Safe Streets & Secure Neighborhoods

The men and women who serve our country as police officers deserve our full gratitude and respect. For decades, the work of our police forces is commendable in protecting families and keeping communities safe. However, the recent killings of George Floyd, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin highlight an increasing number of Americans – especially African Americans – dying at the hands of police brutality and racially motivated violence. Moreover, local and federal governments alike have failed to make sufficient investments in creating a strong American social fabric.

We must reduce the use of excessive force, ensure greater police accountability, and strengthen the bonds of trust between communities and law enforcement. That means:

Fully funding our police force.
Rooting out problematic officers.
Passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in Congress.
Implementing community-based policing.
Universal body cameras for police officers.
Mandating de-escalation training & work shift sleep requirements.
Improving the mental and physical wellness of police officers.
Investing in more deterrent measures at schools like cameras and metal detectors to strengthen security at schools.
Banning fatal choke holds.
Investing in state-of-the-art law enforcement training programs.
Strengthening trust between communities and law enforcement.
Doubling the funding of firefighters & other social services.
Hiring more and raising the pay of 911-call operators.
- Providing mental health services to officers & operators.
- Nationally classifying call dispatchers as first responders.

Criminal Justice Reform

When the United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population but over 25 percent of the total prison population, and more Black and brown men in prisons than were enslaved in 1850 – and wasting nearly $300 billion each year on a system that doesn’t adequately correct criminals or make our everyday lives any safer – it is time we make deep, structural, and long-term investments to rebuild the communities decimated by crime, prevent the conditions that lead to arrest, rehabilitate those who have made mistakes, and usher in a new era of public safety. We ought to have a system that prevents crime, rather than merely punish it. We must:

Ban for-profit prisons and detention centers.
Restore the voting rights of non-violent former inmates who have already served their time.
End the profiteering of our criminal justice system.
Improve mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
Reduce the prison population via alternative detention such as house arrest, probation, restitution, and community service.
Ban minors from being sentenced to solitary confinement.
Stop racial profiling.
Prioritize treatment and rehabilitation for low-level offenses.
Reform the juvenile justice system.
Invest in public defenders and other legal aid programs to guarantee defendants’ access to quality counsel.
Connect former inmates to economic opportunities.
Dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.
Minimize recidivism through prison programs.
Focus on rehabilitation, reintegration, and redemption.

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