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J A N 2 0 1 7 F E B
A Challenging Time to be a
POLICE EXECUTIVE
Stuart Cameron
Police professionals taking over the reigns as the chief officer in a law
enforcement agency today will face a number of unique challenges,
many of contemporary origin. Chiefs must function in an unprece-
dented dynamic and evolving environment which is reflective of rapid
changes in society and technology. The widespread and unfettered ac-
cess to information fostered by cable news, local news patches, mobile
phone applications, the Internet and social media can be both a burden
and an opportunity. New police executives will also be confronted with
limited resources, tight budgets and often a lack of personnel to deal
with threats such as terrorism, targeted attacks on law enforcement
and active shooter incidents. The nation and the world are becoming
increasingly interconnected. The actions of officers in virtually any po-
lice department in America, or even overseas, can have consequences
for executives in all departments. Misconduct or perceivedmisconduct
can impact law enforcement far beyond the department within which
an event occurred.
Twenty-first century marvels, such as social
media and smart phones, allow individual citi-
zens to have an unprecedented ability to widely
propagate content or views. Videos of purported
police misconduct can rapidly go viral creating
social unrest in a given community and even
across the nation. Never before has one individ-
ual had such ready access to the masses. Never
before has the public had such ever present avail-
ability of cameras and video equipment to record
and even live broadcast events as they occur. So-
cial media has no doubt helped to fuel recent
anti-law enforcement sentiment in many Ameri-
can communities that began around the time of
the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri and which con-
The pace at which changes to American
culture are progressing seems to be in-
creasing in synch with technological advances.
Gordon Moore postulated a theory regarding the
steady doubling of the capability of an integrated
circuit called Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law is of-
ten cited as a driving force behind the growth in
technology, social change and productivity. The
rapid adoption and expansion of technologies
such as smart phones, social media, unmanned
aerial systems and autonomously driven vehicles
are all examples of tools that are driving and will
continue to drive substantive changes to the way
Americans live their lives.
tinue today. Protesters bemoaned the conduct
of police after several high profile incidents in
major cities across the United States. This led
to protests and violence in many localities.
Rising rates for certain categories of vio-
lent crime, including homicide, in some areas
of the country that have occurred after the
onset of this anti-police movement has been
attributed by some to a phenomenon called
the Ferguson Effect . This theory has been
proffered by numerous individuals, includ-
ing James Comey, the Director of the FBI.
Those that advocate the validity of the Fergu-
son Effect believe that it may be due to law
enforcement officers who are now reluctant
to perform their duties with the same zeal as
before out of a fear of being accused of wrong
doing. Others believe that the so called Fer-
guson Effect may be a result of lowered po-
lice legitimacy in minority communities post
Ferguson. When communities view law en-
forcement with suspicion and distrust police
legitimacy falters. This can often result in an
unwillingness to recognize police authority
and an attendant increase in crime as civil-
ians seek justice by taking the law into their
own hands or by refusing to cooperate with
police investigations. Police legitimacy is de-
rived from a perception of procedural justice,
which is the feeling that the police are treat-
ing the public fairly, allowing all citizens to
express their side of an event and are making
decisions in an honest and unbiased manner.
Everyone desires to be treated fairly, honestly
and with respect in all aspects of their lives,
including during encounters with police.
Another concomitant reaction to the
events in Ferguson is the notion that police
departments have become over-militarized.
Those that subscribe to this belief cite the use
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