David Zolet, CEO of CentralSquare Technologies, has shared his thoughts on President Biden’s executive order to instate more structured and organized systems for policing and criminal justice in the U.S.
Zolet commended the Biden Administration for its efforts included in the EO that make progress for federal public safety reform, as well as the administration’s recent donation of $10 billion via the American Rescue Plan toward state- and local-level public safety entities. CentralSquare frequently partners with law enforcement and emergency response organizations.
“ Now, we call on Congress to act. Equip our law enforcement officers with the resources they need to keep our communities safe,” Zolet stated.
The President’s May 25 executive order sanctions the establishment of a national accreditation system for police departments and the conception of a national database that collects the records of federal officers who are the subject of disciplinary action or have been flagged for poor behavior.
The executive order additionally tasks federal law enforcement agencies with reassessing and rewriting policies that address the use of force. However, as Zolet indicates, an executive order does not have the power to make significant changes to protocols for state and local law enforcement.
“Equip our law enforcement officers with the resources they need to keep our communities safe – including effective training and community policing, enabling state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to modernize their technology infrastructures,” Zolet suggested.
The executive also named the NextGen 9-1-1 platform and “proven strategies like community violence interruption” as potential methodologies for combatting issues that have arisen. Biden’s executive order comes nearly two years after President Trump rubber-stamped a 2020 executive order that also dealt with police incident response.
“These are simple yet necessary actions that will build trust in the critical agencies within our communities. By working with our law enforcement communities, we can enable them to better serve communities, improve outcomes, gain efficiencies, and save lives,” Zolet concluded.
