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This city disbanded its police department 7 years ago. Here's what happened next

Scottie Andrew

June 09, 2020 |

CNN |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Camden, New Jersey

Camden, New Jersey, is far smaller and more racially diverse than Minneapolis, but its decision to dissolve and reconstitute its police department may be the most apt case study if the larger city follows through on plans to reboot its policing. Camden decided in 2012 its department was beyond fixing, and its crime too severe to accept the status quo. A new countywide force has embraced community-oriented policing, de-escalation tactics, and limits on the use of force. Violence has dropped by nearly half and public support is up, although Camden's continuing problems also serve as a warning for Minneapolis.

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Community groups step in to provide immigrants COVID testing, relief

Allie Barton

June 09, 2020 |

Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Phoenix, Arizona

To meet the financial needs of undocumented immigrants caught in the gap left by the federal CARES Act pandemic relief program, the advocacy group Aliento has distributed financial aid, educated workers about unemployment benefits, and conducted outreach to young people and families. Aid checks of $500 are aimed at helping cover rent, utilities, and health care costs for families in which layoffs, particularly in the construction and hospitality industries, have caused hardships.

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Out Of The Ruins

Patrick Chalmers

June 07, 2020 |

All Hands On |

Documentary |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: Greece

Protests against severe “austerity measures” that were passed after the 2011 economic recession resulted in worker and housing cooperatives to address labor and housing inequities. Citizens protested by gathering in public squares and holding rallies where speakers were randomly selected from the crowd. This is based on an ancient democratic process where citizens are selected at random to speak their mind in regards to politics and public affairs. The organizations that emerged practiced participatory democracy through horizontal leadership, though many were eventually shut down by the government.

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Training Police to Step In and Prevent Another George Floyd

Matt Vasilogambros

June 05, 2020 |

Stateline |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

While most police-reform ideas focus on top-down imposition of standards, peer intervention puts the burden on individual police officers to prevent misconduct. Grounded in studies of bystanders’ behavior in the face of abuses by others, the method first was adopted by the New Orleans Police Department in light of widespread misconduct following Hurricane Katrina and has been credited with that department’s “remarkable progress” in shifting its culture. Now its use is spreading nationwide.

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Philly police should adopt this ethics program that reformed NOLA force

Larry Platt

June 04, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

Eight years after the New Orleans Police Department served as a model of how not to police, its Ethical Policing Is Courageous (EPIC) program has done more to dismantle the “blue wall of silence” than any other reforms. Citizen complaints and horrific examples of brutality have gone down while citizen satisfaction has risen. Now the training of officers in “peer intervention” is spreading nationwide, empowering street officers schooled in the use of peer pressure to stand up to misconduct without fear of retaliation.

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Amid COVID-19, Montrose-area resources step up support for vulnerable populations in LGBTQ community

Emma Whalen

June 01, 2020 |

Community Impact Newspaper |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Houston, Texas

The Montrose Center in Texas, which provides LGBTQ support services, has turned to the use of technology to keep resources available during the coronavirus pandemic. Virtual support groups have been one of their most successful innovations, with providers reporting that attendance at times has been higher than for in-person sessions.

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Why So Many Police Are Handling the Protests Wrong

Jamiles Lartey Maggie Koerth

June 01, 2020 |

The Marshall Project |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Half a century of research showing the dynamics of how protesters and police interact under pressure teaches that when police respond with escalating force, it doesn’t work. But police continue to lean on such tactics out of instinct and culture, even in the face of strong evidence that they often instigate the very riots they ostensibly seek to prevent. Defusing tension is no simple matter, and officer safety concerns are often legitimate. But much can be learned from common mistakes and from some model strategies that have been deployed successfully.

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How a City Once Consumed by Civil Unrest Has Kept Protests Peaceful

Tracey Tully Kevin Armstrong

June 01, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Newark, New Jersey

Through a combination of protesters’ vigilance, mayoral leadership, anti-violence interventions, and de-escalation by police, Newark managed to avoid the violence that marred other cities’ responses in the initial burst of protest after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd. Newark has worked in recent years to reduce street violence using trained mediators. That team, aided by a resolve among protesters to prevent widespread looting and vandalism, helped prevent all but minor problems and arrests in the first volatile weekend of protests.

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Thousands of Complaints Do Little to Change Police Ways

Shaila Dewan Serge Kovaleski

May 30, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Derek Chauvin's journey through the Minneapolis Police Department’s officer-disciplinary system illustrates the weaknesses of that system and the failure of efforts to fix it. Chauvin, the officer charged in the death of George Floyd, survived at least 17 misconduct complaints before he was fired for killing Floyd by kneeling on his neck. Critics charge the department never complied with recommendations by federal analysts to improve the tracking and disciplining of problem officers. That and other administrative failures are coupled with political and cultural barriers to neuter many reform ideas.

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'We're Not Optional': Aid Organizations at the Border Adapt to the Pandemic

Megan Janetsky

May 28, 2020 |

Sojourners |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Mexico, Tijuana

To continue serving tens of thousands of refugees stuck at the U.S.-Mexico border during the pandemic, shelters have collaborated on an improvised system to deliver food aid, emergency hotel accommodations, and legal aid via videoconferencing. The border buildup of recent months, a product of the “Remain in Mexico” asylum policy, became a far more complicated humanitarian mission thanks to COVID-19. After completely shutting down, some shelters are cautiously reopening with new protocols to serve a more socially-distanced clientele.

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