Rand Corp.

In recent years, a number of serious conflicts between police officers and members of the communities they serve have raised the importance of effective community-police relations in the United States. Building on its policing and community-based participatory research portfolio, RAND designed a community-based dialogue to address this problem. The dialogue is designed to start a conversation about these issues among community stakeholders, including police, government agencies, social service providers, resident representatives, and other concerned organizations. RAND has also designed a youth-focused dialogue to address specific scenarios most relevant to youth-police interactions.

By Kirat Kaur Kalyan & Peter Keeling  

It is irrefutable that citizens should enjoy freedom of movement and an expectation of an uninterrupted private life; these protections underpin our democracy and uphold our fundamental human rights. These expectations are acutely relevant to the use of stop and search and it is essential that all powers exercised by the police are used lawfully, only when necessary and are proportionate, but more importantly, that they are seen to be so. The assessment and recommendations set out in this report provide a valuable commentary on the expectations communities have as to how the police should operate when tackling violent crime and upholding the law, as well as providing an important reminder that policing is underpinned by public consent. As well as providing a constructive interpretation on the value of stop and search powers and the importance of active monitoring arrangements, the report provides helpful examples of where police forces and communities have successfully come together to stimulate improvements in police operational activity as well as promote confidence that officers are acting in the public interest and with proper regard to the Codes of Conduct that govern their powers and the use of force.

London: Criminal Justice Alliance,  2019.  24p.