SHAPING POLICE LEADERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

摘要

THE HISTORIC EVENTS OF 2020 TESTED THE RESILIENCE, ENDURANCE, AND KNOWLEDGE OF INDIVIDUALS, COMMUNITIES, AND POLICE PROFESSIONALS IN THE UNITED STATES. The burdens of quarantines, unrest and social justice protests, political turmoil, and a budding public unease concerning increased violent crime and accelerated calls for police reform. These issues were particularly impactful in Atlanta, Georgia, where social justice protests took place for more than 21 consecutive days. Demonstrations in the capital city were at times peaceful, although encounters with highly charged protestors were not infrequent. Officers of the Atlanta Police Department often found themselves on the receiving end of profane insults and, on occasion, hurled bricks. One of the more extensive injuries observed was the result of a person riding an ATV crashing into a 20-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department. In two nights of heightened protests, destruction throughout the city included the desecration of a state office building and damages to 25 police vehicles and dozens of police bicycles.