7 Positive Solutions to Rein in Our Out-of-Control Police State (Picture)

he decision to not indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown was a catalyst for a mass movement all over the country for police accountability. Citizens in over 170 U.S. cities took to the streets last week to protest violent and out of control police forces in the wake of the grand jury decision. The solution won’t come from one specific policy, but from a wide array of reforms that will address the systemic issues that result in police acting with impunity.

1. Repeal the Pentagon’s 1033 Program

Since the War on Drugs began during the Reagan administration, police departments have become increasingly militarized. The Department of Defense’s Excess Property Program (DoD 1033) allows surplus military equipment to go to local and county police forces. This program is chiefly responsible for streets looking like war zones during national political conventions, global trade meetings, G8 summits, the Occupy movement and, more recently, the streets of Ferguson. NPR examined Pentagon records for the 1033 program and found that an alarming amount of armored vehicles, grenade launchers, assault rifles, helicopters, airplanes, and other high-tech military equipment is landing in the hands of improperly-trained local cops in towns with low crime rates. Repealing this program will result in local cops looking like local cops rather than soldiers patrolling Fallujah.

2. Mandate Body Cameras for All Police Officers That Can’t Be Turned Off While on Duty

Over 154,000 people have signed on to a campaign to equip all police officers with body cameras. If a police officers have to wear a body camera and have their actions recorded on video for all to see, it will result in those officers acting with more professionalism, knowing that their actions can’t be hidden from civilian eyes. This will result in less racial profiling, fewer instances of killing unarmed civilians, and more professional community policing as a result. These cameras must not be turned off while police are on duty, and strict penalties must be in place for officers who turn off body cameras while on the clock. Chief Tony Farrar of the Rialto Police Department, in California, conducted a study of police departments that used body cameras, and learned that there were 50 percent fewer uses of force with body cameras in place, and complaints against officers were down to 10 percent of what they were before the cameras were used.

3. Require Strict Training for Use of Lethal Force…………..….MOREHERE