For those who are interested in research-based solutions to stop police violence, here’s what you need to know – based on the facts and data. A thread. (1/x)
2. There is no evidence that better police training programs or “implicit bias” training changes police behavior. The trainings vary in quality and rarely result in any accountability/changes in decision-making. Don’t put this at the top of your agenda. Next, what works…
4. Demilitarization. Police depts that get more military weapons from the federal govt kill more people. You can stop that from happening through local and state policy. Montana (Red state) has gone the furthest on this. Your state can and should follow. https://t.co/floKC4GaIa
6. Predictive policing on the police. Yes, use the technology against them. Data on use of force, complaints & lawsuits can be used to identify officers who most likely to shoot someone next and prevent it from happening. Use the methodology to save lives. https://t.co/sYq5gWSsZfpic.twitter.com/jKvl3YQP37
8. Establish non-police alternatives to 911 calls involving people with mental illness. For example, 1 in 5 of the 911 calls in Eugene, OR are diverted to mental health first responders instead of police to respond. A success being scaled in Portland. https://t.co/YQ7NZTTHrk
10. Know change is not only possible, it’s already happened in some places. Oakland police shot 8 people on avg each year 5 yrs ago and, after these interventions were implemented, they had 0 shootings this yr, 1 last yr (the officers were fired) and 0 the yr before. Lives saved.
12. And if you don’t have time to read the research right now, we’ve presented most of this research in rapid succession in this video: https://t.co/KyUhPUvPfA
4. Track every research study published on the subject over the past five years and evaluate for quality 5. Meticulously catalogue the findings so they can be broadly accessible
And all that with little to no funding. Next up: evaluating the 1,000 largest police depts in the US.