To: Tom Bates, Mayor, Darryl Moore, Councilmember, Susan Wengraf, Councilmember, Laurie Capitelli, Councilmember, and Lori Droste, Councilmember
No Ferguson in Berkeley! Hold police accountable for abusive behavior, and end Berkeley's modern-...
Mayor Bates and City Council members, take action now to address racially abusive policing and other racial inequities in Berkeley, support the rights of peaceful protesters, increase police accountability, and stop the militarization of the police force!
Why is this important?
There is a pervasive pattern of racially abusive policing and profiling in Berkeley, as well as many other forms of racial inequality. On December 6, a peaceful gathering protesting police abuses nationwide was teargassed, pepper-sprayed, shot with projectiles, and beaten with batons. Mayor Bates and the City Council majority continue to put off addressing these long-term issues in a meaningful way and have postponed consideration of Councilmember Arreguin's proposals twice in the last month. The next City Council meeting is February 10, and we want Mayor Bates to know it's time for real action.
All of us in the Bay Area need to come together to address these issues, since any of us could be negatively impacted by the police in a nearby city, or even in our own city because of the mutual aid agreements between cities. Berkeley has a reputation for being progressive -- we need to be leaders on these issues, rather than falling further and further behind.
Read below for more background and specific actions we want to see taken. Together our voices are powerful. We can make a difference if we stand up and speak out on these issues of racial justice and freedom of speech.
The 2013 NAACP report drew a clear picture of racial discrimination and disparities in Berkeley, making specific and actionable recommendations, yet Mayor Bates has not acted. Encouraging minority youth to become police officers, supporting a federal ban on profiling, and holding regional meetings on these issues may be positive steps but they are far from sufficient. We want real action HERE and NOW in Berkeley.
1. Conduct a Police Review Commission investigation into the actions of the police on December 6, when peaceful protesters – including reporters and the elderly -- were teargassed, beaten with batons, pepper-sprayed, and struck with projectiles.
2. Support the national demands put out by Ferguson Action.
3. Freeze now, and then abolish, the use of teargas, projectiles, and over-the-head baton strikes in crowd management and ban military weaponry and equipment in the Berkeley Police Department, and require that mutual aid agencies meet Berkeley’s standards of conduct.
4. Ban physical assaults on members of the media.
5. Create a broad community process to address the pattern of profiling and racially abusive policing in Berkeley as well as inequities in housing, employment, education, and health faced by African-Americans.
6. Ban undercover officers from covering their faces, and enforce the ban on uniformed officers covering their badges.
7. Strengthen the Police Review Commission to the full extent allowed by state law.
8. Press for independent prosecutors to investigate and prosecute crimes by police.
9. Enforce the implementation, at long last, of the Fair and Impartial Policing policy including demographic data collection, and make the first round of data public, with an analysis by race, by August 1.
10. Review recommendations in People's Investigation of In-Custody Death of Kayla Moore, including extension of mental health services to replace police as first responders in mental health crises.
All of us in the Bay Area need to come together to address these issues, since any of us could be negatively impacted by the police in a nearby city, or even in our own city because of the mutual aid agreements between cities. Berkeley has a reputation for being progressive -- we need to be leaders on these issues, rather than falling further and further behind.
Read below for more background and specific actions we want to see taken. Together our voices are powerful. We can make a difference if we stand up and speak out on these issues of racial justice and freedom of speech.
The 2013 NAACP report drew a clear picture of racial discrimination and disparities in Berkeley, making specific and actionable recommendations, yet Mayor Bates has not acted. Encouraging minority youth to become police officers, supporting a federal ban on profiling, and holding regional meetings on these issues may be positive steps but they are far from sufficient. We want real action HERE and NOW in Berkeley.
1. Conduct a Police Review Commission investigation into the actions of the police on December 6, when peaceful protesters – including reporters and the elderly -- were teargassed, beaten with batons, pepper-sprayed, and struck with projectiles.
2. Support the national demands put out by Ferguson Action.
3. Freeze now, and then abolish, the use of teargas, projectiles, and over-the-head baton strikes in crowd management and ban military weaponry and equipment in the Berkeley Police Department, and require that mutual aid agencies meet Berkeley’s standards of conduct.
4. Ban physical assaults on members of the media.
5. Create a broad community process to address the pattern of profiling and racially abusive policing in Berkeley as well as inequities in housing, employment, education, and health faced by African-Americans.
6. Ban undercover officers from covering their faces, and enforce the ban on uniformed officers covering their badges.
7. Strengthen the Police Review Commission to the full extent allowed by state law.
8. Press for independent prosecutors to investigate and prosecute crimes by police.
9. Enforce the implementation, at long last, of the Fair and Impartial Policing policy including demographic data collection, and make the first round of data public, with an analysis by race, by August 1.
10. Review recommendations in People's Investigation of In-Custody Death of Kayla Moore, including extension of mental health services to replace police as first responders in mental health crises.