Reform/Transform: An Investigation of Policing in 12 Cities

Independent Oversight

Civilian review boards exist to provide independent civilian oversight of law enforcement. In addition to civilian review boards, some cities also have inspectors general or oversight commissions, which are third-party government agencies or officials that provide external oversight of law enforcement policies and practices.

Dozens of jurisdictions across the country have some type of civilian oversight body, but despite the growing prevalence of civilian oversight in cities across the country, many communities have lost faith in their effectiveness. Effective oversight is only possible if oversight bodies are independent from the police department, representative of communities most impacted by police brutality, adequately funded, granted subpoena power, and equipped with full investigatory and disciplinary power. Find our full independent oversight evaluation tool here.

See how 12 cities compare on independent oversight policy.

This interactive tool allows you to sort by different criteria, city size, and overall score. Click on a city name to see the full policy research on that jurisdiction, including citations. Five cities have oversight agencies in addition to civilian review boards, which are evaluated using different criteria. In those cases, overall grades reflect evaluations of all applicable oversight bodies.

= On Track to a Strong Policy
= Making Progress With Need for Improvement
= Significant Room for Improvement

	Summary	Population	i Independence	i Investigatory Powers	i Disciplinary Authority	i Funding	i Community Connection	i Public Access	i Policies and Practices	i Transparency
Chicago	a On Track to a Strong Policy	2.7m Population	1 Independencei	1 Investigatory Powers i	1 Disciplinary Authority i	2 Funding i	3 Community Connectioni	2 Public Access i	1 Policies and Practices i	2 Transparency i
Dallas	Making Progress With Need for Improvement	1.3m Population	1 Independencei	2 Investigatory Powers i	3 Disciplinary Authority i	3 Funding i	2 Community Connectioni	1 Public Access i	1 Policies and Practices i	3 Transparency i
Durham i	Significant Room for Improvement	$257 257k Population	1 Independencei	3 Investigatory Powers i	3 Disciplinary Authority i	3 Funding i	3 Community Connectioni	3 Public Access i	3 Policies and Practices i	3 Transparency i
Louisville	Significant Room for Improvement	$615 615k Population	3 Independencei	3 Investigatory Powers i	3 Disciplinary Authority i	3 Funding i	3 Community Connectioni	3 Public Access i	1 Policies and Practices i	3 Transparency i
Madison i	Significant Room for Improvement	$249 249k Population	3 Independencei	3 Investigatory Powers i	3 Disciplinary Authority i	3 Funding i	3 Community Connectioni	3 Public Access i	3 Policies and Practices i	3 Transparency i
Minneapolis	Making Progress With Need for Improvement	$411 411k Population	1 Independencei	1 Investigatory Powers i	3 Disciplinary Authority i	3 Funding i	2 Community Connectioni	1 Public Access i	1 Policies and Practices i	3 Transparency i
New York City	Making Progress with Need for Improvement	8.6m Population	1 Independencei	1 Investigatory Powers i	3 Disciplinary Authority i	3 Funding i	2 Community Connectioni	1 Public Access i	1 Policies and Practices i	3 Transparency i
San Diego	Significant Room for Improvement	1.4m Population	3 Independencei	3 Investigatory Powers i	3 Disciplinary Authority i	3 Funding i	3 Community Connectioni	3 Public Access i	1 Policies and Practices i	3 Transparency i
San Francisco	a On Track to a Strong Policy	$864 864k Population	1 Independencei	1 Investigatory Powers i	1 Disciplinary Authority i	3 Funding i	3 Community Connectioni	1 Public Access i	1 Policies and Practices i	2 Transparency i
Seattle i	Making Progress with Need for Improvement	$688 688k Population	1 Independencei	1 Investigatory Powers i	3 Disciplinary Authority i	3 Funding i	3 Community Connectioni	2 Public Access i	1 Policies and Practices i	3 Transparency i
St. Louis	Significant Room for Improvement	$315 315k Population	1 Independencei	3 Investigatory Powers i	3 Disciplinary Authority i	2 Funding i	3 Community Connectioni	2 Public Access i	1 Policies and Practices i	3 Transparency i
Washington, D.C.	Making Progress With Need for Improvement	$672 672k Population	1 Independencei	1 Investigatory Powers i	1 Disciplinary Authority i	3 Funding i	3 Community Connectioni	1 Public Access i	1 Policies and Practices i	3 Transparency i

Chicago External Oversight Agency »

		i Mandate	i Independence	i Patterns and Practices	i Policy	i Investigatory Powers	i Outreach
Chicago External Oversight Agency		1 Mandatei	1 Independence i	3 Police Interactions i	2 Policy i	3 Investigatory Powers i	3 Outreach i

Madison External Oversight Agency »

		i Mandate	i Independence	i Patterns and Practices	i Transparency	i Policy	i Investigatory Powers	i Outreach
Madison External Oversight Agency i		1 Mandatei	2 Independence i	3 Police Interactions i	3 Policy i	1 Investigatory Powers i	3 Outreach i

Minneapolis External Oversight Agency »

		i Mandate	i Independence	i Patterns and Practices	i Policy	i Investigatory Powers	i Outreach
Minneapolis External Oversight Agency		1 Mandatei	1 Independence i	3 Police Interactions i	3 Policy i	1 Investigatory Powers i	1 Outreach i

New York City External Oversight Agency »

		i Mandate	i Independence	i Patterns and Practices	i Policy	i Investigatory Powers	i Outreach
New York City External Oversight Agency		1 Mandatei	1 Independence i	3 Police Interactions i	3 Policy i	3 Investigatory Powers i	1 Outreach i

Seattle External Oversight Agency »

		i Mandate	i Independence	i Patterns and Practices	i Policy	i Investigatory Powers	i Outreach
Seattle External Oversight Agency		1 Mandatei	1 Independence i	2 Police Interactions i	2 Policy i	1 Investigatory Powers i	1 Outreach i

Independent Oversight Methodology

Center for Popular Democracy researchers evaluated each city based on a full set of policy criteria as developed in the Reform/Transform toolkit in collaboration with policy experts and advocates. Because the original tool is lengthy and the questions are numerous, we organized the full list of questions into a smaller number of thematic groupings. This process yielded seven broader buckets of questions (which encompassed all of the sub-questions from the original, full-length tool).

Finally, we developed a ranking system to differentiate cities’ performance based on how successfully their use of force policies fulfill these seven broad criteria. Because not all questions should be weighted equally (some criteria are more essential to giving a policy teeth than others), our ranking system reflects researchers’ judgements about what components are critical to real accountability based on research and previous conversations with policy experts. Read more »

An acknowledgement: This project aims to evaluate policy and to give policymakers, organizers, and activists the tools to push stronger policies on police reform. We recognize that lived experience and implementation of policy are crucial in their own right and may well differ from the stated policy on the books.