{"id":623,"date":"2022-05-25T20:35:10","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T20:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fairsharehodev.wpengine.com\/?p=623"},"modified":"2024-08-06T23:04:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T23:04:49","slug":"civil-rights-leaders-say-no-to-increasing-law-enforcement-officers-to-address-public-safety-concerns","status":"publish","type":"press-release","link":"https:\/\/www.fairsharehousing.org\/es\/press-release\/civil-rights-leaders-say-no-to-increasing-law-enforcement-officers-to-address-public-safety-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil Rights Leaders Say No To Increasing Law Enforcement Officers To Address Public Safety Concerns\u200b"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

<\/p>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/b><\/p>

May 25th, 2022<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Contact:<\/b><\/p>

Racheal Smith, (206) 591-1936, racheal@sandsj.org<\/p>

Alex Staropoli, (914) 469-0060, alexstaropoli@fairsharehousing.org<\/p>

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS SAY NO TO INCREASING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS TO ADDRESS PUBLIC SAFETY CONCERNS<\/b><\/p>

Today marks the two-year anniversary since the murder of George Floyd and subsequent community demands for police accountability across the nation and here in New Jersey. But legislation introduced in the wake of Floyd\u2019s murder has yet to move forward in New Jersey. It is within that context that earlier this week, members of the New Jersey Assembly introduced legislation that would require some municipalities, based on population size and crime rates, to hire additional law enforcement officers based on a formula set forth in the bill. The legislation comes on the heels of recent announcements by the Murphy Administration to use American Rescue Plan dollars to fund an additional state trooper class and to invest in new license place recognition technology. Increased investments in law enforcement officers and surveillance technology do not improve public safety. Time and time again, history has shown us that increased funding to police harms communities of color the most. In response to these announcements, civil rights leaders released the following statements:<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cJust last week, I stood side by side on the steps of the statehouse with other civil rights leaders demanding that legislators not use any cannabis revenue for law enforcement purposes,\u201d said Rev. Dr. Charles Boyer of Salvation and Social Justice<\/b>. \u201cYet here we are, less than a week later, with another proposal that will ultimately require millions of dollars to be put towards law enforcement. Police killings of Black people and unchecked use of force requires increased police accountability, not more investment into a system that perpetuates harm. These policies will set us back thirty years by fueling the War on Drugs and broken windows policing that led to the mass incarceration of Black and Brown bodies. We saw what happened then, and we know what will happen now. New Jersey already has the worst racial disparities in the country in our criminal justice system. We cannot go backwards.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cPublic safety is about more than policing. Healthy, thriving communities rely on investments in infrastructure and social services, including housing, healthcare, education, and childcare, among other things,\u201d said Rev. Eric Dobson of Fair Share Housing Center.<\/b> \u201cWhile potentially well-intentioned, these proposals will do nothing but further harm communities of color. In a state with the worst racial disparities in the country\u2014among multiple indicators of well-being\u2014we must prioritize and fund initiatives that we know will safeguard communities. Mandating more police is definitely not the answer.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cFor far too long, Black and Brown communities have been targeted by flawed policies under the guise of increasing public safety,\u201d said Dr. Jesselly De La Cruz of the Latino Action Network Foundation<\/b>. \u201cAs police budgets inflate, so do rates of arrest, prosecution, and incarceration. And the rates do not rise similarly across race\u2014we know that communities of color will be harmed disproportionately by these policies. Our communities know what will keep us safe and more law enforcement doesn\u2019t make the list.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIn the two years since George Floyd\u2019s murder, we\u2019ve heard a lot of words about addressing police violence but have seen little legislative action in Trenton,\u201d said Amol Sinha of the ACLU of New Jersey<\/b>. \u201cThe action we have seen has been a consistent prioritization of police over people, and in some cases, outright backlash against accountability and reform. Clearly, policing as we know it is not working, and continuing to increase resources for more of the same is irresponsible and dangerous. This bill will do nothing to address public safety in our communities of color \u2013it will almost certainly infringe upon\u00a0constitutional rights and will merely double down investments in a broken system that actively harms Black and brown people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

\u201cPublic safety requires creating an ecosystem of safety that includes intervention programs, healing services, and safe passage, not just policing,\u201d said Daamin Durden of Newark Community Street Team<\/b>. \u201cCommunities should not be forced to invest in one piece of the solution over another. Our demonstrated success improving community safety in New Jersey and beyond is a testament to the importance of having those closest to the problem be at the center of the solution.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWe cannot repeat the mistakes of our past. Tough on crime rhetoric and policies from the 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s landed us where we are today,\u201d said Richard Smith of the NAACP New Jersey State Conference<\/b>. \u201cWe have fought for too long to dismantle decades of structural inequity to allow such misguided policies to move forward. Communities of color deserve more from our elected officials, including real investments in policies and programs that are proven to strengthen communities rather than tear them apart.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cKeeping our communities safe requires an approach to public safety that goes beyond law enforcement, and our state and local budgets should reflect that reality,\u201d said Nicole Rodriguez, incoming President of New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP)<\/b>. \u201cThis bill not only comes with a hefty price tag but is not grounded in evidence and is unlikely to have its intended effect. These dollars would be better spent on social services that address the root causes of the issues police deal with through hiring more social workers and mental health professionals, expanding harm reduction services, investing in community violence interruption programs, and building a more robust safety net.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cTrue public safety is community led. Those closest to the problem are best positioned to address it, and our voices should be centered in any and all conversations about improving public safety,\u201d said Dr. Liza Chowdry of Paterson Healing Collective<\/b>. \u201cPublic safety requires meaningful funding for the resources that make communities healthy, like housing, employment opportunities, and investments in children\u2019s futures. We know what keeps our community safe, and it\u2019s the lack of access to these resources that erodes public safety. More money for law enforcement will do nothing to address these underlying issues.\u201d<\/p>

\u00abWe all want to be safe, but knee-jerk responses like A587 are not the answer,\u201d said Yannick Wood of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice<\/b>. \u201cThis bill seeks to expand municipal police forces without supporting data and without similarly expanding services that directlytarget the root causes of crime. New Jersey needs to expand funding for community-based anti-violence, mental health first responders, prevention, diversion and reentry programs -programs that have been proven to reduce crime.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThis legislation is nothing more than smoke and mirrors from elected officials, it allows decision makers to avoid accountability for failing to meet the vital socio-economic needs of the community,\u201d said Charlene Walker of Faith in New Jersey<\/b>. \u201cInstead, Faith in New Jersey is calling on the state legislature to prioritize investing in proven community-based violence intervention programs that include wraparound services. I urge them to utilize the American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds and local budgets to fund these more holistic community interventions at scale for a minimum of three years. They must increase affordable housing, access to livable wages, provide ample funding for education, access to quality child care, end food apartheid, and dedicate their platform to one that centers radical care for their community.\u201d<\/p>

###<\/p>

<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tView PDF<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 25th, 2022 \u00a0 Contact: Racheal Smith, (206) 591-1936, racheal@sandsj.org Alex Staropoli, (914) 469-0060, alexstaropoli@fairsharehousing.org \u00a0 CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS SAY NO TO INCREASING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS TO ADDRESS PUBLIC SAFETY CONCERNS Today marks the two-year anniversary since the murder of George Floyd and subsequent community demands for police accountability across the nation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-623","press-release","type-press-release","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairsharehousing.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairsharehousing.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairsharehousing.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairsharehousing.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairsharehousing.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairsharehousing.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairsharehousing.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairsharehousing.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairsharehousing.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}