This week, law enforcement personnel from around the country will come to D.C. for the annual observance of National Police Week. The schedule is heavy with memorial services and events, reflecting the inherent danger that comes with this profession.
This year, law enforcement agencies have thrown their support behind the latest bill in Congress intended to address this, the Protect and Serve Act. The act is on track for House committee hearings and votes to coincide with National Police Week; it aims to create a new federal crime for those who deliberately target police officers with violence.
The motivation behind the act is clear. Attacks on police officers are devastating and make all of us feel less safe. At the same time, we know that all 50 states and the District of Columbia already provide heightened penalties for attacks on police officers, and federal law calls for the death penalty or life in prison for killing state or federal officers. We need to broaden the scope of solutions.
Law enforcement should unite behind structural changes that will fundamentally alter how public safety is delivered and make the environment safer for everyone — including police officers. These include unarmed responses to nonviolent, non-emergency 911 calls, greater investment in social services, genuine accountability for officer misconduct and gun safety laws.
A number of departments are already embracing change. Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore speaks eloquently about the benefits of shifting many 911 calls to other types of responders, such as social workers. The city’s police union recently released a list of 28 types of calls that it believes should be handled by other service providers, ranging from non-criminal mental health issues to drinking in public to dumping trash.
Moore makes it clear that police officers have long been asked to do too much with too little. Overtaxing officers risks burnout and exhaustion, which are risks to their safety and health. In addition, overreliance on armed officers to respond to situations that don’t require them automatically multiplies the risk of any one encounter turning deadly — on all sides.
Moore is also candid about another danger to police nationwide: societal violence that is the product of years of underinvestment in social services and mental health. Underinvestment in recreational, economic and educational opportunities surely compounds the problem.
Changing this requires an all-of-government approach. But it’s well worth it: Providing summer jobs for young people was found to reduce violent crime by 35 percent. Medicaid expansion has been tied to reductions in burglary, vehicle theft, homicide, robbery and assault.
Meanwhile, danger to officers is increased when the public sees that abusive or violent officers are not held accountable. Abusive officers erode public trust and engender rage that can erupt into violence; this forces officers who are responsible and professional to bear consequences for the bad actions of a few.
And yet, there are serious gaps in accountability. Qualified immunity is an ongoing, serious obstacle. So is the historic resistance of police unions. Police union contracts, for example, may require that misconduct records be destroyed after a given period of time. That makes it difficult, if not impossible, to track whether officers are repeat offenders. Complaints may be buried or brushed aside; by the time Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, he had been the subject of at least 17 misconduct complaints but no serious discipline. The Memphis police unit that killed Tyre Nichols reportedly terrorized that community for years; police that are allowed to brutalize people at will turn neighborhoods into tinderboxes.
As for the prevalence of guns on the streets, when the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) issued its endorsement of the Protect and Serve Act in February, it specifically called out the number of police officers being shot. FOP President Patrick Yoes wrote that officers shot in the line of duty were up an alarming 89 percent over last year, and 113 percent over the year before that.
This argues forcefully for law enforcement to be in favor of gun safety legislation: back in 1989, prominent police figures such as Los Angeles Police Chief Darryl Gates gave a full-throated endorsement to an assault weapons ban. But times have changed. Gun safety advocacy has fallen victim to extreme partisan polarization, and is now so exclusively associated with one political party that many in law enforcement won’t touch it. That is tragic.
It’s time for a holistic and transformative approach to public safety that takes into account all these options and more. We all want and deserve safety, police and the public alike. Getting there will require openness to new approaches and frank dialogue. Police Week is a great time to start the conversation.
Svante Myrick is president of People For the American Way. Previously, he served as executive director of People For and led campaigns focused on transforming public safety, racial equity, voting rights, and empowering young elected officials. Myrick garnered national attention as the youngest-ever mayor in New York State history.