Police Oversight Agencies in 100 Largest U.S. Cities

In addition to documenting the existence and functions of the entities in each city, the survey, which is based on information available on the internet at the time of data gathering, was also conducted to assess the prevalence of the various forms of civilian oversight across the largest U.S. cities. Based on online information, the survey identifies each civilian oversight agency as providing one or more of the following seven civilian oversight functions: Investigative, Audit, Review, Adjudicative, Advisory, Supervisory, and Appeals. The information on each agency has been compiled to shed light on the prevalence of the various forms of civilian oversight of policing that the largest U.S. cities employ.

The results show that a majority of the top 100 U.S. jurisdictions employ at least one form of civilian oversight of police, and that many jurisdictions have developed more complex, multi-functional systems as dozens of municipalities either started up or enhanced the powers of existing civilian oversight systems in the preceding five years.