Mt. Juliet Police Officers Attend Briefing at White House

Washington, D.C. – A Mt. Juliet Police Department Lieutenant and Corporal attended a briefing at the White House on 21^st Century Policing to help strengthen the trust between communities and law enforcement. Lieutenant Tyler Chandler and Corporal James Christensen attended the White House briefing on September 28, 2016. The two were among a group of law enforcement officials from across the nation, whose agencies were specifically invited to participate in the briefing on policing best practices.

In 2014, President Obama launched a task force on 21^st Century Policing, which was designed to identify best practices and assist police departments in strengthening trust and collaboration with their communities. In May of last year, the task force released a report that included 59 recommendations for law enforcement agencies. Those recommendations were organized into six main topic areas: building trust and legitimacy, policy and oversight, technology and social media, community policing and crime reduction, and officer safety and wellness.

The series of briefings, hosted by the White House in cooperation with the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, were established to assist local law enforcement agencies in learning how to implement the task force’s recommendations.

“I’m grateful that we had the opportunity to attend the briefing at the White House,” Chandler said. “It is certainly important for our department to be innovative and stay on top of the best policies and practices in law enforcement so we can ensure we are serving the Mt. Juliet community as best as possible.”

At the briefing, Chandler and Christensen heard from experts about officer safety and wellness, implicit bias, and using social media. In addition, they received information on the President’s Police Data Initiative, which enables police departments to collect and proactively publish data on policing activities in their community. The department has committed to the initiative and plans to openly publish data on employee demographics, use of force, and community engagement activities.

“I’ve reviewed the Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21^st Century Policing,” Police Chief James Hambrick said. “I plan on meeting with the department’s leadership team soon to discuss the task force’s recommendations and evaluate how they can be applied at our department. It appears that our department is already ahead with many of the recommendations.”

The Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21^st Century Policing is available online here: Final Report

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