What We Want
To end police violence and to reform public safety models.
This can be achieved through the implementation of state and local policies that rethink models of public safety, ensure police accountability, and refocus the investment of public resources into evidence-based community programs.
Interaction with local police departments is the single most common entry-point into the criminal legal system and the reform of policing practices should be of significant focus in order to stop and reverse mass incarceration.
Policy Solutions
Click on the links below for more information and specific policy recommendations on how local communities can improve their public safety and policing models in order to end police violence, prevent racial and economic discrimination, and improve community wellbeing:
1. End Broken Windows Policing
Decriminalize “broken window” offenses.
The following activities and “quality of life” offenses do not threaten public safety and predominantly impact black residents. Decriminalize these activities and/or de-prioritize their enforcement:
Consumption of Alcohol on Streets
Disorderly Conduct
Trespassing
Loitering
Disturbing the Peace (including Loud Music)
Spitting
Jaywalking
Bicycling on the Sidewalk
2. End Financial Exploitation
End the cash bail system of pre-trial detention:
- The majority of Georgia’s county jail population (approximately 64%) are there awaiting trial because they could not afford bail.
Limit the use of fines and fees:
Pass policies requiring local governments to:
- Ban issuing fines or arrest warrants for civilians who fail to appear in court for a traffic citation (Ex: Ferguson Policy)
- Ban generating more than 10% of total municipal revenue from fines and fees (Ex: Missouri law)
- Allow judges discretion to waive fines and fees for low-income people or initiate payment plans (Ex: Pennsylvania law)
- Prohibit courts from ordering individuals on parole or probation to pay supervision fees and other correctional fees.
- See our page on Probation Reform
End civil asset forfeiture: Prevent police from taking the money or property of innocent people
Prohibit police from:
- seizing property of civilians (i.e. civil forfeiture) unless they are convicted of a crime and the state establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the property is subject to forfeiture
- keeping any property that has legally been forfeited (instead, this property should go to a general fund)
- participating in the federal Equitable Sharing program that allows police to engage in civil asset forfeiture
(Ex: New Mexico law)
Ban police departments from using ticket or arrest quotas to evaluate the performance of police officers
- (Ex: Illinois law)
Over 1,000 people are killed by police every year in America. Research shows that these acts of police violence are preventable and that evidence-based policy can successfully reduce the use of violence against civilians and create safer communities for all.
State
- Ban “No-Knock” warrants.
- Ban the use of chokeholds.
- Establish statewide standards and reporting of police use of deadly force by local departments.
- Establish a database that tracks incidents of police violence and the officers involved so that incidents cannot be concealed from the public or other agencies.
Local
- In the absence of statewide reform, local departments can and should adopt these policies:
- Ban “No-Knock” warrants.
- Ban the use of chokeholds and strangleholds.
- Prohibit shooting at moving vehicles.
- Disallow policies in dense environments.
- Establish a use of force continuum.
- Establish standards for tracking and reporting of police use of deadly force by local departments.
- Preserve record of complaints and disciplinary actions for all officers.
- Monitor how police use force and proactively hold officers accountable for excessive force
Establish Local Restrictions to Prevent Police Departments from Purchasing or Using Military Weaponry
View our Demilitarize the Police page with information about all law enforcement agencies in Georgia that have received military equipment from the Department of Defense.
The state government should restrict law enforcement agencies from:
- Using federal grant money to purchase military equipment (Ex: Montana law)
- Deploying armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft, drones, Stingray surveillance equipment, camouflage uniforms, and grenade launchers
- Using SWAT teams unless there is an emergency situation or imminent threat to life and high-ranking officers have given approval (Ex: Cincinnati PD Policy)
- Conducting no-knock raids (Ex: Oregon law bans all no-knock raids)
In addition to these restrictions, wherever possible agencies should seek to return to the federal government the military equipment that has already been received (Ex: San Jose)
5. Independent Investigation and Prosecution
Establish a permanent Special Prosecutor’s Office at the State level for cases of police violence
The Special Prosecutor’s Office should be:
- required and authorized to prosecute all cases of where police kill or seriously injure a civilian, in-custody deaths and cases where a civilian alleges criminal misconduct against a police officer
- equipped with an office and resources to conduct thorough investigations
- required to have its Chief Prosecutor chosen from a list of candidates offered by community organizations
Require independent investigations of all cases where police kill or seriously injure civilians
The independent investigators should be:
- required and authorized to prosecute all cases of where police kill or seriously injure a civilian, in-custody deaths and cases where a civilian alleges criminal misconduct against a police officer
- required to investigate all cases where police kill chosen at random from a list of the largest ten agencies in the state
- required to report their findings to the public
6. Training
Invest in Rigorous and Sustained Training
Require officers to undergo training – including scenario-based training – on the following topics on at least a quarterly basis and involve the community – including youth of color – in their design and implementation:
- Implicit bias
- Procedural justice
- Relationship-based policing
- Community interaction
- Crisis intervention, mediation, conflict resolution, and rumor control
- Appropriate engagement with youth
- Appropriate engagement with LGBTQ, transgender and gender nonconforming individuals
- Appropriate engagement with individuals who are english language learners
- Appropriate engagement with individuals from different religious affiliations
- Appropriate engagement with individuals who are differently abled
- De-escalation and minimizing the use of force
7. Community Oversight and Representation
- Remove barriers to reporting police misconduct
- For all stops by a police officer, require officers to give civilians their name, badge number, reason for the stop and a card with instructions for filing a complaint to the civilian oversight structure.
- Establish effective civilian oversight structures.
- Require Community Representation within Police Departments
- Require police departments to develop and publicly report a strategy and timeline for achieving a representative proportion of police officers who are women and people of color through outreach, recruitment and changes to departmental practices (Ex: Connecticut Law)
8. Body Cams/Film the Police
Require the use of body cameras – in addition to dashboard cameras – and establish policies governing their use to:
- record all interactions with subjects who have not requested to be kept anonymous
- notify subjects that they have the option to remain anonymous and stop recording/storing footage if they choose this option
- allow civilians to review footage of themselves or their relatives and request this be released to the public and stored for at least two years
- require body and dash cam footage to be stored externally and ensure district attorneys and civilian oversight structures have access to the footage
- require police departments, whenever they want to deny a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for body or dash cam footage, to prove in court that the footage constitutes a legitimate FOIA exemption (Ex: Illinois House Bill 4355)
- permanently delete footage after 6 months if this footage hasn’t been specifically requested to be stored
- include a disciplinary matrix clearly defining consequences for officers who fail to adhere to the agency’s body camera policy.
- consider whether cameras or mandated footage are tampered with or unavailable as a negative evidentiary factor in administrative and criminal proceedings
- prevent officers from reviewing footage of an incident before completing initial reports, statements or interviews about an incident
- prohibit footage from being used in tandem with facial recognition software, as fillers in photo arrays, or to create a database or pool of mugshots. (Ex: Baltimore PD Body Cam Policy)
- update privacy laws to protect civilians from having video or audio recordings released publicly that do not contain potential evidence in a use-of-force incident, discharge of a weapon or death.
Reform Georgia calls on local, state, and federal policymakers to implement these evidence-based policies to help end police violence and create safer communities.