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Better Cities Project
  • Home
  • About Us
    Our Vision
    BCP’s vision is that free-market municipal policy solutions are broadly available, widely acceptable, and regularly employed, enabling American cities to achieve their full potential as engines of economic prosperity. We reject the idea that cities are lost to free-market principles or policies.
    Our Mission
    BCP uncovers ideas that work, promotes realistic solutions, and forges partnerships that help people in America’s largest cities live free and happy lives.
    Learn More
    • About Better Cities Project
    • Our Focus Areas
    • Our Team
    • Collaboration and Careers -- Work With BCP
  • Research and Projects
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  • Contact

    Address

    304 S. Jones Blvd #2826
    Las Vegas NV 89107

    Phone

    (702) 608-2046‬

    Hours

    Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

    Email

    info@better-cities.org

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Home Criminal Justice and Public Safety

Local policing reform: three ready-to-run solutions

Qualified immunity, civil asset forfeiture and participation in federal task forces are areas cities can act -- without waiting on Washington or the statehouse

Patrick TuoheybyPatrick Tuohey
September 25, 2023
in Clean, Open and Fair Government, Criminal Justice and Public Safety, Research
Reading Time: 3 mins read
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Cover - BCP policing report on reforming qualified immunity
Cover - BCP civil asset forfeiture reform report
Cover - BCP federal task force policing report

Click on any of the report images to download a PDF of the report.

 

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Better Cities Project is proud to release three new publications all focusing on municipal police reform. The reports, focusing on qualified immunity, civil asset forfeiture and participation in federal task forces, provide local leaders with things they can do in their communities — without waiting on action from federal or state authorities — to increase accountability and public trust in the very institutions dedicated to ensuring public safety.

Policy discussions over policing mirror and magnify challenges with other issues: Too often, discussion can be dominated by the loudest and most partisan voices. As cities and counties across the country debate the policing that’s right for their communities, nuance and incremental improvement can sometimes be sacrificed for maximalist claims and negative partisanship.

The result? Problems get worse as none of the proposed solutions satisfy either side.

The result, according to The Washington Post, is a poor environment for recruiting the men and women our cities depend upon to keep us safe:

Police departments across the country are struggling to fill their ranks, creating what many current and former officials say is a staffing emergency that threatens public safety.

They cite an exodus of veteran officers amid new police accountability measures that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd, increased hostility from the communities they police, and criminal justice laws that seek to reduce the number of people in jail.

Local qualified immunity reform

BCP worked with Keith Neely of the Institute for Justice on our qualified immunity recommendations, arguing for city residents to have recourse when their constitutional rights are violated.

The police play a vital role in our society and every officer will tell you that they can only be effective when the community stands with them. Too often, bad police officers are shielded from the consequences of their actions by qualified immunity.

Ending the use of qualified immunity creates an incentive for police to be more mindful. As the nation’s largest police union wrote to members after New York City enacted similar reforms, searches of individual or private property should be conducted only when the officer is, “clearly and unequivocally within the bounds of the law.” That is a result everyone should cheer.

Locally enabled civil asset forfeiture reform

Civil asset forfeiture, though included here in police reform, is more a function of local civil prosecution than just policing. By suing civilly to retain seized items such as cash or vehicles, local authorities avoid having to meet the higher bar of criminal law. And because the case is civil and not criminal, defendants are not eligible for public defenders nor protected against self-incrimination.

The cost to hire an attorney is often higher than the value of the seized property. As a result, property may be forfeited civilly even when the owner is not criminally convicted or even charged.

Research across the United States has found that civil asset forfeiture is more often practiced against poorer communities. Again, this is no way to instill public confidence in a vital city service.

Local restrictions on participation in federal task forces

Lastly, BCP recommends against cities participating in federal task forces.

While a city struggling amidst a spike in crime may welcome federal assistance and the promise of increased resources and attention, federal officers are held to different standards than local authorities may like. A city might work mightily to increase public support for police through reforming qualified immunity or civil asset forfeiture, only to have those efforts undone through an officer’s participation in a federal task force. And courts have ruled that local officers are considered federal agents even when agreements between local and federal authorities stated explicitly that this was not to be the case.

Until the Courts recognize such agreements, local authorities will be best served by avoiding them altogether.

These few solutions won’t solve all the challenges of addressing crime and providing public safety. But for cities paralyzed by rancorous debates over policing, they offer the opportunity to work together on what cities can do to help themselves without waiting on state and federal legislatures.

Tags: Community PolicingPolicingPolicyRegulation
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Patrick Tuohey

Patrick Tuohey

Patrick Tuohey is co-founder and policy director of the Better Cities Project. He works with taxpayers, media, and policymakers to foster understanding of the consequences — sometimes unintended — of policies such as economic development, taxation, education, and transportation. He also serves as a senior fellow at Missouri's Show-Me Institute and a visiting fellow at the Virginia-based Yorktown Foundation for Public Policy.

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