members equally, writes the same citations for the same misdemeanors, and uses lethal force only when a member’s survival is in question. Daytona Police Chief-turned County Sheriff Mike Chitley made the ideal police a reality in the city he served. As Police Chief of the Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD), Chitley required all officers to learn the racial history of the United States and, as a result and in congruence with this history, to learn their own biases. In a city of 62,000 people, only four police shootings occurred in 2016. Officers were instructed to engage in community policing in accordance with DBPD guidelines, leading them to know which members of the community suffer from mental illness (1/5 fatal police shootings take mentally ill victims). Knowing which community members suffered from mental illness helped them exercise caution and patience in incidents involving said community members. Additionally, DBPD officers are taught to anchor their trigger fingers on the side plate of their guns, rather than on the trigger, when they feel they need to pull their guns in order to prevent misfires and create time to fully assess the situation. Lastly, in 2016 DBPD officers arrested and issued tickets to citizens nearly in congruence to their population samples; sixty percent of those arrested and/or ticketed were white, forty percent of those arrested and/or ticketed were Black—same goes with the Daytona Beach population. Sheriff Chitley is a member of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), comprised of police chiefs and sheriffs across the country whose guiding principle is sanctity of human “the life.” Eight months after criticizing PERF’s principles, members of the FOP adopted portions of them. These developments show that the conversation about police reform is taking root in certain instances, even though police chiefs and sheriffs represent only a fraction of the problematic criminal justice system. Progress on this issue demands recognition of the issues and cooperation in seeking solutions.
members equally, writes the same citations for the same misdemeanors, and uses lethal force only when a member’s survival is in question. Daytona Police Chief-turned County Sheriff Mike Chitley made the ideal police a reality in the city he served. As Police Chief of the Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD), Chitley required all officers to learn the racial history of the United States and, as a result and in congruence with this history, to learn their own biases. In a city of 62,000 people, only four police shootings occurred in 2016. Officers were instructed to engage in community policing in accordance with DBPD guidelines, leading them to know which members of the community suffer from mental illness (1/5 fatal police shootings take mentally ill victims). Knowing which community members suffered from mental illness helped them exercise caution and patience in incidents involving said community members. Additionally, DBPD officers are taught to anchor their trigger fingers on the side plate of their guns, rather than on the trigger, when they feel they need to pull their guns in order to prevent misfires and create time to fully assess the situation. Lastly, in 2016 DBPD officers arrested and issued tickets to citizens nearly in congruence to their population samples; sixty percent of those arrested and/or ticketed were white, forty percent of those arrested and/or ticketed were Black—same goes with the Daytona Beach population. Sheriff Chitley is a member of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), comprised of police chiefs and sheriffs across the country whose guiding principle is “the sanctity of human life.” Eight months after criticizing PERF’s principles, members of the FOP adopted portions of them. These developments show that the conversation about police reform is taking root in certain instances, even though police chiefs and sheriffs represent only a fraction of the problematic criminal justice system. Progress on this issue demands recognition of the issues and cooperation in seeking solutions.