I’m absolutely part of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

I’m also in favor of supporting good law enforcement officers.

There are so many measures to enact that would show black lives DO matter, that would make things so much better for EVERYONE, police included.
Better access to affordable housing.

Providing affordable & safe living environments is the basic necessity to make all other ends meet. Everyone deserves access to affordable shelter.

The location also shouldn’t be required to be in the slums.

This is crime preventative.
Raise the minimum wage.

Having better access to jobs that pay a basic living wage will bring us ALL up!! A person needs to be able to make ends meet without working 4 jobs or resorting to crime.

This is crime preventative.
Provide access to affordable health care.

MANY people live w/o ability to treat their health conditions for the simple fact that they can’t afford to be treated. This leaves them w/ very limited options.

They can choose health, food, rent, or resort to other means for income...
So many Americans are one health condition away from financial ruin!

Having diabetes should not lead to bankruptcy. Nor should falling down. Nor giving birth. Nor having cancer.

Crime may be a way to meet health needs. Make healthcare accessible.

This is crime preventative.
Provide easy access to mental health care.

Over 10 million people suffer w/ mental health conditions that severely interfere w/ their lives. More than half will not get treated.

Providing better access to & destigmatizing care will benefit millions.
People remaining untreated aren’t equivocated w/ criminals.

Living untreated however provides more likelihood for an incident to occur, provoke armed & untrained police presence, & opens the person up to crime being perpetrated against them as well.

This is crime preventative.
Legalize marijuana & retroactively clear records regarding marijuana offenses.

Marijuana is harmless; it’s safer than alcohol consumption. It provides comfort for the sick. It’s not physiologically addictive.
Arrests made for marijuana offenses disproportionately affect the black community.

Around 1.5 million arrests made annually for drug violations. It costs about $100 a day to incarcerate a person.
Legal marijuana could bring $ billions!

Legalize it.

This is crime preventative.
Fund substance rehabilitation programs.

Providing addiction counseling is a much better alternative to locking up struggling drug abusers. They need help, not to be put behind bars. Addiction is a serious disorder that is impossible to break free of alone.
If you think locking them up will help sober up, you’re very very wrong. There are plenty of ways to find addicting substances while incarcerated. And sometimes it leads them in to a life of crime.

Stop locking up nonviolent drug addicts. Help them.

This is crime preventative.
Stop policing the homeless.

There’s no reason to dispense police force upon people who have nowhere to live. This is a gross misuse of taxpayer funds.
This a waste of police time, taxpayer money, & it injects aggression into a situation that’s already undesirable. Escalation often ensues.

Stop arresting them for loitering, curfew violation, unlawful assembly.... That’s not what police are for.

This is crime preventative.
Fund alternative services!

Social workers, healthcare workers, & mental health professionals are all extremely useful in a multitude of settings.

Utilize them!
Police shouldn’t respond to a drug overdose. They’re not the best option for calming a mental health episode. And as stated previously, they shouldn’t police our homeless populations.

There are better, more therapeutic, more constructive options.

This is crime preventative.
Provide better funding for education in impoverished areas.

Better quality education can obviously lead to much better outcomes for our youth & for that community as a whole as well. AND why would we not want our youth to be better educated?!?!
This includes BETTER PAY FOR TEACHERS, more recreational activities, more funding for education equipment & technology, scholarship programs, tutoring, job training courses, and so much more.

We need to invest in education if we actually value growth, intellect, & community.
The presence of a good quality education & high caliber educators makes the chances of falling into a criminal lifestyle much less likely.

This is crime preventative.
End private prisons in America.

Private prisons are an abomination of the criminal justice system. They have more infractions per prisoner, less leniency, & have longer sentences for prisoners, because they are incentivized to do so!!
Private prisons are run by companies, but paid by the govt (tax dollars) to incarcerate offenders. They profit from this.

They typically house minority populations at high rates, & always find a way to lock up their inhabitants longer; they’re paid by how many cells they fill.
This leads to prisoners more likely becoming career criminals, as opposed to being rehabilitated. Recidivism rates are about 20% higher for private prisons. We need to ban them.

This is crime preventative.
Discontinue police force traffic stops.

Armed police officers should not be required to give out speeding tickets, stop sign violations, jaywalking, or break light citations.

That’s completely unnecessary. Their time should be better spent.
These “crimes” & traffic stops in general affect the black community at much higher rates.

Blacks are 63% more likely to be stopped, DESPITE driving 16% less.

Blacks are 115% more likely to be searched in a traffic stop, despite whites having contraband confiscated more often.
Traffic stops inject fear into a situation, & are experienced differently for a person of color. Unnecessary prodding can provoke an “offense”, triggering a new, uncalled for incident.

The presence of armed officers often escalates to unnecessary brutality, or civilian death.
Many are familiar with Philando Castille. His story is tragic. There are many, many others too similar.

If you google “traffic stop, black, killed” a litany of victims’ stories will fill your screen. IT’S UNACCEPTABLE. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/police-shootings-traffic-stops-excessive-fines/
Alternative: traffic guards, who monitor petty traffic violations by giving out simple citations.

We don’t need armed intimidation. Nor interrogations. Nor escalation. Stop police traffic duties.

This is protective for police, the black community, & is crime preventative.
Provide retraining for police departments.

It’s clear that police generally tend to discriminate toward black people. There’s no question about that.

This doesn’t include every single officer. But retraining is needed for every single one, in multiple different ways.
Studies show that if officers look at perps’ hands FIRST instead of their faces they can see if a weapon is present, as opposed to seeing their race, & assuming their guilt.

This has lead to significant drops in brutality toward innocent victims!

This is crime preventative.
Police need to deescalate situations, not escalate the aggression.

So often the presence of officers escalate an already tense situation. This is why they’re not best suited to respond to a mental health crisis.
LEO’s need to know how to effectively dial down aggression, not heighten it OR wait for the situation to necessitate lethal force.

The use of force is sometimes warranted, but training should prepare them to take every step possible to avoid it.

This is crime preventative.
Ban practices that have a history of negative outcomes.

There’s no reason we need no-knock warrants for nonviolent suspects. Of course the resident is going to shoot, they have every right if they think an intruder is coming in.
There’s no need for a carotid restraint (choke hold or KNEELING on someone’s neck) on a handcuffed perp. It’s most likely punishment, not restraint. These lead to tragic outcomes or police crimes. Stop them.

This is crime preventative.
We need body cameras. ON. EVERY. OFFICER.

Conservative districts have resisted the idea of police wearing cameras & having dash cams.

This is just common sense. It’s better for civilian protection. It’s protective for police (he said/she said).

This is crime preventative!
We need systems in place to protect whistleblowers in the police force.

The system has existed for generations that promote a sort of collective mindset & “Us Against Them” attitude.
There are very few, if any, protections for those who would step up & do the right thing.

Speaking out against corruption is hard. Speaking out against corruption whilst surrounded by the offenders you’re reporting is near impossible. Plus, they’re all armed!
Police should want to protect their good apples, if most cops are good. Right? Remember: Police officers violating civilians’ rights or breaking laws ARE CRIMES TOO.

We should want to protect officers dedicated to fighting police crime.

This is crime preventative.
Going hand in hand with protecting good apples, we should actually require proper behavior. Require intervention in police crime.

If police are here to protect & serve, they need to do so even if one of their own is the perp.
If one of the other officers would have stepped in to stop the murder, George Floyd might still be alive today. Instead they all watched. They watched a crime being committed, because he’s an LEO.

The same goes for countless other acts of brutality.
Police officers need to be required to intervene if police crime is committed, or they are held to the same crime.

They also need to be required to report if they’ve witnessed anything suspicious.
The Blue Wall of Silence needs to come down. Requiring decency will save lives, save police jobs, & stop police crime. It will also enable an atmosphere of accountability & critical reflection if implemented right.

This is crime preventative.
We need to dissolve police unions.

They have become a vehicle for shielding bad cops from retribution. They enable & conceal abuses of power.
Police unions are dinosaurs of the 1880’s Labor Movement, & are doing more harm than good. They protect & progress police crime, & they need to be abolished. Now.

This is crime preventative.
Police that are fired for misconduct need to be banned from serving again.

All too often officers are fired (which would require a very serious offense or list of offenses), & rehired at a different department. Then the abuse is just shifted over a bit, not stopped.
We need to make misconduct termination prohibitive from allowing police employment elsewhere. Police crime should not be transferred. It should be ENDED.

This is crime preventative.
Police departments need community oversight boards.

Many times officers are not held accountable for infractions because their review boards are comprised of fellow officers, who have been part of the Blue Wall of Silence for years.
Having a civilian oversight board, requiring transparency, & easy access to police conduct & complaint records will better assure that bad apples don’t continue to wreak havoc on their community.

They cannot continue to go unchecked!
Floyd’s killer had 18 complaints on his record, some VERY serious. Only twice was he disciplined. One w/ A LETTER, one w/ a few days temporary leave.

Allowing bad apples to continue their rot leads to grievous outcomes. We need independent oversight.

This is crime preventative.
Police needs to be held to a HIGH standard.

If a nurse makes a mistake, they may be sued in civil court for medical malpractice. If a cop makes a mistake, they are rarely held to their actions, & the taxpayer foots the bill.
Officers should not be protected by qualified immunity when committing police crime. They should also be encouraged to obtain liability insurance, just like any other professional.

Why is that burden shifted onto taxpayers?
Allowing police to be held responsible would decrease the likelihood of malfeasance. It would make them think much more critically about what they’re doing.

Accountability & mindfulness- traits to be desired in our law enforcement!
Most professions require continuing education as well. Police should be required to not only keep up w/ their physical & tactical training, but stay educated on diversity, oppression, & bias as well.

CONTINUALLY.

This is crime preventative.
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