By BILL FIANDER
Insight Kansas
On the morning of his federal trial this week for raping and terrorizing vulnerable Black women in the Kansas City, Kansas neighborhoods he patrolled for 35 years, ex-cop Roger Golubski fatally shot himself. His story, much like last year’s Marion police newsroom raid, is another national black eye for law enforcement in Kansas abusing the public’s trust.
In 1829, Sir Robert Peel coined the phrase “policing by consent” with nine principles for democratic policing while establishing London’s first police force. In a nutshell, we consent to the idea of trusting some members of the community to exercise powers required to keep the peace on behalf of the community. In return, we willingly pledge our cooperation. Police do not serve the state like an occupying army. They serve the people.
This philosophy is foundational in most American police academies. At its core are accountability, transparency, and social ties. When these break, we break. Years of racial disparities for wrongful convictions, incarcerations, excessive force, and lethal shootings culminated in the fateful spring of 2020 when George Floyd became a tragic household name. Anti-police riots spawned a “back the blue” counter-movement.
People on both sides did not consent to what they were seeing.
As a result, many bipartisan reforms took place from DC to statehouses and city halls to regain the consent of the public – bans on neck restraints and no-knock warrants, body-cam proliferation, de-escalation training, critical response teams with mental health professionals, civilian oversight boards, and ramped-up community policing.
None of these have necessarily proven to be blanket panaceas. Amidst local success stories, fatal police shootings have risen along with police killings. Better data on police incidents are shared but lack enough standardization to drive dependable policymaking.
Meanwhile, another proven reform – women in policing – careens into politically charged climates because of DEI implications and questioning women in combat.
Part of the debate revolves around the national 30X30 initiative. 30X30 has sparked awareness on the benefits of women in policing with a goal of increasing representation from 20% to 30% for recruits by 2030. Wichita, Overland Park, and Salina have joined over 200 localities in taking this pledge. However, Topeka’s incoming police chief recently endorsed 30X30 amidst GOP pushback on quotas for women.
Given policing’s staffing crisis, local leaders would be remiss not to make a bigger play for half of the state’s population. After 2020, Wichita was 14% below authorized full-strength, Topeka 13%, and Overland Park 11%. Also, research shows women police are less apt to use excessive force, perceived as more honest and compassionate, named in fewer complaints/lawsuits and hold strong communication skills - an advantage for a job considered 90 percent social work today.
Nationally, 14% of sworn officers are female. Kansas is only 12% with use of force incidents climbing. Two jurisdictions with falling use of force incidents include Junction City and Leavenworth. Curiously, they have two of the highest female officer rates at 27% after hitting single digits in 2003. By contrast, the Kansas Highway Patrol added just three female officers since 2003 and currently sit at 6%.
Moving towards a 30% female recruit goal aligns with a representative bureaucracy ideal where credibility, fairness, trust, and performance are heightened as civil servant composition reflects the population composition they serve.
Will our consent be more about climbing 5-foot walls or breaking glass walls?
For the police are us. And we are the police.
Bill Fiander is a lecturer at Washburn University specializing in public administration, urban planning, and state/local government. He is the former planning and development director for the City of Topeka.