It’s time to let law enforcement speak for itself

For most of my career in policing, I believed the best way to serve the public was to simply do the job well.

You show up. You treat people with dignity. You hold yourself and those around you accountable. You always try to make the difficult decisions with integrity and compassion. Then you go home and come back and do it again tomorrow.

I still believe that.

But I’ve also come to believe that doing the job well isn’t always enough. Law enforcement leaders have a responsibility to stand up for the principles that underpin the rule of law — fairness, accountability, equal treatment and respect for constitutional rights. Public trust depends not only on how we enforce the law, but on whether people believe we are upholding those principles. And without that trust, the system doesn’t work for anybody.

For our profession to earn and maintain that trust, we must actively participate in the ongoing conversations about law enforcement and public safety, even when it is difficult to do so.

When experienced voices are left out of the conversation, or choose to remain silent, the conversations don’t stop. People in our communities will still look for answers about policing and public safety, often drawing conclusions that lack context and consideration of the practical realities of police work. In those moments the public deserves to hear, firsthand, from the people who have done the work and who have navigated those complexities.

That is why a group of current and former law enforcement leaders from across North Carolina has come together to launch the North Carolina Law Enforcement Trust & Legitimacy Project. Together, we will engage in public debates over policies that affect public safety and the rule of law.

We will provide context and expertise when complicated law enforcement issues enter the public conversation. We will acknowledge opportunities to improve when the profession falls short of its responsibilities. We will push back when law enforcement is attacked unfairly.

We are professionals who have spent our careers leading agencies, developing policy, managing crises, building relationships, and serving our communities. Our goal is simple: to strengthen those communities, the law enforcement profession, and the rule of law by ensuring that conversations about public safety are informed by professional experience, by sound evidence and data and by a shared commitment to equal justice under the law for everybody.

Because when people believe the law is fair, accountable, and applied equally, communities are stronger and safer.

Today, trust in many of our institutions is being tested, and that includes law enforcement. Rising political division, corruption, unequal application of the law, and too many people speaking for law enforcement to advance their own ideological agendas threatens the trust that our profession relies upon. At moments like these, experienced law enforcement leaders have a responsibility to speak—not for any political cause, but for the values that have always guided our profession: accountability, equality under the law, professional integrity, and public safety free from intimidation, influence, or extremism.

This effort is not about defending every action taken by law enforcement. It is not about speaking for every officer or every agency. And it is certainly not about asking for blind trust.

It is about offering the perspective of people who have done the work, have made the hard decisions, and believe they still have a duty to serve.

The men and women involved in this effort come from different agencies, different backgrounds, and different experiences. We have not agreed on every issue throughout our careers, and we won’t agree on every issue in the future.

What unites us is something more important.

We believe that public safety depends on public trust. We believe the rule of law protects everyone when it is applied fairly and equally. We believe professional law enforcement should always be guided by integrity, accountability, and service. And we believe that when those principles are challenged, experienced law enforcement leaders have a responsibility to speak up.

Trust is earned every day through integrity, accountability, transparency, and service.

Legitimacy is strengthened the same way.

That is the work of policing.

And that is the work of the North Carolina Law Enforcement Trust & Legitimacy Project.

Chris Blue is a retired Chapel Hill police chief and town manager. He is a public safety consultant and founding president of the North Carolina Law Enforcement Trust & Legitimacy Project.