UC Irvine Law Review

This Note discusses failed police accountability measures and suggests a new intervention, “Police Yelp,” that focuses on community control over police officers. The Note discusses the current institutional measures that have attempted to control police but have failed, largely due to their reactive and institutional nature. To better control police and ensure they are policing as communities want to be policed, this Note argues for community control over police through a democratic process, similar to the way that users interact with businesses on Yelp. The Note draws on power shifting as articulated by Jocelyn Simonson, among others, which advocates for shifting power from the elite to the everyday residents who are subjugated to the deadly power of police. Through “Police Yelp,” residents will be given the authority and platform to report on every interaction they have with police, and police departments will be required to take action against their officers based on those reviews by residents. In this way, “Police Yelp” gives the power back to the community to determine how, when, and by whom they want to be policed.