VISION FOR A PATH FORWARD
As movements sweep across the nation, we stand with those voices that declare that it is time to re-evaluate the role that police have in our society. We believe that defunding law enforcement agencies to drastically lower levels are long overdue with those resources being allocated to much needed social programs to help lift communities in need, specifically for our nation’s black and brown citizens.
As our conversations turn to how we reshape the new face of public safety, we must consider how would a police officer in the 21st Century be expected to be trained.
Training before given powers of arrest
Require all police officers to be trained before given authority (this is not the case in 37 states).
end the militarization of police training
We know that those police agencies who are more militarized in their training and equipment utilize use of force at greater rates. We seek to immediately end the militarization of police training or “warrior-cop” style academies.
Decouple State/ Local Police Academies
Since the amount of training is often limited by state and local taxpayer budgets, we look to move state and local run police academies and shift the responsibility for law enforcement education to higher learning institutions, as it is with most professions.
end training of the war on drugs
For more than 30 years we have tried to arrest and incarcerate our way out of drug use and abuse. This has been an abysmal failure. We seek to end all training that advocates the enforcement of the “war on drugs” and refocus education on social program solutions by treating drug abuse as a public health crisis versus criminal activity.
FOCUS ON CRIME SOLVING
When nearly 55% of all violent crime remains unsolved, including 39% of homicides, 47% aggravated assaults and 66% of sexual assaults, education must be focused on solving crime versus the enforcement of petty crime
basic training as a 4-year degree
Require all police officers to attend a 4-year bachelor’s degree program that emphasizes human behavior, sociology, criminology and crime prevention.
end “broken windows” police training
End all training that advocates pro-active policing, stop and frisk, broken windows policing or the enforcement of “quality of life crimes” such as homelessness or panhandling
Independent oversight
All police training, basic, advanced and recurring must be subject to enforceable independent oversight committees