Policy and Policing
Problem
The United States policing system hasn’t been built to keep all Americans safe; 1,000 US civilians, disproportionately civilians of color, are killed each year by law enforcement. Black men are 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police during their lifetime. White police officers are 5 times more likely to fire a gun when dispatched to majority black neighborhoods than Black officers. Americans deserve safety, including safety from police violence. It's time for our law enforcement system to work for all of us.
Our Plan
Work to reconstruct vacant lots, abandoned buildings, and other deserted property into resources to serve the communities in which they reside, such as green spaces, leisure parks, or community health centers. Research shows that these resources and the reduction of vacant property cut gun violence significantly and benefit public health.
Provide emergency resources for each district such as daycare, health centers with community-friendly payment systems, locally sourced prosecutors, and medical personnel, which lowers the burden of care, increases community members’ ability to engage in legal and paying activities, reduces indiscriminate criminalization, and builds trust in leadership.
Critically evaluate personnel files of officers before hiring them. Convene civil societies, private institutions, media, community organizations, and allies to create benchmarks for police data collection, progress, and advocacy needs or tools.
Work to create security forces that are representative of the population of America, diverse in race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexual orientation.
Recognize non-violent resolution of incidents by security officers, and require all officers to undergo DEIA, sensitivity, and racial bias training.
Regulate and mandate police and social data collection21 and provide all tools to enable this e.g. body cams, diversity, and sensitivity trainings22.
Improve clarity of the political process.
Simplify legal information and provide knowledge translations in all constituent languages when new policies or laws are passed.
Introduce educational programs that clearly explain how political decisions are made, the political engagement resources available to them, and how constituents can contact their local representative when encountering obstacles in accessing civil rights and infrastructure.
Improve communication channels with residents and community organizations, and require publicly accessible opinion boxes in frequently patronized areas such as playgrounds, health centers, diners and grocery stores.
Narrow the focus of police work by eliminating civil matters such as vendor monitoring from law enforcement responsibilities.
Implement alternative sentencing programs for offenders and juveniles.
Require state and local governments to reallocate 30-60% of their police budgets towards community resources, such as education, housing, and social services by 2025.
Decrease police misconduct by encouraging state and local governments to end pensions to officers that haven’t met standards of respect for community members and nonviolence.
This Matters
Police brutality is an epidemic. Every American and every human is deserving of safety. Along with the duty that law enforcement has to prevent and respond to danger, they also must not create danger. Community-based safety programs and heavily regulated processes related to police hiring, bias, and data is a first step in striving for a policing system that works for every American.