Congratulations! You were just informed that you are the new Police Chief in a rather large city where an officer-involved shoot
ing occurred less than one year ago. Your officer shot and killed an unarmed man, but the officer was acquitted of all charges in the shooting. Since the verdict was announced, there has been an uptick in crime in your city. You were made aware of the incident before you were hired, and you were told that the Department is now engaging in “de-policing” - departing from proactive policing – because of the anti-cop hostility in the community. Before you even had a chance to put your coffee mug on your new desk, your administrative assistant runs into your office yelling, “they’re here!” You find out that a protest march is underway with numerous reporters working their way through the melee. Your community has lost trust in your Police Department and the courts, and they are demanding that you do something. Community leaders make their way into your office. You pause a moment - and then say, “Good to see you. You saved me a phone call. Come, let’s sit down and discuss what we can do to help our community.”
1. As a leader of police officer, you have many years of policing under your belt, so with that role in mind you can establish new rules and regulations for your officers as the chief.
2. As someone who is new to the community, listening to the thoughts of the community leader will be essential to helping reduce crime and protests.
3. Gathering of evidence of the case of the police officer killing the unarmed man can 1. help determine if there really was a case of self defense or not 2. familiarizing yourself to the case more on evidence and less of word of mouth and 3. reappealing the verdict to manslaughter.
4. Establish a compromise with the community leader to address "de-policing" as unproductive counter to the rising crime rates.
5. Establish new regulations for the community leaders so no similar reoccurring incidents may repeat themselves in such turmoil.
