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Austin wants to be a model of modern policing, but the future remains unclear

Tony Plohetski

October 04, 2021 |

KVUE-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Austin, Texas

After years of inaction on police reform measures, Austin city leaders raced to restructure and cut resources from the city's police department after the 2020 nationwide social justice protests followed close on the heels of another in a series of controversial police shootings in Austin. By freezing hiring of new officers and shifting $140 million to other agencies, the city was among the biggest cities making the earliest, boldest moves to reform policing. A year later, a severe shortage of patrol officers and rising violence has sparked a new round of debate about where the city goes from here.

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These Guides Help Defendants Avoid the Legal System's Boobytraps

Patrick Sisson

September 13, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

The nationwide nonprofit Partners for Justice aids public defender offices and their clients, helping to close gaps that can turn into unfair outcomes in criminal cases and repeated failures guaranteeing incarceration. Advocates get posted for two years to assist underfunded public defenders in multiple cities. The help can include gathering evidence to aid in clients' defense. But it goes beyond that to helping them and their families navigate bureaucracies so that their lives can be stable enough to avoid more criminal legal entanglements.

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Cincinnati Was a Model for Police Reform. What Happened?

Fola Akinnibi

September 02, 2021 |

Bloomberg Businessweek |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cincinnati, Ohio

A 2002 agreement with the U.S. Justice Department made Cincinnati a model of police reform. After a series of controversial shootings of residents, police committed to a less harsh, more publicly accountable approach that, for a time, seemed to work. Arrests and crime both fell. Public support for the police grew. But now the city is a model for something else: how progress can be undercut if a city grows complacent and fails to perform the hard work of sustaining a different sort of policing.

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How calls to ‘defund the police' took Austin to a crossroads of police reform

Tony Plohetski

August 31, 2021 |

Austin American-Statesman |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Austin, Texas

The 2020 protests over abusive policing nationwide led to Austin city leaders' decision to be the first major city to make major cuts in their police budget. These early and rapid "defund-the-police" measures, cutting hiring of new police and moving $150 million to other agencies, led to a political backlash that has further polarized the local debate over policing. The police budget was restored and is now at its highest ever with some residents complaining that they need better protection. Now the city is rethinking, more deliberately, where to go from here.

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This city de-funded the police. Here's what happened next

Richard Hall

July 29, 2021 |

The Independent |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Rochester, New York

Less than a year after Rochester experienced its own version of the George Floyd case, when a clash with police led to the death of Daniel Prude, a man in a mental health crisis, Rochester diverted money from the police to fund a Person In Crisis team to respond differently to such crises. Two mental health and social workers accompany police on relevant calls 24/7, about 100 calls per week. Their presence can de-escalate potentially violent encounters and get people the help they need without an arrest.

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What can East Lansing expect from its police oversight commission?

Mikayla Temple

July 16, 2021 |

WSYM-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Ann Arbor, Michigan

When Ann Arbor created a citizen panel overseeing its police department, it chose the approach that research shows is the one best suited to having real authority, and thus the most likely to reduce racial disparities in arrests and police shootings. It's too soon to know if the agency's investigations of complaints against police and review of police budgets and policies will achieve the ultimate goal of improving community trust in the police. But its chair says it is in a position to press for more accountability and transparency. East Lansing has just adopted the same model.

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St. Paul recruitment program aims to diversify police ranks

James Walsh

July 06, 2021 |

Minneapolis Star Tribune |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Paul, Minnesota

To boost diversity in its ranks as part of its outreach to improve community relations, the St. Paul Police Department created a two-year apprenticeship program that makes law enforcement careers more accessible by clearing the financial and educational barriers that stand in the way. Eight program graduates now serve on the force and two dozen more are about to enter the next police academy. Nearly all are people of color and low-income, and nearly half are women. The program pays a stipend while students work in the community and take classes, with counseling and mentoring services.

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Crisis counselors are being hailed as police alternatives. It's too heavy a burden, some say.

Rebecca Tan

June 16, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County's longtime crisis response center illustrates the pitfalls of embracing a policing alternative without proper resources or thinking through the implications. The racial-justice protests of 2020 inspired many more cities and counties to explore mobile crisis response teams instead of police, to minimize violence and get people needed help instead of incarceration. While Montgomery County's team often deescalates crises and can either provide care or refer people to needed services, it lacks the staff to respond effectively. And the system of mental health care is too thin for the need.

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The push to remake policing takes decades, only to begin again

John Sullivan Robert Klemko

June 10, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Jersey

Three "historic firsts in policing reforms" show how attempts to root out systemic problems in policing can fail. In all three cases – federal intervention to curb civil rights abuses in Pittsburgh, a computerized early-warning system to spot abusive Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, and rules put in place to reduce racial profiling in New Jersey traffic stops – bureaucratic and leadership failures, plus cultural resistance to change in police ranks, undermined early successes or good intentions. In all three cases, the problems persist decades later.

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San Francisco's new homeless street teams make progress, garner praise

Joshua Sabatini

June 04, 2021 |

San Francisco Examiner |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

San Francisco's Street Crisis Response Team is a pilot project meant to divert 911 calls for mental health emergencies from police to new teams of mobile counselors. Though it started with only one team and later expanded to four, the project in less than six months took 20% of the eligible calls. More than half the clients were helped on the streets, while most others were hospitalized or connected with shelters. The city is proposing a major expansion of this and related teams aimed at reducing the reliance on police in non-violent situations.

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