Efforts to improve police-community relations require acknowledgement of the origins of policing and the impact of overly aggressive policing in communities of color, an issue brief from the Center for American Progress finds. The brief, The Intersection of Policing and Race (12 pages, PDF), notes that early policing in the United States featured slave patrols and that, despite efforts to improve police accountability, polls have shown African Americans consistently have little confidence they will be treated fairly by law enforcement. Recommendations for a more progressive, forward-looking framework for local law enforcement include instituting a special prosecutor policy and creating community police review boards; expanding law enforcement training and community-centered responses; instituting statewide use-of-force guidelines; mandating data collection on the use of force by law enforcement; and investing in wellness programs to address stress and trauma in both police officers and the communities they serve.