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What is CPAC?
The Civilian Police Accountability Council will be a council of civilians, all of whom are elected by residents of Minneapolis, and none of whom are police officers. They will be representative of every neighborhood in the city, and therefore be diverse in terms of race and social class. They will have experience organizing in these communities, or be survivors or family members of the victims of police violence. They will be accountable to the residents of Minneapolis.
Are complaints about police misbehavior rising or falling?
They are rising. Record highs in 2018, actually. Here's an article about it from the Star Tribune. Here are some more brief statistics.
Wasn't this idea recently proposed to the City Council?
A related proposal was made in Minneapolis in 2018, but TCC4J felt that this did not provide a sufficient, long-term solution, and CPAC was already in the works. See our public statement on the proposal here. And now, in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, the Minneapolis City Council is making statements calling for sweeping change, but they have no plan, and we don't trust them to lead this change. Community should have control over who patrols our streets, how they do so, and how their funds are spent.
What about the Yes 4 Minneapolis charter amendment?
If you wish, you can sign both petitions, they are not mutually-exclusive. Their proposal sets up a new Department of Public Safety, and places the police under that department. They have not added any new measures for police accountability. CPAC does.
With CPAC we can clean house and get rid of violent and racist cops that are already on the force
With CPAC we the community decide how police operate in our city
How will the public know that CPAC is doing its job?
CPAC will have a publicly-accessible website where every detail of every investigation will be disclosed, with the exception of very sensitive victim information. Every investigation will be complete within 10 days and the public will know who was involved in the incident, who was interviewed about it, what evidence was collected, and what outcome was reached. Video will be publicly available within 14 days, and in its entirety.
CPAC will never release civilian names or identifying information without the civilian’s consent. Victims of sexual or domestic violence will be allowed to keep the specific details of the complain confidential if they so choose, with only a summary being made public.
All records will be maintained permanently and not destroyed. Data will remain on the website for at least 10 years.
Can the city afford this?
Yep! CPAC will replace the Police Conduct Oversight Commission (PCOC) and the Office of Police Conduct Review (OPCR), so the city's functions will actually be streamlined. When police commit fewer illegal and irresponsible acts, there will be less need to pay compensation, and the city will save money in the long run.
Will CPAC make it harder for police to do their job?
As much as we might forget because of all the scandals, it should not actually be the job of the police to rob, rape, beat, harass, or kill civilians. That's not what we, the community, pay them for. Police are literally not the judge, jury, and executioner, and if they think that is their job, they should not be on the police force. Police who respect the dignity and humanity of community members will not be inconvenienced by CPAC's creation, and in fact they will be protected by CPAC as well. Violent and corrupt cops will not be able to pressure and harass law-abiding cops into staying quiet, or helping to cover up police crimes, because the details of every investigation will be public. With CPAC, a complaint will be investigated and bad cops will be fired and/or prosecuted, so law-abiding cops will be secure in their jobs.
Has this ever been done before?
The Black Panther 10 point program said: “We Want An Immediate End To Police Brutality And Murder Of Black People.” Towards that end, many people know that the BPP organized armed self-defense and copwatches in the community. Less well-known is that they also worked for community control of the police.
According to Glen Ford, editor of Black Agenda Report, “Community control of police has always been understood to mean local BLACK people's control of police within the bounds of their communities. The necessity for Black community police oversight is based on historical and current realities and modern principles of self-determination – in other words, on the proven fact that white-dominated governing structures cannot be trusted to hire, supervise and discipline the cops that patrol Black communities; that Blacks have the right to police themselves, and not to be subject to the coercive power of hostile forces.”
A 1970 petition in Berkeley called for 3 main things: requiring cops to live in the community where they work; splitting up the department into 3 separate PDs, serving different areas (in their case, one for predominantly Black neighborhoods, one for “campus”, and one for predominantly white neighborhoods); and establishing a community board with hiring, firing and policy-setting powers.
Their fight was taken up across the country. In localities where it was on the ballot, national resources were mobilized to stop community control. Civilian review boards came about as a result of these struggles, and in some places, they were able to take real action to confront police abuses.
The fight for community control continues today.
From Chicago to Jacksonville, FL, to Salt Lake City, UT, people are organizing against police racism, violence, corruption and indifference, and demanding community control of the police.
The Chicago Alliance Against Racist Police Repression is leading the pack, with CPAC. They have legislation in City Council for an all-elected, all-civilian police accountability council, with a representative from each police district in Chicago (25 total). CPAC candidates are not allowed to receive any money from outside their district; nor include cops or cops’ family members. These folks are not only working for CPAC, they are leading the fight to free dozens of torture victims from prison!
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