“I can’t get in trouble if I don’t get out of my car. I can’t get a complaint if I don’t stop any cars or people on the street. I won’t get videotaped if I just sit and wait to get a radio call. I’ll do my job and cover my partners, but I won’t start any self-initiated activity.” And so goes the new definition of not-so community-oriented “de-policing” in the old post-Ferguson, new BLM era. De-policing is defined as doing your job as a cop, but not much more. No proactivity, no assertive police work, just sitting somewhere safe (mall parking lot, back of a restaurant, near the station but not too close) and waiting to be called on the radio. Should we discipline or fire cops who de-evlove to de-policing? The answer is not so simple.

The roots of de-policing grow slowly but deeply. Some recent police shootings were just bad and the officers who injured or killed people when it was against the law or against policy need to be held accountable. Some police shootings appeared questionable at first, but were later proven forensically to be legal and justified. Neither outcome means much to the media or protest groups, both of whom are magnetically attracted to each other. Today, as in not before, a traffic stop, a pedestrian stop, an arrest for drugs, or even a loud party call, now leads to a planned confrontation from people and groups wanting to instigate something. Out come the cameras and the rocks and bottles; hello CNN.

People aren’t lining up to become cops as much as before. “If you want love, be a fireman.” Police recruiters are facing difficult issues from Gen Y applicants, like use, tattoos, and bad credit. Add in average pay, shift work, and the danger of being killed, and the line down the hall at the Backgrounds Office is much shorter.

So a natural conclusion for some cops is to scale back their , dial back their , and harness the curiosity that is a necessary part of talking to suspicious people, night and day. “So what?” says the de-policing officer to himself or herself, quietly. “I don’t dodge radio calls. I keep myself and my partners safe. I do what I’m paid to do. I just don’t go beyond my basic job description.”

But what’s the impact on the community, the beats, and their agency, when that’s the officer’s mindset? The simple answer is good people – who want the crooks and out of their neighborhoods, and mostly support the police – suffer at the hands of thugs, who soon discover the police are not coming after them with the same enthusiasm as before. De-policing tells the crooks, violent community activists, and critics that they won. It demonstrates their tactics worked: put pressure on the police in general, via the media and violent protests, so that individual, honest, ethical cops stop wanting to be cops.

De-policing says to these groups: “If you make it hard enough on us, you can alter our methods. You can negatively impact our way of doing business for the last 170-plus years.” That’s just wrong.

Here’s the new speech chiefs need to give at every briefing: “We will not be deterred. We will not stop our mission. Bad people will not run the streets hurting our citizens or our cops. We will do business, legally and ethically, but assertively, the way we always have – stopping cars and people, making arrests, putting bad guys who need to go there in jail or prison. We will assume that everything we do is being videotaped. We will assume that our professional methods and tactics will get second-guessed. We already know that some people will hate us forever. Too bad. We will still do our jobs, safely and assertively, in the face of danger. I expect it from you and the citizens deserve it from all of us.”

Field supervisors must stay vigilant for signs of de-policing on their squads. It’s a issue, not a discipline issue. It requires supervisors to use support, praise for assertive behavior, and examples where good things happened to cops who did more than just wait to be called.

De-policing is a workplace culture issue, not a discipline issue. It doesn’t happen in every department and not every officer feels the need to wait out this current period of “all cops are horrible” in the uneasy seat of a patrol car. Things cycle in police work. There will be a time where law enforcement is fully respected again. Until then, each Chief’s message to his or her troops should be: get out there and get after it.

Dr. Steve Albrecht worked for the San Diego Police Department for 15 years. His officer safety books include Patrol Cop; Contact & Cover; Streetwork; Surviving Street Patrol; and Tactical Perfection for Street Cops. He can be reached at DrSteve@DrSteveAlbrecht.com or on Twitter @DrSteveAlbrecht