News Articles

Walt McNeil is chief of the Quincy Police Department (Florida) and president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

As a police chief, my first responsibility is to ensure the safety and well-being of our citizens and our officers and to make absolutely sure that we are operating in the most effective and efficient manner possible.

The nature of our profession requires that we continually adjust to a vast array of new and ever-changing challenges. This has never been more true than in the decade since the 9/11 attacks. Today, law enforcement confronts a myriad of threats, challenges and opportunities that were simply unimaginable just a short time ago.

Yet despite the importance of our mission to the security of communities and the United States, we still lack a central, comprehensive plan to guide our national criminal justice efforts as they adjust to the new realities of crime and terror in the 21st century. This is simply unacceptable.

As president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, I will be working locally and nationally to garner support from citizens of Quincy, Tallahassee, Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Pensacola. In fact, I am seeking the support of every citizen in the state of Florida for the creation of a national criminal justice plan.

The United States needs a strategic plan. We need a national commission on criminal justice.

Law enforcement and the criminal justice community have faced this dilemma before. In July 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued an executive order establishing the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, recognizing, as he said, "the urgency of the nation's crime problem." The commission labored for a year and a half, producing 200 specific recommendations involving federal, state and local governments; civic organizations; religious institutions; business groups; and individual citizens, all intended to create a safer and more just society.

There is no doubt that the work of that commission and the recommendations it produced marked the beginning of a fundamental change in our methods for dealing with crime and the public, and it built the framework for many of the highly effective law-enforcement and public safety initiatives that have been in place for the last 40 years.

Citizens of the state of Florida, the law enforcement mission has changed substantially since the Johnson Commission of 1965. In addition to new responsibilities for protecting the homeland, law-enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system are dealing with changes in violent crime patterns, unsolved and complex immigration issues, overburdened prisons, increased illegal firearm trafficking and violence, continued drug trafficking and overburdened court systems, as well as the development of new forensic capabilities and technological advances that have the potential to change the way both criminals and law enforcement operate.

There is federal legislation that would follow in the footsteps of the Johnson Commission: the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. This legislation would create a commission charged with comprehensively reviewing the nation's criminal justice system and offering concrete recommendations to address our public safety challenges. Unfortunately, despite receiving 57 votes, the legislation fell three votes short of the supermajority needed to pass the Senate.

Some opponents of the commission have claimed that the it could weaken law enforcement's ability to aggressively and effectively combat crime. Others have argued that the commission would somehow allow the federal government to dictate public safety and criminal justice policy to states and localities. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The proposed commission is designed to assist, not hinder, law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Its sole purpose is to review the current status of the nation's criminal justice system, identify the challenges and opportunities that exist, and make recommendations for policy changes. This commission would in no way weaken our ability to protect the public or fight crime, nor would states and localities be subjected to federal interference.

Finally, other critics of the creation of a commission say that this work has already been done, that many have looked at pieces of the criminal justice system in the past. But this is the problem: We are taking a piecemeal approach to our criminal justice system. This effort is not about any one part of the system - corrections, law enforcement, narcotics, or technology; it is about how we must work as a whole to be the most effective and efficient that we can possibly be.

Despite the setback in the Senate, we must not be deterred. The time has come. The creation of a commission is no longer something we could do; it is something we must do. Today, we the leaders in the criminal justice system from every hamlet, from every town, from every city, and from every state have a responsibility to make this issue one of our highest priorities. We can significantly improve our ability to effectively fight crime, reduce police officers' deaths and enhance police-community relationships with the creation of a comprehensive strategic plan.

I urge our citizens and those in the religious, civic and criminal justice community to add their voices to our cause by acting locally with the leaders in our communities and sharing with each of them the urgency of our cause.