Where Housing, Not Jails, Is the Answer to Homelessness

Sarah McClure

November 09, 2020 |

70 Million |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

Even while Los Angeles police criminalize homelessness with "sweeps" to clear encampments from public property, state and local programs have helped thousands of people find housing and receive services like counseling and criminal record expungement. Programs like LA DOOR and Project Roomkey use public-health and housing-first approaches to address people's underlying problems rather than subject them to endless cycles of arrest and incarceration, all of which cost far more than the helpful strategies while remaining far less effective. Street outreach is done without police escorts, to build trust.

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N.Y.P.D. Will No Longer Force Women to Remove Hijabs for Mug Shots

Alan Feuer

November 09, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Two Muslim women arrested on minor charges and forced to remove their hijabs for mugshots sued the New York Police Department and won a settlement that changes the department's policy. The women said they were humiliated and shamed by having to bare their heads in front of male strangers, which is against their religious teachings. The NYPD agreed to allow religious head coverings in booking photographs under most circumstances. The NYPD had attempted to modify its photo practices in the past, but had not officially changed its main policy manual, which it will do now.

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Los Angeles voters just delivered a huge win for the defund the police movement

Roge Karma

November 04, 2020 |

Vox |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

By framing their police-reform proposal as an investment in community services rather than a bid to take money away from policing, the Re-Imagine L.A. County coalition of racial and criminal justice advocacy groups won voter approval for what could be the most significant realignment of public safety spending since the 2020 policing protests began. Los Angeles County voters approved Measure J, which mandates that the county allocate 10% of its $8.8 billion discretionary local budget to "direct community investment," and not to law enforcement. The Sheriff's Department accounts for $2 billion of that budget.

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Joe Biden Should Stop Bragging About the Violence Against Women Act

Elizabeth Nolan Brown

October 29, 2020 |

Reason |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The Violence Against Women Act was billed as a way to make a patriarchal society, and policing profession in particular, take domestic violence more seriously. It encouraged policies making arrest of alleged abusers mandatory, even to the point of punishing victims who refused to cooperate in prosecutions. This has backfired on many victims, especially women of color who distrust police and their punitive approaches to solving family problems. The law also prioritizes punitive approaches in its awarding of federal grants, thus denying victim aid to women who do not wish to cooperate with arrests.

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#EndSARS: Inside Nigeria's Fight to End Police Brutality

Innocent Eteng

October 29, 2020 |

Yes! Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Nigeria, Lagos

Modeled in part on America's Black Lives Matter protest movement, Nigerian protests against brutality and extortion committed by the police have in a brief time attracted uncommon levels of support across ethnic and religious lines. The government responded by disbanding the primary focus of the protests, its notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), and made other concessions. Protesters say these steps, while welcomed, might easily be undercut by government intransigence. So they have vowed to continue pressing for reform of the Nigeria Police Force.

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Philly police rebuffed offers from crisis response center to work together, director says

Michaela Winberg Max Marin

October 29, 2020 |

Billy Penn |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Since early 2019, a mental-health crisis response center, the West Philadelphia Consortium, has worked to get the police to call in the consortium's mobile crisis team to de-escalate crises and get people into treatment. In more than 1,200 cases in 2019, police made only six arrests and no one died. After police shot and killed Walter Wallace, Jr., during a mental-health crisis, the consortium revealed that it had worked with Wallace but wasn't called for help when police were summoned to his home. The consortium seeks to formalize its relationship with the police department to prevent more violence.

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Decades of Data Suggest Racial Profiling is Getting Worse, Not Better

Mike Sherry Mary Sanchez

October 28, 2020 |

Flatland |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Missouri

In 2000, Missouri passed one of the nation's first and most comprehensive laws aimed at ending racial profiling by police in traffic stops. But racial disparities have grown worse since then, with Black drivers far more likely than white drivers to be stopped and searched. The law relies on data collection to air the problem, which in turn was supposed to spur more reforms. But the state's lackluster efforts to enforce the law and lack of follow through on other reforms has turned the annual data gathering into "little more than exercises in futility."

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Police de-escalation training gaining renewed clout as law enforcement seeks to reduce killings

Tom Jackman Dan Morse

October 27, 2020 |

The Washington Post |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Louisville, Kentucky

A de-escalation training program from the Police Executive Research Forum, used by 85 police agencies already, was shown in Louisville to reduce police officers' use of force by 28%. The training resulted in 26% fewer injuries to residents, and an even larger drop in injured officers. The training focuses on incidents where the person is not armed with a gun but often is in a mental-health crisis. Contrary to traditional training that emphasizes command-and-control tactics with escalating shows of force, PERF's approach teaches officers to slow and calm the situation in ways that can avoid a shooting.

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Booking homeless Portlanders into jail is endless, expensive cycle that arrests don't curb, but housing does

Molly Harbarger Melissa Lewis

October 25, 2020 |

The Oregonian |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

Temporary housing providing drug treatment and other services to people experiencing homelessness appears to cut the chances that people arrested in Portland on minor charges will cycle repeatedly through the criminal justice system. In 2019, 250 people living in transitional housing were booked into jail, versus nearly 3,700 people still living on the streets. The rearrest rate for people living on the street is 87%, but 30 points lower for people with housing. Portland officials have been slow to provide alternatives to arrests and jail since a report in 2017 that most arrestees in Portland are homeless.

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Nigerians don't trust the government to respond to emergency calls. So they created apps instead.

Innocent Chizaram Ilo

October 24, 2020 |

Rest of World |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Nigeria

Fearful and distrustful of corrupt and abusive police forces, Nigerians by the thousands have downloaded locally developed mobile apps like Sety and Aabo to call friends for help during abductions or other emergencies. These first-responder apps feature panic buttons that alert contacts or people nearby during an emergency. The app makers do not share usage data, but users say they feel safer by having such apps available if they are harassed by the police or in need of protection from an attack.

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