Background

The following was released on December 22, 2020, by the Department of Justice:

Today, following months of virtual meetings, testimony and study, U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr submitted the final report of the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice to the White House. This report represents the first comprehensive study of law enforcement in more than 55 years.

On Oct. 28, 2019, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order No. 13896, which directed the Department of Justice to establish the “Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice.” The purpose of the Commission was to conduct a modern study of the state of American policing and determine specific measures to reduce crime and promote the rule of law. At the conclusion of this study, the Commission was to issue a report.

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“This report is the result of significant effort and commitment by hundreds of working group members, dozens of staff, nearly 200 individual testimonies, and of course the 18 distinguished commissioners, who, as I’ve said before, truly reflect the best there is in law enforcement,” said Attorney General Barr. “We could not have foreseen the challenges 2020 would present when we set out to accomplish our goal of researching important current issues facing law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Yet despite these challenges, the Commission produced a thoughtful and comprehensive report.”

At a ceremony in January 2020, Attorney General Barr announced the establishment of the Commission and the individuals who would serve as commissioners. From January through July, the Commission met formally more than 50 times – adjusting to the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic – with the goal of making improvements to American law enforcement for years to come. Throughout that time, the Commission assembled a report that reviewed a variety of important issues affecting law enforcement and their capacity to safeguard American communities.