Middle Police Chief Talks of 21st Century Policing

COURT HOUSE – A 46-year-old Black man, George Floyd, died while in Minneapolis police custody. The event triggered protests and demonstrations nationwide, as citizens, by the thousands, expressed anger over bias in policing and an inordinate number of deaths of Black males at the hands of the nation’s police.
In Cape May County, demonstrations occurred in various municipalities, all peaceful and expressing the same compelling need for change in the way police interact with the communities they serve.
Middle Township Mayor Timothy Donohue used the June 15 Middle Township Committee meeting to respond to national news stories and local protests. Defunding the police departments is not the answer to what protesters say they want, Donohue said. In Middle Township, eight years ago, the committee began an effort to increase the funding of the police department to provide resources for proactive, community-focused policing. When departments do not have the resources, they fall back on reactive policing that stresses enforcement above all else, Donohue said. 
In Middle Township, the police department has been directing its efforts to the kind of community policing that protests have been demanding. “We are on a very good path,” Donohue said, and “we will continue to build on the works we have done.”
As part of that commitment, Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner hosted a virtual town hall June 18. Participating with Leusner was Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland. The forum was billed as a discussion of 21st century policing.
Leusner spoke of a three-prong approach to policing in which each component is equally important to the department’s mission. Enforcement, intervention, and prevention all must be part of the DNA of an effective 21st century police department.
Leusner walked the participants in the town hall through each of the three components. He showed how Middle Township Police drive their enforcement resources from the effective use of data on crime and traffic accidents, so that resources are at or near areas where their presence is most often needed. He and Sutherland underscored controls on use of force, on the requirement of other officers to intervene and report when they are witness to inappropriate use of force by another officer, and on the importance of training that simulates real world, high adrenaline inducing circumstance to help officers do the right thing when under stress.
On intervention, Leusner pointed department programs like public advocacy, safe surrender, new runaway protocols, and substance abuse programs that act to deflect an offender from the criminal justice system and to appropriate social programs.
When speaking about prevention, Leusner placed great emphasis on department efforts that have officers working with, and sensitive to, the needs of the municipality’s youth. From youth camps to officer trading cards, the department is trying to create positive relations between police officers and young people.
Leusner argued that science plays its role in 21st century policing in ways not associated with criminal investigations. The science behind adverse childhood experiences has had a special impact on police programs, including changes in procedure meant to lessen potential trauma for kids involved in, or witness to, police enforcement actions, notification programs that ensure schools know when a student has been exposed to a potentially traumatic event while out of school, and intentional positive interactions with young people who may be recovering from trauma elsewhere in their lives.
The key to this proactive policing with young people is to change the paradigm for each officer. When encountering a young person potentially in trouble with the law, the question changes from “what is wrong with this kid” to “what happened to this kid.” The goal is to reduce the impact of toxic stress, which science shows has physiological and mental health impact on well-being.
Sutherland stressed the role of the Prosecutor’s Office in working with local police on community-based programs. He said the state began a process to rewrite the rules governing use of force by police officers, noting that he expects the public to have an opportunity to participate in that process.
According to Sutherland, New Jersey benefited from its law enforcement structure, which is headed by a non-elected attorney general who has real authority over policing throughout the state. This provides the state with a more streamlined and consistent approach, Sutherland said.
Responding to concerns over the investigation of police misconduct, Sutherland noted that local police departments and even county prosecutors are removed from investigations of deadly use of force. These investigations are left to an independent agency, the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.
Sutherland also placed stress on the need to increase training to decrease the impact of bias in policing.
Leusner and Sutherland said that there are efforts underway to provide the public with easy access to data on police use of force incidents.
Sutherland said county-based programs, like Middle Township’s Handle with Care program, to ensure schools are aware of trauma a student may have experienced, are catching on elsewhere.
The town hall can be viewed on Middle Township Police Department’s Facebook page at https://bit.ly/2V2g7jX.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.