Election season in the United States presents a unique public safety challenge for law enforcement: keeping voters, election officials, and the public safe while also maintaining a welcoming environment for all.

To identify common challenges and successful strategies for protecting their communities, the Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS Office) and the National Policing Institute (NPI) have produced comprehensive, experience-based guidance for local law enforcement.

In a 20-minute What’s New in Blue video on Preparing for a Safe Election Season produced by the COPS Office, listeners will hear from Sheriff Paul Penzone (ret.) of the Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Office and Chief Chris Davis of the Green Bay (Wisconsin) Police Department discuss lessons they have learned, especially when faced with intelligence or evidence of threats.

Recognizing that what would work in one community might not in another—depending upon local law, community expectations, historical experience, and the threat environment—they also discuss the adaptability of their advice. One example Chief Davis gives is that though the presence of uniformed officers at polling places was considered reassuring in some places, it had a chilling effect in other communities.

Hear Law Enforcement Leaders Discuss Their Lessons Learned

However, there are key takeaways that will be helpful to every department in planning for a safe and secure election season. Among them are the importance of advanced planning, collaboration with community partners, and an understanding of applicable laws.

Chief Davis highlights the importance of ensuring officers are trained on applicable election laws, noting, “We knew that we would have police officers potentially going into situations where there was a dispute that hinged on some matter of election law, and we don’t usually train our police officers on election laws; we're more familiar with criminal laws and procedural laws and . . . the rules that we deal with on a day-to-day basis.”

In a similar vein, Sheriff Penzone emphasized how helpful it was to give the men and women of his department direct insight into the election administration process, to enable them to, as he says, “see and feel and smell and touch” how much work goes into running elections. In Maricopa County, he did this through a variety of means such as by bringing officers along on visits to the county’s vote tabulation center and introducing them personally to the election officials and workers. As Penzone put it, “It was important that [my officers] understood how elections work, that they saw the volunteers and the employees . . . who count the ballots, and that they come from all walks of life.”

Learn Actionable Strategies and Practices in Policing in a Time of Elections

To provide practical, field-tested guidance in all aspects of preparing for and maintaining public safety throughout election season, the National Policing Institute (NPI) partnered with 21st Century Policing Solutions (21CP), a group of professionals who help communities deliver public safety services, and States United Democracy Center (SUDC), an organization devoted to free, fair and secure elections. They convened more than 60 federal, state, and local law enforcement leaders from across the country and produced a report on their discussions called Policing in a Time of Elections.

The strategies and procedures these leaders recommended in their peer-to-peer discussions are collected in this report, which also includes research findings and descriptions of promising practices in seven critical areas:

1. Training Officers to Successfully Protect Elections
2. Interagency Collaboration and Mutual Aid
3. Conflict Management and De-Escalation
4. Communication and Messaging
5. Demonstration Management
6. Tactical Considerations for Election Safety
7. Officer and Staff Wellness During Election Season

Like the law enforcement leaders in the COPS Office video, the participants at this meeting stressed the importance of educating officers on the election-related laws they may need to enforce as well as local laws such as those concerning firearms at polling places. Among the other key takeaways was the importance of communication with the public about the agency’s plans for protecting them when they cast their ballots.

Together, the actionable guidance provided in the NPI report and the COPS Office video can be of great value in helping local, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies provide the feeling of security their communities want and deserve when participating in this most important exercise of their rights as citizens of the United States.

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