State Policies and Police Personnel Decisions∗

Reducing police misconduct is, in large part, about finding predictable ex ante risk and reducing it, through a combination of human resource policies and human capital development, as well as having well-functioning accountability and disciplinary systems. This paper discusses ways in which state policymakers can help encourage and support local police departments in these efforts. We begin by discussing what is known about the ability of new “big data” methods to capture predictable risk. We then discuss various ways in which state-level policies can be helpful in improving existing systems, and conclude with thoughts about the highest-priority topics where future research is most desperately needed. ∗Our thanks to Jennifer Doleac and members of the Arnold Ventures policing roundtable for helpful discussion and suggestions. Please address correspondence to Jens Ludwig: jludwig@uchicago.edu.