ALEXANDER ANNOUNCES COMMUNITY POLICING PLATFORM

(Galloway) Tim Alexander, the Democratic candidate for Congress, announced his community policing platform today.

“As a former law enforcement officer and as an African-American, supporting our police and alleviating concerns in minority communities are not mutually exclusive,” said Alexander. “While Jeff Van Drew wants to exploit these issues to divide Americans, my goal is to improve relationships between law enforcement and communities they serve, so everyone feels safer in our society.”

Alexander’s community policing platform includes:

• Convene regular meetings with law enforcement executives and police chiefs across the Second District to tackle the gun violence epidemic, particularly in disproportionately impacted communities.
• Reallocate current federal law enforcement funding for a pilot program to embed mental health professionals and social workers with our emergency responder system to handle mental health and drug addiction emergencies that do not require police response.
• Remove the malice requirement from qualified immunity at a minimum, thereby ensuring that the actions of a few bad officers do not tarnish the entire profession.
• Provide financial incentives for police departments that hire police officers who can identify with the communities they serve. This would include a new program requiring prospective law enforcement officers to provide a year of community service in the community they want to serve before being eligible in a law enforcement capacity.
• Expanded safe community initiatives and other anti-crime programs to make it easier for law enforcement to interact with the communities resulting in improved efficiency and better relationships.
• Expand police training to incorporate cultural awareness and enhanced use of force training.

“Regardless of zip code, everyone in South Jersey deserves to live in a clean and safe neighborhood. As your Congressman, I will work daily to ensure that police and communities they serve are treated with mutual respect and dignity.”

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