@KashifShah @msquebanh
I don’t think the current US police CAN be reformed. They are largely a part of generational bigotry (“police families”) and have created a work culture to match. They have no legal requirement to help people in the US. They have little to no accountability for the abuses they commit. They put training money into learning how to be more, not less, lethal. You can’t start with people who don’t value the lives of other humans and expect that they will improve if you throw money at them or give them even more discretion to be terrible. And the police union is the only one that I absolutely will not support, as it has repeatedly sheltered murderers and protected officers who should be in prison for their crimes.

The whole enforcement system needs to be reworked with very small and heavily accountable armed forces only for actual emergencies. A larger group of unarmed civilians who are qualified witnesses can deal with petty crime complaints, minor vehicle accidents, small crimes, etc. where the threat level is low and paperwork needs to be filed. They can call in help if needed, but the vast majority of police work is this kind of thing. And also give a much more active role for various government agencies to step in with assistance to tackle root causes. And create a robust low cost and free mental health system to help those who need it, instead of putting them in jail (to die in some places).

And active policing like license plate scanners connected to databases of regular people’s movements, cell phone call interceptors (stingrays) at malls and outdoor gatherings, and other major time-wasting and privacy violating technology should be stopped. Local cops don’t need facial recognition cameras at peaceful public protests or large public events, ffs!

And has been pointed out to me today, a retrained call center is vital to properly classify and describe situations before the correct people are dispatched. These are front-line workers and should be trained and treated as professionals.

#ACAB
#ReplaceThePolice
#HomesForAll
#MentalHealthUS
#EndQualifiedImmunity