TAMPA, Fla. — Have you seen #8CantWait trending?
Police reform activists Campaign Zero created it but it means much more than just a number. 8 Can’t Wait is a database that tracks major cities’ use of eight policies they say are proven to curtail police violence.
The policies include:
1. Banning chokeholds and strangleholds
2. Requiring de-escalation
3. Requiring warning before shooting
4. Exhausting all alternatives before shooting
5. Duty to intervene
6. Banning shooting at moving vehicles
7. Requiring officers to stop another from using excessive force
8. Requiring comprehensive reporting of use of force
Campaign Zero says these eight policies don't need to be approved by Congress or require an executive order to pass them. Instead, it's city mayors that have the power to implement them.
How effective are these eight policies? According to the 2016 Campaign Zero study, it shows together the eight policies can decrease police violence by 72 percent. The study also says when police departments exhaust all alternatives before shooting they are 25 percent less likely to use deadly force.
And, when police departments have to be accountable and require all use of force be reported they are also 25 percent less likely to use deadly force.
They say banning chokeholds reduces deadly force by 22 percent, establishing the use of force continuum reduces it by 19 percent, requiring de-escalation reduces it by 15 percent, duty to intervene decreases it by 9 percent, banning shooting at moving vehicles decreases it by 8 percent and warning before shooting decreases deadly force by 5 percent.
The #8cantwait project is inspiring change. So far, Pittsburgh’s mayor says they support it and have already implemented many of these policies.
And, two Los Angeles County supervisors have called to adopt the policies as well. On Friday, Minneapolis also agreed to ban all chokeholds by police and require by standing officers to stop them.
The 8 Can’t Wait project based its numbers from four years ago. Back in 2016, it states police killed more 600 people in America in the first half of the year.
The police department with the most deaths was Orlando. Tampa ranked 27th, Miami 32nd, Jacksonville 33rd and St. Petersburg 82.
What other people are reading right now:
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