In what ways can city officials use new technology (if at all) help prevent the potentially growing mistrust between communities and the police?
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Thank you for the thoughtful reply Andrew, appreciate it as always. Who else from your network would you tag to chime in here? We'd love to hear as many perspectives as possible so we can all get a better sense of what where and how we can continue and help.
Sadly, body cams (as new technology) have only highlighted with video what's been happening for decades. While I'm sure there are some technologies that could help mitigate the issue of trust, in most cases I see it as a training and people issue.
Where technology might help is in improving the data associated with community risk factors and arrest data. This sounds simple, but it's not. There is a ton of information used by departments today that only serves to reinforce a false narrative. If they spend more time targeting Black and Brown neighborhoods, the crime stats will suggest that "That's where the crime is".
I think better than technology is that every officer should be put through rigorous training on how modern police forces were started to support slave owners in controlling their slaves. Also, that since that system was started, we've perpetuated a long history of actions that would further minimize the opportunity for Black and Brown individuals, families and communities to thrive.
A great book to read on the above subject is "The Color of Law"
Stephen Fontana
Andrew Nebus would love your thoughts on this, especially given your experience.
This is a red herring. Policing is not a monolith, but in the United States we are past "potentially growing mistrust" and far from ideals of policing by consent for many. We should ask in what ways can innovation provide public safety, including supporting dismantling many departments as they exist.
As you mentioned tech, new technology must not replace or enhance broken systems with algorithmic enforcement. We must focus on reducing harm, not automating it. This does include critical privacy concerns. We should very much ask about removing existing tech and responsibilities, such as traffic enforcement.
Finally, perhaps useful to responsive public safety is tech investments in forensic science, non-police 9-1-1 call support, and internal affairs. These are great community discussions to have as needs are not being met.