A Measured Response to Crime: IACP's Call for a National Commission

We have made remarkable strides in policing in recent years. As a nation, we have dramatically increased the strength of our numbers; done a better job of training and preparing the men and women in police service for the work they do; and, we’ve provided police officers today with more and better tools to do their jobs than perhaps ever before. The result is that crime has decreased dramatically; people really are safer than they’ve been in years; and, because of the effective work of police departments, our citizens thrive today in areas where they abandoned hope not so long ago.

We are not willing to accept any substandard law enforcement practices. Nonetheless, the troubling reality that the people of the United States must confront is that we are entering a time when there is an increasing concern in many areas that the once strong police-community relationship is in jeopardy. We stand at a critical point in our history where the public’s trust and confidence is in question. And, in truth, these concerns encompass not only law enforcement but spread to all the participants in the criminal justice system - to the courts, to prosecutors along with corrections and probation officials. For all of these elements to perform in an effective manner that ensures justice and leads to orderly and peaceful communities, we must do everything we can to maintain a trusting and confident relationship with all of our citizens in every part of the country.

In July of 1965 the president issued an executive order establishing the Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recognizing, as he said, “the urgency of the Nation’s crime problem.” The Commission labored for a year and a half producing 200 specific recommendations involving federal, state and local governments, civic organizations, religious institutions, business groups, and individual citizens that were intended to create a safer and more just society.

It is our view at the International Association of Chiefs of Police that the work of the 1967 Commission, embodied in its report, “The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society,” was indeed effective. The commission and its recommendations marked the beginning of a sea change in our methods for dealing with crime and the public and built the framework for many of the exemplary programs that continue today.

Further, it is IACP’s view that the time has come, once again, to create a national commission to conduct a comprehensive review of law enforcement and the administration of justice in the United States and to provide the nation with a measured response to crime.

It is our hope that the commission’s recommendations would serve to ensure justice, to maintain order and peace, and to secure a trusting and confident relationship between the people of the United States and their criminal justice system.

In this call for national review, the IACP leaves to the ultimate designers of the commission decisions about all of the logistics and administrative detail that must be made.

We do, however, recommend the adoption of certain principles that would serve to guide the work of the commission.

First, we believe the commission should include all of the elements of the criminal justice system in its examination.

Second, we believe the commission should be comprised of individuals from within and outside the criminal justice system and that every effort be made to include—and to hear from every stakeholder in this process—individuals with the broadest possible perspective on the areas selected for review and concentration.

Third, we believe the commission must be given all the resources it needs to conduct a rigorous and thorough investigation and that it be given sufficient time to conduct an exhaustive review.

Fourth, we believe that among the most significant changes in society since the release of the 1967 Commission report is the advent of technology, and suggest that the threats, challenges and opportunities created by this significant phenomenon in the public safety context be part of the proposed commission’s review.

And finally, fifth, it is our strongest possible recommendation that this examination be conducted in a thoroughly non-partisan manner. We ask, therefore, that candidates for the Office of President of the United States commit themselves, at the earliest possible days of their term in office, to issuing an executive order that establishes this proposed commission.

It is our hope that a commission so structured will allow us to focus this discussion on ensuring the safety of our communities and a continued partnership with them and we look forward to working with and supporting this commission when established.