The first paper provides an overview of the history of police reform, beginning with 19th Century England and extending to the present. Current calls for police reform tout community policing as a way to restore ties between the police and the community. The second paper presents the findings of the Christopher Commission, which investigated the structural causes of police brutality by the Los Angeles Police Department. The commission found within the department a police culture that promoted racism, recruitment and training practices that perpetuated this culture, a complaint procedure that discouraged citizen complaints, a failure to discipline officers who repeatedly used excessive force, and a lack of leadership in dealing with discipline issues. The third paper presents the findings of the Mollen Commission, which investigated allegations of police corruption and the anticorruption procedures of the New York City Police Department. Remaining papers argue the following propositions: community-oriented policing would prevent police brutality; civilian oversight is necessary to prevent police brutality; a police corps will reduce crime rates and improve police-community relations; inner-city crime is a worse problem than police brutality; and police brutality is not a widespread problem. A 31-item bibliography and a subject index