Val Van Brocklin's observations in "Fairbanks incident shows value of smart police with military gear" (ADN, Thursday) was much needed nourishment to the consumer of law enforcement news. Coverage in both the liberal and conservative media has been decidedly negative of late.
This spreading negativity is only one symptom of a puzzling paradigm shift our profession is suffering under. We used to be the good guys people aspired to become. Now police academy attendance is at an all-time low, and there are openings in Alaska departments going unfilled.
Our peak popularity followed the community policing movement of 30-some years ago. But unfortunately, community policing died an early death. Van Brocklin's piece was especially poignant, as some scholars now teach that the 9/11 attacks signaled the beginning of the end of the era of community policing, shifting us in a different era altogether some call Intelligence-Led Policing. One prominent author in the field writes that "at first glance, Intelligence-Led Policing (ILP) looks not much different than community policing, albeit dressed out in more military surplus combat gear and stocked with more technology."
But ILP is more than the surplus gear so media photo-friendly, especially in our current era of Ferguson coverage. The bigger shift is local police departments being encouraged to operate more like an intelligence agency, with cops acting more like spies, and trained to be suspicious and untrusting at first glance of everybody around them. Rather than problem-solvers, officers are now encouraged to engage in predictive and proactive policing. I am not asserting that this modus operandi is always a bad thing, but unrestrained, it results in justified "Minority Report"
style negativity among those being policed.
What should we as a profession be doing to stem this tide of losing community trust and respect? The generation of cops hired during the last boom period of generous federal funding is rapidly retiring. I remember when a police department opening brought dozens (I've seen hundreds) of applicants. Today there are long-time openings in Alaska departments that seem unfillable. I believe some of our departments are lowering past standards in order to find warm bodies to fill slots.
A presidential commission on law enforcement from as far back as 1967 concluded that law enforcement should require education beyond high school. In Alaska, this means to be employed as a commissioned law enforcer you need both a high school diploma and a certificate indicating successful completion of the 15-week public safety academy.
I believe we need to raise standards. We need to raise education minimums; the next cadre of officers needs to be masters of the liberal as well as the tactical arts. I had a Fairbanks area student/officer in class last week report that his views on a discussion topic were extreme. I believe just the opposite – it's the views of the officers not in the classroom that are more likely extreme compared to their non-police neighbors. Departments need to evaluate if they have drifted from the community-supported philosophy of partnerships and problem-solving techniques addressing immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime. The public needs to support local law enforcement's commitment by providing for the necessary resources. Community Policing is intensive – the necessary boots on the street are more expensive than the alternative free government surplus equipment.
David Sexton is an assistant professor of law enforcement at the University of Alaska Southeast.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com