Five Years After Floyd

Five years ago this Sunday, Minneapolis police officers killed George Floyd. His murder set off protests and riots across the country. Demonstrators called for sweeping changes to policing and remedies for what they described as systemic racism in law enforcement.

How much has changed? Nationwide, surprisingly little. States and cities enacted new policies aimed at improving policing, but the data suggests that these changes have had little impact on accountability or the number of killings by police officers.

The changes

After Floyd’s murder, states and police departments banned chokeholds and no-knock warrants. They mandated body cameras. They rewrote guidelines about how to de-escalate a confrontation with a suspect. They educated officers about racial profiling. And more. The changes weren’t universal, and some places did more than others. But every state passed at least some changes.

In a few cities, the federal government intervened. It investigated and publicized police abuses, pressuring local governments into court-enforced consent decrees. These pacts forced police departments to make specific changes and let federal officials and court monitors track how the policies worked over time. Freddie Gray died in 2015 after a “rough ride” while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department; a consent decree mandated that the city’s police drivers follow the speed limit and provide functioning seatbelts when transporting detainees.

At least, that’s how consent decrees used to function. This week, the Trump administration dropped efforts to investigate or oversee nearly two dozen police departments.

Meanwhile, killings by police officers rose from just over 1,000 in 2019 to around 1,200 in 2024.