Founded in 2015 as a non-profit center at New York University School of Law, the mission of the Policing Project is to partner with communities, police, and governments to promote public safety through transparency, equity, and democratic engagement. To learn more, visit: www.policingproject.org.
To support jurisdictions’ re-imagining process, the Design Team is building a detailed framework to redesign public safety services in a way that centers and addresses community needs while minimizing reliance on unnecessary force and enforcement.
Matthew Barge is an attorney, partner at 21CP Solutions, and senior consultant to the Policing Project. He is a civil rights and police practices expert and often leads and serves on consent decree monitoring teams.
Darius Baxter is a Policing Project Fellow and President and CEO of GOODProjects, an anti-poverty program focused on youth and families in Washington, D.C. He is also Director of Social Impact at creative agency Wondros.
Kristin Bronson is the City Attorney for the City and County of Denver, Co. She provides policy and legal advice to the mayor, city council, and various city agencies and offices.
Gladys Carrión is a Senior Fellow at the Columbia Justice Lab. She previously served as Commissioner of New York City's Administration for Children's Services and New York State's Office of Children and Family Services.
Maurice Classen is an attorney with experience in safety and government. Former roles include Chief of Staff to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Director of Strategy for the Chicago PD, and Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in King County, Washington.
Christine Cole is a public safety consultant and police accountability expert. She's served as Executive Director of the Crime and Justice Institute and of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Tyeesha Dixon is the founder and Principal of Dixon Park Group, a consulting firm that helps organizations prepare for and navigate transformational change. A former litigator and journalist, Tyeesha is currently a Senior Advisor for Reimagining and Reform with the Policing Project.
Prior to joining the Policing Project, Marquianna conducted research for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. She holds two master’s degrees – a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Arts in Sociology from The Ohio State University.
Chris Herring is a Policing Project Fellow and is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on poverty, homelessness, and housing in U.S. cities.
Shayne Kavanagh is the Senior Manager of Research for the Government Finance Officers Association. He is a leading developer of long-term financial planning and policy consulting for local governments in the U.S. and Canada.
Kapil Longani is a Policing Project Fellow and an Adjunct Professor at Brooklyn Law School. He was formerly Chief Counsel to the Mayor of New York City, Senior Counsel to Chairman Elijah Cummings in Congress, and a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C.
Ganesha Martin is an attorney and the VP of Public Policy and Community Affairs at Mark43. She is the former Director of Criminal Justice for the Baltimore Mayor's Office and Chief of Compliance at the Baltimore Police Department.
Chris Morrill is CEO of the Government Finance Officers Association. He has decades of experience in local, federal, and international government and management.
David is the Executive Director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, which addresses the root causes of incarceration and violence, and partners with the country to support departments' public safety reimagining efforts in cities such as Oakland and Berkeley. Previously, he was the Chief Probation Officer of the Alameda County Probation Department and Chief of Committed Services for Washington, DC’s, Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. In 2013, David was the first Executive Director of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition in Los Angeles. He has also served as a federal court-appointed monitor, overseeing reforms in the Illinois juvenile justice system. In addition, David is a member of the Antelope Valley Monitoring Team, which is charged with monitoring the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department’s implementation of a federal Settlement Agreement.
Dr. Brandon del Pozo is an Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Brown University. He has 23 years of policing experience, including as Chief of Police in Burlington, VT.
Sue Rahr is the former Sheriff of King County, WA, and former Director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.
Chanda Smith-Baker is Chief Impact Officer/SVP of the Minneapolis Foundation. She has over 20 years of experience working in, for, and with underestimated communities.
Greg Stoddard is the Senior Research Director of the University of Chicago's Crime Lab New York. He oversees data science projects related to criminal justice reform.
Jarred Williams is a Research Fellow with the Policing Project. Jarred has held several senior-level research positions with criminal justice reform and policy organizations, and was a Soros Justice Advocacy Fellow with Open Society Foundations.
With research rooted in evidence-based practices and drawn from subject matter expert interviews, the Research Team is collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data from our site cities with an aim to learn what initiatives have been successful and how risk is assessed from an initial call for service to final response.
Jeff Asher is the founding partner of AH Datalytics. He was formerly an analyst at the CIA and a public safety consultant for the New Orleans City Council.
Dr. Monica Bell is a Professor of Law at Yale Law School and an Associate Professor of Sociology at Yale University.
Dr. Brenda Bond-Fortier is Professor of Public Administration at Suffolk University.
Dr. Patrice Collins is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Cultures, Societies and Global Studies at Northeastern University.
Dr. Amanda D'Souza is a Project Coordinator at the Violence and Inequality Project at Princeton University.
Dr. Jessica Gillooly is an Assistant Professor of Sociology & Criminal Justice at Suffolk University.
Prior to joining the Policing Project, Marquianna conducted research for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. She holds two master’s degrees – a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Arts in Sociology from The Ohio State University.
Ben Horwitz is a founding partner of AH Datalytics. He has worked with the U.S. Department of Justice and was formerly Director of Analytics for the New Orleans Police Department.
Dr. Tamara Leech is a Research & Evaluation Specialist and Andrew Carnegie Fellow. She was previously an Associate Professor of Public Health at Montclair State University. Her work focuses on the well-being of young people who live in marginalized and underserved urban environments.
Dr. Greg Stoddard is the Senior Research Director at the University of Chicago's Crime Lab New York. He oversees data science projects related to criminal justice reform.
Dr. Sara Wakefield is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, Newark. Her research focuses on the consequences of mass imprisonment for the family.
Our work is informed by invaluable strategic guidance from our Reimagining Public Safety Advisory Board. Their expertise encompasses key areas crucial to our mission, such as policy and government, community advocacy and empowerment, public health, social services, and law enforcement. We thank them for their support and guidance.
President and CEO, GOODProjects; Director of Social Impact, Wondros
Professor of Law, Yale Law School; Associate Professor of Sociology, Yale University
Senior Fellow, Columbia Justice Lab; Former Commissioner, New York City Administration for Children's Services; Former Commissioner, NYS Office of Children and Family Services
Attorney; Founder, Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas
Former Mayor of Seattle; Former U.S. Attorney, Western District of Washington, U.S. Department of Justice
Vice Provost for Global Initiatives; Co-Director, Health Transformation Institute; Levy University Professor, Perelman School of Medicine and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
Founder, Vital City; Former Director, New York City Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice
Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles
CEO and Executive Director, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies; Former Deputy Commissioner, NYC Administration for Children's Services
Vice President of Criminal Justice, Arnold Ventures; Former Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Safety, Chicago Mayor's Office
Co-founder and Senior Vice President, Center for Policing Equity; Former Deputy Commissioner for Training and Former Deputy Commissioner of Equity and Inclusion, New York Police Department
Professor from Practice and Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Innovations in Community Safety, Georgetown Law; Former Deputy Chief, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor, director of the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab, and co-director of the Education Lab.
University Professor of Criminology, Law, and Society and Director, Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, George Mason University
President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Former Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
President and Executive Director, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition; Chair, Floridians for a Fair Democracy
Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law and Founding Director, the Justice Collaboratory, Yale Law School
Former Chief, Seattle Police Department; Former Commissioner, Boston Police Department
Professor of Sociology and Director of the Northwestern Neighborhood & Network Initiative, Northwestern University
Brian and Randi Schwartz University Professor of Social Policy, Communications and Medicine, Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Former Commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department; Former Chief, Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin
Director, Police Benevolent & Protective Association of Illinois; Managing Partner, 21CP Solutions
Special Advisor for Economic Mobility and Opportunity to California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Former Mayor, Stockton, CA
President and Director, Vera Institute of Justice; Former Managing Director, Rockefeller Foundation
Chair and Bryce Professor of Sociology and Social Justice; Director, Justice Lab, Columbia University
Reimaging Public Safety would not be possible without the generosity of our funders and partners, and we are grateful for their support and belief in our shared mission.
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family PhilanthropiesWith additional support from anonymous funders & foundations
With additional support from anonymous funders & foundationsCenter for Innovations in Community Safety, Georgetown Law Center
We are partnering with the Georgetown Law Center for Innovations in Community Safety to build a community of practice to support alternative first response.
Crime Lab
We are partnering with the University of Chicago Crime Lab to understand better why people call 911 and how best to design response systems for the people of Chicago.
Dignity Best Practices
We are partnering with Dignity Best Practices to convene stakeholders focused on improving dispatch technology to better support alternative response.
GLEPHA
We are partnering with the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association to understand how North American jurisdictions are applying public health approaches to public safety challenges.
Government Finance Officers Association
We are partnering with the Government Finance Officers Association to research and develop guidance for cities on paying for alternative response.
Health Lab
We are partnering with the University of Chicago Health Lab on improving dispatch and response systems through their Transform 911 initiative.
Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School
We partnered with the Justice Collaboratory to co-host community and law enforcement convenings about public safety and how to best achieve it.
Nicole Bernardo is the Senior Program Manager for Strategic Initiatives at the Policing Project. She previously worked as Operations Manager, leading logistics, financial operations, human resources, and internal affairs development.
Katie Camp is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Policing Project. She previously worked in Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's Office of Reentry, overseeing programs and policies for reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals.
Evan Douglas is the Public Safety Innovations Manager at the Policing Project. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice from Temple University and a Master of Arts in criminology from George Washington University.
Barry Friedman has taught, litigated, and written about constitutional law, the federal courts, policing, and criminal procedure for over 30 years. He currently serves as the Faculty Director of the Policing Project at New York University School of Law, where he is the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of Politics. Friedman is the author of Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission (2017), and has written numerous articles in scholarly journals, including on democratic policing, alternatives to police responses to 911 calls, and the Fourth Amendment.
Rita Gonzalez is a Special Assistant at the Policing Project. She is a graduate of Columbia School of Social Work where she specialized in criminal justice and the impact of social, legal and political structures and policies on underserved people and communities.
Alexander Heaton is the Director of Transforming First Response at the Policing Project. He previously served as a Policy Advisor on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Public Safety Team and spent four years with the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
Mecole Jordan-McBride is Advocacy Director of the Policing Project. An organizer and lifelong Chicagoan, she was the former Executive Director of the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations.
Katie Kinsey is the Chief of Staff at the Policing Project. She also serves as a Staff Attorney, focusing on the ethical design and operation of policing tech.
Natalie is an undergraduate research intern at the Policing Project. She is a Public Policy and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies double major at the University of Chicago.
Maureen McGough is Chief of Strategic Initiatives at the Policing Project. She is a former Senior Policy Advisor with the U.S. Department of Justice where she focsed on policing and systems reform.
Scott Moore is a graduate research intern at the Policing Project and a graduate student at Montclair State University studying public health and community health education.
Freya Rigterink is Executive Director of the Policing Project. She has previously held roles in the New York City Mayor's Office, New York City Council, and Chicago Inspector General's Office.
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