ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how mediation can play a role in addressing public grievances against the police by examining both the benefits and challenges, presenting the basic components of a police mediation program and discussing, more broadly, the need to foster an overall culture of conflict prevention in police departments in order to reduce the number of grievances. There are a number of benefits of mediation that should justify the relatively small expenditure that it takes to get a mediation program up and running within a police department. Perhaps the single most important part of a mediation program relates to the agency that oversees and administers the program. Furthermore, a police mediation program can become a good launching point for creating an overall culture of conflict prevention in a police department by offering officers the chance to complete conflict resolution training. Equipped with such training, officers are well placed to resolve recurring community conflicts.
