Improving Police Practices
Relevant Reports & Policy Guidance:
The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office of the U.S. Department of Justice has published many reports on policing which are available here.
A few other reports:
Problem Solving in Practice is an April, 2000 report on reform of urban police practices, focused on a study in Chicago that included community policing focus.
Principles for Promoting Police Integrity: Examples of Promising Police Practices & Policies is a 2001 Department of Justice report on police practices and the future
Taking Stock is a report about community policing in Chicago.
Institutional Integrity: The Four Elements of Self-Policing is a 2005 FBI report discussing successful policing and its elements
Early Warning Systems: Responding to the Problem Police Officer is a 2001 report designed to offer strategies for identifying problem officers on a police force before a catastrophic event occurs.
Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising: A Report To the United States Congress sets forth a detailed analysis of effective and ineffective policing practices, segregated by topic, based on review of the impact of over 500 programs in the U.S. (also available in PDF format here)
Policing Smarter through IT: Learning from Chicago’s Citizen and Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting (CLEAR) System discusses the impact of Chicago's CAPS system, a groundbreaking commitment to community policing.
Principles of Good Policing: Avoiding Violence Between Police and Citizens is a 2003 report discussing best practices for good policing, leadership and policing, and effective public service.
Building Strong Police-Immigrant Community Relations: Lessons from a New York City Project is a 2005 report discussing a Vera Institute private-public partnership to improve policing practices in New York City.
Driving While Black: Racial Profiling On Our Nation's Highways discusses the incidence of motorists stopped pre textually by police officers claiming minor traffic or vehicle infraction to allow for an unlawful and unjustified search of the motorist and/or his vehicle, an event so common, especially along the I-95 corridor, that it is referred to as "Driving While Black."
The United Nations Committee Against Torture has expressed concerns at US police practices in a recent report.
Few Links Between Complaints and Broken-Windows Policing is a 2015 article using 311 data to show that "broken windows" policing is not responsive to public complaints about quality of life crimes, as suggested by the current NYC police commissioner.