Six years after George Floyd: Community safety gains at risk as leaders retreat from proven strategies

Six years ago, in the midst of a national reckoning over race, policing and public safety ignited by the murder of George Floyd, few people would have predicted where the country would find itself today.

Following sharp declines in violent crime, many communities across the nation are now safer than they've ever been before.

But even fewer would have predicted how we got here — or how quickly we might now be at risk of undermining that progress.

In the years following 2020, cities nationwide experienced alarming increases in homicides, shootings and other crimes.