DPD Chief Participates In White House Briefing On 21st Century Policing

Chief Jason Parker visited the White House on Friday to meet with law enforcement executives from across the country to discuss the future of policing. The White House Advancing 21st Century Police Briefing on July 15 was the third in a series of meetings bringing police leaders together to implement recommendations in the Final Report of the President’s Task Force On 21st Century Policing. 75 police chiefs from across the country attended. Chief Parker was one of four police chiefs from Georgia to participate in the briefing.

“It was a great honor, and humbling experience to be included in the discussion,” said Chief Parker. “Since local control has always been an important factor in American policing, it was good to be able to represent Dalton and have our voice heard on the subject. It was also a good opportunity to stress how important it is to provide safety and support to our police officers.”  

“Our officers and department take professionalism very seriously. It has become the expectation,” Chief Parker continued. “Our involvement in projects intended to raise the bar in the profession puts us in position to be ready when new concepts come to light. It keeps us prepared, but also gives our officers the ability to try new things before a crisis comes.”

Friday’s briefing opened with remarks from the director of the Domestic Policy Council and continued with updates on innovations in policing by the director of the US Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and the chief of the Bloomington (In.) Police Department. Chief Parker then participated in breakout sessions covering the police data initiative, officer safety and wellness, social media, and implicit bias training led by Dr. Bryant Marks, director of Morehouse College’s Program for Research on Black Male Achievement.   

“The discussion about implicit bias has been going on in criminal justice for about five years,” Chief Parker said. “The idea is that humans develop general biases over time based on individual, total life experiences, but implicit biases are more instinctive and unconsciously applied in a situation. Our officers receive training annually and in roll call sessions on our agency’s policy which prohibits biased-based profiling, or taking action based solely on the traits and characteristics of a person.”

The recommendations of the President’s Task Force On 21st Century Policing were submitted in May 2015 and are organized around six guiding “pillars”: Building trust and legitimacy, policy and oversight, technology and social media, community policing and crime reduction, training and education, and officer wellness and safety. Thanks in part to the department’s efforts to gain state certification and international accreditation, Chief Parker reports that many of the task force’s recommendations have already been implemented at the Dalton Police Department.

“It was good to see that most of the recommendations in the report are already in place at Dalton PD, but I am interested in the Police Data Initiative, which seeks to proactively post data online about police operations as a way to let citizens know the full range and scope of what we do as a profession,” said Chief Parker. “I think it could be a good way to tell the full story of how complex policing can be.”

“One of the first task force recommendations is to emphasize the importance of building community trust continuously through day-to-day actions of officers,” Chief Parker said. “Building that kind of trust doesn’t come from a program or philosophy, it comes from the individual efforts of every officer day in and day out to treat people fairly, and be accountable for our own actions.”

Friday’s visit to the White House was not the first time that Chief Parker has been summoned to Washington, DC to discuss the future of law enforcement. Chief Parker previously traveled to DC to participate in projects with the Police Executive Research Forum to revise recommended guidelines on the use of electronic control weapons such as tasers in 2011 and the implementation of police-worn body cameras in 2013. Chief Parker believes his involvement with those projects as well as the department’s efforts in social media and community policing led to his selection to participate in the White House briefing.

The Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing is available online at http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf.