What We Want
An end to police violence in Georgia. Research shows we can make meaningful progress toward this goal through the adoption of 8 use of force policies for law enforcement agencies at the state and local lelvel.
Why These Policies?
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 while also reducing the danger faced by law enforcement.
The below analysis and information comes from the Campaign Zero website and analysis.
“For each of the 8 policies examined, police departments that had implemented the policy were less likely to kill people than police departments that had not.“
“Police departments with four or more of these restrictive use of force policies had the fewest killings per population and per arrest. After taking into account other factors, each additional use of force policy was associated with a 15% reduction in killings by police.“
“According to our analysis, the average police department would have 54% fewer killings and a police department with none of these policies currently in place would have 72% fewer killings by implementing all eight of these policies.”
Discussion
“These results indicate that while the chances of killing a civilian increases the more arrests a police department makes, that likelihood is shaped by the department’s policies governing how and when police can use force during those encounters. This suggests that advocacy efforts pushing police department to adopt more restrictive use of force policies – and the accountability structures to enforce them – can substantially reduce the number of people killed by police in America. And while this analysis was limited to examining rates of deadly force, these policies may also be associated with reductions in other forms of police violence as well.”
“Despite their potential impact, efforts to push for these changes have often been opposed by police organizations that claim more restrictive use of force policies “endanger officers” or “put communities at risk” by preventing officers from effectively addressing crime (See here, here, here, and here). We find that these assumptions are not supported by the data.
“Officers in police departments with more restrictive policies in place are actually less likely to be killed in the line of duty, less likely to be assaulted, and have similar likelihood of sustaining an injury during an assault.“
“Moreover, our findings show police departments with more restrictive use of force policies have similar crime rates, including similar violent crime rates, as police departments with less restrictive use of force policies.“
“In short, a commitment to protect and preserve life necessitates the immediate adoption of more restrictive policies governing when and how officers use force in our communities.”
Reform Georgia calls on local, state, and federal policymakers to implement these evidence-based policies to help end police violence and create safer community interactions by limiting police interventions and increasing accountability.