Federal intervention proved crucial to lowering the police shooting count in Philadelphia and in departments around the country in recent years. Shootings have fallen by 20 percent in the largest local departments since 2010, a
VICE News investigation published last week revealed, with big cities like Philadelphia driving that trend. Seven of the 10 departments that saw the biggest drops went through federal investigations and adopted new policies, either through so-called collaborative reform or by order of a judge under a consent decree.
Despite that track record, and despite the intense public scrutiny on police shootings thanks to activism from groups like Black Lives Matter, the Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions is taking a big step back from oversight. Reform advocates and policing experts worry that without the support of the federal government, police departments lacking the resources — or the will — to change their approach to shootings simply won’t. Hundreds of preventable police shootings could go unchecked.