PRINCIPLED POLICING
O
By: Chief Eric Jones, Stockton Police Department
ver the years in law enforcement, we have often
heard about the latest type of policing with
new titles and new catch phrases. But policing
is not about the flavor of the month. It is about
real and sustainable efforts to make differences within our
communities. It is about the principles upon which policing
was founded, now research validated, that serve as a
compass for the profession.
Principled policing: an investment in the future of policing in Stockton.
In 2012, the Stockton Police Department began concerted efforts to reach out to the community after huge staffing cuts, skyrocketing violent crime, and emergence from
municipal bankruptcy. It became soon apparent that there
was a need to have a wider and deeper meaning that could
permeate the entire police department.
We’ve always known community policing is about
relationships, but we now know that we can reduce crime
while increasing police-community trust. When it comes
to community, our profession has regularly used terms
such as community policing, relationship-based policing,
community-oriented policing, problem-solving policing, problem-oriented-policing, police-partnerships, and
impartial policing. Our profession has also referred to
training strategies such as Procedural Justice and Police
Legitimacy training, and Implicit-Bias training. Those are
all mouthfuls of words yet they are tied together by four
simple principles.
40
California Police Chief | www.californiapolicechiefs.org
Principled Policing is an organizational theory.
Since early 2015, Stockton has referred to this overall
philosophy that translates into organizational structure,
culture, and strategies, as Principled Policing. Principled
policing is not just a strategy, but is an actual organizational
theory. This is because the manner we police matters; the
road to police legitimacy in the eyes of the public is procedural justice. It is not just why we police, but how we
police.
Law enforcement should be based on the principles of
which it was founded. A principle is a fundamental truth
or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system
of belief. Historians note that the principles of law enforcement date back to Sir Robert Peel in 1829. Peel noted that
the legitimacy of policing in the eyes of the public is based
upon a general consensus of support that follows from
their integrity, and accountability. The principles of policing
are about protecting the constitutional rights of everyone
with fair and impartial treatment. We must safeguard the
community by living our oath of respecting and protecting
the constitutional rights of everyone with the badge as a
symbol of public faith.
It takes more than “checking the box” to make Principled Policing work.
As can be seen, some of these principles are completely
unchanged with time. But research now shows us how to
better apply these principles for lasting results. We have
partnered with the Oakland Police Department and the