In a year wrought with heartache and loss, tomorrow, Tuesday, May 25, 2021 stands out, as it marks one year since the murder of George Floyd at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. With just weeks until Chauvin faces sentencing, it is important to remember that this time last year, while America was grappling with the early stages of the Coronavirus, our Black community was facing two pandemics - COVID-19 and anti-Black racism.
UpdatedWed, May 19, 2021 at 6:29 pm PT
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SPD officers block a street on July 1, 2020 in Seattle. (David Ryder/Getty Images)
OLYMPIA, WA Following the mass protests last summer and a national reckoning with police violence and systemic racism in America, Washington has now passed a dozen new bills aiming to increase police accountability in the Evergreen state.
Gov. Jay Inslee visited the Eastside Community Center in Tacoma Tuesday, where he signed all 12 pieces of legislation into law. The crises of the past year have unmasked long-standing inequities in our society. The consciousness of our state and nation has been raised against inequity in many forms, Inslee said. Our moral mandate to acknowledge these hard truths crystallized in the fallout from the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, and the killing of Manny Ellis in Tacoma. The bills I am signing today respect these truths and lay a solid foundation to halt inequity s pernicious influence in our systems of go
Ending overpolicing will take broad systemic change, which requires broad community engagement and bold leadership from our elected officials and community leaders.
Last Tuesday, former police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty in a court of law for the murder of George Floyd; guilty of all three charges: second degree murder, third degree murder, and second degree manslaughter. This verdict is one small victory, one that holds Derek Chauvin accountable under the lawand may provide some peace to the Floyd family and our Black community, but it is not justice. Justice is George Floyd alive with a future. Justice is ending overpolicing and violence against Black, Indigenous, (and) People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Justice is when Black Lives Matter, every day in America. Our hearts are with the Floyd family and the Black community today, as we pledge to fight on for justice. If you didn’t get chance to read The Center’s full statement, it can be read here.
Officers making an arrest [BE file]
Amid changes to policing across the country, the Oakland City Council is set to approve a pilot program where 911 operators will direct trained civilians to handle mental health calls.
The Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland (MACRO) will be implemented in the East Oakland Area and will run as a police free operation within the Oakland Fire Department. Two person teams of emergency medical technicians and trained community members will handle mental health calls and low level 911 calls. Those include public urination, erratic behavior, and welfare checks.
According to Yahoo News, the final details are being worked out between the fire department and stakeholders.
A lawyer for the city’s police union dismissed claims that his client used confidential labor negotiations to obstruct police reform as “nonsense.”
Officers from the Oakland Police Department and Alameda County Sheriff’s Office formed a line to keep protesters away from the city’s police headquarters. (Courthouse News photo / Nicholas Iovino)
OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) The city of Oakland refuses to disclose records that could show if it’s been holding secret meetings with a police union on policy issues that are supposed to debated in public, a police accountability group claims in a new lawsuit.
The Coalition for Police Accountability and its coordinator Rashidah Grinage sued the city in Alameda County Superior Court on Thursday for failing to release records on meet-and-confer sessions with Oakland’s police union last year. The meetings were being held as the city was crafting a 2020 ballot measure aimed at strengthening the powers of Oakland’s police commission, a