This practical guide to policing reform presents a call to action to address a threefold crisis in policing - a catastrophic loss of trust between police and the communities they serve; a sharp increase in violent crime after decades of decline; and a serious recruitment and retention challenge depleting police departments across the United States. The authors also recognize that, while these issues are now top of mind, policing needs far-reaching reform in order to respond to changes in society and its expectations, changes in crime and other threats to public safety, new technologies, and developments in best practice. Most reform to date has been piecemeal, as the book describes. The time has come to take a comprehensive look at every aspect of policing.
Kathleen O'Toole is a career police officer, lawyer, and PhD. She rose through the ranks and served as Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety, Boston Police Commissioner, Chief Inspector of Ireland's national police, and Seattle Police Chief. Robert Peirce is an international policing consultant and former diplomat and secretary for external relations in the Hong Kong government. Both worked on policing reform commissions in Northern Ireland (1998-9) and the Republic of Ireland (2017-18)
Introduction A Crisis is an Opportunity Seven Fundamental Questions All Policing is Local A Pathway to Community-based Policing Reform Chapter One: How to Reform Policing in Divided Societies Race in Policing Why Northern Ireland? 'Community Policing' Belfast Style in the Mid-1990's The Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland How to Reform Policing Chapter Two: Four Decades of Policing in the United States 'Crime Fighters' - Us versus Them 1990's Massachusetts - Steps in the Right Direction Multi-agency Initiatives More to be Done Chapter Three: How to Define Policing Crime and the Community 'Community Policing' Policing as Community Safety Policing as a Service Policing and Human Rights Chapter Four: How to Recruit Police Girls Don't Become Cops How to Recruit Diversity Why Join the Police? The Workforce Crisis in Policing Smarter Recruiting Recruitment and Retention Chapter Five: How to Train and Educate Police The Academy Then Academies Now Beyond the Academy: Training in the Community Recruit Probation In-Service Training Use of Force and De-escalation Training Less Lethal Force The Importance of Respect Integrated Scenario Training Continuing Professional Development Chapter Six: How to Organize a Policing Service The Primacy of Patrol Small Police Departments Disband? Compton and Camdem Merging Police Departments Hierarchies and Delegation Integrating Sworn and Non-sworn Police Personnel Chapter Seven: How to Achieve Multi-Agency Cooperation The Criminal Justice System Social Services Multi-Agency Information Sharing: A Boston Example Chapter Eight: How to Police the Police Consent and Accountability Democratic Accountability Transparency Performance, Discipline, and Complaints A Tripartite Model of External Oversight Chapter Nine: How to Lead a Policing Service Who Should be Chief? The Command Team? A Police Board? Openness to Advice Chapter Ten: Time to Act
Kathy O'Toole and Bob Peirce have written an important and timely work on police reform. They bring years of international experience and expertise to help the reader better understand the complexity of policing, past and present. They search for solutions by understanding past lessons and looking forward to the challenges awaiting us in the 21st century. Seven Ways to Fix Policing NOW is a must-read for every current and future police leader.--Charles H. Ramsey, former Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department and Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia Bob Peirce and Kathy O'Toole have more experience than almost anyone else in America and Europe in designing reforms for policing and implementing them successfully. This book is a superb analysis of how to do the job even in the most difficult situations, recognizing from the very beginning that good policing is not something which is done to a community but is the outcome of the aspirations of citizens in every open society, working with them to get the best outcomes. Peirce and O'Toole show how you can get the best protection for those aspirations and human rights. Their approach is the key to good policing everywhere. It offers answers to many of the most difficult political questions that will confront us in the years ahead.--Chris Patten, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, former Governor of Hong Kong and Chairman of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland
