Daniel Reinhardt

Summary: A study of the history of policing in the United States and how a culture of dehumanization has developed, offering recommendations for reform rooted in servant leadership, community-based policing, and procedural justice.

“Defund the police!”

“Blue Lives Matter!”

These competing slogans were shouted at demonstrations all over the United States in the summer of 2020 after a string of incidents of brutality against Black citizens culminating in the death of George Floyd when a Minnesota police office positioned his knee on the neck of Floyd for over eight minutes, despite cries that Floyd couldn’t breathe, despite being filmed by bystanders. Floyd died.

It’s complicated. In many Black communities there are deep resentments against the police going back to Jim Crow and reflected in aggressive policing practices like stop and frisk, vehicle stops and searches on the pretext of minor infractions, and more. At the same time, police put their lives at risk on every domestic violence call, nightclub fight, and vehicle stop. Every. Single. Shift. Officers want to go home to families who fear the day they don’t. In many cases, they must make quick decisions in rapidly evolving situations–decisions to protect lives, sometimes using force, even deadly force. When others flee gunfire, they run toward it.

Daniel Reinhardt is not out to eliminate the police. He served as a police officer for twenty-four years in a racially diverse community, retiring as a Lieutenant. He had assignments as as a community police officer and SWAT team member, school resource officer and defensive tactics instructor and shift patrol commander. He has a deep sense of the honorable aspects of police work and a deep sense of loyalty to his fellow officers. But he also believes police culture in the United States departed from the Christian foundations on which Robert Peel, British Home Secretary established the first police force in London, based on the maxim ‘to keep the peace by peaceful means.” expressed in nine principles including a focus on crime prevention, community involvement, judicious use of force, friendliness, and impartial service.

Reinhardt offers a brief history of policing, showing the increasing tensions between police and racially diverse communities and how they arose. He looks at the development of police culture, in particular the social identity of the police, the social distancing of police from the people they serve (including the move from foot patrols to modern police cruisers), and the dehumanizing “:us versus them” perceptions and stereotypes of those they serve. This is often abetted by toxic leadership hierarchies emphasizing power and control. There is often a disparity between training in the academy and “how it is done on the street.” He points to the utilitarian ethic underlying policing strategies, including stop and frisk, pretextual traffic stops, zero-tolerance and intelligence-based policing in which the ends (arrests, drug seizures) justify the means. He shows how this can lead to excessive force as well as deteriorating relations between police and the communities they patrol.

Reinhardt’s perspective began to change as he observed a pastor who was a servant leader. That set him on a course of considering whether that kind of leadership could be key to addressing the unhealthy aspects of power and control he experienced in police culture. Rooted in the idea of servant-leadership, he formulated four foundational principles for police leadership:

1. Police leaders are followers first.
2. Police leaders are one with the community of officers.
3. Authority and power should be used judiciously and benevolently.
4. The primary mission is justice and peace.

This works out in leaders and officers who are present, protecting, and providing–first for their fellow officers, and then the people they serve. This in turn leads to a different approach to the community. First of all, he emphasizes procedural justice which pursues “professional, equitable, and respectful treatment of all citizens.” Procedural justice rejects an “us versus them” mentality in exchange for an “us with them” mentality, where community and police identify and work on problems together. He also lays out ideas for community policing within the present, protect, provide framework. He shares encouraging stories of his work as a school resource officer, helping coach wrestlers, who in at least one instance, helped him defuse a dangerous crowd situation because he had earned their respect and trust.

The approach Reinhardt outlines makes sense and seems a good example of thinking Christianly about policing. It would seem to address a police culture that can foster implicit bias and racial injustices. My one concern is that the examples Reinhardt shares focus on individuals who practice these principles, sometimes to the detriment of their standing with superiors and fellow officers, even if it yields good outcomes in the community. I would like to see more on how those in law enforcement effect the culture change Reinhardt describes. I’m also curious whether there are instances on a department-wide basis where this has been implemented and what has been learned.

My hunch is that this is an initial model or proposal, albeit one rooted both in experience and research. It certainly harks back to Robert Peel’s ideas, which were put into practice with the Metropolitan Police in London where the focus was on crime reduction and policing by consent. Reinhardt admits there are wider societal issues beyond the scope of this book but writes in the hope that this approach will both alleviate some of the tensions faced between police and racially diverse communities as well as ennoble what he already believes an honorable profession, one to which he has deep fraternal ties. It is to be hoped that it might serve as a template for substantive changes beyond the simplistic slogans of recent years–changes that honor both police and the citizens they serve.

________________________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.… (plus d'informations)