How to support trust building in your agency

Abstract

This three-part series seeks to fill the knowledge and practice gap in effectively policing diverse communities by highlighting practical, field-informed approaches for building trust with various segments of our multiracial, multiethnic population. The majority of the contributions in this series are from law enforcement officers of color who, because of their personal and professional experiences, often have an especially nuanced and intimate understanding of the nature of community mistrust among communities of color, as well as what is needed to overcome it. Although the practices and 2 How to Support Trust Building in Your Agency strategies featured in this series may focus on building relationships between police agencies and specific communities, the majority of these insights are dynamic enough to be applied with multiple racial and ethnic groups. The descriptions of programs and practices, together with multiple tips detailed in this guidebook series, are intended to be a resource for officers of all levels—from the patrol officer interacting with a specific racial or ethnic community to the police chief seeking to transform his or her agency into one that embodies community policing and facilitates community trust building at all levels. This third guide in the series, How to Support Trust Building in Your Agency, is a resource for agency leadership who recognize that building trust with diverse communities is essential to effectively carrying out their public service duties but also know that moving from policy to practice can be challenging. This guide orients police officials seeking to integrate a community policing philosophy into their work, build institutional capacity and knowledge, and ensure their agency is representative of the diverse communities they serve.