What the Rest of America Can Learn From Colorado (Police Reform)

What the Rest of America Can Learn From Colorado

(The Atlantic)

On the afternoon of July 23, an Army veteran named Kyle Vinson is sitting on a curb in Aurora, Colorado, when two police officers confront him. “Stay down! Roll over on your face,” one of the officers yells. He has his gun drawn. The officer shoves Vinson to the ground and holds him there. “Whoa. What the hell did I do, dude?” Vinson asks. He puts his hands up. The police are responding to a trespassing report and tell Vinson that there is a warrant out for his arrest. A minute later, the officer pistol-whips him. He eventually chokes Vinson to the point where he is gasping for air. While gripping Vinson’s neck, the officer threatens him: “If you move, I’ll shoot you.” By that point, Vinson’s head is covered in his own blood.

What happened to Vinson this past summer—captured on the officer’s own body cam—is an all-too-common experience for Black men in America. What happened in the days that followed, however, was far more unusual. The chief of the Aurora Police Department, Vanessa Wilson, quickly released the officer’s body-cam footage and abjectly apologized to Vinson in a news conference. The officer who brutalized him, John Haubert, was charged with assault and resigned from the police force the same week. Haubert’s partner on the scene, Francine Martinez, was charged under state law with failing to intervene on Vinson’s behalf.

For advocates of police reform in Colorado, the swift response to Vinson’s assault offered unmistakable evidence that a first-in-the-nation law they lobbied to enact last year is working. “What you’re seeing is just a greater willingness to bring criminal charges against police officers,” one of Vinson’s attorneys, Qusair Mohamedbhai, told me. “That’s a direct impact of the legislature passing these bills.”

The Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act, which moved rapidly through Colorado’s Democratic-led legislature while protesters marched outside the state capitol in Denver during a wave of nationwide demonstrations, touches nearly every aspect of policing. It requires officers to wear body cameras at all times and for departments to promptly release footage of incidents. It redefines the use of force by police, stiffens penalties for misconduct, and exposes officers to personal liability if they violate a person’s constitutional rights.

meanwhile, NJ may be going in the opposite direction.

(this is an ACLU email I got yesterday)

===========================================================

New Jersey is a flick of a pen away from allowing law enforcement to explain away misconduct.

S3939/A5864 is a police lobby-backed bill that would allow law enforcement to view body camera footage before submitting their written reports. The New Jersey Legislature fast-tracked the bill and passed it, despite significant opposition from community members and advocates.

We're letting the Governor know S3939/A5864 is dangerous, and we can't let this bill become law.

Last year, New Jersey adopted some of the best practices in the nation on body cameras, including a "write-then-review" rule designed to preserve an officer's memory of an event. This rule is critical because it:

• Allows courts to test the reliability of an officer's memory.
• Prevents law enforcement from explaining away misconduct caught on camera.
• Strengthens accountability in policing.

S3939/A5864 would reverse that.

New Jerseyans fought this harmful body camera bill and tried to shut down misinformation from police lobbyists every step of the way. They stepped up to prioritize our communities when legislators wouldn't.

Let's be clear: If signed into law, this bill would enable bad cops and severely undermine police accountability. It's the opposite of what New Jerseyans want and deserve. Urge Governor Murphy to listen to constituents and veto S3939/A5864.