Police misconduct across the country has once again attached a negative stigma to police departments. Incidents such as the New York officer who pled guilty two weeks ago to torturing a Haitian immigrant can affect how local law enforcement agencies are viewed, local law enforcement administrators said.

Dennis Ballantine, Ames chief of police, said he does not necessarily think public opinion of peace officers is waning, but any time police misconduct is discovered, public trust in officers will lower.

“I don’t have a sense that we’re losing trust,” he said. “I think community policing is maintaining that trust, but I think that every time something bad happens, there’s obviously going to be a negative response.”

According to an article in The Des Moines Register, a study of 100 Americans done in 1980 placed police officers as the fifth most trusted professionals, but the same study conducted in 1995 showed officers dropping to tenth on the list. Police officers ranked higher than only politicians and lawyers.

Ballantine said his officers are most affected when police from towns similar to Ames are involved in negative incidents.

“I think there is a breakdown in people’s minds between big city situations and small city situations,” he said. “The ones that really hurt us are incidents in cities that are about the same size as Ames or are in Iowa or anywhere else close.”

Although he understands why the public would have apprehensions about trusting the police, Ballantine said law enforcement is the same as other fields when it comes to ethics.

“We’re no different than any other profession,” he said. “There’s going to be people that do bad things.”

Loras Jaeger, director of Iowa State’s Department of Public Safety, said he feels public trust in the police is growing in cities such as Ames.

“I really think it depends on where you’re at,” he said. “It does appear there is an increasing stress level in urban areas between police and, in particular, minority groups. But in general, I think public trust in police is actually increasing.”

Jaeger did admit that incidents at other agencies can affect all police departments nationwide.

“When anything happens negative to any police officer, there’s definitely a trickle-down factor,” he said.

Trying to gain the confidence of the people they are paid to protect is a constant struggle for DPS officers, Jaeger said.

“We’re constantly in the process of selling ourselves, particularly in the university environment,” he said. “To some we’re security officers and to others we’re something less than a police officer.”

Jaeger said gaining the people’s trust is very important to police departments.

“It’s crucial that the public has trust in law enforcement, or our job becomes much more difficult,” he said. “We must be perceived as honest and ethical people.”

Ballantine agreed with the importance of trust.

“That is the most critical factor in doing our job,” he said. “Our officers can’t enforce the laws or make the community safe by themselves. It has to be a group effort, and for the community to help out they have to understand what you’re doing and respect what you’re doing. If they view you as incompetent or think you’re doing illegal activities, you can’t do the best.”

To gain that respect, Ames police try to interact as much as possible with the community.

“Most departments anymore, and especially in Ames, have bought into the idea of community-based policing,” Ballantine said. “Our officers are out interacting with the community. We use every opportunity we have to meet with, talk to and socialize with citizens.”

Jaeger said having an open and forthcoming department is key to gaining citizens’ trust.

“Number one, you have to have a very well-written policy on internal affairs,” he said. “You must be open and honest with the public.”

Jaeger said DPS tries to accomplish that by hiring students and keeping close contact to them.

“At the university, we hire a lot of students,” he said. “We have over 100 students we hire during the school year, and that acts as a bridge between us and the student body. That provides us a high level of communication.”

Ballantine said regardless of circumstances in other cities, all the Ames police officers can do is make sure they are practicing good policing.

“All we can control is what we do in our community and how we act,” he said. “I know our police department, and I don’t think anything would happen here. There’s not much else you can do.”