In May 2020, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, quickly magnified the already-frayed relationship between police officers and communities. In response, the IACP reshaped its approach to mending these relationships by launching a clearing-house of Community-Police Engagement resources, covering topics from bias-free policing to cooperative safety solutions.
At a time when agencies are looking to assess their policies and procedures to maximize community-police engagement, these tools provide meaningful information to help public safety stakeholders develop a strong, consistent foundation.
The IACP’s Community-Police Engagement (CPE) Team also developed a comprehensive, adaptable curriculum for universities and colleges titled Bridging Perspectives: Critical Conversations for Students and Law Enforcement Officers. The course can be taught in multiple academic disciplines such as criminal justice, African American studies, peace studies, or other interested disciplines. By engaging in deliberate conversations, students and officers are challenged to listen and understand each other’s perspectives on how media, social platforms, and societal trends shape and frame views on subjects such as the history of policing, current events, and various cultures. Several law enforcement officials, academics, and community organization representatives reviewed the curriculum at various stages of its development.
The IACP has held the course at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia; the University of Denver, Colorado; American University in Washington, DC; and Keystone College in La Plume, Pennsylvania. There will be a course at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia, during the fall 2021 semester and again at American University. The IACP is working closely with the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) to broaden the outreach of the university course to the following universities: North Carolina A&T; University of Houston, Texas; Iowa State University; Coppin State University, Maryland; Montgomery College, Maryland; and Bethune-Cookman University, Florida. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bridging Perspectives continued at American University in a virtual format and for a second term at the University of Denver in person. To wrap up another successful semester, students and law enforcement participants at American University conducted final presentations on policy/practice considerations for the field on the following topics: use of force, police and mental health, police and immigrant communities, police and the mental health crisis, community police and public relations, and recruitment and retention policies.
A student participant from GMU stated,
The conversations we had during the course were vivid and allowed me to understand the perspective and roles from a police officer. This course allowed us to gain a mutual form of respect for one another.
The instructor for the GMU pilot class said,
I have observed the students and officers getting closer and more comfortable with each other with every passing class. The trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture really increased the interaction on a more personal level, and I witnessed small groups and pairs of officers and students sticking together and discussing the exhibits throughout the three-plus hours spent in the museum.
The experience provided unstructured time for course participants to absorb the contents of the museum and spend quality time with one another, building relationships that they took back to the classroom and beyond.
Working with GMU, IACP secured in-service training credits for participating Virginia officers through the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy. Obtaining credit for this course highlights the value and academic rigor of the program. To ensure that the course is meeting its intended goal, participants complete pre- and post-evaluations that are used to refine and improve the curriculum.
“By engaging in deliberate conversations, students and officers are challenged to listen and understand each other’s perspectives.”
In an effort to continue youth-police conversations and to build upon our Institute for Police-Youth Engagement, the IACP created a toolkit that can be used to help facilitate dialogue between law enforcement officers and youth between the ages of 14 and 18. The Bridging Perspectives: Critical Conversations Between Youth and Police (Youth Toolkit) includes modules similar to those in the university course, tailored to a teenaged audience. Modules cover critical conversations, implicit bias, media narratives, procedural justice, highlights in the history of community and police relationships, and a shared future for community-police engagement. The modules are adaptable and can be used individually or sequentially in high schools, after-school programs, and various community settings.
The IACP recently released the Youth Toolkit, and the Community-Police Engagement team continues to work with educators, youth organizations, law enforcement, and other community stakeholders to identify sites at which to pilot the toolkit.
