We Need Community-Based Policing, and the State Must Still Regulate
July 20, 2020
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Just last week, Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley [D-MA-7] and Rashida Tlaib [D-MI-13] co-sponsored the BREATHE Act, a comprehensive bill drafted by the Electoral Justice Project of the Movement for Black Lives and intended to follow through on the organization’s goal of divesting from police and reinvesting in community-based alternatives to policing. The exciting roll-out of the bill is a bellwether for the trajectory of the recent protest movements. It points to an important and necessary willingness to engage the government in order to achieve strategic goals.
At the same time as the BREATHE Act makes its way to Capitol Hill, a slate of bills sit in Congress which would address the inadequacies of America’s criminal justice system and the lack of accountability for police violence. Senator Brian Schatz [D-HI] introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, a measure which, if passed, would prohibit the use of military-grade equipment against protestors and also create an incentive program for police departments to return such equipment. Congresswomen Deb Haaland’s’ PROTECT Act would create further incentives for demilitarization of police departments. The Justice in Policing Act, which passed the House and awaits debate in the Senate, would accomplish a number of needed reforms to policing in this country, including improvements to police trainings, prohibition of racial profiling, and the elimination of roadblocks to prosecuting criminal police officers.
MPAC is working with our civic and governmental partners to ensure that the dynamic between law enforcement and community reflects the values of human security. In line with our Human Security campaign, MPAC supports the creation of a federal standard for all law enforcement agencies that promotes and codifies community engagement and includes passage of a nationwide ban on police violence and accountability for perpetrators (through the creation of a national database for tracking police misconduct, streamlined processes for terminating and prosecuting criminal police officers, and more rigorous standards for assessing police misconduct), mandated community engagement, a national use of force policy, and the requirement of regular training on de-escalation tactics and implicit bias.
No matter what comes of this window wherein Congress focuses on police reforms, something will change. Even if community-based policing alternatives completely replace current law enforcement structures, communities will need measures to guarantee that these new policing regimes are not derelict in their duties. Therefore, federal standards for policing are one measure which we must bring with us into the new world that the social protests against the police’s murder of George Floyd have built over these last few months. In order to bring a new model of transformative justice to bear, we will continue to work as an ally to those protest movements and a partner in government.
IN THIS SECTION
- Policy Analysis
- Statements & Press
- White House Nominates Rashad Hussain as Ambassador for Religious Freedom
- The Blackhouse Foundation and MPAC’s Hollywood Bureau held their first-ever Television Screenwriting Lab for Black Muslim Writers.
- MPAC CONGRATULATES NUSRAT JAHAN CHOUDHURY ON HISTORIC NOMINATION
- GOP Blocks Coronavirus Bill
- Protect Rights During COVID-19
- Coronavirus Joint Statement
- Senate Passes Coronavirus Relief
- Iran Sanctions In COVID-19
- Historic Senate Relief Package
- Coronavirus Stimulus Problems
- Trump Immigration Suspension is Nothing but Cynical Opportunism
- House Introduces the HEROES Act
- Joint Action to Condemn the Murder of George Floyd
- Toward Pluralism: DA Rosen Must Retract His Whistleblower Complaint
- Supporting of Attorney General Keith Ellison Leading Prosecution for Murder of George Floyd
- Trump’s Executive Order on Census Is Unconstitutional
- MPAC Stands with the NBA Players
- What Muslims Want Heading into the 2020 General Election
- Declare Rittenhouse a Terrorist
- MPAC Firmly Denounces the Failure of the Criminal Justice System for Breonna Taylor
- There Is No Place For Violence in Civil Society
- Updates
- A Win Against White Supremacy
- Mosque Safety & Security
- How We’re Confronting White Supremacy
- Our Work on the Muslim Ban
- 2020 Muslim Voter Guide
- Responding to Covid-19
- Census 2020: What You Need To Know
- Human Security During COVID-19: Our Right
- Quarantine Webinars
- Make an impact in 1, 2, 3...
- Mark Kevin Lloyd is Unfit to Serve in State Department
- SoCal Muslims Show Gratitude To Frontline Workers
- DREAMERS are here to stay!
- A Ramadan Like No Other
- Creating inclusive content for kids & families
- National Muslim Task Force Recommendations for Ramadan During This Pandemic
- Ramadan Mubarak!
- Tale of Two Futures: American Muslim Life After the Election
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