'Fire Alarms' Revisited: Limitations for Effectuating Institutional Change and the Promise of 'Police Patrols

A previous round of police reform efforts held great promise through the possible application legalized accountability to officers and departments for consistent misconduct. Yet a quick look at the news headlines of the past few years would tell anyone that issues of police misconduct are far from resolved. This essay examines the conceptual and practical limitations of that prior reform movement and then looks ahead to possible additional reforms to improve the state and image of policing in America.