NPAP event training lawyers civil rights attorneys

What We Do

Advancing police accountability through litigation, policy, and people

Across the country, law enforcement officers and agents, jails, and prisons routinely violate people’s civil and human rights — often without consequence. The National Police Accountability Project (NPAP) exists to put an end to this harm.

We are a network of more than 550 civil rights attorneys and advocates working together to hold federal law enforcement, police, and correctional agencies accountable through litigation, legislation, and legal partnership with grassroots organizations.

Our work operates on three levels — supporting direct legal action, strengthening the attorneys and advocates who make that work possible, and partnering with grassroots organizers to ensure communities most impacted by police and correctional violence are leading the fight for justice.

Together, these programs form NPAP’s theory of change:

When we challenge police violence, misconduct, and abuse in court, expand the capacity of those who can fight against it, and build power with the communities most impacted by these harms, we move closer to a society where public safety, accountability, and the defense of democratic princples are one and the same.

Our Programs

1. Litigation and Legal Action

NPAP leads and supports high-impact legal cases across the country to challenge systemic misconduct among police, federal agents, and correctional staff.

Co-Counsel Program

NPAP provides financial support and co-counseling capacity to member attorneys, enabling them to take on complex and costly civil rights cases against police departments, jails, and prisons — especially in regions where oversight is weak and accountability is rare.

Amicus Briefs

NPAP files amicus (“friend of the court”) briefs in key cases before federal and state courts to shape the law governing police accountability, qualified immunity, jail and prison conditions, and constitutional rights.

Legislative Advocacy / Policy White Papers

Our team develops policy proposals and publishes white papers that expose gaps in the law and push for reforms that increase transparency, restrict the use of force, and expand access to justice for those harmed by law enforcement and correctional institutions.

2. Supporting Attorneys

NPAP strengthens the field of civil rights litigation by providing attorneys with tools, resources, and a community of practice.

Through training, expert consultations, and our co-counsel network, we help lawyers across the country take on police and correctional misconduct cases — especially in legal deserts, such as the rural South and Midwest, where few attorneys can do so.

3. Supporting Grassroots Organizations

We partner with grassroots and community-based organizations to connect their advocacy with legal strategies that drive systemic change.

NPAP helps translate movement demands into litigation, legislative, and regulatory initiatives that make those demands real and enforceable.

How It All Works Together

Our programs are designed to reinforce and support each other:

Litigation holds abusers accountable and exposes systemic problems.
Attorney support expands the capacity to bring those cases.
Community partnerships ensure the work is grounded in the experiences of those most affected.
Policy advocacy transforms lessons of litigation into reforms.

Together, this integrated strategy builds a national infrastructure for increased accountability — one that combines legal action, movement building, and policy reform to create lasting change.