Tempe has become the first city in Maricopa County to align its police department’s use-of-force policies with a national campaign called Eight Can’t Wait.
The advocacy organization Campaign Zero has been urging police departments nationwide to adopt this set of eight policies since the death of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests last summer.
The goal is prevent civilian deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers. The eight policies include things like banning chokeholds and requiring officers to intervene when colleagues are getting too violent.
Over 300 cities nationwide have added some or all of these policies since last June, as protesters have increased demands for police reform. At Tempe's 2021 Martin Luther King Diversity Award Ceremony on Friday afternoon, Mayor Corey Woods called these eight policies commonsense solutions that support both citizens and police.