Arlington, TX: A Community Policing Story Arlington, TX - A Community Policing Story | Page 11

Getting Started: Key Concepts and Definitions
Building public trust between law enforcement and communities
A series of controversial, widely publicized officer-involved shootings around the country—
including the deaths of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and 25-year-old
Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland—has brought heightened attention to the “fundamental
underlying gap in the ways in which Whites and Blacks view police.” 5 Indeed, for more than
three decades, Gallup polls have underscored stark differences between the percentages of
US White and non-White respondents who
reported “confidence in the ability of their
We can be law enforcement officials, local police to protect them.” 6 For example,
combined data from 2014 through 2016
and we can be advocates for civil
found a staggering 29 percent point gap
in which 58 percent of White respondents
rights—in fact, we should be the
reported “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of
confidence in the police, compared with 29
best advocates for civil rights.”
percent of Black respondents. 7
“
In 2016, then president of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police, Terrence M.
Cunningham, who at that time was also the
police chief of the Wellesley (Massachusetts)
Police Department, apologized “for the
actions of the past and the role that [the law enforcement] profession has played in society’s
historical mistreatment of communities of color.” 8 In this statement, Cunningham underscored
the origins of today’s pervasive crisis in confidence:
— Chief Will Johnson
Arlington Police Department
There have been times when law enforcement officers, because of the laws enacted by
federal, state, and local governments, have been the face of oppression for far too many
of our fellow citizens. . . . While this is no longer the case, this dark side of our shared
history has created a multigenerational—almost inherited—mistrust between many
communities of color and their law enforcement agencies. 9
5. Frank Newport, “Public Opinion Context: Americans, Race and Police,” Gallup, July 8, 2016,
http://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/193586/public-opinion-context-americans-race-police.aspx.
6. Justin McCarthy, “Nonwhites Less Likely to Feel Police Protect and Serve Them,” Gallup, November 17, 2014,
http://www.gallup.com/poll/179468/nonwhites-less-likely-feel-police-protect-serve.aspx.
7. Newport, “Public Opinion Context” (see note 5).
8. “Statement by IACP President Terrence M. Cunningham on the Law Enforcement Profession and Historical
Injustices,” International Association of Chiefs of Police, news release, October 17, 2016, http://www.theiacp.org/
ViewResult?SearchID=2690.
9. “Statement by IACP President Terrence M. Cunningham,” IACP (see note 8).
3