Blue is my favorite color. It has always been, since I was a child.

For 25 years, I have proudly worn the blue uniform as the police chief in four police departments: New York State MTA, Stamford, Providence and New Haven. I now serve as the senior counselor of the National Police Foundation.

I am also the father of a daughter and two sons, one of whom is white and the other is Black. They are treated the same when they are inside my home, but not once they walk out the door.

Use of excessive force by police officers, only some of which is captured on video, is unforgivable.

Almost always, its a blue uniform using force and a Black man receiving it. And now a call has risen in communities across our nation to limit the police, to protest the police and to defund the police.

We cannot be deaf to these cries, nor dismissive of them. They are the voices of people demanding to be heard. We would do well to remember the word of James Baldwin many years ago when he cautioned: "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but I know that nothing can be changed until it is faced." The issue of the legitimacy of American policing is being questioned. This must be faced.

Recent events beg us to pause and reflect on why we have police.

American police departments trace their history back to the founding of the London Metropolitan Police. In 1829, all members of the Metropolitan Police received a manual authored by Sir Robert Peel in which he identified the nine principles of policing. The principles opened with the following two: 1) To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and by severity of legal punishment. 2) To recognize always that the power of the police to fulfill their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behavior, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.

American policing was founded on Peels guiding principles. Policing in our country was never a national effort; rather it took root in every town and county, established by local ordinance.

We are at risk of losing the consent of the people and, in particular, people of color in our country.

The badge and the blue uniform no longer automatically confer trust and legitimacy to many Americans.

The responsibility for this mistrust falls on many of us over many generations. Some of it goes back to years of enforced segregation in all of our institutions and some of it goes back to what America asked of its police. The police were asked to lead the fight in the War on Crime and then later in the War on Drugs and willingly accepted. Asked to regulate the speed of cars and traffic laws, asked to break up fights and disturbances on the streets and inside of citizens private homes and monitor and control demonstrations. And primarily in Southern states, asked to be slave patrols and preside over lynchings. They were asked to enforce the segregation laws. And they willingly accepted that as well.

Today, the police are being asked to address homelessness and a mentally ill person in crisis. All willingly accepted. The police in every community have become the agency of last resort. America can call 911 for any problem. The police can legally use force and the threat of force to gain compliance. They can arrest.

We must rethink what we have asked. As Peel warned in 1829, "to recognize always that the power of the police is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behavior and to maintain public respect." We would do well to remember his words.

The road ahead is still long, but in Providence, I can see blue sky ahead.

Dean M. Esserman is a former chief of the Providence Police Department.

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My Turn: Dean M. Esserman: Time to rethink what we ask of police - The Providence Journal