If you don’t yet know what policies your local police department are using or could be using that would save lives, I have a resource for you.
Campaign Zero is an organization you should pay attention to if you’re newly engaged in the fight to decrease incidents of police brutality. They are focused on a vision of our country where zero people are killed by the police, a big goal considering over 1,000 people are currently being killed a year. They work to get legislative policies in place at the local, state, and federal levels.
In response to the killing of George Floyd, Campaign Zero launched a special campaign, 8 Can’t Wait, which refers to the 8 policies that every police department need to adopt right now so that these needless, cruel killings stop. Those 8 policies are:
- Ban chokeholds and strangleholds
- Require de-escalation
- Require warning before shooting
- Exhaust all alternatives before shooting
- Duty to intervene
- Ban shooting at moving vehicles
- Require use of force continuum
- Require comprehensive reporting
What’s really helpful about the 8 Can’t Wait site is that you can check to see if your city has implemented any of these policies. Of course, not every city is listed, but there’s a long list that are included. Check for your city HERE.
If your city is listed, it’ll let you know which policies still need to be implemented, and it’ll give you 3 different ways you can contact your mayor’s office.
If your city isn’t listed, you can still take action. You’ll need the email for your mayor, which you can get HERE, and a simple script. I’ve adapted the one on Campaign Zero’s website for your use:
I’m calling on the Mayor to urge them to take the pledge to enact the #8CantWait Use of Force policies. The #8CantWait policies are simple, common-sense and would make our community safer. Can you commit to enacting these policies right now? https://8cantwait.org/
The only way to make change is to demand change. And get a lot of folks to help. Thank you for taking this important action in your city. Your call on this matter could literally save a life.
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I’d like to see other reforms too. Police officers should be recruited from within the community, not from the outside. Applicants should be thoroughly screened to weed out those psychologically unsuited to police work such as those having violent tendencies, volatile emotions, and personal biases like bigotry and racism. De-militarization of the police is needed to.
How about having to hand over their social media accounts? To check for sympathy for white supremacists?