Insight Policing and the Role of the Civilian in Police Accountability

Forward:

Recent events in Baltimore (Maryland), Ferguson (Missouri), and elsewhere have brought national attention to the connections among police practices, violence, and community progress. Many people in low-income communities of color view the police as yet another barrier to upward mobility, as record numbers of their neighbors face the economic consequences of having a history of arrests or convictions. Sargent Shriver himself recognized that good relationships between the police and the communities they serve are essential to the very legitimacy of the legal system.

But how can police and communities stop entrenched patterns of conflict? In this article Jamie Price of the Sargent Shriver Peace Institute and Megan Price of the Insight Conflict Resolution Program share their work on “insight policing” and the positive changes it has brought in Memphis (Tennessee) and Lowell (Massachusetts). Jamie Price coauthored a 2010 Clearinghouse Review article on the “insight approach” to conflict resolution, and now he and Megan Price bring this idea to the realm of police-community relations.

We present this article as a contribution to the thinking about police and the criminal justice system that many of our colleagues in the equal justice and legal aid community are undertaking. As several of our community-based allies enter into negotiations with police commanders and other officials, we offer this article—rooted in Shriver’s work—as food for thought and action.

—John Bouman, Shriver Center President

To read the article, please register for free with the Clearinghouse Community