Law enforcement leaders are critical stakeholders in their local criminal justice systems and have a powerful voice to contribute to any conversation about criminal justice system reform. As law enforcement agencies continue efforts to improve policies and practices toward building strong, trusting community-police relationships, the IACP is working on projects that support these endeavors at all points within the justice system. IACP’s efforts in this area began in 2010, with work highlighting the role of law enforcement in pretrial justice change, and the IACP continues to support pre-arrest diversion and other evidence-based policing efforts that promote public safety, engagement, trust, and legitimacy among law enforcement and the communities they serve.
Identifying Law Enforcement’s Role in Pretrial Justice
Over the years, there have been numerous cases of violence and crime committed by high-risk offenders who were released on bond awaiting trial. Among the most notable of these is Maurice Clemmons who, in 2009, killed four police officers in Lakewood, Washington, while out on bond awaiting trial for an officer assault and a juvenile rape.1 More recently, Kevin Janson Neal, who was released on bond after being arrested for stabbing a neighbor, went on a shooting spree in Rancho Tehama, California, killing five people before he was killed by police.2
The inconsistency of policies and guidelines for pretrial release can create volatile public safety challenges for police and communities. Law enforcement is the first line of defense against crime and criminals and the most public face of the justice system. Yet historically, law enforcement leaders have not actively been engaged in pretrial decisions beyond what happens at an individual’s initial arrest. Like community members, officers often express frustration with the revolving door of the justice system, through which potentially dangerous individuals may be promptly released back into the community on bond, while low-level, nonviolent offenders, often with mental health and addiction issues, remain incarcerated due to their inability to pay bail or cycle through the system without getting the services they need.
Following the tragedy in Lakewood in 2009, the IACP; Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice; and the Pretrial Justice Institute convened a focus group of criminal justice professionals, which concluded that law enforcement can and should play a leadership role in addressing issues regarding the pretrial process, particularly those that directly affect public and officer safety. In 2011, IACP issued Law Enforcement’s Leadership Role in the Pretrial Release and Detention Process, a guidebook that includes information for law enforcement on the bail system as well as pretrial services programs, and pretrial detention and release.3 Following up on a focus group’s recommendations, the IACP membership also approved a resolution proposed by the IACP Research Advisory Committee in 2011 (and updated in 2014) to express commitment to continuing work on the urgent need for more robust, risk-based pretrial services.4
To work through the issues posed by the focus group and the IACP resolutions, IACP led a multiyear project to raise law enforcement’s awareness of risk-based pretrial reform strategies and encouraged leaders to consider their roles in their local criminal justice systems. This project resulted in presentations across the United States at national, state, and local conferences for law enforcement and pretrial service providers; blog posts; articles in the Police Chief; and the development of other resources, including two online courses. During this project’s lifecycle, several promising solutions were found to address pretrial justice concerns:
- Risk Assessment—One of the biggest concerns surrounding pretrial release and detention decisions is public and officer safety. Pretrial risk assessments provide a consistent, empirical way to determine a person’s risk of failure to appear for court or to cause harm in the community. These tools demonstrate a greater level of predictive accuracy than relying solely on a bail schedule or the judgment of prosecutors and judges. These tools are often completed by court or pretrial service staff. Some jurisdictions are utilizing risk tools in the field, which are administered by front-line law enforcement officers.
- Enhanced Pretrial Release Monitoring—When individuals qualify for pretrial release, they should receive specific monitoring conditions. For lower-risk individuals, this can include check-in meetings, court reminders, and substance abuse or other treatment or training programs. To mitigate specific risk factors, the court may include electronic monitoring conditions for some who qualify for pretrial release. This practice helps minimize the risk to the community, while allowing offenders to maintain employment and stability for their families. This type of monitoring also allows for swift action if an offender violates the conditions of release. Law enforcement are the first responders if electronic monitoring devices detect a serious threat, and some law enforcement agencies may have a more active role in the ongoing management and administration of monitoring programs.
- Citation in Lieu of Arrest—Citation is one of the more common ways to keep low-risk individuals out of jail prior to trial. A comprehensive 2016 IACP study funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, found that nearly 87 percent of U.S. law enforcement agencies use the practice, and approximately 80 percent of those agencies have used it for more than 10 years. From an efficiency standpoint, it was found that citations take much less time to process than arrests (85.8 minutes versus 24.2 minutes), saving slightly more than an hour per incident.5
- Prearrest Diversion—As the opioid crisis continues to devastate local communities, driving up drug-related crime and challenging law enforcement’s ability to address addiction-related issues, IACP and partner agencies are increasing their focus on pre-arrest diversion strategies in collaboration with behavioral health partners. Prearrest diversion strategies also address issues related to mental health and the collateral consequences associated with an arrest record, instead allowing individuals to receive the services they need.
When addressing the role of law enforcement in pretrial justice, there must be collaboration among key stakeholders in the justice system and communities. The following IACP resources were developed to focus on how to build these partnerships:
- Partnerships in Pretrial Justice: A Law Enforcement Leader’s Guide to Understanding and Engaging in Meaningful Front-End Justice System Change—It is critical for law enforcement to have a voice in the conversations about pretrial justice to ensure that policies and procedures are fair and efficient and keep officers and communities safe. This publication includes talking points for law enforcement, resource links, and information about evidence-based pretrial strategies.
- Law Enforcement’s Role in Supporting Victims’ Needs through Pretrial Justice Reform: A Briefing Paper from the IACP Victim Services Committee—The IACP Victim Services Committee identified pretrial release or detention as a decision point in the criminal justice system that could be improved by achievable, pragmatic solutions that better meet victims’ needs. Although law enforcement leaders do not commonly make pretrial release or detain decisions, they are influential in calling for reform in the justice system for public safety. This document is intended to raise the awareness of and to encourage informed discussion among law enforcement and other criminal justice leaders about how the pretrial justice system can be improved to be more victim responsive.
- Pretrial Justice and Law Enforcement: What Chiefs Need to Know and What Officers Need to Know Online Courses—These online learning tools, housed on the Pretrial Justice Institute’s University of Pretrial website, can help law enforcement examine risk-based solutions and pretrial partnerships that support strong community-police relationships and maximize public safety and learn more about the complexities of the pretrial justice system.
Supporting Change in the Field: The Safety and Justice Challenge
IACP has also received funding to become a strategic ally within the Safety and Justice Challenge, a five-year initiative funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way the United States thinks about and uses jails. This project supports efforts in 40 competitively selected jurisdictions (representing 16 percent of the jail population in the United States) committed to finding ways to safely reduce jail incarceration by developing and modeling effective ways to keep low-risk people out of jail and effectively reintegrating those who must be confined back into the community upon release.6
As a strategic ally, IACP supports the law enforcement partners within the Safety and Justice Challenge sites by identifying and developing promising law enforcement strategies for safely reducing arrests and incarceration; exploring alternatives to arrest to keep low-risk offenders out of jail through enhanced coalition building and collaboration with community-based agencies; and providing access to resources and training in areas such as pretrial reform, risk assessment, citation in lieu of arrest, and enhanced community-police relations.
One strategy being used by a growing number of agencies across the United States to reduce the number of arrests, especially in light of the mounting opioid epidemic, is pre-arrest diversion. IACP’s Safety and Justice Challenge project has so far held two webinars on pre-arrest diversion to help leaders take the first steps in establishing a program that will fit the needs of their community.
Fostering Momentum for Law Enforcement-Led Diversion
Building on IACP’s work in the Safety and Justice Challenge, the association recently partnered with the Center for Health and Justice at TASC and several other organizations to create the Police, Treatment, and Community (PTAC) Collaborative. The purpose of the PTAC Collaborative, which is open to anyone interested in pre-arrest diversion (PAD) efforts, is to provide vision, leadership, voice, and action on the issue of pre-arrest diversion through education, advocacy, research, training, and technical assistance. Members of PTAC are working on several fronts to provide information to the fields of law enforcement, behavioral health, and research to help guide the evolving practice of front-end diversion. For example, PTAC’s behavioral health strategic area developed Ten Guiding Behavioral Health Principles for Pre-Arrest Diversion, and the research area is developing a set of consistent core measures by which to evaluate PAD. Through PTAC, IACP is working with law enforcement practitioners engaged in various models of PAD to develop promising practices for law enforcement agencies who want guidance in implementing effective programs.
In March 2018, PTAC will hold the first-ever conference on developing and supporting pre-arrest diversion initiatives across the United States. The goal of the conference is to train teams of practitioners from communities looking to develop or expand pre-arrest diversion efforts. More information about this conference is available at www.axissummit.com/ptac_event.
Experience with and resources to support law enforcement’s role in pre-arrest diversion are growing. IACP will continue to gather information and provide leadership for law enforcement looking for new ways to collaborate with criminal justice system and community partners to promote public safety. ♦
Notes:
1“Suspect in Lakewood Shooting of Four Police Officers Evades SWAT Team,” Vancouver Sun, November 30, 2009.
2“California Shooting Gunman’s Neighbor Lived in Fear of Him,” CBS News, November 16, 2017.
3International Association of Chiefs of Police, Law Enforcement’s Leadership Role in the Pretrial Release and Detention Process (Alexandria, VA: 2011), http://www.theiacp.org/Portals/0/documents/pdfs/LE_Pretrial_Role_2011_Report.pdf.
4Research Advisory Committee (RAC), “Pretrial Release and Detention Process” (IACP resolution adopted at the 118th IACP Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, October 26, 2011); RAC, “Pretrial Release and Detention Process” (IACP resolution adopted at the 121st IACP Annual Conference, Orlando, FL, October 21, 2014), http://www.theiacp.org/ViewResult?SearchID=2292.
5IACP, Citation in Lieu of Arrest: Examining Law Enforcement’s Use of Citation Across the United States (Alexandria, VA: IACP, 2016), 3, 10, http://www.theiacp
.org/Portals/0/documents/pdfs/IACP%20Citation%20Final%20Report%202016.pdf.
6IACP, “Safety and Justice Challenge,” http://www.theiacp.org/safetyandjustice.
Please cite as
Jennifer Styles and Karen Maline, “Framing Law Enforcement’s Role in Supporting Positive Justice Change,” IACP Working For You, The Police Chief (January 2018): 80–81.