Now more than ever, society is turning to social media to hear of stories about the world around them. Over the past year in particular, that narrative has been largely dominated around rhetoric as it pertains to police reform, impacted communities, and the questions about whether residents and police could not only coexist, but thrive, in partnership together.  

As we all work together towards meaningful solutions, each department that serves its community should have an opportunity to partake in and build out conversations and define shared expectations around these topics so we can chart a path forward together. That is particularly true in a digital space, where the narrative around policing hasn’t just continued, it has been fueled more by unanswered questions than discussions around positive solutions for all.  

In May, the IACP launched #PathFoward an overarching campaign to help enhance our profession’s efforts to better tell the story of all that policing is – the collaborative nature of community partnerships, the good work of agencies every day, the progressive efforts to elevate the profession through training and wellness leading practices, the challenges, the often unnoticed critical tasks that have become the responsibility of policing, and much more.  

The #PathForward campaign will expand the IACP’s ability to connect globally with members and help highlight stories of police work from all over the world. It will give our communities a chance to see, holistically, all that goes into policing, not just in our jurisdictions, but the good work, the hard work, and the necessary steps, that are being taken across the world by police to ensure that communities feel safe. The #PathForward campaign will help hone our voices and increase our visibility in the digital space to amplify the policing story.  

This campaign will start simply by providing a space for people to learn more about what we do, ask questions, see all that is out there and hopefully, turn around and share those stories in their networks and help grow this effort.  

Now is the time to use your voice, and the hashtag, to highlight what you see as good policing, the realities of the everyday endeavors, the strategic efforts to better the profession, solid community policing partnerships, and best practices for mental and physical wellbeing and training on your social channels. Start today, and lean in to sharing all that we, as members of IACP strive to do every day to shape the future of the policing profession.