tonight -- >> no justice, no peace! . the death of george floyd one year later. >> what do we want? >> justice! >> when do we want it? >> now! >> how much has actually changed? inside one police department -- >> anything you can think of as being wrong in policing in the u.s. they said was happening here in newark. >> striving for reform and redemption. now the community that could be a model for change across the country. >> the community is the answer. invest in the community. invest in people. >> it's no longer us against them, it's "us." >> remembering the lesson america learned on this day one year ago. >> we can't be told a little bit should be enough for now. it's not enough. >> this special edition of "nightline," "road to reform," will be right back.

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senate. tonight we look at efforts to reform policing across the country. and one new jersey city that's hit a remarkable milestone. not a single shot fired by police in an entire year. here's how it happened. what did you think when you first saw the george floyd video? >> i couldn't breathe. >> reporter: it was a sentiment shared in much of america, in many corners of the world -- a metaphor for misery embedded in the soul of a nation. >> it was symbolic to how we come up as black men and women in this community, in this society. that somebody's on our neck. >> reporter: damon duerton is a nate of new jersey, newark. >> what do you think of newark and how it is now? >> when i was a child i would run, even if i didn't do nothing, because i looked at them as an occupying force. >> reporter: even today,

reimagining policing in america remains more abstract than absolute. yet in this american city, a new portrait of progress is well on its way. in 2016, the government implemented a consent decree to finally force change in newark. it's a legal agreement that gives the department of justice oversight and allows it to mandate changes within a police department. >> when i first started, it was commonplace to have at least 20 if not more than 20 police shootings in a year. a few times i remember we had more than one police officers shoot at someone in a day, in a 24-hour period. >> reporter: in the five years since the consent decree, the results at least for now are staggering. crime has steadily been going down. listen to this one statistic. in all of 2020, not one newark police officer fired a single shot. not one. how is that possible in a large city in america? >> i think that's just one example of the results of all the work that's been going on in

the city of newark over the last at least five years. >> reporter: public safety director brian o'hara has been on the force for two decades. >> basically anything you can think of as being wrong in policing in the u.s. they said was happening here in newark, from bias, in stop searches and arrests, excessive force, theft. >> it is a handbook how not to police. >> yes. >> reporter: the concept decree compelled the city to make changes. they created and rewrote policies, hired more social workers, greatly increased the diversity of its force. one of the police initiatives is building trust with the community long skeptical of its guardians in blue. detective robert moore is the face of the new newark police force, a cop from the neighborhood. >> i already know you, you know good soup. >> reporter: who looks like the majority of the people he serves. >> hire cops from the city to police the city, versus going outside the city. >> why is that important? >> those police officers, first of all, they'll have a relationship already with the community to begin with.

right? like myself, i didn't like the way i was -- you know, when the cops used to stop me, when i was growing up. i didn't want to be that cop, i wanted to be somebody different. >> reporter: tension with law enforcement here runs deep. in 1967, newark erupted in four days of riots after white police officers severely beat a black cab driver. back then, only 10% of newark's police force was black and latino. now, 80% of newark's force is black and brown. >> right here, a cup of hot soup, i made it myself. >> how much is it do you think is community engagement, how much is just blind luck? >> i think the events like this play a significant role. your leadership plays a significant role as well. >> this is enjoyable. >> if you allow the police officers to go out in the street and disrespect the community, and there's no consequences, it will continue. try the soup. >> reporter: he says it goes both ways, that the community sees the police treating them

with respect, they espond similarly. >> it's admirable. but is it a show, i guess? i don't know. but we can get used to it. we can get used to it, you know. i like being treated, you know, with kindness andst. >> reporter: community buy-in is necessary. part of that falls on the newark community street team. >> quickly, y'all, we want to discuss some of the things we've been dealing with this week. >> reporter: ncst trains and deploys outreach workers, to provide safe passage to and from schools, to provide community services and support. what's your mission? >> our mission is really to bring healing to the community. >> you're not doctors? >> we're street doctors. you know, we're looking at violence through the public health lens, and understanding that, you know, the trauma that's been in our community for so many years, that help is much-needed.

>> reporter: the street team initiative was proposed by mayor roz barack obamaa. since its inception, the violence has been cut nearly in half. the program includes volunteers, including the formerly incarcerated and those who committed acts of violence. damon himself went to prison for 2 years for armed robbery and aggravated assault. >> we're from the community, part of the demographic we work with. now instead of the ministers in society, we're considering ourselves the mentors of society. >> there's statistical evidence that newark is ahead of the game. so what is it you all have figured out? >> that the community needs to be involved. but police is not necessarily the fullness of public safety. the word "public" is there first. the public has to be involved. invest in the community, invest in people. >> reporter: for him, reform is another word for redemption.

if he can change, why not the newark police department? >> it's hard to actually forgive myself. but i believe that what i'm doing is giving back, and i just hope that the people that are harmed in the past will look at this and be able to receive this as my atonement for what i've done. the power of redemption is more powerful than a nuclear bomb. >> reporter: it's damon's credo to recruit those he sees potential in, like briana mccray, or lady bri. >> i went down the wrong path sometimes. i lost my mom at an early age. i've been shot before. i'm a survivor. yeah. i get emotional, talking about this stuff. it's just crazy, because i really lost a lot of my friends. and to see that i'm out here, making a difference, and trying to make a difference, you know. we're trying, like even if we can't save everybody, at least we can save one life.

>> reporter: one of the greatest tests of newark's growing partnership between the police and the public came last summer. as a cop, when you first saw that video, how concerned were you that newark might explode? >> i was concerned about it, because you see the news. you're afraid that could happen here too. >> reporter: instead, another remarkable moment for newark. no violence. no arrests. >> there was a small little group, some of the folks was trying to agitate the cops to react, and they got in their face, and they called them all kind of names, heckling them. a lot of the community leaders spoke up, and they told them, you're not doing this here. what's going on in the rest of america, it's not going to happen today. it's no longer us against them. it's "us." it's our city. >> this policing culture that's kind of like this warrior mentality, that it's like a military-based thing, that's obviously not how you produce public safety, right? >> does reform really work? in the end? because i've done enough stories

on police departments that when a particular leadership team comes in, changes happen. >> that's true, yeah. >> they do really well. because those people do really well, they get promoted, go someplace else, then the culture overtakes whatever progress that's made. >> absolutely. that's a serious concern. i think it's totally possible that if there isn't strong leadership, some mechanism to ensure oversight and accountability in the process, yeah, it's kind of like -- almost like regression to the mean. >> reporter: to prevent a backslide when administrations change, the city empowered citizens to not only speak up about police misconduct but to have oversight as well. the city council unanimously approving the creation of a civilian complaint review board, or ccrb, an independent department within city government. led by rick robinson. what is it that a civilian complaint board can do that the police can't do? >> well, the police already demonstrated that they can't actually police themselves.

what happens when you have a rogue officer? you're going to go give him soup? if we had effective ccrbs, you can avoid the george floyd situation situations. >> that ship would have been gone long ago? >> yeah. >> reporter: the board of the ccrb is still in its infancy, building the infrastructure. last summer the new jersey supreme court limited the board's power, a significant blow. in august the new jersey state supreme court ruled that the commission should not have subpoena power. your heavy sigh suggests you don't like that. forgive me, it pisses you off. >> in actuality, i think they failed us. we need to have subpoena power. and we need to have investigative powers. >> because at this point, all you can do potentially is you can politely ask someone to come and testify. but you can't force them to come.

>> yes. we can't force them. but we can ask. we're still a force to be reckoned with. in terms of delivering that fairness, delivering a measure of accountability. but if you're going to be an effective ccrb, you have to have those tools. >> reporter: the board has asked the u.s. supreme court to take up its fight for those tools. it's working on legislation that might grant them. but even without those powers in place, there will be work for the ccrb to do. on the first day of this year, the newark police department broke its clean streak of no shots fired when an undercover 18-year veteran of the force shot and killed a black man who investigation and sparked a new policy -- newark p.d. now requires most plainclothes officers to wear body cameras. despite newark's setback, robinson thinks the impact of george floyd's murder is bigger

than any one police department. >> a lot of people are very >> as you see it, hope now has friends? >> has friends. and is looking to do things. >> reporter: coming up, what's being done at the federal level to try and prevent another george floyd incident? >> there needs to be accountability, there needs to be transparency, and there needs to be accreditation. >> no peace, no justice! >> reporter: why activists say a bill going through congress would not have saved george floyd's life. >> these reforms are not working. what's needed is something that's more systemic and that deals with the root causes of why we are in these situations in the first place. feeling sluggish or weighed down? it could be a sign that your digestive system isn't working at it's best taking metamucil everyday can help. metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels.

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cops handing out flowers. former inmates acting as mentors in their own neighborhood. this community approach seems to be working in newark, new jersey. >> this is incredible, man. in newark, we're actually seeing crime reduced, and we're also seeing arrests reduced. so we have proven there's no causal relationship between the rise in crime and the number of arrests that you have. this idea that you have to overpolice is not necessary anymore. >> reporter: still, the mayor is not satisfied yet. what kind of grade would you give your police department, and how do you see them now? >> i'd give them at least a b-minus in terms of being from where we completely -- a complete failure to the present day, definitely. we have a lot of work to, do but

we're far away from where we were. >> reporter: police reform doesn't always mean more justice. the facts are more than 1,000 people have been killed by the police in the year since george floyd's murder. even despite more than 100 new reform laws. >> it may be true that the law cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless. >> reporter: one of the boldest pieces of federal legislation yet, the george floyd justice in policing act. the act would ban no-knock warrants, chokeholds, prohibit racial and religious profiling, end the legal protection for police that makes it difficult for them to be sued for misconduct. >> as fill loan us in floyd has said, our family's blood is on this legislation. and so we want to make sure that it's meaningful legislation. >> we have 18,000 police departments in the united states. 18,000 ways of policing. that needs to be modernized, professionalized. there needs to be accountability. there needs to be transparency. and there needs to be

accreditation. there has to be a way that police feel that they will be held accountable if they violate individuals' civil rights. >> reporter: but federal police reforms is notoriously hard to enact. >> the country has given us the opportunity to lead. >> bipartisanship is everything. if we want to get the bill on president biden's disk, the only way to do that is it to be a bipartisan bill in the senate. >> reporter: but federal reforms have stalled. floyd's family on this grim anniversary meeting with president biden and lawmakers. >> we need to be working together to make sure that people do not live in fear in america. >> reporter: meanwhile in minnesota, george floyd's sister, bridget, disappointed that one year later, the act still hasn't passed. >> biden has broke a promise. we need that bill passed! >> we can't afford to wait. we can't be told that a little bit should be enough for now.

we can't be told that a bill that won't prevent the death of my brother or my daughter at the hands of police is enough. >> reporter: activist and attorney gina clayton-johnson thinks the george floyd justice in policing act would not have prevented his death anyway, because it provides more funding for police. >> the historic origins of policing are rooted in slavery. and slave catching. so many facets of our criminal legal system are echoes of a very, very racist past. >> reporter: she says as a result, policing cannot be reformed, only uprooted. >> since ferguson, we have been hard at work as a country to reform our policing. what's needed is something that's more systemic and that deals with the root causes of why we are in these situations in the first place. >> reporter: her solution, the breathe act, a federal bill presented to congress last year.

it's a radical proposal that seeks to take money out of law enforcement and federal prisons and invest it instead in the community. education, housing, health care. >> over 90% of the breathe act is investments. it invests in the things that we know keep communities safe. >> reporter: her answer for creating lasting change not unlike newark's. strengthening the ties that bind us together. what plagues america didn't start with police, nor can it end there. >> we carry an incredibly shameful history with us in the united states. but we also carry the legacy of fighting. the torch is being passed to every single one of us to do our part. cook, to save time and stay ahead of the mess. but scrubbing still takes time. now there's dawn powerwash dish spray. the faster, easier way to clean as you go. it cleans grease five times faster. on easy messes, just spray, wipe, and rinse.

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♪ finally tonight, whether the word is reform or redemption, update or uproot, statistical evidence is clear -- work to better policing better communities is far from over. it was maya angelou who said, "the truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is

free." that's "nightline" for this evening. you can see our full episodes on hulu. make sure to catch the abc news series "soul of a nation" there as well. we'll see you right back here tomorrow. same time. thanks for the company, america. good night.