Cincinnati Was a Model for Police Reform. What Happened?

The Office of Neighborhood Safety in Richmond, CA took a radical new approach to urban violence by creating mechanisms to financially stabilize perpetrators of violent acts in crime-ridden neighborhoods - essentially paying people not to kill. They have been dramatically successful at weening violent criminals off the destructive behavior by using a comprehensive approach that includes using solid data, employing mentors with similar backgrounds to the criminals, and monetary incentives.

Across the country, hospitals are embracing intensive intervention programs to help victims of violence — including those who have criminal histories — after they have been brought in for treatment of injuries. Such programs can help prevent retaliation, reduce the chance a patient will be violently injured again, and put people on track for success.

The Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence in Quebec has expanded rapidly, becoming a model for programs around the world. What sets it apart from projects in Europe and the United States is that it confronts extremism of all stripes — not just Islamist — and focuses on behavior that signals the risk of violence, not just radical ideas, only involving law enforcement as a last resort.

In efforts to diminish violent crime, police agencies are revisiting a model law enforcement strategy of the 1970s, "community policing," as an alternative to the more recent "broken windows" style of the late nineties. Research substantiates its effectiveness, too, in building citizens' trust of law enforcement, helping a community's ability to solve its own problems, and, in turn, decreasing crime rates. Despite redefined priorities in the wake of 9/11 and post-recession budget cuts, community policing is again on the rise and bringing positive results, too.

Since Camden began addressing its high homicide rate in 2012 with closer collaboration with the community and stricter rules on the use of force, both murders and complaints about police have fallen dramatically. As part of what is considered some of the most extensive police reforms in the country, the city put more police on the streets. That had both good outcomes (interactions outside of crises) and bad (a troubling increase in low-level arrests). But, when many cities’ police-brutality protests in 2020 turned violent, Camden’s did not.

The Minneapolis Police Department’s repeated failures to reform a broken police-discipline system underscore the lack of public trust that exploded in local and nationwide protests after an officer with a troubled record killed a handcuffed suspect. An analysis of police-reform efforts in the city, and statewide, show how vows to do better have been undermined by official reluctance to remove bad officers from duty, either through administrative or legislative failure. Among the unaddressed problems: a "coaching" system that allows officers to avoid suspension but is riddled with problems.

Frustrated by a tight labor market, two locally owned Grand Rapids employers discovered the virtues – economic, not just moral – of hiring formerly incarcerated people, whose gratitude for an opportunity translated into excellent performance and less risk of adding to rapid turnover. The employers helped guarantee success by paying for support services that made post-prison transitions easier. The employers then talked hundreds of other local employers into doing the same. Besides providing a business advantage, the program changes lives and is evidently contributing to much lower rates of recidivism.

In his first months as the New Orleans district attorney, Jason Williams has pushed a prosecution-reform agenda that not only limits who gets sent to prison on the front end, but also takes a backward look at who should be let out of prison. Nearly two dozen people convicted by non-unanimous juries have been granted new trials. Some people have been granted early release from prison after conviction under unduly harsh sentencing laws that no longer will be enforced. Williams' ultimate goal is to restore community trust so that necessary prosecutions have community support.

The 2020 protests over abusive policing nationwide led to Austin city leaders' decision to be the first major city to make major cuts in their police budget. These early and rapid "defund-the-police" measures, cutting hiring of new police and moving $150 million to other agencies, led to a political backlash that has further polarized the local debate over policing. The police budget was restored and is now at its highest ever with some residents complaining that they need better protection. Now the city is rethinking, more deliberately, where to go from here.

While policing initiatives have previously been driven by intuitive responses to trends in violent crime, the Centre for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University has developed a new strategy for identifying the effectiveness of policing practices. With a focus on empirical evidence-based approaches to crime prevention, the Centre has identified large-scale initiatives that work.