We are living in a historic period of a major Civil Rights movement that will never be forgotten, but this process is far from over. Now is a time for action to change a broken system, but are leaders finally listening? Will law enforcement reform finally happen? There is some evidence that our voices are finally being heard to stop racism and unnecessary use-of-deadly-force.
Our sister station at inDspotlight television has been on the front lines of the protests and interviewing folks to get their take on the recent protests. You can watch inDspotlight's exclusive coverage on UNTV channel 140. While many are peacefully protesting, some individuals are taking advantage of the situation and are looting and destroying public and private property, which is counter productive to the cause.
California State University, Northridge - HR Cole of inDspotlight interview protestors and law enforcement
There are some signs reform measures are on its way.
Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti recently announced that $100 to $150 million would be removed from the LAPD budget. “It is time to move our rhetoric towards action to end racism in our city.” – Garcetti. The mayor also announced a proposal that would decrease the budget by $250 million and reallocate this money to “communities of color” to create and invest in education.
Is this enough? Some believe that these moves aren’t enough. Some people are calling for Eric Garcetti to resign. Others are calling to #defundthepolice completely.
Whether you believe the public demands are unreasonable or are not enough, there are alternatives to completely defunding the police department and declaring martial law on its citizens.
There are some signs reform measures are on its way.
The #8cantwait organization is campaigning to make changes within the Police Departments around the country called, Campaign Zero. Campaign Zero was created by a group of activists and researchers with the goal of collecting and publicizing police department data and practices in order to understand how to significantly reduce police violence. The idea is that, if police departments adopted and enforced these eight reforms on how and when they use force, the data shows a dramatic drop of 72 percent in killings. The policies are as follows:
Ban chokeholds and strangleholds
Require de-escalation
Require warning before shooting
Exhaust all other means before shooting
Duty to intervene and stop excessive force by other officers
Ban shooting at moving vehicles
Require use-of-force continuum
Require comprehensive reporting each time an officer uses forces or threatens to do so
Currently, Police use-of-force methods are not widely available to the public in most states, however, on January 1, 2019 the FBI launched a national use-of-force data collection to record the number of unnecessary use-of-force cases across the country, then on March 2, 2020, NIJ (National Institute of Justice) began to address the problems with variation guidelines use-of-force across all law enforcement agencies in the country and implement a uniform continuum to develop a more cohesive approach to lessen the number of wrongful deaths.
As we've all witnessed, these implementations are years behind and haven't come quick enough. As reported by US Department of Justice, several law enforcement officers throughout the country have been indicted and sentenced for excessive and unreasonable use of force over the course of the last five years.
Are these changes happening soon enough? Are citizens over-reacting? Some protestors think there's not enough change and the proposed changes aren't happening quick enough.
To make sure your voice is heard, contact your local city council members, mayors, state officials, and congress members.
If you would like to file a complaint alleging violations of the Police Misconduct Statute, Title VI, or the OJP Program Statute, you may send a written complaint to:
Federal Coordination and Compliance Section
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., NWB
Washington, D.C. 20530Complaint forms, available in 12 languages, can be found at https://www.justice.gov/crt/fcs/complaint-process.
You may also call the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section's toll-free number for information and a complaint form, at (888) TITLE-06 (848-5306) (voice and TDD).
If you would like to file a complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of disability, you may send a written complaint to:
Disability Rights Section U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20530
You may also file a complaint online at www.ada.gov/filing_complaint.htm, or call the Disability Rights Section's toll-free ADA Information Line at (800) 514-0301 (voice) or (800) 514-0383 (TDD).
More information
Know your rights as a Protestor: https://www.aclusocal.org/en/know-your-rights/protesters
Support Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
Support George Floyd Protestors: https://www.dsa-la.org/support_floyd_protests_nationwide
LA City Council Contact info HERE
Find your City Council District: https://neighborhoodinfo.lacity.org/
FinImpact (Small Business Survival Guide to Combat COVID-19) https://www.finimpact.com/covid-19-coronavirus-smbs/
National Bail information: HERE
Together we stand against racism and violence.
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