Eliminating the daily threat to Black lives posed by law enforcement will
require systemic change and demands action from all of us. We will each have to commit to doing our part, but there is also more that
our leaders, including our representatives in Congress, can – and
must – do.
Last spring, Rep. Gwen Moore introduced the Preventing Tragedies Between
Police and Communities Act of 2016. It would create a national standard
for when police can use deadly force and mandate training for all law
enforcement officers on de-escalation tactics. One bill could never undo
the racism that has lived for centuries side by side with our country’s
higher values, but
it’s important for Congress to lead where it can to transform our
broken system of policing.
Sign the petition from CREDO and Daily Kos to Republican leaders McConnell
and Ryan: Help lead the fight against police violence toward Black people.
Call a vote on the Preventing Tragedies between Police and Communities
Act before Congress goes into pre-election recess.
Police training in the U.S. is often
militaristic in style, with a focus on developing a battle or warrior mentality in
trainees. Police work is equated with warfare, and members of the community are
characterized as “predators” or “adversaries.”
Combined with the increased militarization
of police equipment as well as
implicit bias and racism, this training leads officers to assume the worst of suspects
of color, especially Black men, and to react with disproportionate and
deadly force. It’s how someone in a police helicopter flying hundreds of feet
overhead could see Terence Crutcher as “a bad dude.” Or shoot
13-year-old Tyre King in the back while he was running away. Or 12-year-old
Tamir Rice within seconds for holding a toy gun on a playground.
Changing this dynamic requires new kinds of training and accountability. The Preventing Tragedies Between Police and Communities Act of 2016 would require:
- states and municipalities to create laws or update police policy manuals to clarify that police officers have an “affirmative duty” to use de-escalation techniques“whenever possible”
- police departments to train officers to “use the lowest level of force that is a possible and safe response to an identified threat”
- police departments to provide mandatory training on using non-lethal force, including “verbal and physical tactics to minimize the need for the use of force, with an emphasis on communication, negotiation [and] de-escalation techniques”
- police departments to provide mandatory training in crisis intervention tactics, especially when officers come into contact with people with mental health problems
- the Department of Justice (DOJ) to withhold funds from police departments that fail to comply.
Tell Republican leaders McConnell and Ryan: Help lead the fight against
police violence toward Black people. Call a vote on the Preventing Tragedies
between Police and Communities Act.
The culture of warrior policing perpetuates a racist criminal-justice system
that puts Black people in constant danger and allows those who perpetuate
the violence – both individual police officers and the departments
and unions who defend them – to justify and excuse their actions,
avoid consequences and block systemic change. Congress can act to change that culture and start transforming our broken,
racist system of policing into a system that provides real security for
all communities, especially communities of color.
McConnell and Ryan have a choice. They can continue to ignore the systemic inequalities that devalue and
endanger the lives of people of color in America and legitimize Trump’s
politics of hate, or they can show their party is actually better than
that and promote legislation that helps bring about systemic change.
Tell Republican leaders McConnell and Ryan: Help lead the fight against
police violence toward Black people. Call a vote on the Preventing Tragedies
between Police and Communities Act.
Thanks for standing up for Black lives,
Heidi Hess, Senior Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets