Press Release: Real Police Reform Needs Science

Polis believes that a fundamental element of racial justice is ensuring that state-of-the-art, accountable, evidence-based policing is equally available to all communities. We believe that as with education, healthcare, and other basic services, the quality of policing should be as good in our nation’s most distressed neighborhoods as it is in our most affluent ones. As our nation struggles with the task of police reform, we call upon leaders and stakeholders across the political spectrum to break the cycle of offering formulaic responses in the aftermath of crisis that have short-term appeal, but lack the efficacy and sustainability necessary to create enduring change.

Polis thinks the time has long passed to implement standards for police training and performance evaluation commensurate with the realities of the profession. Like medicine, aviation, and other professions where lives are constantly at stake, policing centers on the ability to make effective decisions under dynamic, unpredictable circumstances. But unlike these other professions, which instill and demand the capacity for adaptive expertise, American society neither trains nor trusts its police officers to be agile, creative decision-makers. To read the rest of the press release, click here.