POLICING POLICY COMMISSION REPORT - Nashville
POLICING POLICY COMMISSION REPORTNovember 20, 2020
November 20, 2020Dear fellow Nashvillians,Earlier this year, in response to a series of tragic and unnecessary deaths of black men andwomen, including George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, President Barack Obamachallenged American cities to reduce police use of force and reimagine policing. I signed thepledge in June, and my office got to work.Use of force among Metropolitan Nashville PD officers has fallen sharply in recent years.Opinion polls here in Nashville have consistently shown high levels of support for theMetropolitan Nashville Police Department. However, not all Nashvillians have the same levelsof trust in the police. Stories abound of Nashville’s black residents, particularly black men, beingstopped by police, sometimes repeatedly, in ways that are different from what whiteNashvillians experience. This is not a problem specific to Nashville. Nationwide, studies showthat communities of color have lower levels of trust in the police than white communities. Butit is a challenge our city and other cities must address head-on.To undertake this work, I convened a Policing Policy Commission, composed of a diverse groupof civic leaders and community members. Former Mayor Karl Dean and Judge Richard Dinkinsgraciously agreed to serve as co-chairs of the Commission. After Judge Dinkins stepped downfrom the Commission for health reasons, retired Tennessean reporter, editor, and columnistDwight Lewis agreed to help lead this initiative. I asked the Commission to examine how theMNPD serves our residents – all of our residents – and identify opportunities to do more tobuild community trust and enhance public safety.For 11 weeks, the members of the Policing Policy Commission convened, researched, listened,and debated how to build trust and improve public safety. The Commission formed threesubcommittees – Communities, Workforce, and Policy – that met weekly with subject matterexperts, nearly 40 in total. The MNPD was a partner in this process, providing information tothe Commission and making personnel available to answer questions from the variouscommittees. So was Metro Nashville Community Oversight, the department that supports theCommunity Oversight Board. Their analysis undergirds much of this report. I am grateful fortheir assistance and support.When this process began, I hoped that Commission members would produce a final report thatcould serve as a blueprint for our next Chief of Police. This report delivers on those hopes.
The Commission identified four outcomes or results for the MNPD to achieve. In the opinion ofthe Commission, achieving these results will put the MNPD on a path to reduce the use offorce, build trust across all of Nashville’s neighborhoods, and enhance public safety. Here arethe desired results:1. The MNPD collaborates with residents, neighborhood associations, non-profits,faith-based institutions, business and community groups, and withother government departments and agencies.2. The MNPD better reflects the diversity of the city it serves at every level of theorganization.3. The MNPD works to eliminate disparities in the application of all types of use offorce and issues regular reports around the use of force, while also providinginformation to the COB to conduct its core oversight responsibility.4. MNPD officer training, skills, and behaviors, as well as department culture, reflecta commitment to consistent and respectful interactions withall Nashvillians, including African-Americans and other residents of color, MuslimAmericans and immigrant-origin communities, and LGBTQ residents, as part of aconcerted effort to eliminate disparities in the use of force.The Commission also identified a common set of values that the MNPD should strive toinculcate and sustain: an orientation toward collaboration, an appreciation for diversity, arespect for human dignity, and a commitment to transparency.As the Mayor of Nashville, I enthusiastically share and support these common goals. I lookforward to presenting these goals and recommendations to our next Chief of Police, as ablueprint for a Nashville model of public safety.Sincerely,Mayor John Cooper
“[I] am one of those people who believein democracy and in the social contract. Wegive up certain things to get certain things.One of the things we get in return is a policedepartment that protects us. We trust thesepublic servants will protect us and our bestinterests. And when we lose that trust, welose the will to move forward When we are talking about the issueof policing, we have to continue to havethat trust built in the system and process.Those public servants doing the job oflaw enforcement have to uphold the laws andmake sure that they are doing it fairlyand impartially ”— Captain Leshuan OliverVanderbilt University Police DepartmentPolicing Policy Commission member1
November 20, 2020In Nashville, our best approach to moving forward during times of challenge is to bringpeople together who represent different viewpoints and build consensus around all thatwe share. Mayor John Cooper’s Policing Policy Commission represents such an effortas we look to the future of our Metro Police Department and strive to assure that itreflects our city’s ideals and the best practices of other successful police departmentsthroughout the country. In short, our Metro police department needs to represent andreflect all of our citizens.Today, we are pleased to submit the Commission’s work product in a report thatprovides specific objectives and sets a tone of forward progress. So much of theCommission’s three-month work product was virtual because of the deadly coronaviruspandemic currently taking place here and elsewhere. Still, the 42 members of MayorCooper’s Policing Policy Commission were focused and, in the end, emerged with aclear set of common goals and values. When these recommendations and solutionsare implemented, we believe they can be used as a model for bringing any policedepartment into the 21st Century.“We want to make sure these things happen here,’’ Nashville Mayor Cooper washeard to say during a Commission meeting.On August 14, Mayor Cooper established the Policing Policy Commission to “considernearly every aspect of policing in Nashville, re-evaluating policies on use of force,training, recruitment, crime prevention, discipline and diversity.’’Mayor Cooper added that the recommended changes from the Commission, which weare honored to have been selected to co-chair, would shape the search for the city’snext police chief. And we hope the recommended changes can be used as a blueprintfor the Metro Council and all others in Nashville to assert the values to be upheld by ourmain law enforcement branch.Most of us on the Commission went to work knowing that additional efforts are requiredbefore all members of our diverse community can be assured that the MetropolitanNashville Police Department works for the benefit of all Nashvillians.“When we leave here, we want to have solutions that will make even little kids feelbetter when they leave out of their house,’’ a fellow commission member saidproudly one day.Unfortunately, not all of Nashville citizens currently feel good about or trust the city’spolice department even though there are many dedicated sworn officers and civilianswho work there.2
Earlier this year, the Nashville Public Radio station, WPLN, broadcast a four-partpodcast series titled, Deadly Force. The series, led by Samantha Max, focused on areported divide between the Black community and predominately white policedepartments, even the one here.The news investigation talked of traffic stops where, in 2016, a report showed thatmembers of the Black community in Nashville were twice as likely as those in thewhite community to be pulled over, even though officers seldom found any evidence toarrest them.And the podcast talked about the killing of two Black men, one in 2017 and the other in2018, by Metro Police that has increased public concern. That concern should be easedsignificantly if the recommendations and solutions submitted by the Mayor’s PolicingPolicy Commission are put into action. This is the wish of all members who have givenof their time after being asked to serve on this Commission.Over the course of 11 weeks and at least 66 hours of recorded meetings, Commissionmembers listened to testimony, read research and reviewed administrative data –even as the pandemic raged on, adding an unseen burden to everyone’s duties.Representing different perspectives and numerous professions and communities,Commission members often engaged in lively discussions on the proposedrecommendations for this report.Not everyone agreed on every issue. However, the discussions and personal testimonyheard from diverse individuals, including professionals from other cities and states,humanized the issues, helping to elevate shared perspectives and providedopportunities for closure. No one can say there wasn’t honest dialogue during the manymeetings that took place over the three-month period where wide-ranging issues werediscussed by Commission members.Meanwhile, we say once again that it has been a great honor to serve as co-chairsof the Mayor’s Policing Policy Commission. We are inspired by the energy andcommitment of all Commission members to help build a police department that all ofNashville can feel is here to protect them.Sincerely,Karl DeanDwight Lewis3
Policing Policy Commission MembersPolicing Policy Commission members reflect the diversity of Nashville.Karl Dean, Co-Chair of Police Policy Commission,Former Mayor and Public Defender of NashvilleDwight Lewis, Retired Tennessean Reporter,Editor, and ColumnistAshlee Davis, VP, AllianceBernstein,Former Chair of Community Oversight BoardPhil Ponder, former CouncilmemberBeth Seigenthaler Courtney, Managing Partner,Finn PartnersRuss Pulley, CouncilmemberJennifer Gamble, Public Safety Committee ChairBob Fisher, Belmont University PresidentWhitney Washington, Community Organizer,Stand Up NashvilleMelissa Blackburn, Judge of Division II GeneralSession CourtBob Allen, former SWAT Team Instructor,Royal Range USADavid Esquivel, Partner, Bass Berry & Sims PLCMac Huffington, Founder & Owner,Mac ProductionsLeShuan Oliver, Police Captain,Vanderbilt University Police DepartmentJuliana Ospina Cano, Executive Director,Conexion AmericasMargie Quin, CEO, End Slavery TennesseeRobert Sherrill, CEO & Founder,Imperial Cleaning Systems/Impact Youth OutreachChris Jackson, Pastor,Pleasant Green Baptist ChurchSabina Mohyuddin, Executive Director,American Muslim Advisory CouncilPhreadom Dimas, Youth Leader, Oasis CenterDarrell Talbert, President, Icon EntertainmentLarry Woods, Chairman,Wood & Woods Attorneys at LawJimmy Greer, Pastor,Friendship Missionary Baptist ChurchTom Turner, President & CEONashville Downtown PartnershipReggie Miller, President, National Black PoliceAssociation Nashville ChapterNawzad Hawrami, Manager, Salahadeen CenterMeera Ballal, Founder,Women’s Healthcare InitiativeDavid Fox, financial markets trader, formerChairman of Nashville Board of Public EducationRachel Freeman, President & CEO,Sexual Assault CenterClifton Harris, President & CEO,Urban League of Middle TennesseeTorry Johnson, former District Attorney ofMetro Nashville and Davidson CountyDemetria Kalodimos, Executive Producer,Nashville BannerLonnell Matthews, Juvenile Court Clerk,Davidson County Juvenile CourtsAmanda Lucas, LCSW, Criminal Justice Member,Nashville Organized for Hope and Action (NOAH)Bruce Maxwell, Pastor,Lake Providence Missionary Baptist ChurchSharon K. Roberson, President & CEO, YWCALarry Turnley, Violence Interrupter, Gideon’s ArmyJohn R. Faison, Pastor,Watson Grove Missionary Baptist ChurchManuel Delgado, Owner, Delgado GuitarsGary Moore, former State Representative, retiredNashville Fire Department, IAFF Local 140Worrick Robinson, Member,Robinson, Reagan and Young PLLCEli Foster, Blue Ribbon MNPS TeacherStaff:John Buntin, Director of Policy, Mayor’s OfficeEric Brown, Senior Policy Analyst,Youth DevelopmentDia Cirillo, Coordinator,CMHSI/Division of Behavioral Health and Wellness,Metro Public Health Department4
Executive SummaryEarlier this year, in response to the deaths ofGeorge Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, BreonnaTaylor, and other people of color, formerPresident Barack Obama challengedAmerica’s cities to review police use of forcepolicies and reimagine policing.To meet this challenge, Mayor John Coopercreated a Policing Policy Commissioncomposed of 42 civic leaders and communitymembers. The Commission’s membershipreflected the diversity of Nashville.* MayorCooper asked the Commission to producerecommendations that would reduce the use offorce, improve trust across all of Nashville’scommunities, and enhance public safety.To undertake this work, the Policing PolicyCommission was divided into three committees– Communities, Workforce, and Policy.Committees met virtually on a weekly basis. Alltold, they logged more than 66 hours ofdeliberations. They convened four extracommittee briefings (virtual brown baglunches) and heard from nearly 40 subjectmatter experts, ranging from Nashvillians withlived experience to national policing experts.The Commission also created a data workinggroup that met weekly. It includedrepresentatives from each committee as wellas representatives from Metropolitan NashvillePolice Department (MNPD) and MetroNashville Community Oversight (MNCO), theMetro department that supports theCommunity Oversight Board (COB), theindependent, Charter-created entity approvedby Nashville voters two years ago. Allcommittee meetings were recorded and areavailable for review on the Metro Nashvillewebsite, Nashville.gov.Over the course of the Policing PolicyCommission’s work, several issues emerged,among them the following: Eighty-one percent of sworn officersare white; ranking positions are rarelyoccupied by people of color or women; While the overall use of force by thepolice has fallen sharply since the early2000s, residents of color, particularlyBlack men, continue to experience useof force at much higher levels than nonBlack residents; MNPD policies around use of forcereflect national best practices; however,doubts remain among some membersof the community about howconsistently those policies are appliedand about the MNPD’s commitment toaccountability and transparency; While the MNPD has developed aninnovative neighborhood engagementapproach in the West Precinct and astrong partnership with the MentalHealth Cooperative, few officerscurrently participate in communityinformed, problem-oriented policing,and the training academy and MNPDpolicy do not make this practice centralto everyday policing.*Here is a breakdown of the civic groups represented in the Policing Policy Commission: Grassroots organizations(7); Faith-based leaders (4); Social service organizations (4); Business (9); Law enforcement (5); Education (2);Elected officials (5); Attorneys (4); Journalism (1). The demographics of the group were the following: 41 percent(17) Black American, 12 percent (5) immigrant origin; 34 percent (14) women. Overall, people of color made up 54percent of the Commission.5
In order to reduce the use of force, build trustacross all of Nashville’s neighborhoods, andenhance public safety, the Policing PolicyCommission believes that the city’s next Chiefof Police and the department as a wholeshould work to improve relationships and formtrue partnerships with Nashville’s diversecommunities and neighborhoods, with nonprofits, faith-based institutions, business andcommunity groups, and with other governmentdepartments and agencies. The MNPD shouldalso commit to recruiting, retaining, andpromoting officers and civilians who are fromNashville’s neighborhoods and who reflect thediversity of Nashville-Davidson County.Further, in all of its training, procedures, andpolicies, the MNPD should work to support thefollowing values and actions: Collaboration. Neighborhoods identifypublic safety priorities for the MNPD,and the MNPD addresses those needsnot only through law enforcement butalso by forming partnerships withresidents, neighborhood associations,non-profits, faith-based institutions,business and community groups, andother government agencies. Diversity and inclusion. The MNPDprioritizes increasing racial, ethnic,gender, and sexual identity andorientation diversity at every level of theMNPD and recognizes that greaterdiversity will increase trust andenhance public safety for NashvilleDavidson County residents. The MNPDbecomes a department where allNashvillians are welcome and feelcomfortable – as officers, civilian staff,residents and community partners. Human dignity. The MNPD recognizesthat the disproportionate rate at whichforce is used against residents ofcolor undermines trust. The MNPDprioritizes efforts to eliminate disparitiesin use of force by training andsupervising officers to ensureconsistent and respectful interactionswith all Nashvillians. Transparency. The departmentprovides timely public reports on use offorce and recruitment efforts andrecognizes the oversight role for theCommunity Oversight Board spelledout in the Metro Charter.The Commission believes the MNPD canreduce the use of force, build trust acrossall of Nashville’s neighborhoods, andenhance public safety by achieving thefollowing four results:1. The MNPD collaborates with residents,neighborhood associations, non-profits, faithbased institutions, business and communitygroups, and with other governmentdepartments and agencies.2. The MNPD better reflects the diversityof the city it serves at every level ofthe organization.3. The MNPD works to eliminate disparitiesin the application of all types of use offorce and issues regular reports aroundthe use of force, while also providinginformation to the Community OversightBoard to conduct its core oversightresponsibility.4. MNPD officer training, skills, and behaviors,as well as department culture, reflect acommitment to consistent and respectfulinteractions with all Nashvillians,including African Americans and otherresidents of color, Muslim Americans andimmigrant-origin communities, and LGBTQ residents, as part of a concerted effort toeliminate disparities in the use of force.6
GratitudeIntroductionOver the course of the Commission’s work,the co-chairs and members have contributedtheir time, talent and insights to draftrecommendations that will reduce force,increase trust in the police across allNashville’s neighborhoods, and enhancepublic safety. Their work required countlesshours in committees on-line, reviewingadministrative data, researching policies andbest practices, and seeking out and arrangingappearances with subject matter experts andindividuals with lived experience. Committeechairs and vice chairs had the additionalresponsibility of seeking consensus so thatcommittees could move forward with sharedpriorities. Guiding the work of the committeesand the overall process were Commissionco-chairs Dwight Lewis and Karl Dean.Mr. Lewis and Mayor Dean brought theirexperience and judgment, and an unflaggingcommitment to bringing members togetheraround common goals and values, to thework of the Commission.Since the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson,Missouri in 2014, Americans have watchedone incident after another in which policeofficers deployed lethal force against people ofcolor, particularly Black men. The year 2020has been particularly tragic in this regard.According to a database compiled andmaintained by the Washington Post, 979people across the country were shot and killedby the police through November 16, 2020.Mayor Cooper and his staff would like tothank Beth Courtney and Finn Partners fortheir generous help formatting and preparingthis report.MNPD use of force has declined sharply overtime, from over 750 uses of force in the early2000s to 299 uses of force in 2019. Accordingto an analysis conducted by the MNPD, polic
faith-based institutions, business and community groups, and with other government departments and agencies. 2. The MNPD better reflects the diversity of the city it serves at every level of the organization. 3. The MNPD works to elimin
about community policing from a few decades of learning, research, and implementation efforts. It then examines the community policing components of Measure Y and the extent to which they are aligned with these best practices. In short, how do the community policing elements, as articulated in the 2004File Size: 401KBPage Count: 17Explore furtherAWARD-WINNING COMMUNITY POLICING STRATEGIEScops.usdoj.govExamples of Community Policing Strategies at Workwww.ravemobilesafety.comCommunity Oriented Policing Services USAGovwww.usa.govProblem-Solving and Community Policing: Crime and Justice .www.journals.uchicago.eduCommunity Policing: Much More Than Walking a Beatcops.usdoj.govRecommended to you b
their potential meaning for the future of law enforcement. These included Community Policing, Broken Windows Policing, Problem-oriented Policing, Pulling Levers Policing, Third Party Policing, Hot Spots Policing, Compstat, and Evidence-based Policing. In a luncheon presentation on day one of the workshop, participants heard from Prof.
how community policing has developed in New Zealand. 2. Understanding community policing The understanding community policing chapter provides a summary of community policing as a concept. In order to understand community policing, the first section discusses a range of definit
St. Luke, Nashville Dr. Barbara Crawford Keith Pitts St. Paul, Nashville Andre Washington Shirley Wylie New Salem, Nashville Anica Howard JoAnn Millon St. Phillip, Nashville Joe T. Southall Carolyn Snorton Ebenezer, Nashville Wanda Payne Josephine Jackson St. Peter, Nashville Nathan Frey William Posey
Christ Church Cathedral—Nashville March 10-11, 7:00 PM Choir Tour Fundraiser/Dinner Theater: Godspell 30 (tickets available from church office) Laudate Youth Choir and Choral Interns Westminster Presbyterian Church—Nashville March 12, 4:00 PM The Nashville Flute Choir First Presbyterian Church—Nashville March 19, 3:00 PM Nashville .
Community Policing Works c. What is Community Policing d. Understanding the Past: Community Policing Timeline i. Introduction ii. Hammurabi’s Code iii. Volunteer Watch iv. Home Rule v. Day & Night Watch vi. Early Policing vii. Political Era viii. Professional Era
rewrite of the history of American policing (Walker 1984). In 1982, James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling made a call for a return to order maintenance policing, a return to the “good old days” of watchman-style policing. They noted that in the earliest days of formal policing there wa
One of the best examples of the community policing/ILP interrelationship can be seen in the latest tool of community policing: CompStat. Drawing its name from "COMPuterized STATistics," CompStat may be defined as the Intelligence-Led Policing:The Integration of Community Policing and Law Enforcement Intelligence
