Ask Your Local City Council Members to Reduce Police Violence in Your Community

Jun 4, 2020 | Emancipate NC News, Policing

No matter where you live in North Carolina, we encourage you to use this moment to contact your local city council members to demand change. City Council members have the power to make lasting policy changes that will reduce police violence. You can use and adapt our script below:

Dear [Name of Elected Official],

I am a resident of [City], and I am writing to urge you to support policies to end police violence now. In the wake of the recent police killing of George Floyd, and the countless other innocent lives lost to police violence and racism in our country, we can wait no longer for bold actions which protect our city’s people, especially the Black people in our city who are disproportionately subject to police violence. Myself and many other community members are demanding that the following evidence-based policies be implemented immediately to keep our city safe:

  1. Immediately halt any plans to increase the police department budget, and begin demilitarizing the police force by significantly decreasing its stockpile of weapons and riot gear.
  2. Establish [or re-establish] a Community Oversight Board to review and investigate grievances against the police which holds subpoena power and which can issue binding directives.
  3. Halt any plans to add police stations in majority Black and Brown neighborhoods, and remove police departments which already exist in those neighborhoods.
  4. Establish a policy which requires police officers to intervene if any fellow officers are using excessive force.
  5. Invest in the health and safety of our community, which includes but is not limited to: a living wage for all city workers, replacement of police officers in schools with social workers, and increased investment in mental health and substance use support services.

I hope that you will understand the urgency of the situation that people of color in our city are in, and will do everything in your power to implement these policies as soon as possible. I look forward to hearing back from you with your implementation plans.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]