Week of May 19, 2025

Police reform efforts, DOJ dismisses investigations, police department staffing, police oversight commission, community policing boards, Take It Down Act signed into law, drug possession decriminalization, cracking down on fare jumpers, crime rates, violence during COVID-19, real-time facial recognition, crime algorithms, FOIL reform effort, Alabama prison litigation, AI in court filings, and more…

POLICE CONDUCT

Minneapolis makes history with civilian hires in police reform effort (KARE11)

Inclusion, transparency, trust top priorities for new Santa Maria police chief Christopher Williams (Santa Maria Times)

Trump DOJ dismisses investigations of police in several cities, including Minneapolis (WGLT)

Big Police Departments Have Stopped Shrinking. But they aren’t growing, for the most part. (Jeff-alytics)

Citizens Police Oversight Commission Names Civil Rights Attorney Ewuare Osayande as Deputy Executive Director (City of Philadelphia)

Olympia opens application period for Community Policing Board (The Jolt News)

Trump signs the Take It Down Act into law (The Verge)

Two city hall staffers fired after domestic incident. The two employees were arrested last week. Both were charged with assault and battery, and one — the chief of staff at the Office of Police Accountability — was also accused of assaulting a police officer. (Boston.com)

CRIME RATE

Public calls for service to the police: Trends before and during drug possession decriminalization in Oregon (Science Direct)

Modesto police hold forum to address crime decrease and community concerns (The Modesto Bee)

Cracking down on fare jumpers didn’t make BART safer or increase revenue, report finds (The Oaklandside)

Atlanta crime overall continues declining. Community programs lead the change (GPB)

The Good News About Crime. The sharp rise in violent crime starting in 2020 received lots of attention. The recent reported drops, not so much. (The Atlantic)

Stress, psychiatric illness, and violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from a cross-national study (Taylor & Francis Online)

CRIM-TECH

New Orleans Police Ran Secret Real-Time Facial Recognition System for 2 Years (ID Tech Wire)

When it comes to crime, you can’t algorithm your way to safety (NewScientist)

Colorado’s crime lab has been in crisis. Here’s how another state fixed theirs (CPR)

POLICE TRANSPARENCY

The Backstory on Cox-Paulin FOIL Reform Effort (Robert Cox)

THE PRISON SYSTEM

The costs of Alabama prison litigation are rising. Private attorneys are reaping the rewards. (Alabama Reflector)

Judge considers sanctions against attorneys in prison case for using AI in court filings (Associated Press)