Title: What Is Constitutional Policing?
Headings: What Is Constitutional Policing?
What Is Constitutional Policing?
Article highlights
What Is Constitutional Policing?
Why Constitutional Policing Is Important
Ways to Promote a Culture of Constitutional Policing
Encourage transparency and relationships with the community.
Re-examine policies and practices.
Focus on constitutional issues in training.
Constitutional and Community Policing – Two Sides of the Same Coin
Rejecting one-size-fits-all policing.
Resources to Get Started
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Content: Constitutional policing operates within the parameters set by those documents, regulations, and court rulings. But true constitutional policing goes above and beyond the letter of the law. Constitutional policing promotes a keen awareness of the civil liberties of society. Police forces shouldn’t just be asking what the Constitution allows them to do. They should be actively working to protect the civil rights of the people they are policing. This impacts everything from use-of-force to interacting with mentally ill suspects. By seeking to protect people’s constitutional rights in every interaction, police can improve community relations and build public trust. “Policing must be done in a manner that is lawful and constitutional, but also in a way that maintains the consent of the people,” Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson said in the PERF report. “We have to ensure that when we deal with crime and other issues that negatively impact people’s lives, we do so in a way that is consistent with the wishes of the people who are most affected by crime.” Why Constitutional Policing Is Important
The relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve can be fragile.