🎉 Shoutout to Dave Brown from the Grails community! 👏 Dave has just unveiled a seamless Grails to AWS Elastic Beanstalk build pipeline with NGINX customization. Check out his incredible work here: https://tucanoo.com/grails-to-aws-elastic-beanstalk-build-pipeline-with-nginx-customization/ #GrailsFramework #ApacheGroovy #AWS #ElasticBeanstalk #WebDev #NGINX #CommunityPower 🌐🙌

Wir wollen noch besser werden, damit wir zusammen noch mehr erreichen können! Helfen Sie uns dabei, indem Sie an dieser kurzen Befragung teilnehmen. 💚

#DANKE #CommunityPower

https://www.glsumfragen.de/index.php/777316?lang=de

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
While I was at the fair someone was doing an interview. I heard the person say to the reporter: “Can you image how life in DC would be changed if all these programs were funded and up and running.” I stopped and looked around the room and thought YES! The community has the power and the ideas to make our lives better. But we don’t have the $. DC has the $ but too much of it is spent on the police. 8/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
Yet, as of 2022, DBH still receives only a small fraction of the mental health crisis calls. Chosen Few’s proposal is that the District fund a community based peer-led team to respond to the mental health calls. They want eight vans dedicated for use by the teams AND have DBH train the teams so they will be properly certified. Info about Chosen Few/HIPS here: https://www.hips.org/chosen-few.html 7/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
Under the HIPS advocacy banner there are three sub programs, one of which was Chosen Few/HIPS, who had a table at the community fair. Chosen Few’s table focused on the negative impact on Black communities due to law enforcement and DC’s Dept of Behavioral Health Services’ (DBH) responses to mental health crises. Eight in ten DC voters support 911 calls for mental health being diverted to health professionals. 6/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
The second booth was run by a sub group of the DC organization called HIPS. HIPS has been around for about 30 years. They have a “comprehensive program providing a variety of services, education and advocacy to sex workers, drug users and their communities.”They provide a non-judgmental place where sex workers can receive support services, particularly important for youth engaged in sex work. 5/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
We know where poor people go and its not to the hospital because again many lack access to health care insurance. This is a perfect example of the way multiple factors in poor communities of color interact to worsen safety. I shouldn’t have to tell you that jails and prisons are not equipped to deal with mental health issues. The ask is that the city fund the centers and allow local nonprofits to run them. 4/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
The problem the advocates are attempting to address is the fact that DC has only 16 (!) community based crisis beds where people can stay for up to only two weeks to receive professional mental health services. To put that in perspective, DC has 700,000 residents. At the moment, if a person is experiencing a mental health crisis in the district they can either go to the hospital or to jail. 3/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
MARCH stands for Metropolitan Area Recovery Calm House. The call is for the city to establish at least four centers, one in each of the four quadrants of the city. The idea is that the centers would provide a support system in a safe space for helping residents, particularly those re-entering to begin healing from the traumas they’ve experienced in life. At the moment all crisis beds are in one quadrant. 2/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
I’ve previously posted about how the lack of access to healthcare and mental health services contribute to making a community unsafe. There were two projects at the Community Safety Fair that were directed towards solutions to the appalling lack of access to mental health counseling in the District. One proposed a series of wellness centers called M.A.R.C.H. 1/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
As you can see, working on transparency and accountability can produce some good, but remember these provisions rely on the state action, not only to enact but also to enforce. The body camera issue is a reminder that even when reform passes, the system will reset to minimize the benefit of reform.
Tomorrow, I’ll highlight some of the groups’ thinking on mental health. 8/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
Before COVID people detained for 131 days awaiting trial. Post COVID the period stretched to 214. During detention lives are severely disrupted. Detainees lose jobs and resources, and their families suffer collateral damage. The proposed legislation would compensate for lost wages and resources. The advocates are demanding DC Council introduce the act before the end of 2023. 7/8
*Ed: Spelling

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
Another group focusing on accountability is supporting proposed legislation to compensate folks held in pretrial detention. The Detention Compensation Act would provide reparations for those held pretrial without bond. Pretrial detention in DC can last for days, months or even more than a year. This mainly impacts the Black residents of DC, as whites are almost NEVER detained. 6/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
Here’s the DC Code on body cams. https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/5-116.33.html. I wasn’t able to find the name of the group specifically advocating but they were part of DC Justice Lab, https://dcjusticelab.org/ which tasks itself with helping to transform DC’s approach to public safety. 5/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
In DC family members of those killed or harmed by the police often do not receive all footage from officers who recorded at the scene. They may not receive even the full footage of the primary officer despite the fact our legislation requires the release of footage. Advocates are asking that all footage, from all officers present be released. Multiple views of an incident provide important context. 4/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
It may surprise readers to learn not all states release body came footage. Here’s a list with the 9 states with the most restrictive measures in place. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/552665-9-states-with-some-of-the-strictest-rules-on-releasing-body-cam-videos/ And, an interactive body cam access map. https://www.rcfp.org/resources/bodycams/ 3/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
A hot demand in the police “reform” side of thing is to demand all law enforcement use body cameras. Body cameras aren’t a magic bullet. The police often don’t activate them, or disable them when the incident begins, and they have been known to try and tamper with the footage. Nonetheless today body cam footage can serve to contradict cop created versions of an incident. But who gets the footage and when? 2/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
Last week I highlighted some groups from the Comunity Safety Fair in DC that were focusing reduction of harm – one of the four identifiable buckets of police reform. Today I want to highlight two groups that are working on transparency and accountability. Remember that transparency is about getting full data about police misconduct. More data may lead to more accountability. 1/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @Blackmastodon@chirp.socialMore Than Our Crimes wants an amendment H.R. 3339 – Improving Reentry for District of Columbia Residents in the Bureau of Prisons Act of 2023. which would limit the distance where DC inmates could be held to 150 driving miles from the district. Reduction of harm policies provide temporary relief, but they will not cure the damage policing has caused . There were 2 accountability solutions. I’ll post about them next week. 8/8

#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter ##CommunityPower @BlackMastodon
The bill was amended under so-called social justice reform require BOP to move inmates within 500 miles. https://www.nbcwashington.com/local/two-thirds-of-dc-felons-serve-prison-sentences-outside-the-region-3/177924/ The “reform” measure doesn’t really help families though. It’s a great example of something that “looks” like it is helping but doesn’t. 7/8