US citizens lead the way in police reform

April 13 2021

From the article: "...Community efforts have existed for generations, and modernising the roughly 18,000 individual police departments in the US is a messy, fragmented and difficult task. But policing experts say that efforts now go beyond addressing tactics — such as banning choke holds.

“There is a deeper questioning around not just resources and tactics but in asking ‘What are we trying to accomplish?’” said Tracie Keesee, who spent 25 years as a police officer in Denver before co-founding the Center for Policing Equity. “People are genuinely trying to do something new.”

Keesee sees civilians making progress in places such as Ithaca, New York, where she worked with the mayor’s office that recommended the replacement of the police department with a “community solutions” public safety agency — an idea rejected by the local police union. She also cited a move in Austin, Texas, to cut the police budget by a third and use some of that money to address social issues such as homelessness..."

By Brad Brooks

Continue reading the article on BusinessDay.