In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, community-based efforts to reform policing accelerated across the nation. Most of these efforts recommended policing reforms in the areas of tactics (e.g., banning chokeholds), training (e.g., de-escalation), oversight (e.g., civilian review), funding (e.g., shifting and/or adding funds to mental health resources), and law (e.g., relaxing qualified immunity). Various communities have implemented a wide range of reforms, efforts that have mollified current public outrage and demand without accountability for the effectiveness of such efforts.
The Center for Justice Research (CJR) and The Metropolitan Organization’s (TMO) Police Reform Action Team views the reforms suggested and implemented—including those occurring in Houston as a result of the recommendations of the Mayor’s Task Force on Policing Reform—as positive first steps. However, we have concluded that inadequate attention has been paid to measuring the effectiveness of diverse police reform efforts and interventions. Like national policing reform, these changes at the local level require constant attention, reevaluation, and investment or the efforts will decline.
