Policing: What Should We Do to Ensure Fair Treatment and Keep Neighborhoods Safe for Everyone?

Community Forum Worksheet

NOW THAT YOU’VE HAD a chance to participate in a forum on this issue, we’d like to know what you’re thinking. Anonymous responses will be included in summary reports on the forums and in research to help us better understand how people are thinking about current issues.

For the following two statements, do you strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree, or are you unsure about them?

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1. Especially with the murder and violent crime rates increasing in cities in the US, we need more police officers on the streets.

Strongly agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Not Sure

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2. Most police officers are dedicated public servants; officers like the one who killed George Floyd are the exception, not the rule.

Strongly agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Not Sure

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3. In your own community, would you say there should be more, fewer, or about the same number of police officers?

Fewer

Same

Not Sure

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4. Which THREE actions do you most strongly SUPPORT or consider most vital?

Fire officers who fail to report suspected police misconduct; reward and promote those who do.

End arrests and ticketing for marijuana possession and other low-level offenses like prostitution, solicitation, trespassing, and public urination.

Require police officers to wear body cameras, turn them on during every encounter with the public, and release the full recordings to the public when there are charges of police misconduct.

Overhaul police education programs to make training about racial bias, or racial prejudice, equally as important as weapons training so officers have the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully engage the communities they serve.

Provide more counseling for law enforcement officers and other first responders to help them handle the pressures of the job.

Increase training in de-escalation and teach officers to draw their guns less often.

Create diverse, multiracial, and independent civilian review boards that can investigate complaints from the public and recommend an officer’s removal if warranted.

Require officers to live in the communities they serve so they develop respect for diverse residents and strong ties to all the people they serve.

Conduct background checks to determine if a potential officer has a history of displaying racial bias.

Permit the US Justice Department to investigate and take over police departments where there is a pattern of racist practices or racially biased enforcement.

Congress should broaden the ability for people to sue individual police officers for physical abuse and mental stress.

Respond to domestic disturbances with teams of social workers, mental health professionals, and drug counselors who can get involved before situations escalate.

Diversify the police force by recruiting and retaining officers of various backgrounds.

Make police disciplinary records available in a public database so journalists and the community have access to them and officers with repeated complaints won’t be hired elsewhere.

Hire more unarmed public safety professionals, like parking enforcement officers or traffic wardens, to enforce traffic laws and other minor violations.

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5. Which THREE actions do you most strongly OPPOSE or consider least vital?