DeRay Mckesson on the 8 Reforms That Could Dramatically Reduce Police Violence
Civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson is relieved that, after the murder of George Floyd and a new wave of protests against police brutality, there’s renewed momentum behind the idea of reducing funding for police departments. But Mckesson says that goal, as laudable as it is, can’t be the only focus of police reform. “Police are still going to be here tomorrow,” he points out. Hence #8Can’tWait, a set of proposals aimed at reducing the use of force by police unveiled by Mckesson and the team at Campaign Zero on Wednesday.
Campaign Zero was formed in 2015 by a group of activists and researchers with the goal of collecting and publicizing police department data and practices in order to understand how to significantly reduce police violence. The research that led to 8 Can’t Wait also began in 2015 with what soon became the Police Use of Force Project—a numbers-driven, reader-friendly examination of the violent tactics that police departments in America’s 100 largest cities employ. The idea is that, if police departments adopt eight reforms of when and how they use force, the ensuing data shows a significant drop in killings—as much as 72% if all eight are followed. The policies are as follows:
Ban chokeholds and strangleholds
Require de-escalation
Require warning before shooting
Exhaust all other means before shooting
Duty to intervene and stop excessive force by other officers
Ban shooting at moving vehicles
Require use-of-force continuum
Require comprehensive reporting each time an officer uses forces or threatens to do so
When Campaign Zero began its research, cops were not very willing to disclose what they are or are not allowed to do to citizens. Mckesson’s hope is that at this moment when national attention is once again focused on police violence, normally skittish and unresponsive local governments might be compelled to take action. When you plug in your city on the 8 Can’t Wait website, you’ll see how the local police department is handling the eight reforms, and you’re given the contact information of your mayor or sheriff.
https://www.gq.com/story/deray-mckesson-interview-8-cant-wait?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=spotlight-nl&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_mailing=thematic_spotlight_060320&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9f8cb24c17c6adf0e5d24&cndid=25394153&esrc=Thematic%20Business&sourcecode=thematic_spotlight&utm_content=D&utm_term=Thematic_Spotlight