Law Enforcement Views on Safety and Justice

What do law enforcement officers think works best to reduce crime? 

It may not be what you think. 

Just Safe and Alliance for Safety and Justice commissioned this first-of-its-kind survey to learn about the experiences and policy preferences of sworn law enforcement officers. 

Contrary to common assumptions, most people in law enforcement believe that strong neighborhood programs and maintaining a range of options beyond the traditional justice system can help improve public safety – and reduce burdens on police and corrections systems at the same time. 

Instead of the one-size-fits-all crime policy approaches of the past, this report reveals that law enforcement officers - like voters - support a range of strategies to improve safety that can more effectively prevent violence and strengthen communities.  

Public safety policymakers would be wise to listen. There is a smarter, more effective way to improve safety for all, and the voices of those on the frontlines can help guide us toward that. 

Report Background and Summary  

More than 700,000 sworn officers serve police and sheriffs’ departments, corrections agencies, probation and parole systems, and federal law enforcement agencies in the United States. The law enforcement officers who patrol our streets, staff our prisons, and monitor people on probation and parole are frontline workers responding to crime and confronting some of our society’s most challenging problems – mental health crises, substance use disorder, homelessness, and more. 

The challenging conditions law enforcement officers face on a daily basis take a toll. Officers deal with stress, burnout, and trauma. Many of the challenges associated with the work of law enforcement have increased in recent years. Not only do law enforcement officers report that issues like these place significant burdens on law enforcement agencies, but 9 in 10 report that their departments are not equipped to address these challenges alone.

The results of this first-of-its-kind survey reveal a foundational truth about public safety policy in America: Law enforcement officers are overwhelmed by social crises beyond crime and report that neighborhood programs help them do their jobs more safely and effectively.

Ninety-two percent of law enforcement officers agree that police departments are burdened with a wide range of social problems beyond crime. Only a small fraction – less than 3% in most cities – of the 240 million 911 calls made each year involve violent crime. Far more involve issues related to acute mental illness, substance use disorder, or homelessness. Not only do law enforcement officers report that issues like these place significant burdens on law enforcement agencies, but 9 in 10 report that their departments are not equipped to address these challenges alone.

Overwhelming supermajorities of law enforcement officers report that their jobs would be made safer and easier with support from a range of neighborhood programs that help prevent crisis from becoming crime. For example, more than 4 out of 5 officers agree that street outreach programs would make their jobs safer and would make communities safer. Four out of five also agree that mental health workers improve officer safety in situations where someone is experiencing a psychiatric crisis. Eighty-three percent agree that mental health workers and medics responding to some calls would lighten the burden on their department and allow them to focus their efforts where they are needed most. These results indicate widespread belief among law enforcement officers that various neighborhood programs improve both officer- and community safety.

Survey results also reveal strong support for policies that balance accountability with interventions that work to increase safety and decrease recidivism. For instance, a majority of officers said they prefer “shorter prison sentences and using money saved to fund youth violence prevention, mental health interventions, and addiction programs” over “longer prison sentences and maintaining the prison budget to keep people incarcerated for the full length of their sentences.” By a margin of more than 2 to 1, officers said that the best way to hold people who commit crimes accountable is to utilize “options beyond just prison, such as rehabilitation, cognitive behavioral therapy, mental health interventions, drug programs, restorative justice, or community service” as opposed to just “put[ting] them in prison.” When we asked officers about the most effective way to prevent people from committing repeat crimes, only 1 in 4 said “long prison sentences.” The rest report that job training, employment opportunities, cognitive behavioral therapy, and addiction treatment are more effective strategies.

These survey results come at a moment when many neighborhood programs that prevent crime and address crises are losing public funding or are at risk of being cut. Massive disruptions in federal grant programs and budget cuts have created budgetary shortfalls for many of the community-based organizations that provide these services, causing many to downsize, reduce operations, or shut down entirely. Shrinking the availability of these programs leaves officers with more problems and fewer solutions.

In 2025, Just Safe and Alliance for Safety and Justice, commissioned and released a public opinion survey that revealed extremely strong support for neighborhood-based programs among voters across a range of demographics, including voters across the political spectrum, from Republican to Democrat, and rural to urban. This survey adds the voices of active- duty law enforcement officers to the chorus of Americans who see neighborhood-based programs as essential for reducing burdens on law enforcement, reducing violence, and improving public safety.

When we reward rehabilitation and move people who’ve earned it from prison beds into proven, community-based supervision and treatment, we cut wasteful spending, strengthen public safety, and protect the officers who work in our jails and prisons

- Director Gary Mohr, Director (Ret.), Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, 106th President of the American Correctional Association

Key takeaways 

• 92% of law enforcement officers agree that “police departments are burdened with a wide range of social problems beyond crime.”
• 80% agree that community residents trained in street outreach, mediating conflicts, mentoring youth, and diverting problems away from violence would help prevent retaliatory violence, reduce neighborhood incidents, and make their job safer and easier in the long term.
• 81% agree that professional mental health workers trained in de-escalation techniques and crisis intervention would make their job safer and easier in situations where someone is experiencing a psychiatric crisis.
• 90% agree that sobering centers and/or crisis stabilization centers, staffed by trained professionals, would reduce repeated emergency calls and hospital transfers for drug or alcohol overdoses, making officers’ work more efficient and safer.
• Support for street outreach programs, mental health experts, and civilian traffic responders is even higher among officers who have experience working with these programs.
• A majority (51%) prefers shorter prison sentences and using money saved to fund youth violence prevention, mental health interventions, and addiction programs. 
• Nearly 3 out of 4 law enforcement officers (73%) prefer policies that authorize parole boards to consider early release for people in prison who participate in rehabilitation, education, and job training.

Anyone who’s served in law enforcement roles in communities experiencing chronic crime problems will tell you the same thing: we cannot arrest our way to public safety.

We need partnerships. Whether that’s mental health crisis assistance, youth programs, or treatment and housing programs, it all adds up to a strong public safety ecosystem, and it’s the only way to achieve lasting change.

- Chief Reneé Hall, Former Chief of Police, Dallas Police Department, Dallas, Texas

Read more in the full report below.