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August 29, 2026 Some end-of-summer updates and reflections PERF members, Today I’ll touch on the spread of autonomous vehicles; an op-ed about preventing domestic violence among police; Maryland’s review of past restraint-related deaths; a senseless tragedy in Worcester, Massachusetts; an obituary for a colorful NYPD detective; and a hopeful story from St. Louis. Regulating autonomous vehicles This week The Verge reported on the difficult regulatory questions that have arisen amid the spread of autonomous vehicles (AV). “Now that robotaxis have burst free from the pages of science fiction and onto actual city streets, policymakers are confronting a messier reality filled with questions about safety, regulation, growth, and jobs,” The Verge reports. “They’re having to decide how quickly fleets should be allowed to expand, what companies must prove before they do, and how much control cities and states should have over their operations.” PERF published a brief report in December to help law enforcement agencies and municipalities manage some of these situations. We made the following recommendations for law enforcement agencies in jurisdictions with AVs:
A Waymo making a left turn in Washington, D.C. Maryland reviews past restraint-related death cases This week the Maryland Attorney General's Office released its findings in the first of 41 reopened restraint-related death cases, concluding that there was insufficient evidence to support criminal charges against the officer(s) involved. A state review panel determined these cases had been misclassified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and believed they should have been ruled homicides. In medical examiner terminology, “homicide” means that a person's death resulted, at least in part, from the actions of another person. It is a medical classification, not a legal conclusion, and it does not in and of itself indicate wrongdoing, criminal intent, or criminal liability. The governor has asked the Maryland Attorney General's Office to review each case flagged by the panel for possible charges. Forty more cases remain under review, and the legal process will continue to assess each one on its own facts and circumstances. Whatever the ultimate disposition of any individual case, the larger challenge for the policing profession is how to reduce the likelihood that these deaths occur in the first place. Restraint-related deaths are uncommon, but they occur more often than many realize, and the consequences are profound for everyone involved—including the individuals who die, their families, the officers involved, and the agencies that continue to be called on to respond to these incidents. I urge every agency to review and implement the recommendations in our 2024 report, Fifteen Principles for Reducing the Risk of Restraint-Related Death. The legal process for these 41 cases will play out one case at a time—but the work of preventing the next one doesn't have to wait. Preventing domestic violence among police officers Jillian Snider, a retired NYPD officer who now teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is a resident senior fellow at the R Street Institute, wrote an op-ed for USA Today about preventing domestic violence by police officers. “I know how hard it is for the profession to admit that some of its own commit the very crimes they are sworn to prevent,” she writes. “But I have seen this problem from the inside and studied it from the outside, and both views lead to the same conclusion: The methods to prevent domestic violence already exist. Our country built them and they worked — but then let them fall apart for lack of awareness and adoption.” Snider goes on to highlight training that teaches police to recognize and intervene in possible domestic violence cases involving their fellow officers. “A peer-reviewed study of over 850 officers found that after the training, their reported likelihood of arresting a fellow officer in a domestic violence scenario nearly doubled, from 26 to 47%,” Snider writes. “The study also found that they were more likely to say they’d report a colleague and help victims find services.” PERF will be hosting a conference on best practices for responding to domestic violence on September 18. We will be sure to share the valuable takeaways from this gathering of police chiefs, sheriffs, and other law enforcement leaders alongside researchers, policy makers, victim service professionals, and other subject matter experts. Tragedy in Worcester, Massachusetts Many of us are still trying to come to grips with the sad and unsettling news out of Worcester, Massachusetts. Patrolman Kurt Solomon, a highly regarded 31-year veteran of the Worcester Police Department, was killed inside his home on August 18. What makes his murder especially troubling is that Officer Solomon’s wife, Karen, an advocate for the mental health of police officers, has been implicated in his death. Her body was discovered in the woods six days later with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Chief Paul Saucier called the case “a tragic murder-suicide.” When PERF was researching the nature and extent of police suicide back in 2019, the federal government was not collecting comprehensive data on the problem. The most reliable source of information was a nonprofit organization called B.L.U.E. Help; its founder and leader was Karen Solomon. To discover that she was apparently involved with the murder of her husband and then took her own life is almost unfathomable. Make no mistake: The tragedy here is the death of Patrolman Kurt Solomon, but the circumstances surrounding this entire episode need to be better understood. Our thoughts are with the Solomon family, the Worcester Police Department, and the entire Worcester community. Detective Derrick Parker, the NYPD’s “Hip-Hop Cop,” passes away at age 65 The New York Times recently published an obituary for NYPD Detective Derrick Parker, who passed away on July 24 at age 65. The Times describes him as “a New York City police detective whose love of rap music and deep knowledge of the city’s music and celebrity scene made him the Police Department’s go-to expert for crimes involving entertainers like Sean Combs, Jennifer Lopez, and Lil’ Kim, earning him the nickname ‘the Hip-Hop Cop.’”
Detective Parker (right) with fellow NYPD officers in 2022. Source: Instagram. Detective Parker spoke with the New Yorker about his unusual role for a 2008 profile. “Some cops didn’t trust me because of people I hung out with, and some of the people I hung out with didn’t trust me because I was a cop,” Detective Parker said. “Actually, though, I wasn’t against either side. What I was doing at rap intel wasn’t against the hip-hop community at all. There are plenty of people in rap who don’t like the thug element and violence that got involved in the scene.” He continued his thoughts later in the piece. “My goal was never just to arrest and convict rappers. I wanted to let law enforcement know about rap’s inner workings, and show the majority, nonviolent element in rap that there were law-enforcement people on their side. My basic goal was to protect rap music from itself.” I didn’t have an opportunity to meet Detective Parker, but after reading that obituary and profile, I wish I had! And it’s a reminder that departments may not always know of the unique talents and insights that reside in their agencies, but they need to find those officers and professional staff and put their talents to work. St. Louis police and residents work together to save a life I want to end my column with a hopeful story about community members and police coming together to save a life. St. Louis police report that they received a call on Tuesday from a desperate mother whose 20-year-old autistic son was on a bridge contemplating suicide. The officers responded to the bridge, where they saw two Good Samaritans talking to the young man. The police officers joined them and told the man his mother was concerned about him. Together, citizens and police saved his life. I encourage everyone to watch the video. This is what humanity looks like—and I see it as so hopeful.
Bodycam footage shows St. Louis police officers comforting the 20-year-old man on Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River. Source: Facebook/St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. It has been a great summer! Cities across the continent hosted the World Cup without any major incident, which is really impressive. The Red Sox won 15 straight games and play the Yankees this weekend! I love the summer and hate to see it end. I look forward to seeing you all at the PERF Town Hall in October! We will be sending you a note about important and exciting changes to the Town Hall early next week. I will be going on vacation for the next couple weeks, so this column will be back again in late September. Best, Chuck |
