Media Coverage

Hans Menos, the Vice President of the Triage Response Team at the Center for Policing Equity, joined Don Lemon Tonight to discuss how violence is more likely to occur in places with less opportunities, more depression, more racism, and more oppression. During the panel, Menos spoke about how gun access, poverty, and crime are interlinked to police brutality. He also argues we should think of alternative responses like balance interruptive programs instead of only calling in the police to address crime. From the coverage: “ There are balance (ph) interruptive programs. There’s a lot of programs that can think about this way upstream and far less of a punitive response that says, well, we’re going to put police officers there. And ideally, those police officers will either use their handguns or use their handcuffs to address this problem. We’re really beyond that. I think we need to start thinking about […]

In a conversation with MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross, Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, the CEO of the Center for Policing Equity, discussed how the recent Supreme Court decision to limit Miranda rights will disproportionately impact Black and Brown individuals. He highlighted the historical context of the right to sue law enforcement, which was established in 1871 during the Reconstruction era through the Ku Klux Klan Act. This act enabled Black Americans to hold police officers accountable for voting rights and abuse, protecting them from racial terrorism. Dr. Goff emphasized the importance of individuals understanding their rights and recognizing whether they are being detained or free to go. He also encouraged people to organize outside of electoral politics and protest against this Supreme Court ruling. From the coverage: “Miranda rights are designed to make sure we are aware of your fifth and sixth amendment rights. Your right to not incriminate yourself and your

St. Louis Post Dispatch featured and analyzed the Center for Policing Equity’s report, which found police workload unequal across St. Louis and recommended that St. Louis PD rearrange office assignments to cover understaffed areas of the city. Hans Menos, the Vice President of CPE’s Triage Response Team, was quoted as saying that the St. Louis community was concerned about officer assignments and workload. CPE was also able to create a civilian response by identifying 19 call categories where community service officers could help out unarmed civilians instead of police.  From the coverage: “ St. Louis police have been understaffed in districts covering downtown and large parts of North St. Louis compared with other areas of the city, a nonprofit-funded analysis found. The Center for Policing Equity, a nonprofit focused on partnering with public safety agencies to help spur reform, commissioned a review of five years of St. Louis police workload

Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, the CEO of the Center for Policing Equity, joined Melissa Harris-Perry in an interview on NPR’s episode titled “Policymakers Are Twisting ‘Defund the Police’ into ‘Refund the Police,’” to discuss police funding and accountability. Dr. Goff emphasized the need to reconsider the role of police as first responders to major crises they are not adequately trained to handle. He argued that a lack of investment in policing and punishment would have negative consequences in vulnerable communities. Additionally, he highlighted the challenge of identifying what violence looks like in different communities. From the coverage: “The problem, of course, is if we keep sending law enforcement to the places where we fail to send care, there are always going to be those moments, those “mistakes” where people are dying, where people are experiencing brutality from the state after they’ve failed to receive any care from it. That’s not

Hans Menos, the Vice President of the Center for Policing Equity’s Triage Response Team, spoke on C-Span about the role of police in public safety. He stated that police departments should prioritize providing adequate training and resources rather than just focusing on the volume of officers. Menos expressed his endorsement of the idea of making a more profound impact on communities by deploying members from the youth development and parks and recreation fields to actively address those issues. From the coverage: “CPE is a research and action center. We understand that we can use data as a leverage for social change the same way attorneys might use law for social change or other forms use funding. We use data and that is at the heart of a lot our issues that go toward public safety.” Continue watching at C-span.org.

Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, the CEO of the Center for Policing Equity, discussed in NPR’s Weekend Edition episode titled “In Baltimore’s streets, interrupters face danger to stop a cycle of violence,” the need to reduce the reliance on police to solve every problem and instead explore alternative solutions. He highlighted the effectiveness of violence interruption in reducing violence, but also acknowledged the challenge of studying its impact. From the coverage: “[From Transcript] Phillip Goff: ‘There are places where we use police to deal with the problems we should use almost anything else to solve. And I don’t think we solve problems with punishment when their real cure is care.’”  Read the transcript at NPR.org.

Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, the CEO of the Center for Policing Equity, discussed in NPR’s Weekend Edition episode titled “In Baltimore’s streets, interrupters face danger to stop a cycle of violence,” the need to reduce the reliance on police to solve every problem and instead explore alternative solutions. He highlighted the effectiveness of violence interruption in reducing violence, but also acknowledged the challenge of studying its impact. From the coverage: “[From Transcript] Phillip Goff: ‘There are places where we use police to deal with the problems we should use almost anything else to solve. And I don’t think we solve problems with punishment when their real cure is care.’”  Read the transcript at NPR.org.

From the article: “As outside advisors to the group since its early days, the Vera Institute of Justice and the Center for Policing Equity respectively have watched this group develop a holistic set of approaches based on extensive research on what works both locally and across the country. And although the Department of Public Safety unfortunately removed itself from the process, these recommendations are now uniquely centered on the feedback from the community organizations and government agencies.”  By Tracie Keesee and Daniela Gilbert Continue reading the article on Coloradosun.com.

From the article: “In a 2016 report, the Center for Policing Equity, a research group, studied use-of-force data – from fatal police shootings to physical encounters – for a dozen police departments and found stark racial disparities. The report found that the average use-of-force rate for Black people was 2.5 times higher than the overall rate and 3.6 times the rate for White people.” Continue reading the article on Phillytrib.com.

From the article: “While many may be wary of the police and candidates with law enforcement backgrounds, Chris Burbank, former police chief of Salt Lake City and current vice president of law enforcement strategy for the Center for Policing Equity, said in an interview with AP that  “it’s a mistake to give police chiefs too much credit or blame for crime rates when the state of the economy, poverty, health care access and jobs have a much bigger impact.” Continue reading the article on Thecrimereport.org.