A former Branford Police Chief last week’s shooting in Dallas that left five officers dead and injured seven others could be a setback to cultural changes that have been underway in police departments nationwide.
John DeCarlo is an associate professor at the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven. He said based on a report for the National Institute of Justice published last year, many police departments have been shifting away from a "warrior" culture to a "guardian" culture.
“I would assume that it’s going to put that dream back some. Because how could a cop go out onto the street now -- there are 700,000 in the United States -- and not be frightened?” DeCarlo said.
DeCarlo said he's concerned that police officers may be on high alert and try to protect themselves in situations that might not otherwise seem threatening.
DeCarlo said the recent violence in Dallas, and in Louisiana and Minnesota, where portions of the deadly shootings of two black men by police officers were captured on video, exemplify some of the most challenging issues facing the nation.
“I think that we are dealing with a whole set of circumstances about race, about weapons, and about community interactions by police," DeCarlo said. "But what we are seeing is not necessarily new situations, but a continuation of problems that haven’t necessarily been solved.”
The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing report identifies potential solutions, DeCarlo said. But he believes the U.S. faces unique challenges.
"We are a federalized democracy in the United States, and home rule is very important. And consequently instead of having the seven or eight police departments that we see in the United Kingdom, we have 18,500 police departments," DeCarlo said. "So how do we take the very excellent recommendations in the task force report and combine research, combine professionalism in policing in as disparate, as decentralized an environment as policing is in the United States?"
What we are seeing, DeCarlo said, is that uniquely American freedoms come with a high level of responsibility.
