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When Ronald Reagan began serious nuclear talks with the Soviet Union, he was taught the Russian phrase (much catchier in Russian because it rhymes) Doveryai no proveryai--Trust, but verify. He used it in public meetings with Gorbachev and others and it helped make it possible to legitimate the image of the negotiation. Bargain with the devil but make sure you are guaranteed the right to "toss his cell" at will--to inspect, to review, to see for yourself if good faith is reality.
This is how many have approached community policing, especially in communities that have been so traumatically impacted by police violence. When community policing is trauma-informed and persistent, it may not only statistically work (lower crime rates, fewer instances of police violence, etc.) but it may eventually change community views, including at least one study showing that community policing practices--100 percent of which revolve around nonviolent actions by police--are correlated to a decrease in community fear of crime (Lee, Lee & Zhao, 2023).
This is how the incremental, patient approach--not a cynical doling out of a small measure of change to appease an angry community--can slowly but surely "turn that rig around."[1] Trust is earned. Community policing done well can increase the earning power. Every tragic episode of backsliding makes the struggle to earn that trust stretch out in a sad delay. Part of the key in the training--scenarios building creativity and drills building new mental muscle memory--is to avoid those damaging trust-busting incidents.
References
Lee, J., Lee, H. D., & Zhao, J. S. (2023). Community‐oriented policing (COP): An empirical study of its effectiveness on fear of crime. Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 104(5), 988–1005. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1111/ssqu.13282
[1] From an old truckers' saying about huge trucks with long trailers: "Give me 40 acres and I'll turn that rig around."
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