To whom this may concern, My name is Camille Yabut and I am a resident of Fremont, California. I am emailing to urge you to implement the policies outlined in the 8 Can't Wait project by Campaign Zero. 8 Can't Wait is a police reform campaign emphasizing eight policies that can decrease unnecessary police violence by up to 72%. These eight policies are: requiring de-escalation, banning chokeholds and strangleholds, banning shooting at moving vehicles, requiring comprehensive reporting, requiring the exhaustion of other means before shooting, implementing the duty to intervene, requiring warning before shooting, and having use of force continuum. The following explanations of these policies come from the website for the 8 Can't Wait project, found here http://8cantwait.org/ >. - Requiring de-escalation would "require officers to de-escalate situations, where possible, by communicating with subjects, maintaining distance, and otherwise eliminating the need to use force." In police departments that have implemented this policy, police killings have decreased by 15%. - Not banning choke holds and strangleholds "[allows] officers to choke or strangle civilians, in many cases where less lethal force could be used instead, [resulting] in the unnecessary death or serious injury of civilians." By banning choke holds and strangleholds, these unnecessary deaths and serious injuries can be avoided. In police departments that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 22%. - Exhausting other means before shooting would "require officers to exhaust all other reasonable means before resorting to deadly force," resulting in less dangerous situations for civilians. In police departments that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 25%. - Banning shooting at moving vehicles would "restrict officers from shooting at moving vehicles, which is regarded as a particularly dangerous and ineffective tactic.” In police departments that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 8%. - Developing and requiring the use of force continuum "that limits the types of force and/or weapons that can be used to respond to specific types of resistance" is an essential policy for police departments, as it outlines which weapons are appropriate to use in different situations. Making this use of force continuum available to the general public, in addition, would enable civilians to recognize which weapons would be deemed appropriate to use or not. In police departments that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 19%. - By requiring comprehensive reporting of use of force, "officers [would be required] to report each time they use force or threaten to use force against civilians." Officers would be held more accountable for their actions. In police departments that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 25%. - The duty to intervene “requires officers to intervene and stop excessive force used by other officers and report these incidents immediately to a supervisor,” which holds officers more accountable for their actions. In police departments that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 9%. - “[Requiring] officers to give a verbal warning, when possible, before shooting at a civilian” will allow the citizen to change a certain behavior that could possibly lead the officer and the civilian to have a violent encounter. In police departments that have implemented this specific policy, police killings have decreased by 5%. I implore you to investigate these policies and consider implementing them into the police department of your city, as they can overall decrease up to 72% of unnecessary police violence and help save lives. Sincerely, Camille Yabut Received on Thu Jun 04 2020 - 10:56:02 PDT
