate the reprioritizing of those types of programs in terms of getting state and local budgets to really make those a priority. Well, were talking in a sense about working state legislatures on budget issues at the federal level. There are untapped communities opportunities for alliances and coalitions between police forces, ministerial associations, unions, teachers on and on and on to really come together around a common agenda. This is what we need in our community. Im not even aware, im sure it exist, im not aware of anywhere where Police Officers and clergy, for example, are going to the state legislature and saying this a compelling deed. I think that would have a significant impact. City councils as well. We need to create we dont have to recreate the wheel. We just have to use the networks that we convening this session. That we have already in existence. Thank you very much very much and i want to thank the panel. This was excellent. Please thank them. In order for us to stay on time, we are not going to be taking a break between panels at this time, so please bear with us while we seat the next panel which will be a Law Enforcement panel. Thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] Law Enforcement groups were also present for this meeting held on the president s policing task force. They talked about the criminal Justice System as a whole. I would like to call the hearing to order. We now have our Law Enforcement panel, and we would like to welcome all of our witnesses here this morning. We are going to start with Richard Berry, president of the International Association of chiefs of the lease. Chief barry. Thank you. Mr. Davis, commissioner ramsey, members of the task force, thank you for inviting me to testify today. My name is Richard Berry i am the president of the iac p, and i have been a cop for over 37 years. Many communities throughout this nation have witnessed a remarkable decline in the rate of crime. America in 2015 is a far safer place than america in 1985. In fact, Violent Crime in the United States is at its lowest level since 1978. We know that in order to be truly Effective Police agencies cannot operate alone. We must have the active support and assistance of our communities. Unfortunately, resource shortages have made policing efforts difficult or impossible in many agencies. Police departments continue to take on more responsibility with less manpower and less funding. We are dealing with Homeland Security concerns, cyber crime and noncrisis calls Like Mental Health issues and drug overdoses. These responsibilities take time away from Community Patrols and policing duties. It is hard to sustain Strong Community relations. Therefore, it is incumbent on all of us to Work Together to identify solutions and approaches that can be implemented not just by the lawenforcement community, but by the criminal Justice System and the nation as a whole. To that end, the iac p has taken action including a National Policy summit on Community Police relations. Representatives of the naacp the aclu, the committee on civil rights as well as various local Civil Rights Community groups join us at the iac p to sit down and look at how, together, we can begin to build a culture of trust and improve relations. I am pleased to announce that the iacp is releasing a copy of the summary of that report today. I have it available and i have extra copies. I hope you will use it as a blueprint. I think there has been a great deal of work toward what ive heard so far today. There are three overarching conceptual elements of policing or defined during that summit. Communication, harner ship trust. My allotted partnership and trust. My allotted time will not allow me to go into all of those strategies, but you have the report and i hope you will use it. We know we need to build Sustainable Community relations but this is not just a Community Policing issue. For more than 20 years, the iacp has called for a National Policy commission on the entire political Justice System so we can make acrosstheboard improvements, and i have heard you loud and clear, all the previous presenters. My only question is where have you been . We have been calling for a for a long time. As Panel Members you need truth and facts, not myths lies, and innuendo. Lets start with transparency. The vast majority of contact Law Enforcement has with citizens is nonviolent and noncontroversial. To put things in perspective, the average number of arrest per year is about 12. 5 million, about 34,000 a day, ranging from abuse of children to serial killers. Of the millions of arrest made each year this doesnt include citizen contact, this is arrests. Fatal results are regrettable but rare, especially when you consider that many of the individuals arrested are under the influence of drugs, al goll, have anger management issues, Mental Illness alcohol, have anger management issues, Mental Illness or choose to be competitive. Each year there are more than 50,000 assaults on Police Officers that resulted more than 14,000 officers being injured. This past year, 50 nine Police Officers were murdered by gunfire or assault. This is higher than u. S. Combat casualties in afghanistan. This simply cannot be tolerated. The current Smear Campaign aimed at Law Enforcement is unnecessarily placing officer lives in jeopardy while they perform the task of reducing crime and violence in our communities. I grew up in the 70s. The current public climate is reminiscent of the 1970s as our kids were withdrawing from vietnam. The brave men and women who served honorably were a villain eyes for e wearing were villain iced for wearing the uniform of this country and upholding the oath that they took. The criminalization of our veterans was wrong just doesnt it is of our Police Officers net just as it is of our Police Officers now. I urge you to truly assess the risks and challenges of policing in an Armed Society like none other in the world. Please use your collective wisdom, expertise and influence to help us make this country safer. Thank you for cap meaning this session. I look forward to answering questions. Most importantly, thanks for taking this forward. Dont let it stop here. We need to look at the entire criminal Justice System. Thank you very much. Welcome. Let me turn now to check canterbury National President of the fraternal order of police. Good morning. Thank you for allowing us to be here today to share with you the perspective of rank and file officers who serve in harms way each and every day in the street thes of our communities. Streets of our communities. Its their views that im going to offer today. All of us here know that theres been an erosion of trust and respect between Law Enforcement officers and the communities they protect, particularly in communities of color. Similarly, the Law Enforcement officers are growing more distrustful of the citizens in many communities because of an increased violence that targets Law Enforcement officers. A rise in firearm fatalities and assaults and ambush attacks have forced officers to become weary when responding to any call for service. Thats why ive called on the president and congress to amend the federal hate crime law to include Police Officers. Enough is enough. Its imperative that we bridge the gulf of trust and respect between the police and their communities and Work Together to bridge the gap. I urge this task force to take a broad holistic approach. Its an issue throughout government and society. The issues of trust and legitimacy are not just a Law Enforcement problem. Our citizens and communities are losing faith in Government Services in Public Officials and public service. The lack of trust and respect may be most obvious because our officers are the most visible form of government. The issue is pervasive. Schools are failing parents and students like, erodesing and students alike, eroding confidence in the idea that with a good education anything is possible. Instead, schools process our children without guaranteeing them an education. Elected officials cannot make good on their promises and basic social services wisther on the whether with their wither on the vines as funds dry up. Poverty, the poverty of income and the poverty of true opportunity is the common denominator denominator. More and more of our citizens especially our young people and people of color no longer trust that the American Dream is within their reach. For a young man of color to finish high School Without a basic education because of social promotion hes robbed of that opportunity. Thats a robbery that Law Enforcement cannot respond to. His world view is likely shaped by an american likely not shaped by an american civics class but by social media saturated with a subculture that celebrates anger towards authority, disrespect for women and willingness to use force to ensure that they are not disrespected especially in front of their peers which often triggers a swift escalation of the most routine Police Encounter or any other authority figures. I dont need to remind anyone here that these problems have been building for generations. In a threemonth study is not going to provide all the solutions. This will have to be permanent work in progress. We need to commit ourselves to it. The fop wants to be part of a changing culture of policing. But we as a society and a nation also have a responsibility to make changes. We must first reject any notion that the Law Enforcement culture is intrinsically racist. Its wrong to think that a man is a criminal because of his skin but its equally wrong to think a man is racist because of his uniform. Enough is enough. We must also reject the tacit legitimization of violence and lawbreaking as a weapon of social change. No grand jury decision or Government Action should result in local leaders or National Spokesmen justifingly open or not the burning of businesses, looting of shops or wanton destruction of property. When these criminal acts are not swiftly condemned add wrong but are met with a shoulder shrug or an explained away as a complete completely reasonable release to pent up frustration. We invite an increase in violence that leads to events like the assassination of two new york Police Officers. The killer of these two officers believed his out rage and a per his outrage and a perceived failure of justice was enough to end their lives and then his own. Enough is enough. The trust gap and lack of respect for our government led an unbalanced man to murder. We need to get away from inflammatory rhetoric so present in our culture today, which leads criminals and mentally unbalanced criminals to believe hostile actions against police will be validated. I ask we keep this goal uppermost in our minds as we go forward with discussions about police legitimacy, race relations. Racial reconciliation, procedural justice and transparency. I believe one of the most important things question do to strengthen the bonds of trust and Mutual Respect between government and our communities is to restore our Public Confidence in and commitment to due process. Law enforcement officers knowledge that individual officers will have their actions skroout scrutinized. We welcome that. This will sometimes inflame public passions and exacerbate the Community Situation especially in cases where the National Opinions often turned out to be mistaken. This undermines trust and does damage to the concept of due process. Its critical to demonstrate our faith in a commitment to due process. It must not be affected by nelg negative media, mass vaiolence or any other retribution by the public. Law enforcement officers as Public Employees have the right to due process as anyone else in our nation does. We need to make that clear especially if Risk Assessment<\/a> that you did as an officer. To ensure that the presence of an officer might not be needed but we can help support those students who might be making some of the wrong choices. I certainly feel that there needs to be more. I think training is provided to educators. I was with an educator for 17 years. He was a teacher. I think because he also came from a similar community that a lot of young people came from, young people were able to relate to him. Also i think train inging, Training Resources<\/a> available at your fingertips to know what the alternative is. Who can come into your school where a lot of people were being referred to the system from. We were able to have a Community Based<\/a> organization there present every single day and made available to educators as well as the administration as an alternative. They would walk around the campus making sure young people were safe because what you said earlier, we have resource officers to protect the school from certain crimes. But not all young people are criminals. We were able to incorporate those types of programs as well as they were peer educators, peer conflict resolution and nonviolence warriors that were able to talk down their peers. Peer education as well as contracting Community Based<\/a> organizations that know how to deal with that type of conflict in school and more training and Services Made<\/a> available to educators. Thank you. Very moving testimony. Youve given us a lot of suggestions. Could you prioritize them for me. Everything from Training Resources<\/a>, cops being fluent in the community, race studies. Could you just the top two, each of you. If we had to limit it. I hope there will be more antiracist and antisexist training for officers. It needs to be beyond our police forces. She really needs to be throughout society. When i was in my early 20s, a white kid from a nonstruggling family. It was assumed that i grew up in a family that was antiracist. I realized how much im a child of white privilege. That ongoing kind of training is incredibly, changes world views and is important for all of us. I hope that can become systematic throughout our police forces. Reevaluation of current trainings as well as new trainings. And system accountability. I would say to incentivize Quality Police<\/a> work. Not just how many people you arrest and how many perps you bring in. I think for me this would be number one. Number two would be, again teaching the Police Officers<\/a> the history of this nation and what causes some of the things that have them have to go into these communities in the first place. No disrespect but many of these officers patrolling the streets, my friend who is a Police Officer<\/a> work closely with them. They do not understand why they have to do some of the things that they do. I dont blame them. I dont fault them. They never had to learn it. They grew up in a different environment. Now theyre just following the system that asks them for a specific issue or numbers or whatever it may be. Training and helping the officers to understand the communities they are working in and some of the things that took place in society that caused them to have to be in in the first place. I think that would really help. Those are the main two for me. Our final question is from sean. Thank you. I echo my colleagues appreciation for the panel. I appreciate you miss perez you bringing up the sports and outreach program. Thats worked. Thats work the unions have done a lot on their own both in terms of getting the Police Officer<\/a> members participate but also in funding. Often we do that partnering with churches and other Community Groups<\/a>. My question for the panel is if you could give us a specific recommendation, we know there are programs that have been hugely successful. I think one of the best is to hat tip to los angeles the , watts football program. The city of los angeles has made that a budgetary priority. What can we do working together and i guess specifically what recommendation would put forward to facilitate the reprioritizing of those types of programs in terms of getting state and local budgets to really make those a priority. Well, were talking in a sense about working state legislatures on budget issues at the federal level. There are untapped communities opportunities for alliances and coalitions between police forces, ministerial associations, unions, teachers on and on and on to really come together around a common agenda. This is what we need in our community. Im not even aware, im sure it exist, im not aware of anywhere where Police Officers<\/a> and clergy, for example, are going to the state legislature and saying this a compelling deed. I think that would have a significant impact. City councils as well. We need to create we dont have to recreate the wheel. We just have to use the networks that we convening this session. That we have already in existence. Thank you very much very much and i want to thank the panel. This was excellent. Please thank them. In order for us to stay on time, we are not going to be taking a break between panels at this time, so please bear with us while we seat the next panel which will be a Law Enforcement<\/a> panel. Thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] Law Enforcement<\/a> groups were also present for this meeting held on the president s policing task force. They talked about the criminal Justice System<\/a> as a whole. I would like to call the hearing to order. We now have our Law Enforcement<\/a> panel, and we would like to welcome all of our witnesses here this morning. We are going to start with Richard Berry<\/a>, president of the International Association<\/a> of chiefs of the lease. Chief barry. Thank you. Mr. Davis, commissioner ramsey, members of the task force, thank you for inviting me to testify today. My name is Richard Berry<\/a> i am the president of the iac p, and i have been a cop for over 37 years. Many communities throughout this nation have witnessed a remarkable decline in the rate of crime. America in 2015 is a far safer place than america in 1985. In fact, Violent Crime<\/a> in the United States<\/a> is at its lowest level since 1978. We know that in order to be truly Effective Police<\/a> agencies cannot operate alone. We must have the active support and assistance of our communities. Unfortunately, resource shortages have made policing efforts difficult or impossible in many agencies. Police departments continue to take on more responsibility with less manpower and less funding. We are dealing with Homeland Security<\/a> concerns, cyber crime and noncrisis calls Like Mental Health<\/a> issues and drug overdoses. These responsibilities take time away from Community Patrols<\/a> and policing duties. It is hard to sustain Strong Community<\/a> relations. Therefore, it is incumbent on all of us to Work Together<\/a> to identify solutions and approaches that can be implemented not just by the lawenforcement community, but by the criminal Justice System<\/a> and the nation as a whole. To that end, the iac p has taken action including a National Policy<\/a> summit on Community Police<\/a> relations. Representatives of the naacp the aclu, the committee on civil rights as well as various local Civil Rights Community<\/a> groups join us at the iac p to sit down and look at how, together, we can begin to build a culture of trust and improve relations. I am pleased to announce that the iacp is releasing a copy of the summary of that report today. I have it available and i have extra copies. I hope you will use it as a blueprint. I think there has been a great deal of work toward what ive heard so far today. There are three overarching conceptual elements of policing or defined during that summit. Communication, harner ship trust. My allotted partnership and trust. My allotted time will not allow me to go into all of those strategies, but you have the report and i hope you will use it. We know we need to build Sustainable Community<\/a> relations but this is not just a Community Policing<\/a> issue. For more than 20 years, the iacp has called for a National Policy<\/a> commission on the entire political Justice System<\/a> so we can make acrosstheboard improvements, and i have heard you loud and clear, all the previous presenters. My only question is where have you been . We have been calling for a for a long time. As Panel Members<\/a> you need truth and facts, not myths lies, and innuendo. Lets start with transparency. The vast majority of contact Law Enforcement<\/a> has with citizens is nonviolent and noncontroversial. To put things in perspective, the average number of arrest per year is about 12. 5 million, about 34,000 a day, ranging from abuse of children to serial killers. Of the millions of arrest made each year this doesnt include citizen contact, this is arrests. Fatal results are regrettable but rare, especially when you consider that many of the individuals arrested are under the influence of drugs, al goll, have anger management issues, Mental Illness<\/a> alcohol, have anger management issues, Mental Illness<\/a> or choose to be competitive. Each year there are more than 50,000 assaults on Police Officers<\/a> that resulted more than 14,000 officers being injured. This past year, 50 nine Police Officers<\/a> were murdered by gunfire or assault. This is higher than u. S. Combat casualties in afghanistan. This simply cannot be tolerated. The current Smear Campaign<\/a> aimed at Law Enforcement<\/a> is unnecessarily placing officer lives in jeopardy while they perform the task of reducing crime and violence in our communities. I grew up in the 70s. The current public climate is reminiscent of the 1970s as our kids were withdrawing from vietnam. The brave men and women who served honorably were a villain eyes for e wearing were villain iced for wearing the uniform of this country and upholding the oath that they took. The criminalization of our veterans was wrong just doesnt it is of our Police Officers<\/a> net just as it is of our Police Officers<\/a> now. I urge you to truly assess the risks and challenges of policing in an Armed Society<\/a> like none other in the world. Please use your collective wisdom, expertise and influence to help us make this country safer. Thank you for cap meaning this session. I look forward to answering questions. Most importantly, thanks for taking this forward. Dont let it stop here. We need to look at the entire criminal Justice System<\/a>. Thank you very much. Welcome. Let me turn now to check canterbury National President<\/a> of the fraternal order of police. Good morning. Thank you for allowing us to be here today to share with you the perspective of rank and file officers who serve in harms way each and every day in the street thes of our communities. Streets of our communities. Its their views that im going to offer today. All of us here know that theres been an erosion of trust and respect between Law Enforcement<\/a> officers and the communities they protect, particularly in communities of color. Similarly, the Law Enforcement<\/a> officers are growing more distrustful of the citizens in many communities because of an increased violence that targets Law Enforcement<\/a> officers. A rise in firearm fatalities and assaults and ambush attacks have forced officers to become weary when responding to any call for service. Thats why ive called on the president and congress to amend the federal hate crime law to include Police Officers<\/a>. Enough is enough. Its imperative that we bridge the gulf of trust and respect between the police and their communities and Work Together<\/a> to bridge the gap. I urge this task force to take a broad holistic approach. Its an issue throughout government and society. The issues of trust and legitimacy are not just a Law Enforcement<\/a> problem. Our citizens and communities are losing faith in Government Services<\/a> in Public Officials<\/a> and public service. The lack of trust and respect may be most obvious because our officers are the most visible form of government. The issue is pervasive. Schools are failing parents and students like, erodesing and students alike, eroding confidence in the idea that with a good education anything is possible. Instead, schools process our children without guaranteeing them an education. Elected officials cannot make good on their promises and basic social services wisther on the whether with their wither on the vines as funds dry up. Poverty, the poverty of income and the poverty of true opportunity is the common denominator denominator. More and more of our citizens especially our young people and people of color no longer trust that the American Dream<\/a> is within their reach. For a young man of color to finish high School Without<\/a> a basic education because of social promotion hes robbed of that opportunity. Thats a robbery that Law Enforcement<\/a> cannot respond to. His world view is likely shaped by an american likely not shaped by an american civics class but by social media saturated with a subculture that celebrates anger towards authority, disrespect for women and willingness to use force to ensure that they are not disrespected especially in front of their peers which often triggers a swift escalation of the most routine Police Encounter<\/a> or any other authority figures. I dont need to remind anyone here that these problems have been building for generations. In a threemonth study is not going to provide all the solutions. This will have to be permanent work in progress. We need to commit ourselves to it. The fop wants to be part of a changing culture of policing. But we as a society and a nation also have a responsibility to make changes. We must first reject any notion that the Law Enforcement<\/a> culture is intrinsically racist. Its wrong to think that a man is a criminal because of his skin but its equally wrong to think a man is racist because of his uniform. Enough is enough. We must also reject the tacit legitimization of violence and lawbreaking as a weapon of social change. No grand jury decision or Government Action<\/a> should result in local leaders or National Spokesmen<\/a> justifingly open or not the burning of businesses, looting of shops or wanton destruction of property. When these criminal acts are not swiftly condemned add wrong but are met with a shoulder shrug or an explained away as a complete completely reasonable release to pent up frustration. We invite an increase in violence that leads to events like the assassination of two new york Police Officers<\/a>. The killer of these two officers believed his out rage and a per his outrage and a perceived failure of justice was enough to end their lives and then his own. Enough is enough. The trust gap and lack of respect for our government led an unbalanced man to murder. We need to get away from inflammatory rhetoric so present in our culture today, which leads criminals and mentally unbalanced criminals to believe hostile actions against police will be validated. I ask we keep this goal uppermost in our minds as we go forward with discussions about police legitimacy, race relations. Racial reconciliation, procedural justice and transparency. I believe one of the most important things question do to strengthen the bonds of trust and Mutual Respect<\/a> between government and our communities is to restore our Public Confidence<\/a> in and commitment to due process. Law enforcement officers knowledge that individual officers will have their actions skroout scrutinized. We welcome that. This will sometimes inflame public passions and exacerbate the Community Situation<\/a> especially in cases where the National Opinions<\/a> often turned out to be mistaken. This undermines trust and does damage to the concept of due process. Its critical to demonstrate our faith in a commitment to due process. It must not be affected by nelg negative media, mass vaiolence or any other retribution by the public. Law enforcement officers as Public Employees<\/a> have the right to due process as anyone else in our nation does. We need to make that clear especially if Law Enforcement<\/a> managers persist in efforts to create a database of these officers. If fop opposed this effort in the past and must continue to do so unless due process laws for all Police Officers<\/a> are uniform throughout the nation. Perhaps this effort will bolster our later effort to improve p efforts for Police Officers<\/a>. Later efforts to improve the process for Police Officers<\/a>. Again, thank you for allowing us to be here today. Our written testimony will be submitted. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Our next witness is a past president of Major County Sheriffs Association<\/a> and a member of the executive committee and sergeant in arms for the national Sheriffs Association<\/a>. Welcome. Thank you. Good morning. I am the sheriff in minnesota. Just beginning my 32nd year of policing. 24 years with the indianapolis Minneapolis Police<\/a>. Eight years as sheriff of my county. Its my honor to be here on behalf of these two organizations, the national Sheriffs Association<\/a> and the major county sheriffs organization. I want to thank you for holding this listening session. Theres no currently serving sheriff on the task force we feel this plays a Critical Role<\/a> of providing the public with the insights, experiences, and perspectives from our nations sheriffs. Sheriffs are unique in the number of ways. We are the only democratically elected lawenforcement in the country. Each sheriff serves their respective county or parish. As a result the officer sheriff is the Law Enforcement<\/a> agency most accountable to the public they serve. Sheriffs are the only Law Enforcement<\/a> officers that provide the full line of criminal Justice Services<\/a> including corrections to the operation of our jails. Sheriffs hold a wide variety of policing and Public Safety<\/a> responsibilities due to the diverse makeup of our counties. Sheriffs across this great country represent remote rural areas as well as the densely populated areas. All of these allow us to provide a unique set of observations regarding the key issues identified by this task force. We should begin with your mission from the president. To identity best practices and make recommendations and how policing practices can promote effective Crime Reduction<\/a> while Building Public<\/a> trust. While this has become a topic of National Concern<\/a> police Community Relations<\/a>hips are not managed at the national level. Police Community Relations<\/a>hips are local. The bond between Law Enforcement<\/a> and the public varies greatly across this Country Agency<\/a> by agency. From the context of my own experience a very diverse county with 1. 2 million residents. 425,000 are noncaucasian. Our population are growing and demographics are changing every day. We have over 40,000 liberians. Nearly 100 thousand somali and others who live in the county. We have 37 separate lawenforcement agencies from one with six officers to the Minneapolis Police<\/a> with over 100 officers. Each with its own set of relationships. In some the dynamics between Law Enforcement<\/a> and the community are excellent. In other communities the dynamics are not as positive. Work needs to be done to restore relationships from decades of deep distrust. For all involved the best time to build trust is before that warnts sweep, before that traffic stop, before that drug search warrant and before it have 911 call. We should develop, maintain and invest in these relationships at the local level and focus on specific goals and basic elements on both sides of the equation. The first is welltrained deputies and Police Officers<\/a>. They have to be reflective of the community we serve who are properly equipped, compensated supported and accountable for their actions who respect the privacy and protect Civil Liberties<\/a> of all residents and understand their role is to be one of public service. The second is engaged Community Members<\/a> and leaders who actively participate in the development of policies, who promote in the education of Community Members<\/a> about Police Practices<\/a> and our criminal Justice System<\/a>. Who facilitate constructive and meaningful review of policies and practices that violate Community Standards<\/a> and partner with us in their business, school, neighborhoods, places of worship to build strong and resilient communities. The third our chief Law Enforcement<\/a> officers who are accountable to the residence directly through elections or indirectly through elected mayors or officials at city council members. Who facilitate direct participation on the part of community leaders, adviseory groups and round tables. Who listen to insight and direction from the community while following policies and practices that directly benefit their residence. Who are going to breakthrough the status quo by engaging Diverse Communities<\/a> through recruiting and targeting outreach to leaders. Your recommendsation should support and further these goals. Most important goal is to build communities of trust through agencies that are reflective of the communities we serve. Again, as a local example over the past eight years weve improved our diversity through actively recruiting minorities and military veterans, as most agencies have, but we still have a long ways to go. Sheriffs believe that measuring diversity in the work force is only one way to quantify progress. It also Community Involvement<\/a> in an advisory capacity to our agency. The other way is Community Participation<\/a> in the development of our practice and policies. A specific example would be allowing women of muslim faith to wear hijabs in our jail. We dwoptadopted this policy to adopted this policy at the recommendation of our Community Advisory<\/a> board to better reflect the expectations of our Community Members<\/a>. We must better highlight the challenges and the dangers for our officers and deputies. 121 Police Officers<\/a> died in the line of duty in 2014. 47 of those officers were killed by gunfire. Over 50,000 of our officers are assaulted every single year. Our jobs are filled with uncertainty, violence, and hostility. Training and incident review go a long way in establishing best practice and preparedness. In real life things can change in a heartbeat. Things that the best training cant account for. For most americans the officer on patrol is the most direct and the visible point of contact to the entire criminal Justice System<\/a>. Law enforcement is only one part of that system. We enforce the laws. We dont write them. We dont define sentencing guidelines. Police Community Relations<\/a> in every town or every city could be improved with the better understanding of the criminal Justice System<\/a> and to a Greater Public<\/a> awareness of the constitutionally limited role of police in a democratic society. When we act to enforce our laws its Public Safety<\/a> in service to the residence. Fulfilling our oath of office means more than respect. We protect the private liberties privacy and Civil Liberties<\/a> of all residents. In addition to their safety. For me and the sheriffs across this great country this is how we define the role of policing in a democratic society. This is what it means to serve and protect. The nation sheriffs also officer several recommendations and raise additional concerns that need to be addressed in the context of 21st century policing. First is National Initiatives<\/a> from the department of justice to the policing Services Program<\/a> designed to strengthen Police Community<\/a> bonds, should be analyzed, enhanced and cross supplied to other areas experiencing similar problems. These efforts should focus on greater participation by our citizens and reserve Police Officer<\/a> programs or organizations like the National Citizens<\/a> police acad knee association and advocateing interaction to gain more personal state in community safety. Local School Districts<\/a> could coordinate education visits to Police Department<\/a>s, foster interest at a much earlier age. Understanding the experiences in the criminality across the country to help shed light on the current status of relations in our respective communities. We want residents to understand why Law Enforcement<\/a> officers use certain equipment or tactics to ask the public to comeply. These tools do enhance the safety of the public. Understanding this could help mitigate confrontation, reduce confusion and escalatelation on the part of the officer and the public. Sheriffs emphasize the need for funding for programs and designed to assist state and initiatives designed to assist state and local Law Enforcement<\/a>. The mentally ill treatment act. The burn justice memorial grants, Community Policing<\/a> services, the state criminal alien program. Changes from year to year on these programs can disrupt or work force hiring, community initiatives, our training, equipment and technology and services that are necessary to ensure a modern and Effective Police<\/a> force. I know i have taken more time than previously allotted and i appreciate that. In closing, i want to say this sheriffs are essential partners in any effort to increase the trust and the confidence in the American People<\/a> in our criminal Justice System<\/a>. Our sheriffs hope that forums like this will lead to open discussions between Law Enforcement<\/a> leaders, community leaders, opinion makers and politicians right here in washington, d. C. Thank you for the opportunity to testify here today and i welcome your questions. Thank you. Our final witness is andrew peralta. Sir. Thank you. Im also a lieutenant with the Las Vegas Metro<\/a> Politic Police<\/a> metropolitan Police Department<\/a>. We are no strangers to the department of justice and the sheriffs office. Ive actually had the privilege of being involved in a lot of that change so thank you. Im also the National President<\/a> with the National Latino<\/a> Peace Officers Association<\/a> founded in 1974. We believe that the vast majority of cops that hire on today hire on good for reasons good intentions and want to do good things in the community. The reason we ask is because of the very issues that were talking about today. They were recognized back in 1972 by two of our founders in california. So they founded this organization to help try and tackle some of these issues in the hispanic communities back in their day. I also want to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak in front of you. I will go ahead and go right into the some of the main topics you sent us. Role of police in a democratic society. We believe the Police Department<\/a> and agencies, we exist because the public wants us to understand. Wants us to exist. They want us there to help protect them. This relationship must be protected through transparency and mutual trust. Police in the communities they serve need to see each other as partners in the 21st century not enemies. Police departments must match the demographic of the community. We know there are challenges in the africanamerican and hispanic communities that we serve. We need to change that. We believe in the sanctity of life and we believe that that needs to be embedded throughout policies and in training with an emphasis in the use of force policies to be progressive and with an emphasis on deeskalition deescalation. We believe associations like owe like ours that have been around for many years can be useful especially with strained budgets and limited Resources Available<\/a> to the department. Hiring a diverse work force. There must be a dmitcommitment a commitment from the top of every agency to mirror the community at large. We know this is important and that there are incentives to maintain racially balanced recruitment teams whether youre hiring or not. Those officers can be useful in representing the local democratics and encourageing demographics and encouraging young juveniles to become Police Officers<\/a> theirselves even if they are not actually hiring. Locally, we went four years without hiring so were not stranger to that. Some of those teams can still be used. There must be commitment today. Time cant wait. Every officer hired locks up another position that is not going to be available till that person retires. So there has to be commitment today to help change that. In the area of procedural justice, we like citizen review boards. We believe those are important for engaging minority communities so we will feel their voices heard and concerns met. They can help hold us accountable and help get the message out to the public that were doing the job right. Transparency doing critical during critical incidences is important. Building better media relationships upfront before an incident is paramount. Inviting them into your special weapons and tactics teams, letting them know how you operate. That transparency will help minimize confrontation or racially divided information being put out during a critical incident. Of course, sanctions for departments found guilty using race affective in an arrest and require all departments to have a written policy against racial profiling. We believe those are very important. Racial reconciliation. One of the tactics we use is reaching out through the faith based communities. I know in our hispanic communities we have in the west dont trust cops. They came from an environment where cops are the ones hurting them so they dont want to come to us so it has led to a lot of victimization in their communities. They wont call us but we know they go to church and they trust their pastors and priests and so forth. So having a series of treats with the faithbased communities to reach out to that segment that doesnt trust us i believe is very important. Reaching out to the community to mend old wounds. Lastly, there must be greater attention placed on how discretion is applied in the community. Officers have a lot of discretion and that discretion must be applied in an ethical and fair manner. This can be accomplished through training. Community engagement and dialogue. Citizens academies whether it be hispanic, africanamerican, being visible during christmas or other charitable events to work with the minority communities so they can see that hey, we do have officers out there that are like us and that are concerned for our needs. Police minority recruitment teams composed of citizens and officers. This gives the community a hand in supporting its own best interests. Driver safety programs, reaching out to local minority radio shows, so on and so forth. Improving youth relations. Positive interaction we believe need to happen at a younger age. It cant wait. Those individuals in our Elementary Schools<\/a> are our citizens tomorrow that are going to be bringing up these same issues if we dont do something now so we believe early positive contact is essential now. Assist in creating Youth Volunteer<\/a> programs throughout the United States<\/a> and working to provide supplies to homeless populations to reach out to them as well. Youth leadership academies. The young adults need to see police as helpful resources to them. Police leadership development. The point of how highest of our highest liability rests with our day one rookie officer. Leadership must start at the lowest level. I cant wait to hear the sergeant, lieutenant, sheriff. They need that understanding that leadership up front before they promote because we are at that point of contact as we saw in ferguson that could be the ignition source to something that we dont want to see so a lot more leadership up front whether its in the academy or requirements in the initial development of a young officer. Training of fair and Impartial Policing<\/a> have helped us in las vegas and across the u. S. Make this training a requirement prior to promotions for anyone in leadership positions or at least to be completed within one year of promotion. In closing, we believe that minority associations such as ours we have been out there for years. Weve been trying to tackle these issues for a long, long time. Weve been waiting for an opportunity to like this so we like to definitely thank you. We will continue to participate in the necessary studies of research provided by the doj and this task force. Were leerhere to help and encourage the government not to let go of the principles of Community Oriented<\/a> policing and to find ways to keep this research and funding going. For those Community Members<\/a> watching today, we are you as cops. As a minority officer, i live in your community. I worry about crime and i worry about residing in a safe neighborhood the same as you. And i wonder how it will be in 15 years for my grandchildren. You know, with that said, our commitment will be unwaivering when it comes to being an active participant in communities of color. Were here to help community wise, government wise. Thank you very much. Thanks to call of the witnesses. Were going to start our questioning now. We will be starting with Brian Stephenson<\/a>. Well, let me just thank all of you for your testimony and for being here. I want to particularly thank mr. Peralta for the specific recommendations and stanic. Chief berry id be interested because you work with national organizations. If youve heard from either other panelists or earlier today, specific recommendations that have been initiated by Police Chiefs<\/a> that are doing innovative work in their department which you think would be positive things for the task force to recommend specifically in building better trust and better relationships within the community. The second part is if you could identify innovative leadership in communities that youve worked in or seen or youve heard about that youd like to draw attention to. Id be really interested in hearing about places where people have done Creative Things<\/a> specifically on this question of Building Trust<\/a> between police and communities. I share your concerns on the broader issues. Because were not talking about them, i dont want you to feel like youre not being heard. The questions of gun access and sentencing and drug policy are very big issues that Law Enforcement<\/a> have to bear the brunt of, but im interested in any recommendations that youd like to endorse either from your copanelists or that youve heard here today. First and foremost i think the most important thing that weve heard from day one is collaborative communication in our neighborhoods. Weve got to work i think most of my associations have been doing Community Outreach<\/a> for years. Weve run the poa leagues in many places. We do christmas drives to help feed the people in our neighborhoods. We do close clothes dryers, clothes drives, shop with a cop programs. But a lot of the Police Department<\/a>s dont have the resources or the ability to do that. The collaborative work with the churches and Community Groups<\/a> is essential. I think when Community Oriented<\/a> policing became a buzzword in my career in the 1980s, it was fine for Community Oriented<\/a> policing as long as i didnt get out of my car. And then it started to where i better get out of my car. With current Staffing Levels<\/a> being what they are, overtime compensation being cut back, its very difficult for officers to do anything proactive in a neighborhood. Weve become a Reactive Police<\/a> force. Its sad. But since the major cuts inlaw in Law Enforcement<\/a>, we estimate were down close to 100,000 Police Officers<\/a> since the late 1990s. Thats caused a huge void of people getting out and doing what were supposed to do. As far as innovation, i heard about some of the School Resource<\/a> information, which shocks me because my state is a small Southern State<\/a> and weve had School Resource<\/a> officers in every middle school and high school in the state for the last eight or ten years. And many of those programs run summer programs for atrisk children in cooperation with the schools. Those have proved to be very effective in our communities. Mr. Stephenson, i would again take you back to this policy manual. I didnt get into them because we were pressed for time to try and i am trying to make up lost ground. I think the issues are so indepth, they need that. Also, my written testimony has been submitted and contains a great detail on those issues. I have to say some of the training the professor at the university of south florida in tampa was mentioned earlier. Shes done a great deal of training in the state of florida on bias, and she does great she does a great job. The other thing, it was mentioned earlier, there are a lot of locations that have great relationships with the clergy and Work Together<\/a>. A perfect example is orange county, florida. The sheriff has done a great job of bringing that Community Together<\/a> to work on issues. Again, they do afterschool programs and programs for at risk youth. So there are a lot of great examples out there. But at the end of the day, as chuck just mentioned, the funding. Dollars for training. The state of florida right now currently authorizes 67 per officer per year for training. 67. Now, thats up from 40 two years ago. Ok . Thats what were up against ladies and gentlemen. Those are real numbers. Thats whats going on across the country. The improvement in the economy that has happened across the nation has not made it to the local levels yet. A lot of the Property Values<\/a> have not come back. The tax revenues are not there. So there are agencies still struggling. I say to you what kind of training can you do for 67 per employee . Pretty tough. Did either of our other witness want to weigh in on this question . Sure. Like i was saying, thats part of where we come in to try to fill that niche. We have chapters from alaska all the way to florida. We do provide annual training, a week long annual conference that we do that does provide police training. I know noble does that. And we have our budgets. We are someone that can be reached out to, because we know the Police Department<\/a>s are strained. They really are. But the dues that we collect throughout the country can be useful in that. As far as reaching out to the faithbased community, youre talking about things that happen in certain areas. We work closely with our county commissioners. We think its important to work with local government. It takes everyone, not just police. You have to reach out to the local government. He was a leadership summit together and gives officers chances to speak to the young africanamerican and hispanic students, to try to peak their interest. We talk about leadership and what it is like to be an officer to get them interested in being , an officer. And its interesting in a lot of communities, even now, maybe the recent one i was teaching, we had groups of 40 and 50 students come through and maybe six to eight of the students that came through had interest in being an officer. So we know were falling short in reaching out to our juveniles. We think we need to continue those efforts. And we have opened our doors as well. We are for a quality. Equality. We are proud to say we are 40 other. We have opened our doors. A lot of our doors are very mixed. You cannot fight inequality if you are going to be prejudiced yourself. So that has got to be mentioned. Iq. Thank you. Rich, anything you want to add. No, madam chairman. Im going to try the second question when youre ready. Ok. Well, let me say this. I am going to talk a little bit about the Community Advisory<\/a> boards, because i think this is important. The whole thing about Law Enforcement<\/a> in the community is about trust and partnership. How do you build that . I will go back to the best example i know, which is in my own state. When my deputies raise their right hand, they swear to uphold the constitution of the United States<\/a> and the laws of minnesota. Those are the three things that govern the actions and duties and responsibilities of our deputies. We go one step further. That is the Community Advisory<\/a> board, made up of 38 members the faith community, educators the business community, the Diaspora Community<\/a> at large, and joe and jane average citizens. I could say, youre just a sounding board, thank you for your advice and guidguidance. We dont do that. We ask them and talk about our policies and funding. If i am looking to do something, i use their input. It isnt just a advisory capacity like in some organizations, but we truly use the Community Advisory<\/a> board. That is building a partnership. Those partnerships dont come overnight. Building trust is not just stop and start and stop and start again. Its something that you build over years and years. Many of these Community Advisory<\/a> Board Members<\/a> have served since i first has sworn in as sure of in 2006. As sheriff in 2006. Some come back. Some move back to outside of our country but at the end of the day, they want to come back. They like having a vested interest and stake in the community at large. And we empower them to be able to do so. I think thats a really important concept as you continue your work and recommendations back to the president , that you highlight those things. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on, connie rice and tracy mirrors following her. All right, gentlemen. Thank you for your testimony. I am going to make sure i read it right, and i dont think i did, because three of you sounded extremely combative. I could understand why you felt attacked, but im wondering if you disagree with chief bratten and chief charlie beck, current chief of lapd, when both of them testified that the future was not in handcuffs and that police would have to change their mindset and outlook if they were going to bond with these communities of color. Do you disagree with that . I will start with that. The answer is no. Thats why again, i go back to the tcp iecp that for over 20 years has been trying to get a National Commission<\/a> on criminal justice to try to look at the entire system. Weve been wanting this for a long time. We could not get anybody in congress that would take it forward. The answer is weve seen this train coming for a while and weve been trying to be upfront and we have not been able to get people to actually take action. So the answer is i absolute agree that the entire system needs to be looked at. Unfortunately Law Enforcement<\/a> keeps taking the brunt of it. Again, sentencing and all of those type of things, we dont control those. The other thing i found interesting before with the schools and making arrests, you know, our hands have been tied. Because of the fear of juvenile guns in schools, we dont have a choice. When i started in this business in 1977, you had discretion in cases. Anymore, that discretion is gone because if you dont make an arrest and that person hurts somebody, youre done. Your career is done. Your agency is done. So it takes a systemwide adjustment to make this thing better. But isnt it true, sir, that that First Contact<\/a> with Law Enforcement<\/a> is how most of our kids get funneled into this criminal Justice System<\/a> . So theres a lot of discretion that you hold. I mean, i guess im asking if you can agree with that or not , because that First Contact<\/a> with the criminal Justice System<\/a>, it comes from the conscious decision of an officer to place that child into that system. Right. And i would answer that, it depends. Look at the Domestic Violence<\/a> laws across this country. The discretion of an officer is gone. I had a friend of mine whose 17yearold son got arrested because him and his 18yearold brother got into a fight. Under Domestic Violence<\/a> laws now, if you dont make that arrest and something bad happens so officers are erring on the side of protecting themselves and that agency. I insane there are unintended consequences. I am saying there are unintended consequences. Unfortunately anything to do with schools anymore, if you dont make an arrest and something bad happens, its over. Again, i dont think the officers have the discretion that they once had. Thats my personal opinion. But i agree that that initial contact is crucial. But it also depends on how that contact happens. If its a voluntary encounter or you are called to the situation and fall into one of those mandatory reporting areas, you dont have much discretion. Right. They cant bratten b beck and bratten have both said that they have an obligation to change the mindset of the traditional Police Officer<\/a>. How would you interpret that . Do you disagree or agree that the mindset of officers is an area that needs to be focused on along with all of these others that youve listed . Well, while im up i will hit on that one too, and then i will turn the microphone over. I believe in the nobility of policing, and that is the constitution of values that go with it and the fairness and justice that go with it. Do i think that we need to do a better job with that training, yes, maam, i will not argue with you one bit. We have to. So there are great programs out there and we do have to change the mindset. Him but we have to have the publics help. Accepting violence as the norm is unacceptable too. There are shared responsibilities. I think Law Enforcement<\/a> will step up and do their part and the public needs to do their part and have shared responsibility. Thank you. I think theres another segment of the population that we dont lay the blame it the feet of, but i will tell you Police Officers<\/a> are used in this country by politicians to handle problems. Going into areas of high crime and vandalism, the Police Department<\/a> are a public are the Public Servants<\/a> that are responsible for making the contacts. I heard about earlier about incentivizing for arrests. Nobody, quotas for arrests should be illegal. Police officers should have discretion. In st. Louis county, the f. O. P. Took a position that they needed to consolidate Police Department<\/a>s because you cant go from one borough to the next without getting two traffic tickets because they govern on the money provided by the tickets. They need to review the amount of discretion. Video cameras and body cameras are now causing them to affect an arrest because someone will second guess every decision he makes. Why didnt you put that person in jail . You had a clear violation, why didnt you put him in jail . I thought that my discussion with that young man was fruitful. I believe he understood what he did was wrong. I also believe by allowing that subject to go away that ive left him with a good impression. Well, that good impression will cost you three days off for not enforcing the law. So there has to be discretion . I agree with the chief that officers must have their discretion returned, but that starts with the politicians who pass the laws. We have zero tolerance policies in our high school. I live in an area where children go and hunt and fish before school. And if in the back of their pick up truck, they leave an empty shotgun shell case, thats a criminal offense and they are expelled from school. Thats ridiculous. So the discretion should come back. But with that the discretion should be taught that theres no reprisal for those who practice the discretion. We have a limited amount of time in this segment. Six members or five members still have questions to ask. Thank you for your answers there. Let me turn to tracy mirrors. Jose lopez will follow. Thank you for your testimony. I will try to make this as pointed as i can. It follows from connie rices question. I want to frame it by starting with the point that professor tyler brought up that crime has gone down substantially yet the public trust has remained the same, with a substantial gap between the trust whites and nonwhites fulton police. It seems like theres agreement among all three panels that we need to improve the levels of trust that police have with communities. The question is how to get there. I want to echo what connie rice said and Brian Stephenson<\/a> said in seeking for very specific recommendations for how you want do that. You were both very clear that he wanted that, but not on how to get it. I would like to hear your brief comments about your views on implicit bias. You have talked about training, but what about ideas of procedural justice . Even if you believe that you dont have a choice in an arrest and youve all been just a little bit inconsistent about whether you think theres discretion or not you do have a choice in how you treat people. I think the chief addressed that in his testimony. There are 12 million arrests a year and the vast majority go without any incident. Training is obviously key. You heard about the statistic. Training is the first thing that got cut after 2008 in every Police Department<\/a> in the country. The budget was sliced. Our officers are in, in kind of training, and that gets them off the street. You have to remember that any type of training that will benefit officers most of the time, the officers out there dont make the rules in the Police Department<\/a>. Most of the time were not included in the rule making. I think that as part of the collaborative effort, we have to be involved too. Rank and file has to be involved. The issue of discretion being returned to the Police Officer<\/a> is essential. Let me answer, one of the things thats in our report, its about getting everybody involved in Law Enforcement<\/a>. You need to know what we do. Unfortunately people get their ideas from tv and movies. Thats not what cops do. Anyway we can get people involved we do a lot of atrisk programs. But the regular people who work 8 00 to 5 00, if you could come to a Citizen Academy<\/a> and see the training and understand it and then be part of some of those advisory committees those things , are an incredible tool. Unfortunately, one of the things that has happened we are all the exhibit. The victims of it. Many of us are putting in more hours for less money and at the end of the day do you really want to go to the Police Department<\/a> and listen for two hours . Unfortunately some dont. We hope that they will. And we hope that you, as a team, will come back with some great ideas that we can steal. We dont think we know it all. I mean, i have always believed in hiring people smarter than you. So the people who work for me are a lot smarter. Whatever you have, please, we will run with your ideas. I can guarantee you that. Jose lopez. Yeah, my question weve gone down this road but i want to come back to it. When i think of our prison system and the overwhelming numbers of people who have gone to prison over the past three decades, and the fact that the majority of those look like myself and britney, it makes me think of the role of Law Enforcement<\/a>. And we heard on the last panel of this notion or idea that Law Enforcement<\/a> needs to serve as a function or does serve as a function to maintain racialized social control. I just want to hear from the panel how you take that notion. This idea that Law Enforcement<\/a>s function is to maintain racialized social control. Well, i will start on that. That is the further thing from the truth. The fact is, when youre a cop and you get the call you dont get to pick who the victim is. You dont get to pick who the suspect is. When you take a report in dragnet they used to say, the facts maam. Just the facts. Thats how cops operate. Are the numbers disproportional, yes. Is the victimization disproportional, yes, it is. Those are the facts. The cops didnt create those. Thats why i said in my testimony, i really encourage you to dig into the real facts and come up with a plan. Because again, we dont pick and choose our cases. They come to us. And to think that theres any kind of institutional anything for putting people in prison is absolutely false and the disproportionality, i agree it needs to be examined. It is embarrassing as the nation. Britney. Thank you all for your testimony. And in particular, lieutenant peralta, thank you for your very thoughtful suggestions and solutions. I have a two part question. The first part i think is pretty basic because like attorney rice, i think i might be misunderstanding something and im looking for some charity. Clarity. So the first three of you, your testimony seemed to suggest that the burden of responsibility is equal on parts of the police and the community. In my community, i think the community would disagree given that Police Officers<\/a> swear an oath, are licensed to carry a gun, et cetera. I want to know if you agree that the burden of responsibility is heavier on Law Enforcement<\/a>. I think theres a perception that it is, but it shouldnt be. We all have the same responsibility towards society. I dont think that Police Officers<\/a> should be held to any kind of a higher standard. But we should take the lead. We should work with the communities to help build that trust. 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