Editorial: Build trust to rid culture of police brutality

Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke has learned a lesson about community policing — enforcement requires trust, not bullets.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired Garry McCarthy, the city’s police superintendent, Tuesday following the release of a video depicting Van Dyke shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times. The fatal incident occurred in October 2014, but city officials released the police dashboard camera footage only a week ago, after a judge ordered the city to make the video public.

The officer’s actions in the video have triggered peaceful protests, and Van Dyke now faces first-degree murder charges.

The Chicago shooting is only the most recent example of institutional fumbles that fray the public’s trust in law enforcement. But ending police brutality is not just a matter of dismissing officials at fault. Removing them from office only washes public officials’ hands — like Emanuel’s — of gross negligence and won’t defuse our culture of brutality or teach our police officers how to establish trust in their communities.

In December 2014, President Barack Obama created the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing to determine the best police practices for reducing crime and building public trust. In May, the task force released a report calling for training to emphasize de-escalation tactics in public interactions, as well as education that highlights cultural understanding and bias awareness.

Police officers and residents cannot cohabitate in an environment that does not foster mutual trust. We need to enact institutional change of our police departments by educating and training police officers in community policing.

For any American city struggling to change the culture of brutality that has been fostered in its community, Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay’s model of community-oriented policing can serve as a guide.

In September, a year into the job, McLay laid out a plan to fix Pittsburgh’s police force — a plan that focused on educating police officers and community policing.

“I recognize that the institution of policing, if it is to be taken seriously, needed to look very carefully at what we do, how we do it, to listen to the community and be responsive to those changes,” McLay said.

McLay’s recognition of the benefits of educating officers on community relations led him to create an internal Office of Professional Standards to review training and ethical standards and develop policies, accountability and internal auditing systems.

Training police officers in community policing has bolstered community trust.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice survey, the number of dedicated community policing officers in 2000 was at 66 percent, but that number declined by 54 percent by 2007. In 2000, 62 percent of Americans had confidence in the ability of police to protect them from violent crimes, according to Gallup’s annual crime poll. That number dropped to 53 percent by 2005.

McLay has stood by his efforts at instituting stronger community relations.

On New Year’s Eve last year, activists photographed McLay holding a sign that read, “I pledge to challenge racism at work #EndWhiteSilence.”

In September, McLay also cited accountability as an area that the Pittsburgh police department needed to improve.

“The root cause of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police’s [problems] was a failure of leadership,” McLay said. “We weren’t holding ourselves accountable for outcomes and the ways we do business.”

Revamping broken systems takes time, but addressing issues requires fast responses — and the willingness to learn.