On June 30, 2020, we issued a Statement of Principles for reform. The Principles we adopted build upon the core modern policing principles first articulated in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel to address the concerns that the people of London had about standing up a police force in their community. Peel’s Principles stand for the ideas that the police exist to prevent crime and that the legitimacy of the police to keep the public safe derives from public consent and trust. We have refreshed Peel’s Principles here and used them to frame our recommendations so that our American cities can meet this moment.
There is widespread consensus about what needs to be done to reform policing in America. In issuing this Report, we build on previous efforts to address police reform, including the May 2015 report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, our own reports on police-community relations in 2015 and 2016, and years of research and reports from the Police Executive Research Forum, including the Guiding Principles on Use of Force.