SAJE POLICING ASSESSMENT

Defining and measuring sound, accountable, just and effective policing

 

What is the SAJE Policing Assessment?

The SAJE Policing Assessment is a tool designed to define and measure the characteristics of a sound, accountable, just, and effective policing agency. This much-needed resource helps police leaders and agencies, municipal leaders, and the communities they serve understand agency performance across 100 critical metrics.

 
  • 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. We have completed pilot assessments in Seattle, WA; Tampa FL; Tucson AZ; and Washington DC. The Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department SAJE Assessment is available below.

    We will now 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.

  • 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

    Dr. Carlena Orosco, Evaluator

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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

 

SAJE Assessments


Pictures from our DC and Chicago Community Engagements

Please reach out to SAJE@policingproject.org with comments, questions, suggestions, and to receive periodic updates on our progress.