(a) Each branch of government—legislative, judicial, and executive—should take steps (including enacting policies and procedures) to ensure that, to the extent policing is necessary, it occurs in a manner that is lawful and advances the principles of sound policing.(b) Private actors—for-profit and nonprofit entities, as well as private individuals—also can influence policing with the actions…

(a) Legislative bodies at all levels of government should take steps to promote sound policing and should avoid taking actions that impede accountability, undermine sound policing, or encourage practices that are inconsistent with these Principles. (b) The local legislative body in any jurisdiction that has a policing agency should, at a minimum: (1) acquire, on…

Federal, state, and local legislative bodies should adopt effective remedies for violations of common-law, statutory, and constitutional rights by agencies and their officers. In doing so, legislative bodies should ensure that immunities from liability do not vitiate remedial goals.

(a) Judges foster lawful policing when they: (1) evaluate thoroughly, fairly, and impartially, without any presumption of credibility, all evidence offered by officers, including testimony in pretrial hearings, trials, and other formal proceedings, in sworn statements, and in affidavits associated with applications for warrants and other orders; (2) enforce fully legal requirements that obligate prosecutors’…

(a) Prosecutors should promote agency and officer compliance with the law and with principles of sound policing, and should avoid undermining sound policing. Their efforts with respect to sound policing should include: (1) documenting and reporting to policing agencies and appropriate state and federal authorities officer conduct that they reasonably suspect to be inconsistent with…

The federal government should engage in sound policing, exercise its authority to promote sound policing nationwide, and avoid actions that undermine sound policing.

To promote sound policing and accountability, states and localities should consider developing and maintaining formal external oversight entities to: (a) elevate the values, concerns, and community-safety priorities of the public, particularly in communities most impacted by policing, so that these views can inform decisions relating to sound policing and accountability; (b) increase transparency and understanding…

(a) Legislative and executive bodies at each level of government—federal, state, and local—should not adopt laws or promulgate regulations that undermine sound policing or officer accountability within agencies, and they should repeal or amend current laws and regulations that do so.(b) Legislative bodies, the executive branch, and policing agencies should not agree to collective-bargaining-agreement provisions…

(a) Recognizing that government plays a critical role in advancing public safety, all branches of government should consider and call upon the entire range of public and private institutions and resources available to achieve this goal.(b) Legislative and executive officials should recognize the proper role that policing and law enforcement can and should play in…

(a) Governments should require—through legislative or executive action—that agencies and courts collect, analyze, and release to the public data and information about the following, in a form that easily can be accessed, understood, analyzed, and compared to the data and information of other agencies and courts: (1) crime rates or reported crimes and calls for…

(a) Agencies should facilitate, participate in, and collaborate on research concerning policing, including by allowing researchers access to agency employees, data, and other information. (b) Local, state, and federal governments should support the production and advancement of research, and adopt policies that support making research transparent to the communities agencies serve. (c) The needs of…

(a) Police conduct that may involve physical harm, a deprivation of constitutional rights, or public corruption should be investigated and evaluated in a thorough, timely, fair, and impartial manner to determine whether criminal charges are warranted. (b) When an investigation of an officer concerns a significant use of force or deprivation of rights, the public…

(a) State Certification and Decertification of Officers. (1) States should only permit officers certified to exercise policing powers to do so, and they should certify only those officers who meet carefully considered state standards for qualifications and training. Except in exceptional circumstances, states should not certify an officer who has been decertified in that state…

(a) The federal government should ensure the existence of a mandatory, up-to-date, accurate, and complete repository of state decertification records.(b) States should ensure the existence of similar state repositories, and should make timely reports on officer decertifications to appropriate national repositories of records on decertification.

(a) When engaging in policing-adjacent activities, private actors and entities should take steps to ensure that they embrace and promote the principles of sound policing and do not act to undermine sound policing.(b) Governments should decline to utilize the products or services of private actors and entities whose products or services detract from, or do…