The Police Department has been recognized as a national leader in the development of a legitimate and procedurally just approach to 21st century policing. Members of the Department have been invited to develop the curriculum that is currently being used across the Commonwealth, and to conduct trainings across the nation. More importantly, the Department has gone through a significant and fundamental cultural shift, incorporating police legitimacy as its guiding principle.
With the implementation of the Department’s newly created Procedural Justice Office, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, the Cambridge Police Department is committed to increasing transparency, accountability, and introspection. Procedural Justice is based on four central principles: treating people with dignity and respect; giving community members a voice during encounters; being neutral in decision making; and conveying trustworthy motives. Procedurally just policing is essential to the development of goodwill between police and communities.
The Office of Procedural Justice is focused on proactively monitoring data relating to police-citizen interactions for indications of possible racial profiling and racially-biased policing (including use of force incidents) as well as assessing the Department’s compliance with statutes, ordinances, and regulations aimed at mandating accountability. This new Office will give the community the ability to see how the Department and its officers are interacting with the public.
The Procedural Justice “Dashboard” takes police-transparency to an unprecedented level by providing regular updates as to differences in how the Department treats the Public. View the dashboard.
