Our nation is at an inflection point in its struggle to keep communities safe. Our current system of law enforcement has largely been unsuccessful in reducing violence and increasing public safety on a sustained basis. It is also historically rooted in the racial subjugation of the people it disproportionately targets and harms. We must consider an alternative to the current system and advance a plan for effective, equitable and humane public safety structures. Many promising reforms and models exist. LDF offers this framework, comprised of three mutually reinforcing strategies, as a starting point for progress.
Armed police officers are called upon to intervene in a wide array of crises and routine, non-emergency events for which they are not adequately trained or suited. For example, armed enforcement of traffic laws contributes to racial disparities in the criminal legal system and too often leads to use of force and police killings. Instead, state and local governments should train a corps of unarmed responders to serve as alternatives to law enforcement. These responders should not be part of the law enforcement system. Rather, they should operate as independent civil servants who receive professional training and develop the expertise to enable them to respond effectively and humanely to events such as:
Too often, the criminal legal system fails people who experience harm or violence, as well as impacted communities. In many cases, survivors and the individuals accused or convicted of crimes belong to the same community. Employing restorative justice practices centers the specific needs of people who experience harm or violence and impacted communities and can better address the root causes of many incidents that threaten public safety. Examples include:
All communities deserve and desire safety. However, an over-reliance on policing has ignored safer and less harmful alternatives that would strengthen communities and reduce violence. For example, gun violence is a public safety and public health crisis that disproportionately harms Black and Brown communities. Rather than relying on specialized crime-suppression units and hyper-surveillance, which have disproportionately harmed those same communities, state and local governments should instead make substantial community investments to enable impacted communities to direct and determine the resources necessary to ensure the safety and prosperity of their neighborhoods.
These three interventions are a starting point for a new paradigm of public safety that centers the dignity and humanity of individuals and communities while creating conditions to reduce crime on a sustained basis and avoid the harms associated with the current system of law enforcement. To move from reimagining public safety to making it a reality begins with changing our choices and investing in solution-oriented outcomes.
This brief by LDF and the Bazelon Center examines the incarceration, institutionalization, and police violence that Black people with mental illness, and all people with mental illness, face in law enforcement encounters when community-based mental health services are not available to respond to their needs.
This resource includes information about the dangers of Cop City, the community opposition towards the project, efforts to stop it, and more. Cop City will perpetuate current failed systems of public safety in Atlanta that rely almost exclusively on law enforcement.
For decades, qualified immunity has protected law enforcement officers and other government officials from being held accountable when they violate people’s constitutional rights. We’ve compiled answers to frequently asked questions about qualified immunity.
The myths that are used to justify qualified immunity are numerous and egregious, and its dangers are clear. It’s critical to explore both in order to raise awareness about qualified immunity’s detrimental impacts, particularly on communities of color, and why it is a danger to public safety.
This database provides publicly available data of federal grants and military equipment transfers to more than 250 local law enforcement agencies across the nation along with demographic and police department data. It also provides, where available, information about police misconduct complaints filed by individuals, consent decrees, and settlement amounts.
