Retired NYPD Detective Vincent Guastamacchia and professor Phillip Atiba Goff join Morning Joe to discuss the role body cameras can play in policing. Watch here.

Police officers — veterans and rookies alike — are more likely than others to say they see no differences in color and that they treat every person equally, according to a new study out of the University of Illinois. A team of social scientists at the university partnered with the U. of I. Police Training Institute to examine the racial attitudes of law enforcement personnel in the U.S. Read more here. 

The May 2015 release of the report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing highlighted a fundamental change in the issues dominating discussions about policing in America. That change has moved discussions away from a focus on what is legal or effective in crime control and toward a concern for how the actions of the police influence public trust and confidence in the police. This shift in discourse has been motivated by two factors—first, the recognition by public officials that increases in the professionalism of the police and dramatic declines in the rate of crime have not led to increases in police legitimacy, and second, greater awareness of the limits of the dominant coercive model of policing and of the benefits of an alternative and more consensual model based on public trust and confidence in the police and legal system. Psychological research has played an important role in legitimating this change in the way policymakers think about policing by demonstrating that perceived legitimacy shapes a set of lawrelated behaviors as well as or better than concerns about the risk of punishment. Those behaviors include compliance with the law and cooperation with legal authorities. These findings demonstrate that legal authorities gain by a focus on legitimacy. Psychological research has further contributed by articulating and demonstrating empirical support for a central role of procedural justice in shaping legitimacy, providing legal authorities with a clear road map of strategies for creating and maintaining public trust. Given evidence of the benefits of legitimacy and a set of guidelines concerning its antecedents, policymakers have increasingly focused on the question of public trust when considering issues in policing. The acceptance of a legitimacy-based consensual model of police authority building on theories and research studies originating within psychology illustrates how psychology can contribute to the development of evidence-based policies in the field of criminal law. Read on here.

In 2012-2013, LVMPD conducted surveys regarding best practices and training curriculums. Every feedback form was read. In addition, recommendations were derived from a study by Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff which indicated there needed to be relevancy. Dr. Goff is recognized as an expert on contemporary forms of racial bias and discrimination. Read the full article

Phillip Goff, a social psychology associate professor at UCLA, said the project is not a police-led initiative. "This is an initiative that is based in evidence, based in science with the goal of repairing and improving police-community relations," he said. "The goal is not to be doing something from just the policing side." Read article here.

National researchers presented to the Minneapolis City Council on Wednesday more details about a three-year, multi-million-dollar, federal program to study and reduce racially biased policing within the city. During a City Council committee of the whole meeting, organizers discussed the National Initiative for Building Community Trust & Justice, a project launched at police departments in six cities including Minneapolis to try to build trust between communities and law enforcement especially in the wake of several high-profile, fatal shootings of black men and other incidents across the country. Read article here.

‘Out of control’ Texas officer who threw girl to ground at pool party resigns

I’m a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing