Benefits of The Equality in Policing Act Are Jawdropping!
Saves Taxpayers Billions of Dollars
Police misconduct comes at a tremendous financial cost to taxpayers.
- Financial cost of conducting federal pattern-or-practice investigation.
- Cost of conducting state-level practice or pattern investigations. (A number of states enacted laws empowering their state attorneys general to conduct state-level pattern-or-practice investigations. In 2000, California became the first to do so. In 2020, Colorado, Virginia, and Nevada passed similar legislation aimed at combating police violence and systemic misconduct.
- Financial settlements paid to victims harmed by policing actions.
Significantly Reduces the Number of Law Enforcement Use of Force Events
The scrutiny and monitoring associated with a pattern or practice investigation has been shown to seriously reduce crime, at least for a period of time. In Seattle Washington, for example, there was a 63 percent reduction in serious use-of-force incidents eight years after DOJ concluded a pattern-or-practice investigation that resulted in a consent agreement. The Equality in Policing Act includes a pattern or practice monitoring mechanism that will create sustained focused on policing activities in every community throughout the nation. The minute-by-minute monitoring of law enforcement agents, 24 hours a day, seven days a week will bring alarming policing actions carried out by any of America’s 18,000 police officers to the forefront. See the Facts on Pattern or Practice Investigations. See Office of the Mayor of Seattle, “City of Seattle Releases New Reports Showing That Seattle Police Department Sustained A Dramatic Reduction in Serious Use of Force and Continues Significant Reforms Under Federal Consent Decree” (2019).
Provides Data Epidemiologists and Social Scientists Need to Evaluate the Quality of Policing
The Equality in Policing Act will provide a treasure trove of data. Everyday, we realize additional benefits this policing proposal offers. Because it tracks every law enforcement incident from beginning to end, it will reveal:
- Law enforcement activities of every individual officer and every law enforcement agency.
- Accurately show the number of citizens injured or killed by law enforcement at the local, state and federal level.
- Amounts paid by each person who has contact with a law enforcement agency or a court resulting from a law enforcement action.
- Accumulate the justice statistics currently amassed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and may even lead to a significant reduction in the size of the Bureau and cost to taxpayers.
- Other vital statistics that are just too numerous to name.
Ushers in Sweeping Change
Proponents of policing reform are calling for a complete overhaul of policing–something the George Floyd in Policing Act cannot deliver. The Equality in Policing Act will legally mandate compliance on the part of law enforcement agents. The George Floyd Act, however, incentivizes (or promises money to) to law enforcement entities in exchange for compliance: If the law enforcement agency does as asked, then DOJ releases funds to support law enforcement and safety activities in state, local, and tribal jurisdictions. Everyone should be compliance with the law and constitution should be mandatory–even for police officers. No one in America, including law enforcement agents, should be handed a gun and unbridled power. The Equality in Policing Act, not the George Floyd in Policing Act, will bring about the sweeping changes citizens so desperately want in this nation when it comes to policing.
Acknowledges that All Lives Matter (Black Lives and Blue Lives)
Blue Lives Matter Proponents and Black Lives Matter Advocates. We are sometimes amazed by the nature of discourse as it relates to policing in America. We have always believed that all lives matter. When we drafted The Equality in Policing Act, our goal was to make policing safer and constitutional. No one should die on cold streets, without justification at the hands of an officer of the state. Likewise, we believe that law enforcement agents deserve to go home safely to their families too. In short, we believe that All Lives Matter and The Equality in Policing Act is constructed on the core tenet that All Lives Matter!
Creates a Perfect Balance Between State and Federal Police Powers
Handing all a given state’s police powers to the federal government could be problematic, since it would vest too much power in the hands of the Nation’s chief executive (President of the United States). The Equality in Policing Act confers responsibility for collecting data and oversight to the federal government. It also mandates certain types of training and introduces a national use-of-force statute. A great portion of the day-to-day policing activities will remain under state and local control. The following articles, which discuss the pros and cons of federal control of policing reveal why dual federal and state authority to oversee state and local policing is optimal: