Lacy: kinder, gentler policing makes a better department
NEBRASKA CITY – Nebraska City Police Chief David Lacy laments a decline in interest for the the law enforcement profession among young people, says the courts could do a better job protecting the protectors and claims a public that is less respectful compared to that day in 1981 when first put on the uniform, but somehow, in many ways, he sees a better police department.
Lacy had been appointed as police sergeant eight months before the police beating of Rodney King set off riots in Los Angeles. He was leading his department of 14 officers through the pandemic when social media captured the police custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
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He had become the first officer ever from Nebraska City to be appointed to the FBI National Academy at Quantico, Va., where he realized in 1994 the relational approach to law enforcement that was being recommended in coursework was already in practice in many towns across Nebraska.
Lacy: “We spend most of our time visiting to the individuals that somehow think that their woes are a result of society and not their own personal behavior responsibility.”
He recalled talking to an officer who said respect is due to the badge.
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Lacy: “I told him, no, that piece of tin doesn’t many anything. It’s the man behind the badge that gets respect.”
Lacy remembers fondly his early years as a police officer and the forceful ways officers handled uncooperative citizens, but he also prescribes specialized training and better understanding that underpin the modern police force.
Lacy: “I think we became a better department. We’re a better department today than we were probably when I was a kid in many ways. I’m sure back then force was used a lot more often than it is today. We try not to go hands on with people. We don’t want to go hands on because usually, if you goes hand on, one or two people are going to wake up sore the next day, or injured.”
Training affects changes in police work.
Lacy: “We have been trained to know that in a stressful situation one of the senses that you lose – one of the senses that you lose – is your hearing. So when we’re telling somebody to put down the knife or put down the gun and we’re screaming it at the top of our lungs … yeah we are excitable too, but we also know you have to state that over and over and over at a higher volume so that person hears it because they suffer from the same stress that we do.”
Lacy said at a time when media is driven by a narrative of police brutality and online platforms make it easy for people to cast aspersions at those in authority, there is still a vast majority that supports law enforcement. He hopes his career has affirmed that trust from the public he served.
Lacy: “I hope people will look back and say you know I had a pretty good rapport with Chief Lacy. They may not have always agreed, but I hope everybody can come back and say at least he was willing to listen.”
Chief Lacy is planning the next stage of his life beginning July 12.