Policing with Compassion Helps Communities

New Chicago Police Department officers take an oath during the graduation and promotion ceremony at Navy Pier on March 29.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Compassion in policing would help cops, communities

Compassion is emerging as a solution that promises to bring healing to officers, departments and communities.

By Phil Andrew, Ed Frauenheim
May 3, 2022, 7:00pm CDT

Police officers are hurting today.

They are suffering high rates of mental health problems, substance abuse and suicide. In the past three years, 472 U.S. law enforcement professionals have committed suicide—nearly threetimesthe number of officers killed by gunfire in the line of duty during the same period. 

At the sametime, police departments are struggling withpoor morale, retention problems and low crime resolution rates.

Meanwhile, America’s vulnerable communities are suffering. A rise in crime during the COVID-19 pandemichit America’s poor neighborhoods of color hardest. These communities often are torn between distrust toward police and a desire for law enforcement to deter and arrest criminals.