Month: August 2024

States approved nearly 300 bills affecting policing in wake of George Floyd’s murder – CNS Maryland

Governors approved nearly 300 police reform bills after Floyd’s May 2020 killing in Minneapolis, according to an analysis of data from the National Conference of State Legislatures by the Howard Center.
— Read on cnsmaryland.org/2022/10/28/states-approved-nearly-300-bills-affecting-policing-in-wake-of-george-floyds-murder/

Do Civilian Review Boards Work? in Governing

In Brief:
In the wake of 2020, states and localities created a number of new civilian police accountability boards to meet widespread demand for transparency.

Civilian boards have limited power, and despite community members’ attempts to change that, law enforcement and legislators are increasingly aligned. In states like Florida and Tennessee, legislators have all but banned civilian boards from being created or from operating.

However, advocates for police reform continue to push for what they see as a necessary phase of accountability, encouraging legislators to develop a civilian-led oversight agency that has both power and independence
— Read on www.governing.com/workforce/do-civilian-review-boards-work

“You Have to Move!”: The Cruel and Ineffective Criminalization of Unhoused People in Los Angeles | HRW

The 337-page report, “‘You Have to Move!’ The Cruel and Ineffective Criminalization of Unhoused People in Los Angeles,” documents the experiences of people living on the streets and in vehicles, temporary shelters, and parks in Los Angeles, as they struggle to survive while facing criminalization and governmental failures to prioritize eviction prevention or access to permanent housing. Law enforcement and sanitation “sweeps” force unhoused people out of public view, often wasting resources on temporary shelter and punishments that do not address the underlying needs. Tens of thousands of people are living in the streets of Los Angeles; death rates among the unhoused have skyrocketed.
— Read on www.hrw.org/report/2024/08/14/you-have-move/cruel-and-ineffective-criminalization-unhoused-people-los-angeles

Get the report HERE