How Policy Changes Can Improve Community Policing

Published Date September 18, 2024
News Type Public Address

While policing reform advance across the United States, law enforcement offices from the local to the federal level still struggle to strengthen public trust and public safety.  

Experts at the Glenn College share their thoughts on how policy changes could support the most significant challenges facing community policing today and explain recent research they’ve conducted.

Robin Engel, Senior Research Scientist

Robin Engel, who joined the Glenn College in July, has spent her career generating and testing evidence-based police practices, transforming police agencies through reform efforts, and reducing crime and violence in our most vulnerable communities. She is a senior advisor for 21st Century Policing Solutions and has served in consulting and advising positions in Ohio and across the U.S. 

Policy Recommendations from Robin Engel:
While the concept of community policing was originally introduced in the 1980s, it has yet to achieve its potential, in large part because of its lack of consistent definition, implementation and evaluation. Unfortunately, in its practical application, community policing has been reduced to a buzzword that lacks connection to its original core elements. While the promise of community policing remains, it must be supplemented with evidence-based strategies and infused with problem solving approaches.  

Public safety is at a crossroads. Many of our current reform efforts designed to change police behavior are ineffective. There are many reasons for this, but chief among them is that we have focused nearly exclusively on what we want the police not to do, rather than what we want them to do. While police reform measures may be politically expedient, they are too often non-aspirational and reactionary and ultimately fail to produce the more robust holistic changes in policing desired. In short, reform policies are often based on what feels good rather than what works. 

This challenge must be addressed by educating policymakers and teaching agencies on how to become learning organizations, where data-driven approaches are valued and supported. As changes in policing strategies, trainings, technologies and other innovations are introduced, their impact must be tested for effectiveness, efficiency and equity. And our measures of effectiveness must include community perceptions and trust, not just reductions in crime. 

Our path forward for reducing crime and violence in our communities while simultaneously increasing trust and legitimacy in policing must be through the continued generation and use of evidence-based approaches. The role of social scientists as producers of this knowledge to assist policymakers and practitioners has never been more critical. 

Engel and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Police Research and Policy, where she worked before joining the Glenn College, evaluated the impact of the Integrating Communications, Assessment and Tactics de-escalation training developed by the Police Executive Research Forum. The study, “Assessing the Impact of De-Escalation Training on Police Behavior: Reducing Police Use of Force in the Louisville, KY Metro Police Department,” was published in Criminology & Public Policy. It found significant reductions in use of force incidents, citizen injuries and officer injuries in the post-training period. The findings suggest that agencies should continue to implement and evaluate de-escalation trainings and adopt other resiliency-based approaches to police training. The researchers recommend a holistic approach that supports training tenets with complementary policies, supervisory oversight, managerial support and community involvement in reform efforts. In addition, researchers must continue to support police executives willing to open their agencies for evaluation and oversight. 

Engel and former University of Cincinnati Center for Police Research and Policy colleagues published “Moving Beyond ‘Best Practice’: Experiences in Police Reform and a Call for Evidence to Reduce Officer-Involved Shootings,” in ANNALS of American Academy of Political & Social Sciences. Guided by the available research on police use of force and evidence-based practices and informed by Engel’s experience in implementing police department reforms when she served as vice president for safety and reform at the University of Cincinnati, this article highlights promising strategies, along with the remaining gaps in knowledge and opportunities to build the evidence base for effective use-of-force reform. It calls upon police executives to engage in evidence-based policing by scientifically testing interventions and on academics to engage in rapid research responses for critical issues in policing. 

Tasha Perdue, Assistant Professor

Tasha Perdue’s research contextualizes drug use and elucidates ways that inequities in criminal justice responses to drug crises perpetuate trajectories of risk and drug use, demonstrating the essential relationship of public health and criminal justice policy. She also is an affiliated faculty member with the Moritz College of Law’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, where she supports drug policy and criminal justice reform efforts on the local and state level. 

Policy Recommendations from Tasha Perdue:
Policy has shifted in recent years from the criminalization of drug use to more public health-oriented approaches. However, policy decisions as they relate to drug use are often guided by stigma rather than research and evidence. This stigma can manifest in state and local policies as well as departmental procedures. Stigma on the state level can create policies that exclude individuals and create deservingness, such as the requirement written into Ohio’s Good Samaritan Law that immunity when calling for an overdose response is intended to be provided up to two times. On the organizational level, stigma within police departments can affect policies such as the carrying of naloxone. These stigmatized policies create significant barriers in community policing related to substance use.  

To address these challenges, it is crucial to understand that stigma is multi-faceted and driven by factors such as fear, blame and perceived danger. Therefore, different interventions are needed depending on the underlying cause of stigma. For example, stigma driven by blame requires a different approach than stigma driven by fear. Qualitative research is essential in developing effective stigma interventions. This research should aim to understand stigma from the perspectives of those perpetuating it and those being stigmatized. Educational programs that foster positive interactions and understanding among different groups, as well as community outreach initiatives to humanize people who use drugs while highlighting recovery stories, can help in reducing stigma. 

Funded by the Addiction Innovation Initiative at Ohio State, this research project, “Exploring Stigma in the Overdose-Justice Nexus: A Mixed-Methods Study of Good Samaritan Laws in Two Overdose Epicenters,” focuses on the impact of discretion on decision-making for drug-related policies and examines how stigma, implicit bias and the notion of deservingness influence their implementation. To achieve this, an interdisciplinary research team, which includes Perdue, Assistant Professor Sydney Silverstein of Wright State University and Glenn College Professor Russell Hassan, the Ambassador Milton A. and Roslyn Z. Wolf Chair in Public and International Affairs, employs mixed-methods research approaches with law enforcement and people who use drugs in two metropolitan areas of Ohio. The researchers have presented their research findings at public health and policy and criminology conferences nationally and internationally.

Victor St. John, Assistant Professor

Victor St. John’s research spans the question: How do we reduce the social and racial harm associated with the excessive use of the criminal justice system? His professional background in criminology and criminal justice informs his work. He is an affiliated faculty member with Ohio State’s Criminal Justice Research Center in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Policy Recommendations from Victor St. John:
When it comes to community policing, one significant challenge is building trust between the police and marginalized communities. Historical and ongoing experiences of discrimination and negative encounters with law enforcement have eroded trust, making it difficult for police to engage effectively with these communities.  

To address this challenge, policy changes should focus on enhancing transparency and accountability within police departments. Implementing body-worn cameras, establishing independent oversight committees, and ensuring timely and transparent investigations of misconduct can help rebuild trust. Additionally, training programs that emphasize cultural competency, anti-bias education and community engagement are essential for fostering positive interactions between police officers and community members.  

Another challenge is ensuring equitable access to resources and support services that can help mitigate the effects of adversity and improve community well-being. Policies should aim to increase funding for community-based organizations that provide social, spiritual and economic support; mental health services; and other critical resources. By addressing these underlying issues, community policing efforts can become more effective and sustainable. 

This research, “The Impact of Police Station Design on Police-Community Relationships,” investigates how police station design influences police-community relationships and public perceptions. Using a survey experiment, St. John and his collaborators, Assistant Professor Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, and Assistant Professor Andrea Headley, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, examined the effects of welcoming versus hostile police station designs, considering individuals’ previous encounters with police officers. Findings show that welcoming police station designs positively affect emotions and behaviorally relevant perceptions, particularly for individuals with past arrest experiences. Conversely, those without a criminal history react less favorably to welcoming designs. The study also reveals significant variations across racial and ethnic groups: Black and Latino respondents report greater positive emotional responses to hostile designs compared to welcoming ones. These results highlight the potential of police station architecture to shape community relations and public perceptions of policing. The work, funded by Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences, a National Science Foundation grant, has been published in Policing and Society and the Journal of Criminal Justice. 

Adversity affects all individuals and societies, but access to resources needed for effective coping varies, potentially undermining both physical and mental well-being. This study, “Fortifying Physical and Psychological Wellbeing: Leveraging Capital for Resilience Against Adversity,” which St. John is conducting with Assistant Professor Donya Nemati at Ohio State’s College of Nursing, explores the impact of adverse police interactions, among other forms of adversity (i.e., death, racism, indirect adversity), on health outcomes and the role of capital in building resilience. Specifically, they explore the impact of adversity on health outcomes, including sleep quality, body mass index, illness frequency, health perceptions, self-worth, hopelessness, perseverance and sadness. They then assess how economic, spiritual and social capital can mitigate these effects, with notable variations across racial groups. Findings are still pending but may underscore the importance of capital in resilience building and offer insights into addressing health disparities related to policing adversity. This work is funded by a SPARK Grant from Ohio State's Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. 

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