Police Leaders Unveil Principles Intended to Shift Policing Practices Nationwide

WASHINGTON — Police officers should aid anyone they hurt immediately. They should abandon a so-called 21-foot rule, which in some encounters with emotionally volatile people can result in fatal shootings. And they should follow standards higher than those set by the United States Supreme Court for using force.

This week, a group of law enforcement leaders made these recommendations and others to inspire a shift in policing practices after two years of questions being raised about the American criminal justice system.

About 200 of those leaders gathered here on Thursday and Friday to unveil principles they want to spread to the country’s more than 18,000 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. They include ways to defuse volatile encounters and avoid violence, document and track the use of force, train officers in more effective communication and, ultimately, repair trust in communities.

“We’ve got to get to the point where the average American cop thinks a little bit more,” Mr. Wilson added. “That’s the bottom line.”

The principles, 30 in all, come after nearly two years of research by the policy group, said its executive director, Chuck Wexler.

He surveyed 280 agencies last spring about training to de-escalate volatile situations. He brought a group of police leaders to Scotland in November to see how crime fighting is done by a mostly unarmed police force. And in December, he observed the tactics of New York Police Department’s Emergency Service Unit. Pushing the principles across the country is an acknowledgment that “we can do better,” said Allwyn Brown, the interim police chief in Richmond, Calif., who was on the Scotland trip.

“Law enforcement doesn’t look like we’re trying to help people,” said Jeff Cotner, a deputy chief of the Dallas Police Department. “Your soul tells you, ‘I need to go up and help this person,’ but your training says, ‘No, you need to step back and preserve the crime scene.’ We’ve got to change that, and we know that.”