Management of the use of force is a key concern for police

By Joseph Lombardo

Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015 | 2 a.m.

As he does every August, Brian Greenspun is taking some time off and is turning over his Where I Stand column to others. This week’s guest columnist is Sheriff Joseph Lombardo.

The upheaval and contentious debate arising from tragic encounters between the police and citizens across America has sparked meaningful change in policing. Ferguson, Mo., New York City, North Charleston, S.C., Baltimore and Cincinnati have demonstrated that we, in the law enforcement profession, have not always met the public’s expectations in our duty to protect and to serve.

At times, the public outcry has been loud, amounting to a crisis of confidence. The turmoil has caused police departments to reconsider their priorities and to evaluate how they go about performing their role as guardians of democracy.

Here in Las Vegas, we have listened to the past concerns of our community members, social advocates, the media, the Department of Justice and independent assessors. From this, we have asked ourselves, “How do we police in a way that builds confidence and trust?” In answering this question, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has, over the past five years, embarked on a path to significant reform.

We have worked diligently on our policies and training to reduce our use-of-force occurrences. Today, Metro is a recognized leader in the training we deliver to our workforce. It is with both care and confidence that I say that we have placed the proper emphasis on keeping officers safe while ensuring that an officer’s use of force was appropriate and necessary. The needless use of force can be the defining moment for a law enforcement agency. Across the country, it is the overly harsh responses by police that have drawn intense scrutiny and have provoked the greatest public outrage.

To this, there is a balance: we want officers to take control of chaotic events, to handle conflict and protect lives, but in the same breath, we want officers to look to de-escalate situations by making sound decisions and employing tactics that are not flawed. We know that not every potentially violent conflict can be de-escalated, but we also have an understanding that officers have the ability to steer a threatening encounter toward to a more peaceful resolution.

Understanding circumstances under which deadly force is used and how to improve upon its future applications is a complex process. With this in mind, police departments must continuously evaluate their performances in critical incidents, identifying missed opportunities to intercept the need to use force. Accountability has to be part of the process, but having said this, we must also recognize that in many dangerous and rapidly evolving incidents, officers perform superbly, demonstrating the levels of courage and restraint that make policing a noble profession.

Oftentimes underlying issues contribute to the discontent that erupts in the aftermath of a police shooting. Collaboration is a common thread that runs through solving many of the problems facing communities. Police officers must develop personal relationships within the community they police. A police department’s success is built upon trust. To this end, local government and police departments must strive for positive change in their most challenged neighborhoods.

Community policing has to occur on the street corner, at the gymnasium and at the neighborhood store. I believe policing is about respect and mutual understanding, which takes time and effort. It is found in the day-to-day interactions between officers and our citizens. In making Las Vegas a safe place to live and visit, our goal is not to take something away from a community through an arrest, but to abate crime while reducing the overall number of arrests.

Based on 27 years of policing in Las Vegas, I know that during the immediate aftermath of a critical incident is not the time to start holding community meetings. The work must be done beforehand. Strong relationships built over time help maintain open dialogue and constructive interactions in the wake of a problematic officer-involved shooting. In Las Vegas, this is an aspect that we have worked tirelessly toward for the past decade, and as a result, our community has not seen the confusion and strife that have detrimentally impacted other cities.

As your sheriff, I am committed to providing open, fair and accountable policing. The officers of Metro want to perform their duties in way that ensures all people believe that justice is administered equally and without preference. Community educational programs and citizen participation have helped us in these efforts.

Transparency is important for police departments to demonstrate that they are investigating an incident fairly, thoroughly and expeditiously. Over the past year, we have publicly provided as much information as possible, in as timely a manner as practical, after an officer-involved shooting. Our disclosure of the circumstances surrounding an incident, from our early media briefings, to the Police Fatality Public Fact-Finding Review, to publishing our investigative reports on our website, has been noted as a national best practice.

The management of police use of force is the most pressing problem in law enforcement. Though I know challenges are likely to remain in trying to completely resolve this issue, successful steps have been taken. Here locally, and on a national level, promising strategies are developing.

Metro has made tremendous strides toward reducing our uses of deadly force. We have seen real reductions in our number of officer-involved shootings, diminishing from a high of 25 in 2010 to six for 2015 at the time of this writing. All aspects surrounding Metro’s uses of force have evolved, from our training, tactics, policy, investigations and oversight. Through the community’s involvement and our desire to reduce our officer-involved shootings, Metro has become a leader in policing. We are committed to sustaining the vigilance and meeting greater expectations on this important issue.