Police Reform Works ! Newark Police Officers Fire No Shots in 2020
Police officers in the city of Newark, New Jersey did not fire their weapons even once in the year 2020.
This remarkable development is almost unheard of in large American cities with high crime rates and unprofessional police departments. Ten years earlier, the Newark police department was one of the worst in the country, with high rates of shootings of people in the community, officer use of excessive force, corruption and general inefficiency. That all began to change in 2014 when the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice intervened and conducted a thorough investigation of the many problems in the department. Two years later, in 2016, the Civil Rights Division sued the department and obtained a consent decree requiring sweeping reforms of the department. One of the many positive results was the absence of any police officers firing their weapons in 2020.
What were the major reforms? Most important was a strict new policy limiting when officers could fire their weapons. Additionally, officers had to complete a full (and honest) report on each and every use of force incident, including both firearms discharges, the shooting of people, and the use of any form of physical force. Sergeants, meanwhile were required to critically review officer use of force reports and to report any violations of the department’s new policy. Officers were also trained in the use of de-escalation tactics to resolve serious encounters with people without resorting to use of force.
Aqueela Sherills, a community activist who heads the Newark Community Street Team, said the absence of police shootings “is significant. It speaks to how reform has really taken hold in the city.” According to The Crime Report, meanwhile, the success in Newark is “being used as the inspiring blueprint” for reform in Pennsylvania cities.
The consent decree also prohibited officers from firing at moving vehicles or in high speed chases (both very dangerous events). Officers were also required to intervene is situations where they saw another officer using excessive force against any person.
In short, the right kind of comprehensive police reform can work.
For background on what the Newark Police Department used to be like, read the Justice Department’s 2014 Investigative Findings Letter:
And read the 2016 consent decree: