Summary
Over the past year, the policing profession
has been shaken by controversies over the deaths
of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter
Scott, Antonio Zambrano-Montes, and many others.
I don’t know anyone who would dispute that the
reputation of American policing has suffered from
these incidents. At times, it has seemed like every
time you turn on the TV, you see another story
about the police that hits you like a punch to the
stomach.
This report, like others in the
Critical Issues series, consists largely of the discussions
by participants at our May 7, 2015 conference.
Nearly 300 police chiefs and other law enforcement
executives, federal government officials, academics,
and representatives from policing agencies in
the UK came together in Washington to share their
views on what should be included in new approaches
to training on use of force. We also fielded a survey
of police agencies on their use-of-force training,
reviewed research, and sent PERF staff to Scotland
to observe their training firsthand..