Racial disparity from the United States police force needs to end and the solution can be found in community policing.

United States citizens of color are targeted by police from the city, county, state, and federal level. The racial bias is clear in prison and jail demographics, as well as statistics found in the Stanford nationwide analysis of traffic stops and searches, which concludes Black and Hispanic California citizens are more likely to be searched after a police stop. There are many more studies and findings that determine there is a clear issue in how police treat citizens of color, but how do we protect the people in our community and prevent unwarranted stops and treatment of our citizens? The solution resides in a community policing program.

A community policing program that is federally directed to state levels and implemented by the people for the people within every United State city, county, and region will prevent racial injustices.

The community policing program can become reality in weeks. Here is what is needed to implement the program:

1. Immediately allocate a reasonable portion of Federal, State, County, and City police current year budget funds and future funds to launch the Community Policing Program. 

2. Team or create a community app such as “Nextdoor” as the focal point for the Community Policing Platform. Mandate all citizens who wish to have police support in their area register for that platform. 

3. Breakout cities into zones and schedule the zone to self nominate and vote for their community police officer(s) for their zone. 

4. Set clear procedures, provide mandated report writing training, firearm/restraint training, and first-aid training for the community police officers. (Training can be virtual).

5. Create a weekly reporting schedule for community police officers to address crime statistics, trends, and concerns for their zones. 

6. Provide a salary to the community police officer. 

7. Provide contacts, communication equipment, and medical kits to the community police officers.

The community police officer will act as the mediator, the security force, and the first responder to the neighbors in their community. Living in the community of the people for whom they serve, they will be known by their neighbors, they can hold local sessions on their platform to discuss issues, and more importantly they will be valued and respected by their community. 

    • The community police officer will only call outside police for support in their zone if the issue demands more resources than the community police officer can provide. 

    • The community policing program will be regularly audited by local police departments for compliance. 

The community policing program will equip local communities with the resources they need to resolve local issues without the fear of racial disparity and should be implemented immediately.