We asked police chiefs across the country the simple question: “How do you know whether you’re doing a good job?” The answer was overwhelmingly, “We don’t.” The lack of national standards and conflicting notions of what police could and should do for their communities, complicates things. And even if we could agree about what “good” policing is – how would we determine whether an agency is measuring up?

In the absence of consensus, many jurisdictions turn to insufficient proxy measures to understand police performance, like crime rates or the number of citizen complaints. These proxies tell only a very narrow – sometimes inaccurate – part of the story. If we are to meet public demands for fundamental change around policing, policing agencies and the communities they serve need to know: what are we working towards, and how will we know when we get there?

We developed the SAJE Policing Assessment to answer those critical questions.

DEFINE

First, we developed much-needed standards for sound, accountable, just, and effective policing through rigorous application of a number of disciplines to what policing should look like ideally: constitutional law, civil liberties, racial equity, social science, democratic accountability, prior and current reform strategies, and most important – the perspectives of community and police leaders. A full list of our standards for safe, accountable, just, effective policing is available here.

Sound Policing: Is the policing agency well-managed? Assessing recruitment and retention strategies; training quality and officer preparedness; personnel safety and wellbeing; internal operations and culture; resource efficiency, sufficiency, and appropriateness; and relevant data collection.

Accountable Policing: Is the policing agency accountable to the communities it serves? Assessing organizational transparency and data availability; democratic governance and oversight; officer accountability and discipline; and relevant data collection.

Just Policing: Is the policing agency respectful of civil liberties, equitable, and racially just? Assessing uses of force; stops, searches, and seizures; demonstration responses and protection of First Amendment rights; investigative procedures; and relevant data.

Effective Policing: Is the policing agency keeping the communities it serves safe? Assessing community engagement and the co-production of public safety; policing and response strategies; responses to individuals in crisis and protection of individuals susceptible to victimization and abuse; and relevant data.

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MEASURE

Next, we developed clear metrics to evaluate agency performance under each standard. At present there are 100 metrics in the SAJE Policing Assessment.

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REPORT AND SCORE

Using our reporting tool, the agency addresses each metric by answering a simple yes/no question. The agency then uploads evidence to support its answer—such as policies, training manuals, and general orders.

Agencies don’t undergo the SAJE Assessment alone. A neutral third-party evaluator assists agencies in completing the tool and validates the results. The agency receives a preliminary report that includes its scores in each pillar and gets the chance to improve on the evidence to support its answers. The agency then gets a final report, which includes areas of commendation and suggestions for improvement.

Police & Elected Leaders will receive a shared definition of equitable and effective policing and specific insights into police agency strengths and challenges. This is especially valuable for new chiefs.

Communities will receive clarity on services provided and how community members should be served/treated, details on opportunities for improvement for their police agency, and transparency and insight into policing agencies.

Policymakers & Oversight Bodies will receive consistent standards for public safety services, defined metrics for agency performance, and a shared understanding of opportunities for improvement.

We are in the process of piloting our assessment with several policing agencies. Once we have completed and validated our assessment, we will begin administering the tool to agencies across the country. The results of these assessments will be publicly available and can be used by municipal leaders, communities, and agencies themselves to inform priorities for improvement.

Tucson Police Department

The Tucson, AZ Police Department (TPD) volunteered to serve as the first pilot site for SAJE. Pilot implementation includes the support of a social science researcher who assisted the agency in completing the tool. The process took approximately 6 months to complete. Tucson’s final report provided the department with information on areas of strength and areas in need of improvement. The team has been invited back in one year to re-administer SAJE and help assess TPD’s improvement.

We are grateful to the Joyce Foundation and the Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative for supporting the development of the SAJE Policing Assessment.

SAJE Policing Team

Barry Friedman, Founding Director

Dr. Aili Malm, Senior Research Fellow

Maureen McGough, Chief of Strategic Initiatives

Farhang Heydari, Legal Director

Mecole Jordan-McBride, Advocacy Director

Chris Magnus, Senior Advisor for Public Safety

Matthew Barge, Senior Policing Fellow

Evan Douglas, Public Safety Innovations Manager

Nicole Bernardo, Senior Program Manager 

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Community & Practitioner Vetting

The Policing Project, through our work on the Chicago Neighborhood Policing Initiative, hosted a series of vetting meetings with Chicago community advocates. We then hosted a vetting meeting with Washington, D.C. community advocates. One of our highest priorities is ensuring agency results inform community advocacy efforts, both in defining the standard of service communities should expect and assessing the extent to which their department measures up. Our Chicago and Washington D.C. community conversations not only explored how to maximize the utility of this tool, but also included a deep dive into our metrics. We are committed to ensuring this tool captures what communities – especially those most impacted by police activities – care about most. These deeply thoughtful discussions informed modifications to our metrics and processes, and we are in the midst of replicating these discussions in other jurisdictions.

We also vetted the SAJE concept and early content with a robust national group of public safety experts and practitioners from a variety of relevant professional fields, including current and former policing officials.

Chicago Community Advisors

Edwina Hamilton, District 15

Michael Ewing, District 4

Tiffany Lyles-Williams, Team Work Englewood

Tracie Worthy, District 10

Anna Mangahas, One Northside

Apratha Boxton, District 11

Artinese Myreck, Live Free Illinois

Alees Edwards, District 11

Tifanny Smith, NHS Chicago

Tametrius Files, Team Work Englewood

Kevin Cherep, Chicago Youth Centers

Remel Rutledge, District 15

Angel Jones, District 11

Amy Cross, District 18

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Subject Matter Expert Advisors

Dr. Geoffrey Alpert, Professor, University of South Carolina

Lara Al-Sakar, Associate Director, Public Safety Lead, Accenture

Matthew Barge, Senior Policing Fellow, Policing Project

Dr. Shon Barnes, Chief, Madison PD

Capt. Jason Bruder, Charleston PD

Jim Bueermann, Chief (ret.), Redlands PD

Ralph Clark, CEO, Shotspotter

Tara Calabro, Deputy Inspector, NYPD

Dr. Gary Cordner, Academic Director for Education and Training, Baltimore PD

Dr. Jake Cramer, Senior Researcher, RTI International

Ron Davis, Director, U.S. Marshals Service

Dr. Brandon del Pozo, Chief (ret.), Burlington PD

Dr. Eric Dlugolenski, Assistant Professor, Central Connecticut State University

Philip Eure, Inspector General, NYPD

Adam Gross, Executive Director, Chicago Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability

Dr. Cory Haberman, Associate Professor, University of Cincinnati

Rachel Harmon, Professor, University of Virginia School of Law

Ben Horwitz, Co-Founder, AH Datalytics

Jeremiah Johnson, Assistant Commissioner, NYC Department of Corrections

Matt Johnson, former President, LA Police Commission

Eric Jones, Deputy County Executive, Public Safety and Justice, County of Sacramento

Mecole Jordan-McBride, Advocacy Director, Policing Project

Zoe Lambourne, former Managing Director, Accenture

Terence Lynn, Deputy Division Director, Law Enforcement, CSG Justice Center

Chris Magnus, Senior Advisor for Public Safety, Policing Project

Ganesha Martin, VP of Public Policy and Community Affairs, Mark43

Dr. Kyle McLean, Assistant Professor, Clemson University

Dr. Renée Mitchell, Principal Research Scientist, Evidence Based Policing, Axon

Syvlia Moir, Undersheriff, Marin County Sheriff’s Office

Dr. Justin Nix, Associate Professor, University of Nebraska, Omaha

James Nolette, Assistant Chief, Fayetteville PD

Lt. Nicole Powell, New Orleans PD

Megan Quattlebaum, Director, CSG Justice Center

Sean Smoot, Partner, 21CP Solutions

Darrel Stephens, Chief (ret.), and former Executive Director, Major Cities Chiefs Association

Maj. Wendy Stiver (ret.), former Director of Research & Procedural Justice, Charleston PD

Seth Stoughton, Professor, University of South Carolina School of Law

Meme Styles, President and Founder, Measure Austin

Nina Vinik, Founder and Executive Director, Project Unloaded

Robert Wasserman, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Policing Project

Jody Weis, former Associate Director, Accenture