Originally published: . Volume 11, No. 7. Source pages: 3.
Trump Issues Ex Order on Safe Policing with Emphasis on Hiring, Training, and Community
On June 16, President Trump issued an Executive Order with guidelines for improving safe policing in communities.
In the Order, he directed agencies to assess their current practices. Specifically, state and local law enforcement agencies are to constantly assess and improve their practices and policies to ensure transparent, safe, and accountable delivery of law enforcement services to their communities. Independent credentialing bodies can accelerate these assessments, enhance citizen confidence in law enforcement practices, and allow for the identification and correction of internal deficiencies before those deficiencies result in injury to the public or to law enforcement officers, the President noted.
The President also banned chokeholds, stating that the State or local law enforcement agency’s use-of-force policies prohibit the use of chokeholds — a physical maneuver that restricts an individual’s ability to breathe for the purposes of incapacitation — except in those situations where the use of deadly force is allowed by law."
The Attorney General is to create a database to coordinate the sharing of information between and among Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies concerning instances of excessive use of force related to law enforcement matters, accounting for applicable privacy and due process rights.
In section 4 on "Mental Health, Homelessness, and Addiction," the President indicated several areas reforms. These included the following:
The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services as appropriate, is to identify and develop opportunities to train law enforcement officers with respect to encounters with individuals suffering from impaired mental health, homelessness, and addiction; to increase the capacity of social workers working directly with law enforcement agencies; and to provide guidance regarding the development and implementation of co-responder programs, which involve social workers or other mental health professionals working alongside law enforcement officers so that they arrive and address situations together.
The Attorney General is to propose new legislation to enhance the tools and resources available to improve law enforcement practices and build community engagement.
This includes recommendations to enhance current grant programs to improve law enforcement practices and build community engagement, including through:
(i) assisting State and local law enforcement agencies with implementing the credentialing process described in section 2 of this order, the reporting described in section 3 of this order, and the co responder and community-support models described in section 4 of this order;
(ii) training and technical assistance required to adopt and implement improved use– of-force policies and procedures, including scenario- driven de-escalation techniques;
(iii) retention of high-performing law enforcement officers and recruitment of law enforcement officers who are likely to be high-performing;
(iv) confidential access to mental health services for law enforcement officers; and
(v) programs aimed at developing or improving relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve, including through community outreach and listening sessions, and supporting non profit organizations that focus on improving stressed relationships between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve.
The Executive Order can be found at https://www.whitehouse.gov/pre sidential-actions/executive- order-safe-policing-safe- communities/
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