How These Cities Are Breaking Up the Work of Police Departments As the country reassesses its relationship with law enforcement, Ithaca, New York; Berkeley and Oakland, California; and Austin, Texas, are defunding, replacing, or reducing the scope of their police departments. Eoin Higgins
How The Twin Cities Mayors Diverge on Policing and Race While Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey faces scrutiny over policing and racial equity issues, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter has helped his city achieve progressive milestones, say lawmakers and advocates. Cinnamon Janzer
Ed Gainey Wins Democratic Nomination for Pittsburgh Mayor The state representative will almost certainly be the city’s first Black mayor, and his victory follows a year of nationwide social upheaval over police and racial justice issues. Joshua Vaughn
How Policing Is Shaping the Pittsburgh Mayoral Race Incumbent Bill Peduto’s policing record is under scrutiny after protests last summer. He is facing what may be his most competitive race yet. Joshua Vaughn
Sheila Nezhad Says Police Are Not the Path to Public Safety in Minneapolis Nezhad, a community organizer, is seeking to unseat incumbent Jacob Frey on a platform of transforming public safety without police, providing housing for all, and addressing poverty through direct economic support. Joshua Vaughn
Minneapolis Activists Could Put Police Reform Directly on the Ballot Yes 4 Minneapolis, a coalition of advocacy organizations, is on track to place a proposed charter amendment on November’s ballot that would fundamentally change policing and public safety in the city. Joshua Vaughn
The Dissenter Former Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson’s fiery dissents on mass incarceration and sentencing in America’s most carceral state garnered international attention. But the rise of the first Black woman on the court was characterized by one battle after another with the Deep South’s white power structure. Elon Green
How George Floyd’s Death Is Pushing Minneapolis to Rethink Public Safety The police killing has accelerated a years-long effort by advocates and lawmakers to shift resources and money away from law enforcement. Joshua Vaughn
New Videos Show Massachusetts Cops Brutalizing George Floyd Protesters Over two nights last year, police in Boston and Worcester used excessive force—including pushing and tackling—while arbitrarily arresting protesters without apparent cause. Eoin Higgins
Boston Mayor Vetoes Restrictions on Police Force Against Protesters Despite Controversial Body Camera Video ‘It’s an insult to the activism and organizing that defined 2020, and falls far short of the transformational leadership that Boston deserves,’ one City Council member said. Eoin Higgins
Bodycam Video Shows ‘Mob Mentality’ Of Boston Police Who Responded To George Floyd Protests, Lawyer Says Hours of video given exclusively to The Appeal show police officers bragging about attacking protesters and multiple instances of excessive force and the liberal use of pepper spray. Eoin Higgins
Philadelphia Teacher Faces 65 Years In Prison After Another Person Torched A Police Car During A Protest U.S Attorney William McSwain denies he’s targeted the social justice leader, but experts say prosecutors’ use of the man’s clothing and social media to argue that he should be detained pretrial is unusual. Rachel M. Cohen
For a Glimpse of the Racial Justice Protests’ Staying Power, Look To Detroit Under the banner of Detroit Will Breathe, the city’s Black Lives Matter activists have formed a cohesive and lasting local political force. Chris Gelardi
The Minneapolis City Council’s Attempt To Defund the Police Was Thwarted By An Unelected Charter Commission Contrary to reports, most City Council members—who ran and won by pledging to advance racial equity—tried to do the right thing, but were stalled by a charter commission that overstepped its authority. Scott Shaffer
How Protests Over Police Violence Are Changing A City Where Officers Kill With Near-Impunity As protests against racism and police violence were sweeping the country, a Vallejo, California detective shot and killed Sean Monterrosa. His death has galvanized a community. John Glidden
Prosecutors Are Using Gang Laws To Criminalize Protest Prosecutors in states ranging from New York to Utah are using decades-old gang laws to target participants in the largest uprising against police brutality in U.S. history. Ali Winston
To Cut Police Budgets, Start in Public Schools The presence of police in schools is emblematic of America’s carceral approach to governing. Aaron Stagoff-Belfort
Seattle Mayor Known As ‘Tear Gas Jenny’ For Police Treatment Of Protesters Has Troubled History As A Federal Prosecutor As U.S. attorney in Seattle, Durkan prosecuted a severely mentally ill man in a terrorism case using an informant convicted of child sex abuse—and claimed to have reformed the same Seattle Police Department that has tear-gassed peaceful protesters for weeks. Jerry Iannelli
In This Moment Of Reckoning Around Police Violence, Don’t Forget The Unseen Abuses Of People Who Are Incarcerated Excessive force against people being arrested, falsification of evidence against suspects, and brutality by guards against prisoners — these are all just different forms of the same problem. Vernon Horn
Reimagining A Future With Less Policing Means Asking Tough Questions About the Powers We Assign To Law Enforcement As criminal justice reformers take steps to defund police departments and limit qualified immunity, it’s important to consider the role of universal and special duties in policing. Eric Kennedy
‘No Cop Money’ Pledge Should Extend To Consultants And Law Enforcement Super PACs Law enforcement super PACs are spending big money on district attorney races and local elections from California to New York—and respected Democratic consulting firms are helping them. Adam Eichen, Andrew Perez
Law Schools’ Complicity On Racism Must Be Challenged This historical moment is crying out for a re-examination of our institutions, and law schools are no exception. Tyler Ambrose, Zarinah Mustafa, Sherin Nassar
Legal Experts Question Use Of Federal Law To Prosecute Torching Of Empty NYPD Patrol Car During Protests Federal prosecutors argue that damaging a police vehicle is a violation of federal statutes in part because the police department receives federal funding. Former prosecutors and law professors say it’s an absurd rationale driven by politics of the Justice Department. Jerry Iannelli
Protesters Say Hamilton County Sheriff Held Them Overnight Without Food, Water, Bathrooms Two people, arrested and detained in Cincinnati after protesting the police killing of George Floyd, recall being held at the jail, outside, for hours. Caleb Brennan
American Democracy Cannot Breathe Yes, we must radically transform policing in America. But we cannot stop there. We must transform the pervasive systems of economic and carceral injustice that are choking our common life. William J. Barber II, Saru Jayaraman
U.N. to Hold Debate On U.S. Police Violence After families of people killed by police asked the organization to investigate racist American policing, 54 African nations called for a debate on the treatment of Black Americans. The debate will happen today. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
The NYPD ‘Cancelled’ Police Court Appearances, Leaving People to Sit in Jail Memos obtained by The Appeal and anecdotes from public defenders reveal how, for a week during protests over police brutality, the NYPD stalled cases by directing officers not to testify in court. Chris Gelardi
Houston Police Chief’s Speeches Supporting Protesters Were Widely Circulated—But Video Proves His Officers Cracked Down on Them Videos contradict officers’ claims that they didn’t ‘kettle’ protesters. Jerry Iannelli
The Camden Police Department Is Not A Model For Policing In The Post-George Floyd Era The New Jersey department received slavish media praise after it was disbanded and reoriented toward community policing. But behind the reformist mask was an embrace of surveillance and broken windows policing. Brendan McQuade
George Floyd’s Death Puts Spotlight On Controversial Syndrome Called ‘Excited Delirium’ Coroners and police departments have cited the condition in cases across the country, often clearing officers of wrongdoing when people die in their custody. In Floyd’s case, experts say, the diagnosis is irrelevant to his death. Tana Ganeva
Police Killings Bring Out Tensions Within The Labor Movement Some unions and labor activists are calling for the AFL-CIO to expel police unions. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Minneapolis City Council Members Announce Intent To Disband The Police Department, Invest In Proven Community-Led Public Safety The move follows the police killing of George Floyd and more than a week of uprisings, where hundreds of thousands of people around the world have protested against police violence, and abusive police responses to the protests. Jay Willis
Police Departments Have Failed Black And Latinx Communities. It Will Take Deliberate Work To Earn Back Their Trust. The use of excessive force against nonwhite communities and people protesting police brutality is further eroding public confidence in policing. Ellison Berryhill
L.A. Mayor’s Reaction to Protests Proves He’s Unfit to Govern This weekend’s string of errors is just the latest in his career of cruelty. Jonny Coleman
Too Little Has Changed About American Policing In the Last Few Decades. It’s Time For Something Different. The killing of George Floyd demonstrates that incremental police reforms are insufficient in the absence of a comprehensive plan to transform law enforcement and its stated purpose. David A. Love
Federal Bureau of Prisons Locks Down Prisoners and Takes Away Communications Amid Protests After protests broke out in several cities in response to George Floyd’s death, the agency ordered the first nationwide lockdown in 25 years. Lauren Gill
For Trump, There Is No Policing Without Violence A president who openly endorses police brutality struggles with a nation rejecting it. Jay Willis
No More ‘COPS’ Under the HEROES Act, the Community Oriented Policing Services program would receive $300 million to fund the hiring of more police. Democratic and Republican leaders alike remain committed to the ideology of increased funding, even under the guise of reform. Ross Barkan
Mississippi Attorney General Won’t Pursue Case Against White Officer for Killing Black Man Canyon Boykin was charged with manslaughter for shooting and killing Ricky Ball during a traffic stop in 2015. Ko Bragg
Defund the Police Now More training, more equipment, and more officers will not stop police from killing Black people. Justin Brooks
Coronavirus In Jails and Prisons Despite early warnings, jails and prisons have seen a rapid spread of the virus—a humanitarian disaster that puts all of our communities, and lives, at risk. Every day, The Appeal examines the scale of the crisis, numbers of infected and dead, around the nation. Kelly Davis
