The Washington Post received a report from the Police Executive Research Forum that analyzed whether or not policing has really changed in the last few years.
The report also detailed the need for new officers to be trained longer before they are released into the field.
Here’s what we know.
What did the report say?
The Washington Post reported that despite some changes over the years, the report found that the police system was built “to train officers quickly and cheaply.”
According to the report, the system rushes new officers through training and gets them out on the streets with little experience in crisis intervention and communication.
“Our thesis is that while policing has changed dramatically in the last few decades, the way in which police recruits are trained has not fundamentally changed all that much,” the report said.
The report continued, “While there are pockets of innovation in recruit training, training as a whole has not kept pace with the dynamic changes taking place in policing.”
What brought about this report?
The death of George Floyd in 2020 sparked many new state laws aimed at reforming the police, according to The Associated Press.
The vigor to fix the police system in the U.S. has reportedly slowed down, as some police officers claim that the new policies were impacting their ability to do their jobs.
The Deseret News reported that a survey conducted in 2021 found that over half of “Utah law enforcement officers were considering leaving their jobs.”
The driving forces behind this data were reported to be a “lack of support from elected officials and the community, along with negative media portrayals.”
The Washington Post reported that, “Public outrage over how police use force has fueled protests in the streets, spurred calls to cut their funding and ignited broad debates over how to reform law enforcement.”
How have things changed?
Insider reported that policing has been constantly evolving since its inception: “Before a formal police system was put in place, colonies were protected by a ‘night watch,’ dating back to the 1630s.”
As policing changed through the years due to the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement, there were still reports of corrupt law enforcement practices.
After Floyd’s death, there has been a greater focus on seeing where law enforcement practices and training can be reformed, according to The Associated Press.
“Do I think it’s changed in some places? Yes,” Chuck Wexler, executive director of PERF, said. “But do I think there’s been fundamental changes since the George Floyd murder? No.”