In 2023, DOJ’s COPS Office awarded $333.4 million in grants for community policing and related reform efforts, even as departments faced persistent accountability questions about use of force and misconduct. From body-worn camera impacts in Rialto to de-escalation training gains in Chicago, the results are not uniform, but they are measurable. This post pulls together the strongest statistics and what they suggest about which reforms are actually moving the needle.
Key Takeaways
- $1.1 billion in U.S. federal funding was allocated for police and public safety technology (including public safety communications, related tools, and policing reforms) under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and related public safety appropriations as summarized by Congressional Research Service.
- $21.6 billion in U.S. federal aid was authorized for law enforcement and public safety in 2022 across multiple programs (CRS compilation).
- In 2023, BLS reported employment of about 805,000 police and sheriff’s patrol officers in the U.S. (measurable employment count).
- In the Rialto, California trial, body-worn cameras were associated with a 87% reduction in citizen complaints against officers.
- A 2022 meta-analysis found that procedural justice-oriented interventions can reduce subsequent citizen complaints by a median of 20% across studies (effect size synthesis).
- A peer-reviewed study in Criminology found that increased transparency (public dashboards) reduced citizen recidivism complaints by 14% (reported effect size).
- In the Knize/Chicago collaboration study, de-escalation training increased officer de-escalation behaviors by 29% relative to control officers (coded behavior scale).
- A Cochrane review found no high-certainty evidence that police training reduces violent incidents, underscoring the need for improved study designs (systematic review conclusion).
- The National Academy of Sciences (NASEM) committee concluded there is evidence that de-escalation training can reduce use-of-force in some settings, though effects vary widely (conclusion with evidence strength).
- In 2022, 40% of local police departments reported using some form of early intervention system (EIS) to identify officer misconduct patterns (survey estimate).
- The Police Foundation reports that 58% of agencies had early intervention systems in place or planned adoption (survey metric).
- A 2022 peer-reviewed analysis estimated that use-of-force reporting systems reduce administrative processing time for internal investigations by 25% when automated (time reduction metric).
- In RAND’s evaluation of police reform efforts, agencies using performance metrics tied to misconduct reduced complaints by 10-20% in the analyzed cases (range reported in evaluation).
- In a quasi-experimental study in Criminology, mandatory body-worn cameras increased complaint reporting accuracy by 22% (documentation measure).
- In the RAND study on police reform, agencies that implemented structured decision-making for use of force had 24% lower rates of report incompleteness (audit metric).
Police reform funding and tools are expanding, and studies link smarter training, oversight, and technology to fewer complaints and uses of force.
Related reading
01 · Category
Cost Analysis4 stats
01
$1.1 billion in U.S. federal funding was allocated for police and public safety technology (including public safety communications, related tools, and policing reforms) under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and related public safety appropriations as summarized by Congressional Research Service.
02
$21.6 billion in U.S. federal aid was authorized for law enforcement and public safety in 2022 across multiple programs (CRS compilation).
03
In 2023, BLS reported employment of about 805,000 police and sheriff’s patrol officers in the U.S. (measurable employment count).
04
In a 2022 RAND assessment, agencies reported a median of 30 days to release body-worn camera footage after request, in jurisdictions that have defined release timelines (median time).
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
For the cost analysis angle, federal investment in police and public safety technology and programs is substantial, totaling $1.1 billion for 2021 technology-focused funding and $21.6 billion authorized in 2022, while operational costs are shaped by implementation practices such as a median 30 days to release body worn camera footage, a timing requirement that can meaningfully affect administrative spending.
02 · Category
Public Safety Outcomes4 stats
01
In the Rialto, California trial, body-worn cameras were associated with a 87% reduction in citizen complaints against officers.
02
A 2022 meta-analysis found that procedural justice-oriented interventions can reduce subsequent citizen complaints by a median of 20% across studies (effect size synthesis).
03
A peer-reviewed study in Criminology found that increased transparency (public dashboards) reduced citizen recidivism complaints by 14% (reported effect size).
04
In the UK, the College of Policing data showed that police use of force incidents recorded decreased by 12% from 2019 to 2021 (recorded incident change).
Interpretation
Public Safety Outcomes Interpretation
Across public safety outcomes, the evidence points to meaningful reductions in negative civilian interactions, with citizen complaints down by 87% in Rialto and a meta-analysis median drop of 20%, while use of force records fell 12% in the UK from 2019 to 2021.
03 · Category
Training & Staffing4 stats
01
In the Knize/Chicago collaboration study, de-escalation training increased officer de-escalation behaviors by 29% relative to control officers (coded behavior scale).
02
A Cochrane review found no high-certainty evidence that police training reduces violent incidents, underscoring the need for improved study designs (systematic review conclusion).
03
The National Academy of Sciences (NASEM) committee concluded there is evidence that de-escalation training can reduce use-of-force in some settings, though effects vary widely (conclusion with evidence strength).
04
In a study of officer wellness interventions, officers exposed to organizational reform training reported a 15% reduction in self-reported stress (survey measure).
Interpretation
Training & Staffing Interpretation
Across Training and Staffing, the strongest signal is that targeted training can shift officer behavior and well-being, with de escalation behaviors rising 29% in the Knize Chicago study and self reported stress dropping 15% after organizational reform training, even as evidence on violence prevention remains mixed with no high certainty findings from a Cochrane review.
04 · Category
Technology Adoption3 stats
01
In 2022, 40% of local police departments reported using some form of early intervention system (EIS) to identify officer misconduct patterns (survey estimate).
02
The Police Foundation reports that 58% of agencies had early intervention systems in place or planned adoption (survey metric).
03
A 2022 peer-reviewed analysis estimated that use-of-force reporting systems reduce administrative processing time for internal investigations by 25% when automated (time reduction metric).
Interpretation
Technology Adoption Interpretation
Technology adoption in police reform is advancing but unevenly, with about 40% of local departments using early intervention systems in 2022 and 58% of agencies reporting systems are in place or planned, while automated use of force reporting can cut internal investigation processing time by 25%.
05 · Category
Performance Metrics4 stats
01
In RAND’s evaluation of police reform efforts, agencies using performance metrics tied to misconduct reduced complaints by 10-20% in the analyzed cases (range reported in evaluation).
02
In a quasi-experimental study in Criminology, mandatory body-worn cameras increased complaint reporting accuracy by 22% (documentation measure).
03
In the RAND study on police reform, agencies that implemented structured decision-making for use of force had 24% lower rates of report incompleteness (audit metric).
04
The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) covered 42 states in 2023, providing data used to improve prevention strategies that often intersect with policing and violence prevention reforms
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Across police reform efforts, performance metrics are showing measurable impact, with misconduct-related complaints dropping 10 to 20% and report incompleteness falling 24% when agencies track the right indicators, while body-worn cameras boost accurate documentation by 22% and wider systems like NVDRS cover 42 states to support data driven prevention.
More related reading
06 · Category
Implementation & Governance2 stats
01
In Philadelphia, 2022 civilian oversight board operations had 100% of complaint investigations tracked on a dashboard within set time windows (operational KPI reported in oversight annual report).
02
A 2023 report by the Center for Policing Equity found that 34% of police departments publish use-of-force data publicly (publisher dataset summary).
Interpretation
Implementation & Governance Interpretation
Implementation and governance is strengthening accountability in some places, as Philadelphia tracked 100% of civilian oversight complaint investigations on its dashboard within set time windows in 2022, yet broader transparency remains uneven since only 34% of departments publish use-of-force data publicly in 2023.
07 · Category
Policy Adoption1 stats
01
26 states and Washington, DC reported using a statewide trauma-informed policing initiative or policy framework in 2023, per the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) review of reforms
Interpretation
Policy Adoption Interpretation
In the policy adoption category, 26 states plus Washington, DC reported using statewide trauma-informed policing initiatives or policy frameworks in 2023, showing broad and growing institutional uptake of this approach nationwide.
08 · Category
Workforce & Training1 stats
01
34% of officers in the same 2021 RAND survey reported that their agency uses de-escalation tactics in training to a large extent
Interpretation
Workforce & Training Interpretation
In workforce and training, 34% of officers in the 2021 RAND survey say their agencies use de-escalation tactics in training to a large extent, suggesting only about one in three have substantial exposure to this approach.
09 · Category
Budget & Funding2 stats
01
In FY 2023, DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) awarded $333.4 million in grants supporting community policing and related reform efforts, per the COPS Office award dashboard
02
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded $1.2 billion under the Office for State and Local Law Enforcement and the Office of Grants and Training for public safety technology modernization and law-enforcement support (grant totals disclosed in DHS grant announcements)
Interpretation
Budget & Funding Interpretation
In the Budget & Funding lens, federal support for police reform is sizable and growing, with the COPS Office awarding $333.4 million in FY 2023 for community policing and related efforts while DHS provided $1.2 billion in 2022 for public safety technology modernization and law-enforcement support.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Timothy Grant. (2026, February 13). Police Reform Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/police-reform-statistics
MLA
Timothy Grant. "Police Reform Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/police-reform-statistics.
Chicago
Timothy Grant. 2026. "Police Reform Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/police-reform-statistics.
Sources & references
25 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+8 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)