Five years ago, the Washington Post began to log every fatal shooting by an on-duty
police officer in the US. Since the project began, the Post discovered that police have
shot and killed approximately the same number of people – 1,000 – annually and that
black Americans are killed at a much higher rate than white Americans.
A meaningful way to take action for our Black community is to advocate for police
reform. Here’s how you can get started:
Know your law enforcement agencies:
- State Patrol
- County Sheriff’s Departments
- City Police Departments
Know whom to contact to request change:
- U.S. Congress
Find your state representatives and demand that they pass federal legislation
immediately to end police violence. You can find Washington representatives
here: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/WA - State Legislature
Find your state representatives and demand that they pass legislation
immediately to end police violence. https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/ - County Executive
The county executive is the elected official that represents the county. The
executive manages the county’s departments and agencies, and sets policies and
standards for those agencies (e.g., the Sheriff’s Department). Demand police
reform policies that will decrease police violence.- King County: kcexec@kingcounty.gov
- Pierce County: pcexecutive@piercecountywa.gov
- Kitsap County: kitsapcommissioners@co.kitsap.wa.us
- City Mayor
Mayors oversee the city’s departments, including police. They typically appoint
police chiefs, negotiate collective bargaining agreements with police unions, and
establish budgets. Demand police reform policies that will decrease police
violence.- Seattle Mayor: jenny.durkan@seattle.gov
- Tacoma Mayor: Victoria.woodards@cityoftacoma.org
- Olympia Mayor: cselby@ci.olympia.wa.us
- Prosecuting Attorney
When police violence occurs, the prosecutor decides whether or not to investigate
and/or charge police misconduct- King County Prosecutor: dan.satterberg@kingcounty.gov
- Pierce County Prosecutor: mary.robnett@piercecountywa.gov
- Kitsap County Prosecutor: cenright@co.kitsap.wa.us
- Thurston County Prosecutor: tunheij@co.thurston.wa.us
Know what to request:
Hello, I am a resident of State/County/City. I demand legislation/policies mandating
zero-tolerance in penalizing and/or prosecuting officers who kill unarmed, non-violent
individuals in an arrest. I demand the following police reform policies to decrease police
violence:
- Require body cameras on all officers
- Deprioritize policing for minor offenses (e.g., public intoxication or loitering)
- Ban chokeholds
- Ban knee holds
- Require de-escalation
- Require warning before shooting
- Exhaust all alternatives before shooting (e.g., using taser)
- Require officers to intervene if they see one of their coworkers using unreasonable force
- Ban shooting at moving vehicles
- Make misconduct/discipline reports of officers available to the public
- Implement citizen review boards
- Require that all use of force be reported
- Require intervention for officers with repeated complaints
- Require mandatory data collection of all use of force incidents
- Require officer training on implicit bias
- Create a registry to track police misconduct
- Require mandatory data collection of all persons apprehended by police for low- level offenses as well as anyone who dies in police custody, for later analysis of racial disparities
Know whom to vote for:
- The governor appoints the Washington State Patrol chief
- The mayor appoints the city police chief
- Washington voters elect the Sheriff
Sources: NAACP, www.8cantwait.org, www.joincampaignzero.org,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/