What Comes Next for Criminal Justice?

Shark Tank for Policing Reform

A decisive majority of people in America believe policing needs to change. We need safety and justice to improve both for communities and the police.

But policing is a complex issue — one which lacks a simple answer.

As governments and professional bodies wrestle with it, Stand Together Venture Labs and MIT Solve have taken a different approach: find solutions not at the top, but in the communities; empower and support the civilians and officers that deal with these issues every day and listen to their solutions.

Together, the organizations launched Unbundle Policing: Reimagine Public Safety Challenge in the spring of 2021.

People were invited to pitch their answers to one of America’s most contentious and complex issues to be judged by a diverse panel of judges, from sheriffs and scholars to prosecuting attorneys and civil rights activists.

Over 200 entrepreneurs answered the call. After a three-month virtual incubator program, a panel of judges selected 11 promising ideas to be funded and, within the space of a few years, rolled out in the communities that are impacted the most.

And those problem solvers are now working together to make their solutions even stronger.