--- title: Police Chiefs Apologize for Past Injustices: Read the Speech description: The International Association of Chiefs of Police president apologized for the "historical mistreatment of communities of color" canonical: https://time.com/4535103/historical-mistreatment-police-chiefs-african-americans-speech/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-18T18:09:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:15:40.933Z article:section: History og:title: Police Chiefs Apologize for Past Injustices: Read the Speech og:description: "While we obviously cannot change the past, it is clear that we must change the future" og:url: https://time.com/4535103/historical-mistreatment-police-chiefs-african-americans-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Police Chiefs Apologize for Past Injustices: Read the Speech twitter:description: "While we obviously cannot change the past, it is clear that we must change the future" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Police Group Apologizes for Law Enforcement's History as 'Face of Oppression.' Read the Speech Here  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Oct 18, 2016 6:09 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Oct 18, 2016 6:09 PM UTC The president of the one of the nation’s largest police organizations [apologized](http://time.com/4534401/police-apology-minorities-black-iacp-terrence-cunningham/) on Monday “for the actions of the past and the role that our profession has played in society’s historical mistreatment of communities of color.” Terrence M. Cunningham, the president of the [International Association of Chiefs of Police](http://www.iacp.org/) (IACP), who also leads the Wellesley Police Department in Massachusetts, delivered the following speech at the group’s annual conference in San Diego. In his remarks, he acknowledged the role that police have sometimes played as the “face of oppression” in American history, when the laws they have upheld have not been just ones. The remarks have been [seen](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the%5Fslatest/2016/10/17/head%5Fof%5Fpolice%5Fchiefs%5Fgroup%5Fapologizes%5Ffor%5Fhistorical%5Fmistreatment%5Fof%5Fcommunities.html) as an effort to begin to rebuild trust between law enforcement and minority populations in light of highly publicized fatal shootings of African-American men in [North Carolina](http://time.com/4529988/keith-lamont-scott-autopsy/) and [Minnesota](http://time.com/4397086/minnesota-shooting-philando-castile-role-model-school/) and police officers in [Baton Rouge](http://time.com/4416692/baton-rouge-nonstop-tragedies/) and [Dallas](http://time.com/4411617/police-change-tactics-baton-rouge-shooting/) within the last six months. Here is Cunningham’s speech in full: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4535103/historical-mistreatment-police-chiefs-african-americans-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4535103/historical-mistreatment-police-chiefs-african-americans-speech/"},"headline":"Police Group Apologizes for Law Enforcement's History as 'Face of Oppression.' Read the Speech Here","datePublished":"2016-10-18T18:09:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:15:40.933Z","description":"\"While we obviously cannot change the past, it is clear that we must change the future\"","url":"https://time.com/4535103/historical-mistreatment-police-chiefs-african-americans-speech/","keywords":["Civil Rights","Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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