IAFE & AAFE Law Enforcement and Justice System Reform Position

IAFE & AAFE supports the need for reform in the way law enforcement is administered in the United States. The current system places both the community and law enforcement in a position that is not productive to maintaining a healthy and safe society.

AAFE has established a preliminary 3-point proposal on law enforcement reform. The position of AAFE may be updated based upon additional research and outreach. The primary focus of this position statement is that the responsibilities of law enforcement officers must be cleary defined and then the appropriate training programs must be implemented.

1) Clearly Define the Responsibilities of law enforcement – in most jurisdictions armed law enforcement officers are tasked with responding to any call for assistance the is not directed to the Fire Department. Before proceeding, let us be clear that many Fire Departments also end up responding to calls they are not trained or qualified to respond to. However, in most jurisdictions any call that is not a medical emergency or fire is routed to law enforcement. This means armed law enforcement officers get tasked with responding to calls involving non-violent situations such as a homeless person walking down a street, a kid not listening to their mom, a kid not listening to a teacher, a son high on drugs dancing in the back yard and so on. Under the current system armed law enforcement is tasked to respond to everything that does not fall under the Fire Department. And even when it does fall under the Fire Department they are often dispatched to support/protect the Fire Department.

In many cases it is non-violent situations that turn violent once armed law enforcement shows up. Reality is, when armed law enforcement shows up the situation escalates. It is our position that funds should be diverted from law enforcement to reduce the responsibilities of law enforcement and create a different response mechanism to deal with many issues that law enforcement currently responds to. Some specific changes should include:

a) Limit Law Enforcement to Criminal Law Enforcement not Civil Law Enforcement – many armed law enforcement officers are tasked with duties such as serving child support orders, serving legal paperwork to evict people and other civil tasks. When you put an armed law enforcement officer in these situations it can immediately escalate the situation. Until physical force is required (an arrest made, a person removed from an apartment, etc.) these duties should be left to unarmed court officers.

b) Relieve Police of Responding to non-violent calls – to the extent possible armed law enforcement should not be required to respond to non-violent calls for assistance.

c) Relieve Police of Responding to Mental Health Issues as the Primary Person – law enforcement officers should not be the primary contact when calls involve mental health issues. Law enforcement should be used to provide back-up to mental health professionals but should not be he primary contact.

d) Team Police up with Homeless Advocates and Mental Health Professionals – armed law enforcement officers are constantly called upon to confront and deal with non-violent individuals who suffer from homelessness or mental illness. Law Enforcement officers need immediate assistance from Homeless advocates and Mental Health professionals that can help handle and defuse these situations before they escalate. In many cases, law enforcement should not even be part of the first responders being sent.

e) Relieve City Police of Traffic Enforcement – many encounters escalate when law enforcement is required to enforce basic, non-criminal, traffic cases. If an unarmed traffic enforcement officer is used, who did not have the authority to run warrant checks, traffic stops would become non-threatening and eliminate the potential for escalations in most cases. In many cases, law enforcement uses traffic stops to look for other crimes or warrants. This may very well be the one action that would reduce the most tensions between law enforcement and the community. No longer would there be traffic stops for not using a blinker in order to look for other crimes and/or run warrant searches.

f) Add Traffic Officers who issue citations but cannot run backgrounds or warrant checks – in conjunction with (e) above a unarmed traffic enforcement division could be added. This division may or may not fall under the Police Department but in any case, they would not have the authority to inquire about other crimes or run warrant checks. They would strictly issues citations for the traffic violation that occurred.

2) Increase training – there is no doubt that training standards for armed law enforcement need to be increase. Current training requirements range from one week to 6 months depending on the agency. Once the responsibilities of armed law enforcement are established an appropriate training program must be implemented. There is simply no way a person can go through 1 to 16 weeks of training and be prepared to handle the responsibilities of an armed law enforcement officer.

However, AAFE does not support a National Standard. There is no “one size fits all”. Some subjects may be standardized but what works in Bakersfield CA will not work in New York City. Some specific changes should include:

a) Expand Training on Non-Lethal Force – a continuing program needs to be established for law enforcement officers on non-lethal force. This program could be established much like a martial arts program with different levels. A law enforcement officer who cannot defend themselves from an unstable person without lethal force is an incident in the making. All officers must have the ability to defend themselves without using lethal force unless the other party is using lethal force.

b) Expand Training on the Use of Deadly Force – the training involving the use of deadly force must also be expanded and should include information on the impact that the use of deadly force has on everyone involved.

3) Other Changes – there are several other changes that could dramatically help the relationship between law enforcement and the community.

a) Community Events – law enforcement officers must be involved in and get to know the communities they serve. This allows the law enforcement officer to understand the community and the people who live there. It allows the community to get to know the officers and respect them as individuals.  This could include things such as:

• Conduct Community Events such as food drives, toy drives, etc.
  • Have BBQ’s with the community, do pop-up picnics, etc.
  • Participate in the community including community sports and supporting local youth.

b) PD Responsibilities

• Duty to intervene in excessive force cases – department must set a policy that all officers have a duty to intervene when other officers are using excessive force.
  • Cannot be afraid, cannot police if they require 3, 4, 5 officers for a simple situation – in conjunction with all the above recommendations, including extensive training, officers cannot be afraid of the community they serve.

c) Simplify discipline and termination procedures – Discipline and termination policies must be changed so that law enforcement agencies can terminate officers when needed. There needs to be due process, but it cannot be to the point that an officer with multiple proven mis-conduct cases is still a law enforcement officer.