Law Enforcement Reform

  • The ACLU has a Community Action Manual for fighting police abuse. Some recommended actions include:
    • Demanding information about police practices is an important part of the struggle to establish police accountability.
    • A campaign to establish a civilian review agency, or to strengthen an already existing agency
    • Demanding police departments publish data on police shootings
      • An alternative to releasing officer names is to request each officer be given a code number, so that individuals can still be tracked.
    • Demand police departments adopt and enforce a written policy governing the use of physical force. 
    • Lobby for State Legislation
      • The ACLU’s affiliates in Southern California, Northern California and San Diego developed a model state law to address the problem of police abuse. Their proposed legislation includes the following —
        • Establishing an Office of the Special Police Prosecutor to prosecute cases of police abuse. Independent prosecutors are needed because conventional city and county prosecutors are reluctant to bring charges against the same police officers they rely on for evidence in other criminal cases;
        • Establishing state-mandated civilian police review boards for local police;
        • Breaking the “code of silence” by making it a crime for a police officer to fail to report criminal wrongdoing by another officer. This provision would also protect a reporting officer from retaliation;
        • Requiring statewide data collection on police abuse and misconduct;
        • Restricting the use of force and “pain compliance” techniques;
        • Breaking down the wall of secrecy that shields complaints of police misconduct and most complaint investigative processes from public scrutiny and oversight.
    • Suggested Contacts: