There’s little evidence showing which police reforms work

Rapid research is needed to find out what efforts are most effective

George Floyd protest in NYC

Following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, after a white police officer restrained the unarmed Black man by kneeling on his neck, activists around the country, like these in New York City, have called on civic leaders to defund the police.

David Grossman/Alamy Stock Photo

When criminologist Robin Engel suddenly found herself leading the effort to reform a police department under fire after a white police officer killed an unarmed Black man in July 2015, she looked for some kind of road map to follow.