Voters Support Civilian Oversight of Policing
By Ian Adams, Joshua McCrain, Scott Mourtgos, Daniel Schiff, and Kaylyn Jackson Schiff
Calls to reform policing have increased in recent years following well-publicized instances of police violence. An increasingly common policy response to these calls for reform is the creation of civilian review boards (CRBs), bodies comprised of citizens with varying degrees of oversight power over police agencies. Academic research suggests that CRBs produce higher public trust in policing and may lead to more accountability and less misconduct in policing.
The first civilian-led review board was established in 1948, and CRBs have slowly proliferated in the decades since. However, they are still relatively uncommon, with approximately 200 among 18,000 agencies nationwide. Existing CRBs have a wide variety of powers, ranging from performing a simple adversarial role to imposing discipline on individual officers.
Voters Support Powers to Independently Investigate and Discipline Police
Despite the increased importance of policing reform, little public opinion polling has been conducted on practical policy responses. In an October 2021 survey of 15,070 individuals, we asked voters about their opinions on civilian oversight of police. A clear majority of Americans support some level of civilian oversight: 65 percent of respondents say they either “somewhat support” or “strongly support” civilian review boards with the power to investigate police independently. Nearly 60 percent of respondents are supportive of a more robust board composition with the power to investigate and discipline police independently.
These numbers, however, vary significantly by partisanship. Democrats are substantially more likely to support civilian review boards (83 percent) relative to Republicans (50 percent).
Most States Have Majority Support for Creating CRBs
Support for civilian review boards is broad, and not just concentrated in traditionally blue states. The figure below demonstrates that in 43 states, most voters support civilian review boards. Currently, only the largest agencies are likely to have a CRB, but this survey suggests voters outside these communities would also support civilian oversight.
Policing leaders have historically mistrusted this type of reform. Bridging the gap between public opinion on CRBs and versions of these boards that might be palatable to police leadership is important. Having asked an alternative version of the question, whether individuals would support civilian oversight with independent investigative powers and disciplinary powers, we still see half of the states with at least 50 percent approval of CRBs. The barrier to establishing powerful CRBs, then, might not be public opinion but constructing a policy regime that will also be supported by police leadership.
From August 25 to October 11, 2021, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 15,070 likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±1 percentage point.