In partnership with the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy, the Task Force is conducting more than two dozen assessments of proposed policing reforms. Each policy assessment provides an overview of the state and extent of the evidence on each topic and the expected impact of each reform on public safety, misuse of force, police-community relations, racial disparities, and officer safety.
Task Force members are examining measures focused on preventing excessive use of force, reducing racial biases, increasing accountability, and improving the relationship between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve.
1. Chokeholds and Other Neck Restraints
The Task Force recommends the prohibition of all types of neck restraints, which can cause serious harm to individuals and police legitimacy.
2. Duty to Intervene
The Task Force recommends policies requiring officers to intervene upon witnessing excessive force and to report other misconduct and proscribed behaviors.
3. No-Knock Warrants and Police Raids
The Task Force recommends that jurisdictions prohibit or severely restrict no-knock and quick-knock warrants, which can pose harm to occupants and officers.
1. Effectiveness of Police Training
The Task Force recommends national training and certification standards to ensure that all police officers learn the full range of skills and concepts necessary to provide equitable, respectful, and effective public safety services.
2. De-escalation Policies and Training
The Task Force recommends that jurisdictions implement de-escalation training and fully integrate it into all aspects of the curriculum.
3. Procedural Justice Training
The Task Force recommends that police agencies train officers in communications skills that promote respectful, transparent, and equitable interactions with community members.
4. Implicit Bias Training
While implicit bias training for police may improve officers’ awareness of biases, the Task Force found no evidence that implicit bias training reduces racially disparate policing.
1. Governmental Oversight and Reform Measures
The Task Force recommends the establishment of clearer and more objective legal definitions of excessive and deadly use of force and supports the expansion of federal pattern-or-practice investigations and collaborative reform efforts.
2. Decertification
The Task Force recommends national decertification standards and a national database of decertified officers to bar those who are unfit for duty from continued service.
3. Body-Worn Cameras
The Task Force recommends the use of body-worn cameras as part of a department's overall accountability infrastructure. Body camera video review also should be used in investigations, training, and supervision activities.
4. Civilian Oversight
The Task Force concluded that civilian oversight boards rarely fulfill their stated missions owing to structural flaws that are difficult to remedy. Alternative models of police oversight may be more effective in holding officers and agencies accountable.
5. Qualified Immunity
The Task Force recommends revisions to qualified and sovereign immunity to enable more victims of police violence to have their cases heard, enhance local governmental accountability for officers who engage in misconduct, and ensure successful plaintiffs recover damages.
1. Recruitment, Diversity, and Retention
The Task Force recommends recruitment and retention practices that increase the pool of diverse and qualified applicants and minimize factors that lead to attrition.
2. Officer Wellness
The Task Force recommends agency investment in officer wellness programs, including those that address mental health issues, trauma, and the underlying culture that stigmatizes officer help-seeking.
3. Early Intervention Systems
The Task Force recommends agencies employ statistical-based early intervention systems to ensure officers receive the supports and supervisory corrections needed to prevent adverse events.
Internal Police Functions
This section describes key research findings on departmental recruitment and retention efforts, officer wellness, and internal management systems.
Offloading Police Roles
This section describes key research findings on co-responder models and measures to offload police functions.
1. Shifting Police Functions
In order to inform what functions may be safely offloaded to other actors and entities, the Task Force recommends more research on how officers currently spend their time, along with more rigorous evaluations of co-responder, mobile crisis, community-led safety, and civilian traffic enforcement models.
