States and cities that have overhauled their law enforcement codes

Police hiring, training, and discipline


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This page contains information from a Ballotpedia analysis about which states and cities have overhauled their law enforcement codes in the past 20 years. It is part of an analysis of police union collective bargaining agreements and related arrangements with police unions concerning hiring, training, and disciplinary requirements in the 50 states and top 100 cities by population.

According to the analysis, 28 states and 42 cities have overhauled their law enforcement codes in the past 20 years as of December 2021.

This page features the following sections:

Maps
Background
Summary of findings
Results

Maps

Map showing which states have made major changes to their law enforcement codes

Background

Through the lens of 40 research questions related to police hiring, training, and discipline, Ballotpedia examined the collective bargaining agreements, statutes, and regulatory codes governing the 50 states and the top 100 US cities by population.

Some of the hiring, training, and discipline standards for police officers not established by statutes or regulations arise from negotiations with police unions. Those negotiations are often codified in collective bargaining agreements. Those agreements are the contracts that states and cities sign following negotiations with police unions. Some states and cities restrict collective bargaining, but may still negotiate with police unions using other methods. After negotiating with the unions, those jurisdictions sometimes establish police standards through documents including memoranda of understanding or meet and confer agreements.

You can find lists of all the collective bargaining agreements and other documents used by Ballotpedia for this survey here for states and here for cities.

Summary of findings

Ballotpedia's analysis of state and city union policies produced the following key takeaways (as of December 2021):

28 states have overhauled their law enforcement codes in the past 20 years
22 states have not overhauled their law enforcement codes in the past 20 years
42 cities overhauled their law enforcement codes in the past 20 years
59 cities have not overhauled their law enforcement codes in the past 20 years

Results

The table below includes each state and city in alphabetical order and indicates those that have overhauled their law enforcement codes in the past 20 years. To see the provisions Ballotpedia used to support these results, click here.

means that the jurisdiction has overhauled its law enforcement codes in the past 20 years
A means that the jurisdiction has not overhauled its law enforcement codes in the past 20 years

State	Has overhauled law enforcement codes in the past 20 years
Alabama	A
Alaska	A
Arizona
Arkansas	A
California	A
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware	A
Florida
Georgia	A
Hawaii	A
Idaho	A
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas	A
Kentucky	A
Louisiana
Maine	A
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan	A
Minnesota
Mississippi	A
Missouri
Montana	A
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota	A
Ohio	A
Oklahoma	A
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina	A
South Dakota	A
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia	A
Wisconsin	A
Wyoming	A

City	Has overhauled law enforcement codes in the past 20 years
Albuquerque, N.M.	A
Anaheim, Calif.	A
Anchorage, Alaska	A
Arlington, Texas	A
Atlanta, Ga.
Aurora, Colo.
Austin, Texas
Bakersfield, Calif.
Baltimore, Md.
Baton Rouge, La.
Birmingham, Ala.	A
Boise, Idaho	A
Boston, Mass.
Buffalo, N.Y.	A
Chandler, Ariz.
Charlotte, N.C.	A
Chesapeake, Va.	A
Chicago, Ill.
Chula Vista, Calif.	A
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Colorado Springs, Colo.	A
Columbus, Ohio	A
Corpus Christi, Texas	A
Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colo.	A
Detroit, Mich.	A
Durham, N.C.	A
El Paso, Texas	A
Fremont, Calif.
Fresno, Calif.
Fort Wayne, Ind.
Fort Worth, Texas
Garland, Texas	A
Gilbert, Ariz.	A
Glendale, Ariz.	A
Greensboro, N.C.	A
Henderson, Nev.	A
Hialeah, Fla.	A
Honolulu, Hawaii	A
Houston, Texas
Indianapolis, Ind.	A
Irvine, Calif.	A
Irving, Texas	A
Jacksonville, Fla.	A
Jersey, N.J.
Kansas City, Mo.	A
Laredo, Texas	A
Las Vegas, Nev.
Lexington, Ky.	A
Lincoln, Neb.	A
Long Beach, Calif.	A
Los Angeles, Calif.
Louisville, Ky.
Lubbock, Texas	A
Madison, Wis.
Memphis, Tenn.
Mesa, Ariz.	A
Miami, Fla.
Milwaukee, Wis.	A
Minneapolis, Minn.	A
Nashville, Tenn.	A
New Orleans, La.
New York, N.Y.
Newark, N.J.
Norfolk, Va.	A
North Las Vegas, Nev.	A
Oakland, Calif.
Oklahoma City, Okla.	A
Omaha, Neb.
Orlando, Fla.
Philadelphia, Penn.
Phoenix, Ariz.
Pittsburgh, Penn.
Plano, Texas	A
Portland, Ore.
Raleigh, N.C.	A
Reno, Nev.	A
Richmond, Va.
Riverside, Calif.
Sacramento, Calif.
San Antonio, Texas	A
San Bernardino, Calif.	A
San Diego, Calif.
San Francisco, Calif.
San Jose, Calif.
Santa Ana, Calif.	A
Scottsdale, Ariz.	A
Seattle, Wash.
St. Louis, Mo.	A
St. Paul, Minn.	A
St. Petersburg, Fla.	A
Stockton, Calif.	A
Tampa, Fla.
Toledo, Ohio	A
Tucson, Ariz.	A
Tulsa, Okla.	A
Virginia Beach, Va.	A
Washington, D.C.	A
Wichita, Kan.	A
Winston-Salem, N.C.	A

Footnotes

States and cities that have overhauled their law enforcement codes

Contents

Maps

Map showing which states have made major changes to their law enforcement codes

Background

Summary of findings

Results

See also

Footnotes

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