Learning Objectives

As a result of reading this chapter, you will be able to

  • Describe the current state of policecommunity relations resulting from a number of widely publicized, fatal police shootings beginning in 2014 in the United States
  • Define constitutional policing, legitimacy, and procedural justice as they apply to police efforts to bring harmony to their whole approach—and to achieve a “guardian” mindset
  • Explain why, as a result of contemporary police-community relations, the proportion and advantages of women and minorities in policing have become more of an issue
  • Review what is meant by the term police brutality, and why it has led to widespread calls for use of body-worn cameras
  • Explain the types of police actions that are vulnerable to lawsuits and how police officers—and their supervisors—might be held criminally liable for their misconduct
  • Delineate several types of technologies that are assisting police in their duties, but that also raise privacy and use concerns