The objective of this policy is to create a legal framework which holds Law Enforcement Officers accountable to higher ethical and professional standards so that they may better protect and serve their communities. The main tenets of this act include: proper training, the establishment of a Citizen Review Board, standards to curb police brutality, augmented protection of the people’s first amendment rights, increased accountability and transparency throughout and within state and local police departments, and mandated cooperation from police precincts.

The exact details of the act are still being developed but a summary of each of the tenets goes as follows: 

Proper training

• Mandates annual psychological screening of all active duty law enforcement officers by qualified third-party psychologists.
• Restructure and raise the national minimum standard hours for training and create a national standard for implicit bias, de-escalation, and non-lethal intervention training.
• Making membership, past or present, in any known hate group a disqualifying factor for being an officer.
• Require that a police officer, to the best of their ability, preserve the physical health of an apprehended suspect and are held liable for any and all injuries sustained after a suspect has been restrained.

Citizen Review Board

• Create a Citizen Review Board for each jurisdiction that is a representation of the community (i.e. race, gender identity, socio-economic status, etc.) 
• Citizens may make complaints about police behavior directly to this board. 
• The board will meet monthly to review all complaints and police incidents.
• The Citizen Review Board will convene after all police-related deaths to review the incident.
• No more than 20% of a given Citizen Review Board may have direct ties to local law enforcement officers (i.e. relative, spouse, etc.)

On Duty Accountability

• Prohibits “knee-to-neck” restraints, chokeholds, or any other restrain that restricts or limits the breathing of the suspect as well as physically assaulting anyone who is restrained and complying.
• Holds police accountable for pulling out or discharging their weapons, especially if it leads to injury. 
• Prohibits police officers from having sex with detainees. 
• Holds police accountable for unlawfully entering citizen’s property. 
• Abolishes the issuing and execution of “No Knock” warrants
• Requires the prosecution for police cases to be from outside the jurisdiction and to have not worked with the officer on trial in the past. 

Right to Peacefully Assemble

• Prohibits officers that interfere with peoples’ Constitutional right to peacefully assemble.
• Prohibits any officer with incidents of police misconduct from working on site at a peaceful protest. 
• Holds police accountable for inciting, instigating or causing violence at a peaceful protest. 
• Prohibits resisting arrest from being the only charge on a subject. 

Bystanders Accountability

• Police officers are mandated reporters and are required to report any illegal or corrupt behavior committed by other police officers. 
• Holds police accountable for crimes their partners commit if they could have prevented them. 
• Prohibits police officers from turning off their body cams while in the line of duty. If an officer turns off his body cam he is forfeiting his credibility and the word of the witnesses at the scene are taken before the officer’s. 
• Police officers will be held accountable for failure to report accurate recounts of incidents. 

Compliance 

• Police precincts that falsify record or hide illegal and corrupt activity will have reduced funding. 
• Qualified immunity does not protect officers from anything outlined above.
• Police officer’s records are immutable and cannot be purged. Marks on an officer’s record will travel with them to other precincts and the hiring of any officer with marks on his record must be approved by the Citizen Review Board. 
• Precincts are required to review the contents of this legislation with all officers to ensure there is a universal understanding. 

Next Steps: The above document is a conceptual framework created with the intent of manifesting the will of the people in a manner that will affect a desperately needed change. Although the authors of this document have very limited experience with legislative processes, it is our hope that passionate and likeminded members of the community will be able and willing to provide input as well as guidance. If you or someone you know would be willing to assist us in the restructuring of this Act into a bona fide legal instrument, please email PACPof2020@gmail.com. Attached to this page is a link to the up to date version (as of July 2, 2020). Thank you to everyone that signed this petition and keep up the fight. 

The Police Accountability and Community Protection Act of 2020 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-YoeUyYUVSQvGAjTDbaA8IAYRnGxTK-9wdxRTLlLVG8/edit?usp=sharing