What Actually Works? Peter Moskos on Crime, Cops & Accountability

What happens when we stop arguing about policing in the abstract and look at what actually works?On this episode of Holding the Line we’re joined by Peter Moskos, professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and former Baltimore City police officer who has vital insights on the realities of policing, crime reduction, and the lessons we can learn from some of America’s most dramatic crime declines.Moskos brings a rare perspective to the conversation: he studied policing as an academic, then became a cop himself, working in Baltimore’s Eastern District before returning to academia. His experience informs his approach to studying crime and policing—and his insistence that effective policing deserves to be taken seriously.The conversation explores the remarkable decline in violent crime in New York City during the 1990s, including the role of CompStat, accountability, targeting repeat violent offenders, and a fundamental shift toward making crime reduction an explicit priority of the NYPD.Moskos also discusses why academics and policymakers can be too quick to search for a single explanation for complex changes in crime, why correlation shouldn't be dismissed as meaningless, and why successful policing strategies deserve closer examination rather than ideological dismissal.The conversation also tackles the unintended consequences of measuring police departments by statistics, the evolution of body cameras, civilian oversight, what separates good police departments from bad ones, and the ongoing debate over police reform and abolition.Finally, Moskos weighs in on Baltimore's dramatic recent decline in homicides and why effective police leadership, prosecution, and targeted efforts against repeat violent offenders may offer important lessons for other cities.Peter Moskos is the author of Back from the Brink, an examination of the New York City crime decline.Follow him on X: https://x.com/PeterMoskosGet your copy of Back from the Brink: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0197797776Holding the Line is a podcast about cops, courts, and crime from the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund - follow us everywhere @ LELDF