Called the Office of Police Oversight, the new city department operates independently of the police department and aims to not only hold individual officers accountable, but also make policy recommendations that focus on systemic issues, such as racial profiling.

In recent weeks, at least a dozen cities have reached out to the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) to either launch some form of new oversight agency or expand on existing ones, said its director of operations, Liana Perez.

About 165 of the nation’s 18,000 police departments are subject to some form of police oversight — meaning the vast majority of law enforcement agencies across America are left to police themselves, said Perez of NACOLE.

The watchdog agency last week released all the prior complaints made against Pantaleo after the New York legislature — prompted by public outrage over George Floyd’s death — repealed a law that had shielded the disciplinary files of police officers from public disclosure.

NACOLE recently completed a survey of civilian oversight agencies, including 54 that oversee municipal police departments, and provided the unpublished results to CNN.