Reform the Police Force
Following the tragic murder of George Floyd, milliond of Americans have expressed their frustration and anger at this agregious act. The protests and riots that have now sprung up are not only a response to the killing, but a display of the built-up anger in many communities over the persistant issue with policy brutality as well as the corruption and institutional racism that is rife within American police forces. This petition is proposing that lawmakers draft legislation to reform the police, and for the President to sign these proposals into law. Here are the proposals for potential policy solutions:
1) End Broken Windows Policing: decriminalize crimes that do no threaten public safety, end profiling and stop and frisk policies, and establish alternative approaches to mental health crises.
2) Community Oversight: establish effective civilian oversight structures and remove barriers to report police misconduct.
3) Limit Use of Force: establish standards and reporting of police use of deadly force, revise local police force policies, end traffic-related police killings and high-speed chases, and monitor how police use force and increase accountability for use of excessive force.
4) Independent Investigations and Prosecutions: lower the standard of proof in civil rights cases against police, use federal funds for independent investigations and prosecutions, establish a State Special Prosecutor's Office for police violence cases, and require independent investigations for all police killing or serious injury cases.
5) Community Representation: recruit police officers who represent the demographic characteristics of their communities and use community feedback to inform policies.
6) Film The Police: require police body cameras and legislate/uphold the right to record police.
7) Training: invest in rigorous and sustained training and consider unconscious/implicit bias testing.
8) End Policing For Profit: end police department quotas, limit fines and fees for low-income citizens, forbid property seizure, and require police budgets to pay for misconduct fines.
9) Demilitarization: end the federal government's 1033 Program to supply military weaponry to local police departments and institute local restrictions to prevent the purchase of military weapons by police.
10) Fair Police Contracts: remove barriers to misconduct investigations and civilian oversight, keep officer disciplinary history accessible to police departments and to the public, and ensure financial accountability for officers and police departments that kill or seriously injure civilians.
With these policies, we will see a massive reduction in, or a potential end to, police violence in the United States.
1) End Broken Windows Policing: decriminalize crimes that do no threaten public safety, end profiling and stop and frisk policies, and establish alternative approaches to mental health crises.
2) Community Oversight: establish effective civilian oversight structures and remove barriers to report police misconduct.
3) Limit Use of Force: establish standards and reporting of police use of deadly force, revise local police force policies, end traffic-related police killings and high-speed chases, and monitor how police use force and increase accountability for use of excessive force.
4) Independent Investigations and Prosecutions: lower the standard of proof in civil rights cases against police, use federal funds for independent investigations and prosecutions, establish a State Special Prosecutor's Office for police violence cases, and require independent investigations for all police killing or serious injury cases.
5) Community Representation: recruit police officers who represent the demographic characteristics of their communities and use community feedback to inform policies.
6) Film The Police: require police body cameras and legislate/uphold the right to record police.
7) Training: invest in rigorous and sustained training and consider unconscious/implicit bias testing.
8) End Policing For Profit: end police department quotas, limit fines and fees for low-income citizens, forbid property seizure, and require police budgets to pay for misconduct fines.
9) Demilitarization: end the federal government's 1033 Program to supply military weaponry to local police departments and institute local restrictions to prevent the purchase of military weapons by police.
10) Fair Police Contracts: remove barriers to misconduct investigations and civilian oversight, keep officer disciplinary history accessible to police departments and to the public, and ensure financial accountability for officers and police departments that kill or seriously injure civilians.
With these policies, we will see a massive reduction in, or a potential end to, police violence in the United States.
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