We must make it clear once and for all, that excessive use of force by the police will not be tolerated! Every year scores of people are mistreated at the hands of police officers all across our nation. The officers who abuse their powers do so without fear of consequence. Delaware is especially vulnerable due the lack of an agency which has the power to hold law enforcement accountable, provide transparency to policing practices and policies, and recommend changes to policies which are oppressive to the population they should be protecting. 

For this reason we are calling on the Governor, the Attorney General, and County Executives, to authorize the formation of a statewide Community Review Board which operates at multiple levels of government, and are representative of all three counties, to hold police accountable, and ensure that justice is served to the level of expectation of their constituents.

Our goals in forming these committees are the following:

• Proactively prevent police violence, brutality, and/or use of force in Delaware communities
• Prevent over policing in majority black, brown, and poor communities
• Create a robust, community informed accountability process for when police violence, brutality, and/or use of force does occur.
• Establish alternatives to police presence in our communities
• Review policing policies and make recommendations for changes
• Provide a level of transparency for the public to police practices, policies, and operations
• Access, analyze and interpret data on policing to make recommendations and for public consumption
• Ensure officers are regularly held to the highest standards, and those who fail to meet that standard are reprimanded appropriately

In forming these committees, we expect that:

• A majority of the formation committee be private citizens who are included at EVERY step of the process 
• The final product and committees consist of a majority of private citizens
• Leadership roles on the final review board only be held by private citizens
• Funding be set aside to guarantee the sustainability of the final oversight committee through stipends for members

Community review boards have the ability to rebuild the trust in law enforcement which has been damaged by years of abuse of power. Without sustainable and lasting change, we should only expect more frustration and reactionary responses from our citizens. If we truly hope to build a more just and equal world, this is where we start.