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Hello all 11 followers. A lot of people want to know what you can do during a pandemic to support the dismantling of racist police action. I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers, yet here is one suggestion.
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Call every private facility that has police act as security and demand that they cancel their contracts until and unless the police agree to: 1) release disciplinary records; 2) has public/civilian oversight over police uses of force; 3) mandatory (and functioning) body cameras.
The police unions rely on, and continue to militarize with the funds from these outside contracts. All of these private facilities have to contract with the unions for their security, and they are lucrative. https://www.wweek.com/news/2019/10/16/portland-police-officers-work-overtime-for-private-employers-sometimes-over-the-objections-of-bureau-brass/
The University of Minnesota just announced that they will drastically scale back their use of the Minneapolis Police Dept. and that contract has to be big loss for that union.
Here is a contract I found in 2 min. from the Timberwolves worth nearly $100k for one year of canine security on days of home games. https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/file/2017-01354?__cf_chl_captcha_tk__=eb5510fd2374f8fb6e5213b8d8e6adf6d2c450ea-1590674453-0-AUqAPK08_ihsnAejfRG2Uh_C_m6KR0tnI0UbZ_IN9YHO3OHoxa6P55fDRuwTMxlyysoSCfm9Edu7n87FKgPFrrdvZ7_lDR24zw_1nhSVLikj_galCHG7N_G8dyw5g8Nxa742guYlo1ksscOFTyJ5NfB8idKRMMEGASzBl1z-m9BtCBj5xiBOC98gIq14PLHTgjOCy1NNcnw_VEuCf9IjMnfjXbpw1zarbBmrunEJHrfgclRQV2rAsimYh6QWxZZyQvyGdiTXIhhdx9773QlqMm2M-jOBSaCTtXLa00ERNUPvcP6N6nw4cFrVKhL7XoLy1qyrEm1Wv0kM54af3yipn0o43rCkTWRg0Zc2ETNyPZOClwcdTFX-PT8M9j5BDXPgcB2GuQxJKj89JFsqSY8n7SboyY6GmUPuimuyrq_kSbvNs1d1JWRgOeQiiU9PyHwvbcCo-NbxqKwzacfRDgLv4SM3SYmtPopHPHfIQvzTWf7Kx7LhnB2xR5pyavFdT2j1KQ
Asking these facilities to stop their contracts until and unless the opaqueness from police unions that has sheltered systemic racism (and specifically racist individuals) is not the only thing that can be done. It is merely one step.
This action can be visible and achievable. These contracts that the unions need are vulnerable, and while the unions may have more sway in their local governments, they have overstretched themselves with outside contracts. That overreach can be curtailed.
