Police departments will have to deploy additional forces to what have traditionally been low-risk events.

Chuck Wexler

Categorized in : US News

There is no question when there is a video that emerges that shows clearly what occurred, police departments are reacting more quickly, and [they're] likely to take some immediate action.

And I think what body-worn cameras have done is underscored just how perilous these kind of situations can be, the reality is, this is how policing is changing. Police chiefs will look at that tape, analyze it, and will look at their own policy and say this is so high risk that they will be reluctant to authorize anything that isn't the most narrow, compelling situation. It's so much, so much risk involved. It's just not worth it.

There's a tendency to want to ban certain things, the real question should be, how do we look at these situations and ask what other alternatives could be used to achieve the outcome... how should training change and what alternatives should we be looking at to achieve a successful outcome ? Those are questions situations like this raise.

When homicides go up, more shootings go up, and it contributes to an overall increase in violence and police officers find themselves in the middle of that environment.

I think part of it is some reality testing, people are saying look, we want to change the police, but you know we also got a violent crime issue, we have a domestic violence issue... then there's a need to reform American police departments. I think you can do that, but I think what people are saying is, let's do it in a responsible way, let's involve the community, let's educate the police, let's hire better, let's train better, let's supervise better, but at the same time you've got a significant crime issue and you can't ignore that.

At the very moment that shootings and murders are skyrocketing, Jeffrey Butts have( people) from Philadelphia to Chicago questioning proactive police activity.

At end of day, what you have is an enormous number of guns on the street and you have a concern about how to prevent the next shooting or homicide, that's how police chiefs are thinking about this.

The national mood is not sympathetic to the police, i think we'll find balance down the road. We always do. But right now there's trepidation about proactive police work.

You just have to be honest and say that police in America are far more cautious today about stopping someone than they were a year ago, proactive policing is much more complicated. And now we're in the post George Floyd era, which makes police understandably cautious.

They'll realize they are dedicating themselves to the seat of power and doing it at a time when the department is challenged.

Someone who is looking for this because of the salary is the wrong person, they'll realize they are dedicating themselves to the seat of power and doing it at a time when the department is challenged.

Reform should focus on how we hire the best people, how we recruit the best people, how we train the best people, and what state of art training we are giving them, the training we've had hasn't changed in 25 years and it's out of step with today's needs. We need to rethink and reimagine how we train.

We now know something that works, training that's independently evaluated and reduces injuries to officers and suspects. That's progress.

If( departments) adopt body worn camera videos, they need to be prepared to get that video out as soon as possible because the expectation is :' Well, you gave them the cameras, what's your timeframe for getting it out ?'.

The public's expectations have never been higher, from a police chief's standpoint,( they're) having to rethink their strategies.

Did they use the fact they were police officers to gain access in some way ? That would be highly problematic. Did they go into the building and follow others who broke into the building ? That would be highly problematic and could cost them their job.

I think it's worth investigating. It's totally worth investigating, you have a police officer who died as a result of these rioters. You have enormous concerns about safety, about police officers working the event.

There's a big difference between walking down Pennsylvania Avenue and expressing yourself and going into a building where rioters pushed New York Police and hit New York Police and pushed them out of the way to get in, that will be the question. They just came and they marched, versus did they go inside the building and become part of a( riot).

Where you have good support from the community, you have high trust.

It's a time unlike any other American history.