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#AbolishThePolice doesn't mean abandoning public safety: it's about replacing armed police officers with public services that perform the same safety roles. Writing in the @theappeal, @avitale sets out 10 ways we can (and should) replace the police.
https://theappeal.org/10-ways-to-reduce-our-reliance-on-policing-and-make-our-communities-safer-for-everyone/
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https://theappeal.org/10-ways-to-reduce-our-reliance-on-policing-and-make-our-communities-safer-for-everyone/
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1. Mental health/social workers respond to crises
Don't send cops to deal with people having mental health crises. 25% of lethal cop encounters are with people experiencing mental health crises. Not to put to fine a point on it, but this is nuts.
https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/overlooked-in-the-undercounted2/
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Don't send cops to deal with people having mental health crises. 25% of lethal cop encounters are with people experiencing mental health crises. Not to put to fine a point on it, but this is nuts.
https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/overlooked-in-the-undercounted2/
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2. Violence interrupters to reduce gun violence
Violence is an epidemiological crisis. The overwhelming evidence is that contact tracing and other public health intervention reduces gun violence (cops do not).
https://johnjayrec.nyc/2017/10/02/cvinsobronxeastny/
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Violence is an epidemiological crisis. The overwhelming evidence is that contact tracing and other public health intervention reduces gun violence (cops do not).
https://johnjayrec.nyc/2017/10/02/cvinsobronxeastny/
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3. Unarmed traffic patrols
Cops pull brown people over as a pretext for racist interrogations and searches that often turn violent, even lethal. You don't need a gun to tell someone to fix their tail-light or to get a wreck out of traffic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/us/berkeley-ca-police-department-reform.html
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Cops pull brown people over as a pretext for racist interrogations and searches that often turn violent, even lethal. You don't need a gun to tell someone to fix their tail-light or to get a wreck out of traffic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/us/berkeley-ca-police-department-reform.html
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4. Civilian control of crime lab
Junk science = junk policing. Bad crime-labs are at the center of so many wrongful convictions, and the evidence supports this. Forensics should be a neutral fact-finding exercise, not cover-your-ass science-washing.
https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2010/oct/15/crime-labs-in-crisis-shoddy-forensics-used-to-secure-convictions/
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Junk science = junk policing. Bad crime-labs are at the center of so many wrongful convictions, and the evidence supports this. Forensics should be a neutral fact-finding exercise, not cover-your-ass science-washing.
https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2010/oct/15/crime-labs-in-crisis-shoddy-forensics-used-to-secure-convictions/
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5. Fund better and safer transit service
Starved and failing transit systems are not improved by diverting hundreds of millions from service to policing. And (no surprise) the majority of violent police encounters on transit target people of color.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-metro-transit-police-20170223-story.html
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Starved and failing transit systems are not improved by diverting hundreds of millions from service to policing. And (no surprise) the majority of violent police encounters on transit target people of color.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-metro-transit-police-20170223-story.html
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6. School wellness centers
Your kid's school doesn't need armed cops, it needs specialists in "mental health, restorative justice, de-escalation, and building positive relationships with their students." They work. Cops don't.
https://www.minnpost.com/education/2020/06/no-police-in-schools-this-minnesota-district-committed-to-an-alternative-four-years-ago/
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Your kid's school doesn't need armed cops, it needs specialists in "mental health, restorative justice, de-escalation, and building positive relationships with their students." They work. Cops don't.
https://www.minnpost.com/education/2020/06/no-police-in-schools-this-minnesota-district-committed-to-an-alternative-four-years-ago/
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7. Dispute resolution experts for neighborhood/domestic disputes
In some places HALF of policing is domestic/neighborhood. Back-fence shouting matches don't need armed cops, they need crisis response units, which are cheaper AND more effective.
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/06/theres-already-an-alternative-to-calling-the-police/
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In some places HALF of policing is domestic/neighborhood. Back-fence shouting matches don't need armed cops, they need crisis response units, which are cheaper AND more effective.
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/06/theres-already-an-alternative-to-calling-the-police/
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8. Support, not police, for people experiencing homelessness
Armed cops don't fix homelessness. Homes do. In PDX, half of arrests are for homelessness! Send medics and social workers, and spend the rest of the money on homes.
https://portlandstreetresponse.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Portland-Street-Response-%C2%A9-Street-Roots.pdf
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Armed cops don't fix homelessness. Homes do. In PDX, half of arrests are for homelessness! Send medics and social workers, and spend the rest of the money on homes.
https://portlandstreetresponse.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Portland-Street-Response-%C2%A9-Street-Roots.pdf
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9. Integrated crisis centers
Don't send cops to drag people in mental crisis to ERs. Open "integrated crisis centers" instead, trained to address addiction and mental health issues.
https://riinternational.com/latest-posts/crisis-care-now-delaware-leads-with-recovery-response-center-grand-opening/
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Don't send cops to drag people in mental crisis to ERs. Open "integrated crisis centers" instead, trained to address addiction and mental health issues.
https://riinternational.com/latest-posts/crisis-care-now-delaware-leads-with-recovery-response-center-grand-opening/
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10. Trained civilians for property offenses
George Floyd was accused of passing a bad $20 bill. You don't need armed cop for that - or to fill in a report for a stolen bike or a broken window. These are administrative matters, not war-zones.
https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_47cc16f9-0f96-576e-9972-7e9c4ba54d3f.html
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George Floyd was accused of passing a bad $20 bill. You don't need armed cop for that - or to fill in a report for a stolen bike or a broken window. These are administrative matters, not war-zones.
https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_47cc16f9-0f96-576e-9972-7e9c4ba54d3f.html
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The thing about these measures is that they're not just "alternatives to policing" - they are CHEAPER, MORE EFFECTIVE alternatives. Policing advocates say they care about public safety? Fine. Do this.
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Vitale runs @BrooklynCollege's Policing and Social Justice Project. He's got a whole book on this stuff, the pithily titled "The End of Policing."
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing
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https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing
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