Principles of the Law, Policing

About

Principles of the Law, Policing provides the framework on which to build just and rational policing laws, policies, and practices. The project launched in 2015 and is informed by a variety of sources, including existing policies and practices in various jurisdictions, social-science research, and constitutional norms.

“The goal of the project is to set out a series of principles, or best practices, for policing in the United States,” said project Reporter Barry Friedman. “We assembled these principles by gathering the knowledge and guidance from a wide range of stakeholders, speaking to all of the various sides of the questions we wanted to tackle. Our hope is that legislative bodies would think that these principles provide a good benchmark for sound policing, and that policing police agencies will feel they could and would adopt these practices and policies.”

Principles of the Law, Policing is the work of The American Law Institute (ALI). Led by project Reporter Barry Friedman of New York University School of Law and Associate Reporters Brandon L. Garrett of Duke University School of Law, Rachel A. Harmon of University of Virginia School of Law, Tracey L. Meares of Yale Law School, Maria Ponomarenko of University of Minnesota Law School, and Christopher Slobogin of Vanderbilt University Law School. Christy E. Lopez of Georgetown Law Center served as Project Fellow.

ALI is a bicameral body: Institute drafts, and sections of the drafts, are not considered the position of ALI until approved by both the ALI Council and ALI membership. Portions of the project have been approved by ALI’s Council and membership over the years. This project received full approval at the Institute’s Annual Meeting in May 2022.

Advisers to the Project

  • Art Acevedo,  City of Miami Police Department
  • Hassan Aden, The Aden Group
  • Scott Bales, Arizona Supreme Court (Retired)
  • Michael Bosworth, Latham & Watkins LLP
  • Richard F. Boulware, II, U.S. District Court, District of Nevada
  • Michael R. Bromwich, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
  • Brian Buchner, National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement
  • David Cole, American Civil Liberties Union
  • Gregg Costa, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
  • Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Carnegie Endowment for Int’l Peace
  • Michael A. Davis, Northeastern University
  • Brandon del Pozo, Miriam Hospital, Infectious Diseases Department
  • Adrian Diaz, Seattle Police Department
  • James M. Doyle, Bassil & Budreau
  • Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of Illinois
  • Andrew G. Ferguson, American University Washington College of Law
  • Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck & Co., Inc.
  • George Gascon, Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office
  • Mitchell S. Goldberg, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • Robert C. Haas, Cambridge Police (formerly)
  • William C. Hubbard, University of South Carolina School of Law
  • Sherrilyn Ifill, Ford Foundation
  • Craig Iscoe, Superior Court of the District of Columbia
  • Adalberto J. Jordan, U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
  • Nola Joyce, Philadelphia Police Department (Retired)
  • Orin S. Kerr, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
  • Miriam A. Krinsky, Fair and Just Prosecution
  • David Kris, Culper Partners LLC
  • Raymond J. Lohier, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
  • Cynthia Lum, George Mason University
  • John G. Malcolm, The Heritage Foundation
  • Anne M. Milgram, New York University School of Law
  • Sylvia M. Moir, Marin County Sheriff’s Office 
  • Alexandra Natapoff, Harvard Law School
  • Clark M. Neily, CATO Institute
  • Brittany Packnett, Campaign Zero
  • Samantha Pailca, Microsoft, Corp.
  • Sue Rahr, Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (Retired)
  • Charles H. Ramsey, Philadelphia Police Department (Retired)
  • Henry R. Reeve, Denver District Attorney’s Office (Retired)
  • Norman L. Reimer, Fair Trials
  • Gary L. Sasso, Carlton Fields P.A.
  • Joanna C. Schwartz, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
  • Darpana Sheth, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
  • Samuel Sinyangwe, Campaign Zero
  • Stephen Wm. Smith, Stanford Law School, Center for Internet and Society
  • Sean Smoot, Illinois Police Benevolent and Protective Association
  • Christopher Soghoian, Office of Senator Ron Wyden
  • Darrel Stephens, Major Cities Chiefs Police Association
  • Geoffrey R. Stone, University of Chicago Law School
  • Seth W. Stoughton, University of South Carolina School of Law
  • Frank Sullivan, Jr., Indiana University, Robert H. McKinney School of Law
  • J. Scott Thomson, Camden County Police Department (Retired); Holtec Security International
  • Nina Vinik, Project Unloaded
  • Samuel Walker, University of Nebraska at Omaha
  • Robert Wasserman, Jensen Hughes
  • Andrew Weissmann, New York University School of Law
  • Harlan Yu, Upturn, Inc.