As you read this report draw your own conclusions but I must highlight that the usual attacks are made on police. It almost amounts to “nothing works” in policing in it’s current state which is absolutely false. The usual attacks are: racial disparities in policing are driven solely by racism and nothing to do with offender accountability, police tactics like pedestrian and vehicle stops are bad, police in schools are bad, broken windows doesn’t work, reduce police use of force (not that it’s a function of police being attacked), Increase police oversight (where members have personal agendas that conflict with the community and police goals). This list of grievances is a broken record without viable or proven examples of what works without policing. Nonetheless I present their argument.

Executive Summary

This report interrogates the large footprint of policing—particularly of Black Americans— as, in part, a failed response to racial disparities in serious crimes.  The wide net that police cast across people of color is at odds with advancing safety because excessive police contact often fails to intercept serious criminal activity and diminishes the perceived legitimacy of law enforcement. Excessive policing also distracts policymakers from making investments to promote community safety without the harms of policing and incarceration. In addition, the large footprint of policing gets in the way of, as the National Academies of Sciences has called for, needed “durable investments in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods that match the persistent and longstanding nature of institutional disinvestment that such neighborhoods have endured over many years.”

Nate: There are several parts to this series.

Read more here: https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/one-in-five-disparities-in-crime-and-policing/

Get a .PDF of the report here: https://www.sentencingproject.org/app/uploads/2023/10/One-in-Five-Disparities-in-Crime-and-Policing.pdf