“The report is a candid assessment by some of the nation’s leading law enforcement professionals of the challenges confronting American policing at a pivotal moment in its history. At a time when police should be concentrating on protecting the communities they serve—and when Americans ought to be supporting them in this dangerous and difficult work—policing as an institution finds itself under attack.
“Damaging false narratives have emerged in mainstream and social media that encourage distrust of—and even open hostility toward—police. Some denounce law enforcement as “systemically racist,” a charge rooted in undeniable historical injustices, but which unfairly maligns the modern profession. Meanwhile, under past administrations, the Department of Justice has subjected police departments to a staggering number of consent decrees alleging patterns or practices of excessive force and other violations of citizens’ constitutional rights.
“The burdensome requirements and the compliance costs these agreements impose are considerable, but there is another inescapable ramification: They exacerbate the ongoing misrepresentation of police. The predictable result has been friction between police departments and the communities they serve, which has occasionally erupted in violence and targeted attacks on law enforcement officers.”