Empathetic Policing Has Hidden Costs

The public may be demanding softer policing policies, but are officers who embrace such policies actually conducting themselves in ways the public hopes and expects' No, they are not. And there is cost to us all. When a police officer shoots an unarmed black man, a tragic, all-too-familiar cycle of events ensues: Communities seethe in anger, knee-jerk accusations are hurled from all sides, and boiler-plate defenses are frantically mounted. In response, police chiefs and city leaders promise swift action and imminent change: a greater shift to community-oriented policing - a kinder, gentler philosophy that emphasizes community outreach, citizens' voice, and the much bandied "collaborative problem solving." As an organizational psychologist, what I found was startling when I studied six U.S. police agencies, collecting 794 body camera footage videos of 164 officers. When cops believe they are misunderstood and underappreciated, gentler policing philosophies do not increase officer effectiveness. In fact, amid public strife, more empathetic police officers are less effective at ensuring the basic safety of citizens. They make more procedural errors, the kind of missteps that can be deadly.