AP-NORC Poll Shows Huge Change in US Opinion on Police Reform

United States citizens across the political spectrum agree that law enforcement in the U.S. must be subjected to serious reforms to serve the public, according to a poll released Tuesday.

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The new findings suggest the death of George Floyd and the weeks of nationwide and global protests that followed have changed perceptions in ways that previous incidents of racial injustice and police brutality did not.

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research surveyed 1,301 adults between June 11 and 15 and found majorities "overwhelmingly" in favor of several proposed reforms to the U.S. policing system. 

Nearly nine in 10 people say police officers should use body cameras, and 86 percent think clear standards regarding the use of force must be established.

Roughly a third of respondents said policing needs a complete overhaul. In contrast, 40 percent said the system needs "major changes" that will hopefully result in far fewer cases like Floyd's killing or that of Breonna Taylor, who was shot eight times in her own home in March by police officers in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Eighty-five percent of those surveyed say police who use excessive force when interacting with members of the public should be prosecuted, and more than 80 percent also say officers should be penalized for racial biases in their policing work. 

A report in April by the Washington Post revealed in 2017 that 450 out of nearly 1,900 officers who were fired by police departments since 2006, were soon reinstated to their jobs.

Black respondents were more likely than white people to say a complete overhaul of police forces is needed; about six in 10 black citizens said so while a quarter of white respondents agreed. But white people were more likely to call for "major changes" to the policing system than minor ones. 

Only 25 percent of the respondents said they support reducing funding for police, a demand that many advocates pair with redirecting funds to social programs and other community services.

But other significant changes were more likely to be supported than opposed by most respondents, including reducing police departments' focus on policing and prosecuting low-level offenses. 

Floyd, a Black man, died in late May after a police officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes.

Experts say the change in opinion about police violence that has followed is an indication the country is grappling with how to confront centuries of structural racism and inequity.