Trust and meaningful change: Community-sourced recommendations for policing reform in Bakersfield
Starting in July 2020, the Bakersfield Police Department-Community Collaborative was created to solicit and formalize community-sourced recommendations for policing reform, policing capacity and building trust and greater partnership between BPD and the Bakersfield Community. The BPD-CC is composed of a Core Working Group and committees of Bakersfield community leaders from diverse professions, identities, and areas of expertise. BPD-CC committee members (26 Bakersfield community members across four committees) have focused on researching areas of positive reform in policing in Bakersfield and, also, fostering constructive communication between BPD and our greater community.
As noted in The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, “trust between law enforcement agencies and the people they protect and serve is essential in a democracy. The public confers legitimacy only on those whom they believe are acting in procedurally just ways.” In order to achieve this trust and carry out our mission, the BPD-CC adopted four key areas of focus for research and recommendations:
■ Building trust and legitimacy
■ Communications and community outreach
■ Officer training and education
■ Use of force policy and oversight
We believe that any organization can benefit from internal reflection and examination of its practices and policies in line with its stated values. The case is no different with the Bakersfield Police Department. And given the tremendous responsibility of police officers, the role of police officers as public servants and the often high stakes of police work in our community, the examination is all the more necessary and important.
Now, after a six-month period of community committee meetings, collaboration with BPD, open community forums, extensive research and an open community survey, the BPD-CC recommendations for policing reform in Bakersfield are completed. While the BPD-CC is not a budget review committee, many of our recommendations likely will have impacts on the use and allocation of BPD funds. The recommendations have been submitted to the Bakersfield City Council, City Manager Christian Clegg and BPD Chief Greg Terry. The full report can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/3r0uDWC.
Some of the recommendations included in this report can be implemented without extensive changes (e.g. continuing community forums established by the BPD-CC and increasing community involvement in police training practices, etc.); others will require a substantive and long-term commitment on the part of BPD and, also, our community (e.g. completing implementation of 2004 Department of Justice recommendations regarding use of force, introducing an independent auditor and citizen’s review board, developing partnerships with local institutions of higher education to enrich police academy curriculum and trainings, etc.).
Although our report is completed, it is important to note that the reform process is just starting, not ending. The BPD-CC is committed to meaningful, incremental change in BPD and in building trust between BPD and the greater Bakersfield community. To this end, the CWG is committed to working with Chief Terry and his leadership team to establish an accountability plan for these recommendations, one that will define a 12-month timeline for a formal response from BPD regarding the recommendations listed in this report as well as a planned process for implementation. We see this as a central, not separate, part of this reform process and, further, one that will create greater trust in the Bakersfield community regarding the integrity of this process.
Michael Burroughs of Cal State Bakersfield’s Kegley Institute of Ethics, NaTesha Johnson of Upside Productions Management, Mark Martinez of Cal State Bakersfield‘s Center for Social Justice and Traco Matthews of the Community Action Partnership of Kern are part of the Core Working Group of the Bakersfield Police Department-Community Collaborative.