The massive 416-page report, entitled “New Era of Public
Safety,” which the conference described as a “starting point for communities
and police departments to work together to achieve policing reform in the 21st
century,” offers 100 sweeping recommendations to police agencies
across the country—including some that openly contradict policy strategies of
the Trump administration.
Based on consultations with leading chiefs, academics,
policymakers, and police organizations, the report argues that police agencies
across the U.S. must allow communities a “greater say” in their operations in
order to eradicate the racial biases and warrior culture that have opened a
chasm of distrust between law enforcement officers and the citizens they
serve—particularly in at-risk communities—over much of the past decades.
“The pain and frustration are profound,” wrote Vanita Gupta,
president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights,
in her introduction to the report.
“It is no understatement that we are confronting serious
challenges in solving the erosion of trust between police and the communities
they serve.”
The emphasis on strengthening community policing comes as
the White House considers
eliminating the Community Oriented Policing Services Program(COPS),
established in 1994 during the presidency of Bill Clinton, by folding its
budget into other programs within the Justice Department’s Office of Justice
Programs.
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