Opinion | The Police Killing of Sonya Massey Argues for Alternatives to Reform

On July 6, Sonya Massey called 911 to report an intruder. After Sean Grayson, a sheriff’s deputy, and another officer found no intruder outside of her home in Sangamon County, Ill., they knocked on her door. The situation escalated after Ms. Massey went to turn off her stove. Within seconds Mr. Grayson drew his gun and shot her in the head.

The death of George Floyd in 2020 drew public outrage and calls for a wide variety of police reforms. There still a lot we don’t know about the Massey situation, including if she was experiencing mental distress. But the killing of Ms. Massey is a cold reminder of how little has changed in the years since.

It’s true that there have been piecemeal reforms at the state and local level. But at the federal level, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was unable to get past partisan gridlock in the Senate — and, in any case, many experts agree that the act would not do enough to reduce rates of police violence in the United States.

Amid a stalled federal legislative agenda, arguably the most significant development since 2020 is what appears to be a newfound willingness to prosecute officers who use unjustifiable deadly force. Between 2016 and 2019, only 43 police officers were charged with murder or manslaughter related to an on-duty shooting. From 2020 to 2023, more than 70 officers were charged. And yet, more than 1,100 people were shot and killed by police officers last year — the highest one-year number on record.

Mr. Grayson was fired and charged with first-degree murder, but that is unlikely to reduce rates of police violence. Such violence often arises because we ask the police to serve in an impossibly wide range of roles, many of which they aren’t well-suited for.

Police officers are charged with too wide a range of duties: from monitoring the status of your vehicle headlights to clearing homeless encampments and maintaining youth curfews. All of this amounts to tens of millions of U.S. residents having at least one contact with police officers each year. If we want more effective law enforcement and fewer police abuses, we need to start seriously investing in the programs across the country that have shown promise at taking work off the plate of law enforcement.