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The Current Environment

Fractured Community-Police Relationships

In the wake of the death of George Floyd, the nation responded with a show of activism and civil unrest that has heretofore been unmatched. Calls for defunding the police and prioritizing police reform have swept across the country. Officers working the frontlines of 1st Amendment events and protests have been required to keep the community safe, often including the very protestors who are calling for their elimination or defunding. Visceral protest activities were aimed squarely at police officers.

Law enforcement is faced with:6,7

  • Increased scrutiny on the institution of policing in general
  • Negative media stories and polarizing narratives amplified on social media
  • Calls for reform, civilian oversight, defunding and/or abolition of the police
  • Legislation restricting or eliminating police use of force policies, procedures, and tactics, or eliminating police protections around use of force
  • Potential elimination of qualified immunity
  • Increase in violent crime
  • Stationhouse sieges
  • Assaults on law enforcement officers, including shootings, projectiles thrown, use of Molotov cocktails, and other IEDs, lasers pointed in officers' eyes, etc.
  • Real and perceived lack of support by police and elected officials
  • Physical and verbal attacks on police officers and police property
  • Lack of support from communities
  • Online harassment of individual officers
  • Online and in-person harassment of officers’ families
  • Protests at the homes of police chiefs and elected officials

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This project was supported by cooperative agreement number 2016-VI-BX-K001 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

This report was prepared by the National Police Foundation (NPF). The National Police Foundation is the oldest nationally known, non-profit, non-partisan, and non-membership driven organization dedicated to advancing policing through innovation and science.

The internet references cited in this publication were valid as of the date of publication. Given that URLs and websites are in constant flux, the NPF cannot vouch for their current validity.

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