Following several requests from city officials and members of the community about an alleged pattern and practice of constitutional violations, the attorney general Lynch opened a comprehensive investigation to the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) in May 2015. Findings from the department of justice revealed that BPD had a pattern or practice of conducting searches, arrests and using unreasonable force short of the requirements of the Fourth Amendment, enforcement strategies mainly focused on African Americans leading to severe and unjustified racial disparities (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). . Further to this, interfering with the right to free expression violating the First Amendment and violation of the rights of Americans with Disabilities.
Both parties agreed to settle the issue through an agreement in principle or a dissent degree. The consent decree pointed out the introduction of community policing strategies to act as a guide to BPD’s operation and assist in rebuilding trust between BPD and the community. Emerging with new policies, training, data collection and analysis that establish the assessment of officer activity and to ensure that officers’ action is within the constitutional requirements. Finally, improved technological infrastructure to efficiently monitor officer activity and officer support, which provides all are equipped to perform their duties constitutionally.
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Racial profiling is the act of using race as the critical determinant in the police making decisions. Mostly this vice focuses on police-initiated traffic stops where the police stop, interrogate, use excessive power and make a decision to arrest mainly driven by the race factor (Antonovics & Knight, 2016) . Racial profiling undermines community policing as it destroys public trust in the police. Because of a strained police-community trust, what follows is an upsurge in crime, as the population would instead find an alternative to this than entrusting the role of crime fighting to the police.
Racial disparity is a difference that may or may not relate to discrimination. It occurs where there is a considerable difference between the difference of a particular racial group being represented in the general population and the percentage of the same group represented at any venture of the justice system (Tatum, 2017) . Racial disparity undermines community policing since the public lack belief and trust in a police system where the majority of its representation is of a different race than theirs. For instance, in a state where the black population is predominant whereas the majority of officers in the police department are whites, there is a tendency of the blacks distrusting the system.
Legitimacy refers to something authentic, legal or when something is done in conformity to the law of the land. It is the virtue of a particular thing being authorized or adjudicated lawfully. Legitimacy promotes community policing to a very significant effect. When a people perceive that a police system carries out their roles within the confines of the law, they tend to have more trust and belief in the police and this buffers community policing.
Integrity encompasses truthfulness, honesty, morality and doing the right thing in conformity to the laid down laws and policies. It is the personal quality of fairness that applies to all. Integrity is directly co-related to community policing. The society approves a police system where all its officers carry out their duties with due diligence and utmost integrity. Henceforth, the community is very resourceful to assist the police in combating crime as they have endowed trust in the system.
Procedural justice is where a system which promotes fairness in the process of dispute resolution allocation of resources. It directly supports community policing. A police system that ensures conflicts and disputes are amicably resolved within the procedure, and utmost fairness enhances a people’s trust in the police. This, in turn, boosts community policing, as the society believe that, their disputes will be resolved without any form of biasness.
References
Antonovics, K., & Knight, B. G. (2016). A new look at racial profiling: Evidence from the Boston Police Department. The Review of Economics and Statistics , 91 (1), 163-177.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction . NYU Press.
Tatum, B. D. (2017). Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?: And other conversations about race . Basic Books.
