C4LEO: Communication for Law Enforcement: Promoting Police Legitimacy through Procedural Justice

By Paul Lasiewicki

In an era marked by a perceived decline in police legitimacy, it becomes increasingly important for law enforcement professionals to develop effective communications strategies. C4LEO not only examines contemporary explanations for a decline in police-public relations; C4LEO provides an evidence-based plan that law enforcement professionals and police leaders can use as a roadmap to improve their relationships with their citizens.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Lasiewicki
• Release date: Nov 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310477003

Paul Lasiewicki

Dr. Paul Lasiewicki is currently a Patrol Lieutenant with the Flagstaff Police Department in the City of Flagstaff, Arizona. Paul originally hails from Saginaw, Michigan. Paul attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan, graduating with bachelor's degrees in Biology and Art. In 1993 Paul joined the Navy where he enjoyed an enlistment as a Hospital Corpsman. While enrolled in BUD/S training, Paul suffered a major injury, making it no longer possible for him to participate. Nevertheless, he had a great time and learned a lot. Although the broken bones prevented Paul from completing BUD/S training, the circumstances inspired him to go back to school. Dr. Lasiewicki worked as a medicolegal photographer for a few years at the Naval Hospital in San Diego until he earned his Masters of Forensic Sciences (MFS). Upon completion of his MFS, Paul accepted a transfer to the NCIS regional crime lab in San Diego where he worked as a Criminalist until the end of his enlistment. From there, Paul took a civilian job as Chief Forensic Scientist at a private crime lab in Albuquerque. In 1999 Dr. Lasiewicki answered his calling to police work, becoming a cop with the FPD. Dr. Lasiewicki worked as a patrol officer, detective, patrol corporal, and patrol sergeant; he now works as a patrol lieutenant. In 2007, Paul completed his doctoral dissertation Achieving Congruence between Individual Commitment to Policing and Organizational Objectives in Police Departments to earn his Doctorate in Management. Dr. Lasiewicki has taught at Norther Arizona University (NAU) and the University of Phoenix as a part-time professor in the fields of Criminal Justice and Administration of Justice. In addition to his duties at FPD as LT. Lasiewicki; privately, Dr. Lasiewicki pursues his passion of advancing the profession of policing. In 2011, Dr. Lasiewicki opened his online school The LEO Criminal Justice Institute (LEOCJI), dedicated to the professional development of police. Dr. Lasiewicki is currently working to build degree-granting programs specifically for police so that every cop who appreciates the thought of working hard to earn a scholarly degree can get one.

Book preview

C

4LEO

By

Dr. Paul Lasiewicki

Communication for Law Enforcement: Promoting Police Legitimacy through Procedural Justice

Text copyright © 2015 Paul Lasiewicki LEOCJI

All Rights Reserved

The LEO Criminal Justice Institute. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy or recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

ISBN:

I dedicate this book first to the men and women who dare to stand guard between the innocent and those who would do them evil. To those people who have sacrificed their very lives for the security of their communities. To those people out there doing it right every day – the silent professionals who stand up to protect the rights of the segments of their citizens who choose to paint them with indiscriminate, broad, hateful brushes. To those people who risk their lives to enforce the laws enacted by the lawmakers who so love to criticize the way it looks when their laws get enforced. To those people who valiantly represent the most unbiased profession on Earth. To those people who don’t think twice as they run towards the sounds of gunfire, eager to protect their citizens. I dedicate this book to the hard working cops who do the right things for the right reasons…day-in and day-out.

Next, I dedicate this book to the most patient, fun, loving people with whom a man could ever hope to share his life – the Lasiewicki family.

About the author

Dr. Paul Lasiewicki is currently a Patrol Lieutenant with the Flagstaff Police Department in the City of Flagstaff, Arizona. Paul originally hails from Saginaw, Michigan. Paul attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan, graduating with bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Art.

In 1993 Paul joined the Navy where he enjoyed an enlistment as a Hospital Corpsman. While enrolled in BUD/S training, Paul suffered a major injury, making it no longer possible for him to participate. Nevertheless, he had a great time and learned a lot. Although the broken bones prevented Paul from completing BUD/S training, the circumstances inspired him to go back to school. Dr. Lasiewicki worked as a medicolegal photographer for a few years at the Naval Hospital in San Diego until he earned his Masters of Forensic Sciences (MFS). Upon completion of his MFS, Paul accepted a transfer to the NCIS regional crime lab in San Diego where he worked as a Criminalist until the end of his enlistment.

From there, Paul took a civilian job as Chief Forensic Scientist at a private crime lab in Albuquerque.

In 1999 Dr. Lasiewicki answered his calling to police work, becoming a cop with the FPD. Dr. Lasiewicki worked as a patrol officer, detective, patrol corporal, and patrol sergeant; he now works as a patrol lieutenant. In 2007, Paul completed his doctoral dissertation Achieving Congruence between Individual Commitment to Policing and Organizational Objectives in Police Departments to earn his Doctorate in Management.

Dr. Lasiewicki has taught at Norther Arizona University (NAU) and the University of Phoenix as a part-time professor in the fields of Criminal Justice and Administration of Justice.

In addition to his duties at FPD as LT. Lasiewicki; privately, Dr. Lasiewicki pursues his passion of advancing the profession of policing. In 2011, Dr. Lasiewicki opened his online school The LEO Criminal Justice Institute (LEOCJI), dedicated to the professional development of police. Dr. Lasiewicki is currently working to build degree-granting programs specifically for police so that every cop who appreciates the thought of working hard to earn a scholarly degree can get one.

Table of Contents

Introduction – What’s Your Problem?!

Communication and Culture

Procedural Justice

Communicating with People in Behavioral Health/Mental Health Crises

Good Manners for Police

Effective Professional Training

Do something about it!

Introduction – What’s Your Problem?!

I think it’s fair to say that there is a disconnect between many police organizations and the public they serve. We should all be able to agree on that. That fact alone justifies a discussion about some of the public relations failures that led to the deterioration of their relationships with their communities.

In early 2015, social scientist Richard Johnson compiled a body of research from 27 different studies detailing how citizens form their opinions about police. Dr. Johnson concluded: "the strongest factor influencing general citizen satisfaction with the police is having had a recent negative contact with the police themselves, or knowing a friend or relative who recently experienced a negative contact with the police." Similarly, this body of research suggested that the opinions of bystanders who witness personal interaction between a citizen and the police were affected to the same degree as those people directly involved in the negative police-citizen interaction. In fact, the extent to which citizens formed their opinions about police, ‘negative personal interaction with police’ even outweighed the influence on citizens’ opinions of police that were formed by fear of crime, the influences of media, or even neighborhood community policing efforts.

In addition, Dr. Johnson found that while a negative personal experience with a police officer has a profound impact on that person’s opinion of police, a person’s positive interaction with police had a far smaller impact on their opinion. So to summarize, public opinion of the police is built on very unsteady ground: while it’s easy for a police agency to lose respect, credibility, and public support for a perceived negative personal interaction (or a negative interaction with a person’s friend, family member, or some personal interaction that a citizen may have witnessed…or even heard about third hand), it is equally difficult for a police agency to influence public opinion in a positive way through perceived positive citizen-police interactions.

A brief history of the influences of social media on police-public relations

As mentioned previously, social scientists have concluded: the strongest factor influencing general citizen satisfaction with the police is having had a recent negative contact with the police themselves, or knowing a friend or relative who recently experienced a negative contact with the police. What if there was a force currently in existence that acted to dramatically increase the damage of these negative contacts? What if media existed that allowed individuals to communicate their negative experiences with hundreds of friends in an instant?

Before the mid-2000s, the majority of the American public received their information about police from print media and television news sources. Similarly, several popular movies and television shows helped the general public form opinions about