Weitzel featured speaker at ‘Policing in the 21st Century’ forum May 23

As a former law enforcement officer and a contributor to Suburban Life, I bring a unique perspective to the table. I hold police accountable when we fall short, but I also recognize the honor and importance of their role in our communities. My column provides a sharp and truthful perspective on the law enforcement profession.

I am excited to announce I will be a featured speaker at the League of Women Voters of the La Grange Area presentation on criminal justice. The “Policing in the 21st Century” event will be May 23 at the Brookfield Library and is an interactive discussion.

Moderator Jan Goldberg and I will address the state of policing issues and other related criminal justice concerns both locally and across the U.S. We encourage the audience to ask questions and share their perspectives.

The forum will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Brookfield Library, 3541 Park Ave., Brookfield.

About 700,000 law enforcement officers are serving in the U.S. This includes federal, state, local and specialized police forces such as colleges and universities. And indeed, the state of policing has changed, without a doubt, since the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis. No one in American policing can deny that.

While the primary function of police agencies is to deter crime, police officers lately also have been called upon to be social workers, conflict mediators, traffic directors, mental health counselors, medical responders, information technology experts and paralegals, to name a few. Coupling that with the media’s scrutiny of law enforcement, the situation is not sustainable in the future.

Since May 2020, the police profession has confronted unprecedented challenges and numerous stressors, including public scrutiny, intense media coverage and widespread social media attention. While most police officers will never have cause to fire a weapon in the line of duty, tragic incidents and media attention have led to calls for defunding or reimagining policing. These pleas for reform often come from the most heavily policed communities with an escalating need for public safety.

I plan to discuss how police agencies must balance these competing demands for public safety and the fair and equal treatment of all citizens in today’s law enforcement agencies. They must find a way to re-create and realign their policies, practices and public relations. Law enforcement can only take on these challenges if it rebuilds public trust and promotes more cooperation with the communities it serves. This is not debatable.

I plan on addressing questions on challenges in law enforcement, policing innovations, innovative technology assisting police agencies in crime prevention and apprehension and the state of political influence on top police executives and police agencies.

Police officers are under fire. The number of police officers shot in the line of duty, not killed, is skyrocketing. In 2024, 101 officers already have been shot in the line of duty across the U.S.

In 2023, there were 378 officers shot and injured, not counting the officers who were shot and killed in the line of duty. Officers are being assaulted, shot and stabbed at an alarming rate. Much of this violence against the police comes from the rhetoric of some of our political leaders who would like to see the defunding of the police movement or de-policing put back on high-speed rails.

Defunding the police has led to many states, including Illinois, passing legislation that affects the ability of police to do their job correctly, reduces equipment, lowers police standards – including entry-level standards – and in some states has resulted in the elimination altogether of police hiring standards at the police academy level.

There is no doubt that in the present political and social climate that police agencies are having difficulty recruiting and retaining police officers. But there is some good news. In the past two years, police departments have hired more female police officers. More minority police officers are coming back or into the profession and many police agencies are using a tool that has been on the books for a long time but has seldom been used: lateral transfer. Lateral transfer is when officers can move from department to department, as is common in the private sector.

I look forward to having an open and honest discussion with Goldberg and residents from Cook and DuPage counties.