U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Police Practices and Civil Rights in New York City

Chapter 3

Police-Community Relations

During the 1990s, the New York City Police Department began a community policing approach to crime fighting. Some major cities in which community policing and other community relations strategies have been used report increased public confidence in police, a reduction in crime, and the easing of racial tensions.[1] The goal of community policing is for community residents and police to work together, cooperatively addressing crime in the neighborhood.[2] Through effective police-community relations, community members learn about policing and how to prevent crime, and a police department can learn about neighborhood members and their policing needs. Community policing allows a police department and neighborhood residents to come together to combat crime. The lack of a community policing effort can doom the relations between the police and the community that it is designed to protect. As the NYPD has recognized,

whatever gains we have achieved in fighting crime are minimized if the price is the trust and respect of the community we serve. If crime levels decline, but members of the community are reluctant to approach police for fear of a negative encounter, then we have not truly met our obligations to the public.[3]

Police Commissioner Howard Safir testified at the New York hearing that it is critical for the NYPD to do more community outreach because [i]t is important to the person in the community that he or she perceives that she is safe from the police as well as from criminals. And the reality is people in this city . . . have very little to fear from the police. But if they perceive [otherwise], . . . it's a real problem for us. [4]

According to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, there must be a balance between community or neighborhood policing and specialized units that investigate specific areas such as narcotics or homicide. These particular areas would not be investigated successfully through community policing.[5] New York Police Commissioner Safir agrees with the mayor that community policing will not solve homicides, and therefore it is necessary to balance community policing and crime reduction. [6]

In his testimony, Police Commissioner Safir said that when you look at the statistics . . . [citizens of New York] have very little to fear from the police. [7] Mayor Giuliani also painted a picture of a city with crime decreasing at a record rate and general community harmony with the NYPD. He added, however, that while the city has spent millions of dollars training police officers . . . into acting respectful towards people, [8] civilians must play an equally important [9] role in maintaining positive and respectful police-community relations:

This city needs improvement in terms of the people of the city being more respectful to police in the way in which they act toward the police. When police officers sit at home and they see signs describing them as animals, Nazis, as equating them to the KKK, as a group . . . it deteriorates the ability to get them to be respectful . . . on a human level. It does tremendous damage to them just thinking as a human being, right? And it s the same form of prejudice as the other prejudices that you're dealing with. It's assignment of group blame.[10]

On August 19, 1997, 10 days after Haitian immigrant Abner Louima was assaulted and sodomized by officers inside Brooklyn's 70th Police Precinct,[11] Mayor Giuliani created the Task Force on Police/Community Relations. The goal was to foster better communication and understanding among members of the police department and residents of the City of New York.[12] The mayor appointed 33 New York City residents to the task force.[13] Among those selected were three longstanding critics from the civil liberties community, former high-ranking New York City Police Department administrators, three City Council members, a borough president, several media representatives, as well as civic, religious, and community leaders.[14]

In March 1998, after 6 months of work, the task force generated 91 specific recommendations to the mayor and the NYPD to improve police-community relations. According to the NYPD, more than 87 percent of the recommendations made by the task force have been fully or partially implemented. The NYPD provided the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights with a list of all the recommendations and the status of their implementation at the time of the Commission's May 1999 hearing.[15] According to the NYPD, only 75 of the 91 recommendations pertain to the NYPD and, of those 75, only 5 were rejected, including (1) the recommendation to change the title of the deputy commissioner for community affairs to the deputy commissioner for community relations; (2) the recommendation to establish a program development and evaluation unit within the community affairs division; (3) the recommendation to require a 1-day field training program for police recruits at Rikers Island with the Department of Corrections; (4) the recommendation to create a sergeants leadership institute; and (5) the recommendation to increase the size of the NYPD Youth Academy from 1,000 to 5,000 participants.[16]

Three members of the task force drafted a dissenting report entitled Deflecting Blame: The Dissenting Report of the Mayor's Task Force on Police/Community Relations in which they alleged that (1) Mayor Giuliani had failed to provide the task force with the full-time staff and $12 15 million budget that had been promised;[17] (2) that the mayor had failed to attend any task force functions, including the five town-hall-style public hearings;[18] (3) that the mayor had been intent on control [19] of the task force and had cut short the amount of time it was given to complete its work;[20] and (4) that the NYPD did not answer all the questions put forth by the task force, despite assurances from the mayor and Police Commissioner Safir that all questions would be answered.[21] The dissenting report concluded:

Instead of urging us to investigate how police officers who have abused citizens were able to become cops in the first place; what kind of training they received; why officers who are accused of excessive force are rarely disciplined, and what can be done to break the blue wall of silence, Mayor Giuliani gave his Task Force the assignment of developing a curriculum for establishing a structured dialogue between the police and the community.[22]

Major NYPD Community-Policing Initiatives

Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect Campaign

In June 1996, the New York City Police Department began implementing a program called the Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect (CPR) program as discussed earlier.[23] The CPR program promotes professionalism within the department, including the constant display of courtesy and respect toward the citizens of New York City.[24] The NYPD initiated the program in response to a rise in the number of complaints against the NYPD.[25] The mayor believes there is a problem in the relationship between the New York Police Department and the communities of color in New York, which must be addressed from both sides of the problem.[26] Many of the complaints concerned discourteous conduct by members of the NYPD.[27] In order to improve the situation it is critical that officers understand the need for respectful treatment of the people of New York.[28] The program has been described by the mayor as

valuable because we invest, I can do it for you in terms of dollars, we invest $15, $20 million training police officers and retraining them into acting respectfully towards people. We train them to refer to people as Mr. and Ms. We train them to try to explain to people why they're doing what they do. We train them almost to go out of their way to be respectful, almost to the point of people laughing at what we're trying to do. But we do it in order to impress on them the need to be respectful to citizens of the community.[29]

According to the NYPD, the ultimate goals of the CPR program include (1) a more productive relationship between the NYPD and residents; (2) improved officer safety through increased public support; (3) more success for all crime strategies; and (4) an image of members of the NYPD as law enforcement professionals.[30] To accomplish these goals, the NYPD provides its officers with in-service training as well as training at the Police Academy.[31]

Commissioner Howard Safir testified that if officers were more familiar with the communities in which they worked, it would help to ease the tensions between these communities and the police.[32] For this reason, the CPR program includes cultural diversity workshops and issues of stereotypes, attitudes, and community relations; and focuses on language and culture of Chinese, Hispanic, Russian, African/Caribbean American and Haitian people.[33]

Testimony put forth at the New York hearing suggested that some members of the community do not view the CPR program as a success. As Dennis Walcott, president of the New York Urban League, testified, I have a clear sense from the community that they have total disregard for CPR. They do not believe in it. They think it s a slogan. They think it's something that's just created to improve the public image of the department. [34] In fact, he points out, members of the NYPD violated Abner Louima s rights 2 months after the CPR committee report was released, effectively undermining its legitimacy.[35] Norman Siegel of the New York Civil Liberties Union views the CPR program as a public relations ploy.[36]

Precinct Community Councils

Precinct Community Councils were first formed in New York City in 1943 to encourage cooperation between civilians and police. Currently there is a Precinct Community Council in operation in each precinct and patrol service area. The councils are open to all members of the public and include residents, business owners, clergy, and civil rights groups. They typically meet monthly with the precinct commander, and they present a constructive way for members of the public to interact with and let their views be known by local police officials.[37]

The ultimate purpose of the Precinct Community Councils is to encourage community involvement and promote awareness of law enforcement efforts that enhance community relations. Any member of the community may attend the monthly meetings; they can vote on matters if they attended at least three meetings in the previous 12 months.[38] Both Public Advocate Mark Green and Dennis Walcott, president of the New York Urban League, agree that using Precinct Community Councils is an effective way to build stronger relationships between local precincts and communities.[39] Mr. Walcott goes on to explain that, as president of the Greater Council of Churches Dr. Calvin Butts testified, there must be effective leadership at the local precinct level for such programs to be effective.[40]

Citizens Police Academy

Conducted at the Police Academy by veteran instructors, the goal of the Citizens Police Academy is to promote better understanding and police-community relations. Classes take place 1 day each week for 13 weeks. After graduation, citizens may assist with such things as the Child Identification program (fingerprinting) at street fairs. More than 600 people have participated in the fingerprinting program.[41]

Cultural Diversity Workshops

Cultural diversity workshops were implemented in the NYPD in September 1998 to increase awareness of and tolerance toward New York City's multicultural communities. The workshops are composed of 1-day sessions. Police officers conduct open dialogues with supervisors and are shown videos dealing with the many ethnic cultures represented in their police districts. As discussed earlier, Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, was highly critical of the diversity training material used by the NYPD. He testified at the New York hearing that instead of confronting racial and ethnic stereotypes, the material talk[s] in a pejorative way about immigrants and their impact on a city. [42] He also suggests that some communities are barely mentioned in the materials, and other communities are portrayed in a negative fashion:

I am a proud Jewish American, so what I'm saying should [not be seen in a] negative way, but when you have 11 pages for [Jewish Americans] and the fastest growing immigrant community in the city, the Dominican community, especially in Washington Heights, they get three paragraphs, something is wrong. In the African American community section, which is about six pages, the implication is all black folk live where? In Harlem . . . . [T]he Puerto Rican community, implication where do they all live? East Harlem where salsa music is playing through the evening. Now this is just a sampling. I can go on an on.[43]

Mr. Siegel s testimony suggests that the training materials currently used by the NYPD are, at least in some ways, reinforcing negative and stereotypical images of racial and ethnic groups and communities rather than attempting to eradicate such stereotypes and instill cultural sensitivity.

Model Block Program

The Model Block program is an effort by the NYPD to target and clean up crime-ridden areas. It is a cooperative effort among the Patrol Services Bureau, the Narcotics Division, and the Office of the Deputy Commissioner Community Affairs and is designed to strengthen, stabilize, and eliminate drug and criminal activity on proposed model blocks. The strategy combines the Deputy  Commissioner Community Affairs Office's Model Block program with selective narcotics enforcement. The enforcement component is coordinated by the Patrol Services Bureau and the Narcotics Division. The Deputy Commissioner Affairs Office coordinates the community outreach component, which consists of helping residents organize tenant and block associations that will monitor, maintain, and improve the block.

One such effort involved an operation in the 33rd Precinct that targeted one block that allegedly had been overrun by drug gangs. The NYPD conducted an extensive 11-month investigation and then executed warrants on the area drug gangs. In addition, the police set up barriers around the block to prevent narcotic trafficking, helped organize community meetings, and helped to create tenant patrols and block watchers so that drug activity could be kept at bay.[44]

Clergy Liaison Program

The Clergy Liaison program was initially designed to enhance the cooperation of the police and the clergy. The goal of the program was to utilize the clergy as advisors to local precincts. According to the Task Force on Police/Community Relations report, there are more than 400 active members of the program, which is conducted in 75 precincts. The liaisons are designed to provide sensitivity training to the police and act as unofficial advisors to the police, as well as act in maintaining calm during times of community unrest.[45]

Recommendations of Mayor Giuliani's Task Force on Police/Community Relations

As it is noted in the appendix, it has been difficult to assess the extent to which recommendations put forth by the mayor's Task Force on Police/Community Relations have been implemented, and with what impact.[46] Recognizing the importance of many of the task force's recommendations, the Commission summarizes below those that are most vital to improving police-community relations in New York City.

Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect Program

Police officer training on diversity issues continues throughout an officer's service and is included in the NYPD's high-profile Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect, or CPR, program. Commissioner Safir started the NYPD's CPR program in 1996.[47] The mayor describes CPR as both a regimen of training and a formal code of professional conduct that addresses, in a comprehensive way, the manner in which police officers should handle every encounter with a member of the public. [48] The philosophy of CPR is summarized by the final words of the police department s formal code of conduct: Every encounter with a member of the public is an opportunity to strengthen police/community relations. One unprofessional encounter negates the positive work performed daily throughout the Department. [49] This endeavor is described by the NYPD as a complete philosophical makeover addressing the problem of alienation and misunderstanding between police officers and citizens, [50] focusing on the importance of and methods for cultivating a strong relationship between the NYPD and the community by promoting a culture of professionalism and respect consistently applied in [the NYPD s] interactions with each other and the people [it] serves. [51] CPR emphasizes acknowledg[ing] the rights and dignity of those we come in contact with, . . . the diversity, traditions and cultures of others . . . [and] be[ing] cognizant of the manner in which we speak to others. . . . [52]

The mayor estimates that the CPR program costs $15 20 million.[53] He believes this to be warranted.[54] We train them almost to go out of their way to be respectful, almost to the point of people laughing at what we're trying to do. But we do it in order to impress on them the need to be respectful to citizens of the community. [55]

The CPR training program is administered at the Police Academy to new recruits and is applied to every aspect of their training.[56] Techniques such as verbal judo teach officers how to avoid disputes with citizens and how to resolve potential problems with words rather than force.[57] Refresher courses and updates of this training are conducted on an in-service basis for NYPD veterans.[58]

Accountability for supporting and implementing the CPR program lies with the commanding officers. In fact, the NYPD keeps statistics regarding CPR indicators for each commander.[59] Individual officers CPR performance is also monitored, based on a number of factors, including Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) complaints and random testing of CPR performance.[60] Members of the first deputy commissioner's office pose as members of the public and perform scripted scenarios based on common types of interactions between the public and police, including telephone calls, street encounters, and visits to department facilities.[61] Test subjects are rated on initial contact, appearance and verbal introduction, demeanor, and accuracy of information. [62] Poor evaluations can result in retraining or discipline.[63] The performance of precinct commanders is also tracked, and negative performance can adversely affect a commander's career.[64]

Although the NYPD has proudly proclaimed that 99 percent of tested officers performed within acceptable CPR standards,[65] the program has not been well received by members of the public, who described it as nothing but a slogan, and hold [the CPR program] in total contempt. [66] Given the widespread complaints regarding police treatment of citizens, the slightly over 98 percent acceptability rating more likely indicates a deficiency in the CPR standards than a successful philosophical makeover in the NYPD. In fact, the dissenting report by the mayor's Task Force on Police/Community Relations found no credible evidence to conclude that CPR has worked to reduce police-community conflict; indeed, the concept of CPR is undermined as long as it is not tied to a system of discipline and accountability. [67] 

The majority report by the mayor's task force concurred. The task force members believed that while the CPR campaign was at the core of improving police-community relations, they had concerns regarding how effectively the campaign was being implemented. The report stated:

[R]egardless of how well intentioned the strategy may be, without a structured and monitored implementation, we are confident that this strategy will fail. Therefore, proper citizen input and management review needs to occur on a regular basis to ensure that the true intention and deeper goal of CPR is accomplished. It is the Task Force's belief that this deeper goal reaches far beyond the promoting of a positive public image campaign.[68]

The task force specifically recommended that the NYPD institutionalize in-service CPR training during specific times outside the precinct, in the same way that firearms training is mandated. The task force also recommended that the NYPD establish separate CPR academies and borough conferences for precinct commanders, captains, lieutenants, and sergeants. The purpose of the CPR academies would be to separately train each of the four uniform supervisory ranks in how to effectively manage or supervise compliance with the overall CPR strategy and practical application of specific CPR techniques. The purpose of the CPR borough conferences would be to provide each of the four uniform supervisory ranks with a separate forum to develop and share effective rank-specific techniques for managing or supervising compliance with all philosophic and operational aspects of CPR.

Enhance Precinct Community Councils

The Task Force on Police/Community Relations found that one of the most popular police-community relations programs was the Precinct Community Councils described above. The task force found:

During the various public forums, many community members were favorably disposed toward the concept and purported mission of the Precinct Community Councils, as a mechanism for civilian-police dialogue. However, they were especially critical that the Councils have generally failed to meet their potential in exacting improvements in the areas of quality of life, police/ community relations and community-assisted policing.[69]

The task force discovered that the Precinct Community Councils were not accountable to a centralized authority and were not governed by a uniformly adopted mission statement, goals, scope of responsibilities, and scope of activities. As a result, the task force recommended that the NYPD adopt a mandated policy and procedure manual for Precinct Community Councils that would place very significant emphasis on defining a mission statement, goals, scope of responsibilities, and scope of activities that are specifically designed to ensure that the councils continuously and aggressively work to maximize improvements in the areas of quality of life, police-community relations, and community-assisted policing.[70]

The task force identified additional problem areas in Precinct Community Council operations. For example, councils currently lack centralized technical support, they lack a mechanism for inter-council communication and idea sharing, and they lack centralized accountability for membership diversity and activities. Moreover, they do not have an annual budget, which makes it difficult to sponsor police-community forums and events.

To address the lack of inter-council communication and idea sharing, the task force recommended that the Precinct Community Councils be given personnel and resource funding to produce a monthly newsletter that would be circulated to all 76 councils.

Enhance Youth Program Services

Regarding the issue of police-youth relations, the Task Force on Police/Community Relations stated the following:

Of all the trends, which emerged across the different forums, held by the Task Force, perhaps, the most adamantly presented was the concern of degrading Police-Youth relations. Mothers and Fathers expressed fear that their children would fall victim to police brutality, while youth expressed outright contempt for police officers. Their concerns were not limited to police violence and misconduct, but also focused on the negative impact that attitudes have on the entire community. This includes the lost opportunity of police officers to play a positive role in the development of youth and the increased likelihood that youth will be arrested when they encounter the police due to their disrespectful behavior.[71]

As discussed above, the NYPD operates eight programs specifically targeted at working with youth, including Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT), Youth Police Academy, Police Athletic League (PAL), the Youth Leadership program, the Mentoring program, Law Enforcement Explorer program, and the After School Program for Interactive Recreation and Education (ASPIRE).

The task force recommended that the Youth Academy be expanded from the current level of 1,000 youth participants per summer to 5,000 participants per summer. To reach more youths, the task force also recommended that the NYPD develop police-youth encounter workshops. These would consist of hands-on activities to familiarize young people with typical police-community interactions and encourage dialogue between police officers and youth. After an introductory portion, the students and officers would participate in role-play exercises depicting various police and community interactions such as stopping a person, questioning and frisking, arrest, and car stops. The youth would take the role of the police officer and the police officer would serve as the community member.[72]

Implement Police-Community Dialogues

In order to effectively allow the police and the community to assess and understand each other, the Task Force on Police/Community Relations recommended that the NYPD significantly enhance its formal communication with its citizens. Specifically, the task force recommended that all precinct commanders develop and implement a citizen-police information seminar series to complement the Citizens Police Academy. The purpose of this seminar series would be to educate local citizens on both departmentwide and precinct-specific police training, policies, procedures, practices, strategies, and duties, as well as resources available to the immediate community. In addition, the seminar series would, by design, foster positive and constructive dialog between police and community members on the status of police-community relations in their respective precincts.

In light of the task force's recommendations the NYPD, to further advance its crime reduction gains and foster positive police-community relations, through the Office of the Deputy Commissioner Community Affairs expanded the CPR strategy to include the following new initiatives: borough forums, precinct open houses, outdoor range events, new booklet and brochures on community affairs in the NYPD, police fellowship conferences, firearms tactics range events, and an Islamic pre-Ramadan conference.[73]

The task force also recommended that each of the 76 precinct commanders and Community Precinct Councils develop and institute citizen-police town hall dialogues to address police-related issues or concerns raised by citizens. Certainly, these forums would also be useful during times of heightened police-community tensions. Furthermore, all precinct commanders and Community Precinct Council presidents should receive facilitation skills training to more effectively and efficiently facilitate these dialogues. The purpose of these forums would be to provide an opportunity for community members to express openly their anger and concerns to uniform staff of the precinct, dispel untrue or unsubstantiated information on the part of the police and/or community members, and work toward easing tensions.

Reinvigorate the Clergy Liaison Program

 The task force suggested that the Clergy Liaison program could be more effective if the NYPD adopted clear guidelines as to the use of the program, if commanding officers were required to convene quarterly meetings with the active clergy in each precinct, and if Clergy Liaison members were required to attend a biannual conference which would be held to discuss current clergy efforts.

Enhance the Cadet Corps

As described in chapter 2, the NYPD's Police Cadet Corps is an innovative apprenticeship program that introduces college students to the challenges and rewards of a career in law enforcement. The specific focus of the task force s recommendation was that the funding levels be dramatically increased. Not only does this program provide and promote greater understanding between the community and the police, but it also provides the NYPD with a pool of well-educated applicants that tends to reside in the city and to reflect a great diversity of racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Related to this recommendation, the task force also recommended that the NYPD take steps to impose a residency requirement on its officers. Currently, the racial and ethnic makeup of the NYPD is not reflective of the city's diversity. The city s population is approximately 61 percent nonwhite 31.6 percent African American, 20.3 percent Latino, and 9.7 percent Asian American/Pacific Islander while the department's racial makeup is 68 percent Caucasian, 13 percent black, 18 percent Latino, and 1 percent Asian American/Pacific Islander. The task force believes a residency requirement would result in the hiring of more African Americans, Latinos, and Asian American/Pacific Islanders and, consequently, would enhance the public's perception of police officers.

Findings and Recommendations: Chapter 3

Finding 3.1: The NYPD has not been clear enough in articulating both to the media and to the general public the extent to which recommendations put forth by the mayor's Task Force on Police/Community Relations were being implemented, and with what impact.

Recommendation 3.1: The City of New York and the NYPD must reevaluate their compliance with the recommendations made by the mayor's Task Force on Police/Community Relations. Specific and detailed information should be released so that the media and the general public have an understanding of the extent to which the recommendations have been implemented, and with what impact. To help facilitate the dispersal of this information, the Commission has attached a list of the task force recommendations and their implementation by the NYPD as appendix A.

Finding 3.2: Mayor Giuliani's Task Force on Police/Community Relations began its factfinding process by convening a series of public forums that included both members of the community and members of the NYPD. These public forums provided civilians with direct contact with police officers in a constructive, nonconfrontational setting. Furthermore, testimony put forth at the New York hearing suggests that when such open dialogue does not take place on a regular basis, there is a resulting deterioration in police-community relationships, characterized by lack of trust and civility and by an unwillingness of civilians to share information about, and to collaborate against, crime problems.

Recommendation 3.2: Public forums involving both the police and the community should continue to take place at regular intervals throughout the year. This would allow everyone in attendance at the forums community members, politicians, and police officials to learn about and develop greater respect for the racial, economic, and cultural diversity of the citizens of New York. The increased dialogue would also allow problems and concerns to be aired and addressed before they become serious grievances, e.g., the perceived unwarranted use of force by police, the perceived unwarranted stop and frisks and interrogations by police, and the perceived targeting of people of color. Participation in Precinct Community Councils should be actively promoted within the department and throughout the community, with community members being given regular updates in newsletters or other communication from the department regarding issues of concern that the councils are addressing.

Finding 3.3: Testimony put forth at the New York hearing suggested that the NYPD training academy needs to be reformed. This is of particular concern because of the Police Academy's pivotal role in molding future officers values, behaviors, and police practices.

Recommendation 3.3: We recommend the creation of a temporary independent commission which will undertake a thorough investigation and examination of the practices and training materials that are currently used by the academy.

Finding 3.4: It has been demonstrated that sustained community policing in which officers work closely with neighborhood residents can drive out crime and improve police-community relations.

Recommendation 3.4:

• The NYPD should have aggressive outreach programs to publicize the successful stories of community policing and to involve increased numbers of residential neighborhoods and communities in similar programs.

• In his testimony, Mayor Giuliani discussed the ongoing training being conducted under the Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect campaign. While the training the mayor described is vital for positive police-community relations, the Commission believes the program should place additional emphasis in the areas of diversity, conflict resolution, and interpersonal relations. Moreover, perhaps these training sessions could be opened up to members of the community, thereby increasing the community's trust of, and contact with, the police.

• The NYPD should work harder to include community members in planning and policy development. This could be done by broadening relationships with schools, universities, faith-based groups, and community organizations.

• When members of the NYPD receive academy training, they need to be prepared for developing community relationships and partnerships including being taught specific strategies for developing such ties to the community. Further, when officers are
  evaluated, they need to be rewarded for developing community relationships and partnerships.

• Given the integral role that computers are now playing in society, the Commission suggests the creation of a Web site to provide the public access to data collected by both the NYPD and by the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Eventually, there could be links between the NYPD Web site and other local, state, national, and international law enforcement Web sites.

• While this report concentrates on the police practices of the NYPD, the Commission also encourages statewide studies and training on racial profiling, excessive use of force, and race and ethnic group relations. Moreover, the Commission supports the involvement of civil rights and community groups and coalitions in reviewing and formulating legislation to address issues of racial profiling, police misconduct, and excessive use of force. This could include the development of community surveys to assess police-community relations, to identify obstacles to community partnerships, and to help communities set priorities for addressing quality of life concerns.