Black Clergy, Black Civil Rights Leaders and Black Law Makers Announce Hearings Regarding Use of Force by Police
Black Clergy, Black Civil Rights Leaders and Black Law Makers Announce Hearings Regarding Use of Force by Police
Join us March 7, 2019 as Salvation and Social Justice and The NJ Black Multi-faith Alliance, in conjunction with the State Conference NAACP, the NJ Black Legislative Caucus and various organizations from the United Black Agenda will hold a press conference to announce community hearings regarding the disturbing findings in the Force Report (https://force.nj.com). According to an analysis of five years of police use-of-force data from every department in the state Black people were three times more likely to be punched, kicked, pepper sprayed, struck with a baton and attacked by a dog in police use of force situations and more than twice as likely to be shot. Very few departments analyze racial profiling. Of the more than 4,600 uses of force against people under 18, slightly more than half the subjects were Black, though they represent only 14.5 percent of the child population in New Jersey.
We will discuss eliminating the shameful disproportionate use of force against African American people by New Jersey law enforcement by:
- Implementing community oversight of local police departments;
- Unifying reporting standards and systems; requiring culturally competent implicit bias and psychological analysis and de-escalation training, and expanding auditing measures to ensure the training is effectively implemented;
- Removing officers who violate the civil rights of African Americans or demonstrate bias;
- Mandating in-car and body-worn cameras—in conjunction with effective policies, training, and implementation—and the public release of footage;
- Requiring a five-year residency requirement for all law enforcement;
- Developing a truth and reconciliation process to faithfully deal with the history and evidence of abuse.
WHERE: Room 103 across from the Senate Chambers at the NJ Statehouse
WHEN: March 7th 12PM
SPEAKERS: Sen. Ronald Rice, Sen. Nia Gill, Asw. Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Asm. Jamel Holly, Asw. Britnee Timberlake, Asw. Shavonda Sumter, Richard Smith, Ryan Haygood, Rev. Timothy Levi Adkins- Jones.
