May, 18 2020, 12:00am EDT
Civil Rights, Law Enforcement Leaders Urge Police to Protect Public Health while Safeguarding Rights
New principles provide roadmap for public safety during COVID-19 and beyond.
WASHINGTON
Noting an increase in discriminatory policing practices during COVID-19, The Leadership Conference Education Fund released principles that provide actionable recommendations for law enforcement agencies across the country to better protect the health and safety of communities and officers during the pandemic and beyond. The principles, Public Safety During COVID-19 and Beyond: Recommendations for Protecting Public Health and Our Civil Rights, received endorsements from more than 100 civil rights organizations and law enforcement groups, including The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), Carmen Best, Chief of the Seattle Police Department, Washington and Rashall Brackney, Chief of the Charlottesville Police Department, Virginia.
"This crisis risks further criminalizing already marginalized communities, especially communities of color, but it has also forced us to revisit policing priorities and practices," said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Education Fund. "These principles can help law enforcement agencies root out discriminatory, outdated, and unsafe policies and practices amid this pandemic, and replace them with ones that prioritize public health, equity, and accountability. We urge police departments around the country to adopt this roadmap to achieve equitable and effective policing practices that advance public safety."
"A global pandemic is a public health issue, not a criminal justice one," said Carmen Best, chief of the Seattle Police Department, Washington. "Police departments across the country, including Seattle, have done so much work to build trust in our communities, we must be thoughtful in the role we play in protecting the health of community members and officers. Our role as law enforcement officers includes protecting the civil rights of every community member, and that doesn't change during a pandemic."
"Public health and public safety are not competing priorities," said Rashall Brackney, chief of the Charlottesville Police Department, Virginia "To benefit both communities and police, the criminal justice system must acknowledge historical and institutional biases that target, alienate, and punish people of color and other vulnerable populations. The coproduction of public health and safety mandates a shift in power and perspective from an authoritarian lens to one of shared responsibilities. COVID-19 is devastating our black communities; the policing profession cannot continue to carry the contagion of racism for which our country has no vaccine."
"Public health and public safety are not competing priorities," said Rashall Brackney, chief of police for Charlottesville, Virginia. "To benefit both communities and police, the criminal justice system must acknowledge historical and institutional biases that target, alienate, and punish people of color and other vulnerable populations. The coproduction of public health and safety mandates a shift in power and perspective from an authoritarian lens to one of shared responsibilities. COVID-19 is devastating our black communities; the policing profession cannot continue to carry the contagion of racism for which our country has no vaccine."
"Every police officer worth his or her badge got into this profession to help people, not to arrest people for the minor mistakes that bring most people into the justice system," said Major Neill Franklin (Ret.), 34-year police veteran and executive director for Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP). "The COVID-19 crisis poses a unique opportunity for police and courts to re-examine what's really important. Our profession stands to gain much respect if we rethink how we interact with people every day, reconsider our proper role in society, and carry these lessons over into the post-pandemic world."
The principles fall under three main categories:
- Prioritize a Public Health Response to a Public Health Crisis: State and local health agencies should take the lead in enforcing public health orders, not police. Law enforcement can support health agencies through community education and awareness about the directives and referring community members to social services providers and programs.
- Practice Fairness, Promote Equity: Police should prioritize bias-free policing policies and practices and stop making arrests and detentions for offenses that pose no imminent harm to others and are not a threat to public safety, including immigration, to the maximum extent possible.
- Commit to Accountability and Transparency: In addition to holding officers accountable for proper COVID-19 responses, police departments should collect and publish data to learn more for future crises.
The following list has endorsed the principles to date:
The Leadership Conference Education Fund
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP)
Current Law Enforcement
Carmen Best, Chief of the Seattle Police Department, WA
RaShall Brackney, Chief of the Charlottesville Police Department, VA
Branville Bard, Commissioner of the Cambridge Police Department, MA
Former Law Enforcement
Det. Justin Boardman (Fmr.), West Valley City Police Department, UT
Commander Marc Buslik (Ret.), Chicago Police Department, IL
Deputy Chief Stephen Downing (Ret.), Los Angeles Police Department, CA
Officer Dave Franco (Ret.), Chicago Police Department, IL
Major Neill Franklin (Ret.), Maryland State and Baltimore Police Departments, MD/ Executive Director, LEAP
Special Agent Jamie Haase (Fmr.), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, VA
Lucy Lang, Assistant District Attorney (Fmr.), New York, NY
Sheriff James Manfre (Ret.), Flagler County Sheriff's Office, FL
Deputy Inspector Corey Pegues (Ret.), New York Police Department, NY
Detective Debbie Ramsey (Ret.), Baltimore Police Department, MD
Chief Norm Stamper (Ret.), Seattle Police Department, WA
Special Agent Ray Strack (Ret.), Dept. of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Allison Watson, Assistant District Attorney (Fmr.), Knoxville, TN
Organizations
A Little Piece of Light
Alianza Nacional de Campesinas
Alternate ROOTS
American Atheists
American Civil Liberties Union
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Arab American Institute
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC)
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO
Austin Justice Coalition
Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network
Black and Pink
California Legal Research
Center for Democracy & Technology
Center for Justice
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law
Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School
Chicago Urban League
Cities United
Civil Rights Corps
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Dallas Community Police Oversight Coalition
Defending Rights & Dissent
Dignity & Power NOW
Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)
Equal Justice Society
Equal Justice USA
Equal Rights Advocates
Equality California
Equity And Transformation
Fair and Just Prosecution
Faith in Texas
Fathers Who Care
FREE! Families Rally for Emancipation and Empowerment
Futures Without Violence
Harm Reduction Coalition
Hip Hop Caucus
HIPS
HIRE Network
Housing Choice Partners
IBW Police Reform and Accountability Task Force
Interfaith Alliance
International Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
Ithaca Prisoner Justice Network
Justice For Housing
Juvenile Law Center
Kentucky Council of Churches
King County Department of Public Defense
Lambda Legal
Law Enforcement Action Partnership
Legal Action Center
Massachusetts Against Solitary Confinement
Matthew Shepard Foundation
Media Alliance
MomsRising
NAACP
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
National Action Network
National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE)
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
National Association of Human Rights Workers
National Association of Social Workers
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Coalition for the Homeless
National Council of Churches
National Education Association
National Employment Law Project
Not In Our Town
Open MIC
OVEC-Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition
People For the American Way
PFLAG National
Prison Policy Initiative
Public Defender Association
Reclaim Philadelphia
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Safer Foundation
Silver State Equality-Nevada
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
SPLC Action Fund
Starting Over, Inc.
Tash
The Black Sex Worker Collective (The BSWC)
UnidosUS
Union for Reform Judaism
United Church of Christ
Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
We Got Us Now
Workers Center of Central NY
YWFC
*Last updated on May 15, 2020.
The Education Fund previously launched a "New Era of Public Safety" initiative featuring groundbreaking tools to increase trust, fairness, justice, and mutual respect between police departments and the communities they serve. The guidebook and toolkit offer community-centered policy solutions to equip U.S. communities and police departments with best practices and recommendations for adopting 21st century policing models, including tools for advocacy. More information on the initiative is available here.
The Leadership Conference Education Fund builds public will for federal policies that promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. The Education Fund's campaigns empower and mobilize advocates around the country to push for progressive change in the United States. It was founded in 1969 as the education and research arm of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. For more information on The Education Fund, visit civilrights.org/edfund/
New Era of Public Safety is an initiative of The Leadership Conference Education Fund for 21st Century data-driven best practices in policing.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. Through advocacy and outreach to targeted constituencies, The Leadership Conference works toward the goal of a more open and just society - an America as good as its ideals.
(202) 466-3311LATEST NEWS
US Dodges Growing Calls for Probe of Mass Graves at Gaza Hospitals
"Somehow I don't think the U.S. State Department would defer to Russia as a credible source to investigate itself if a mass grave were discovered in Ukrainian territory it had occupied," said one legal expert.
Apr 24, 2024
While continuing to give Israel billions of dollars in support to wage war on the Gaza Strip, the Biden administration this week has declined to join the growing global demands for an international probe into mass graves discovered at hospitals in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Two journalists on Tuesday questioned Vedant Patel, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, about the administration's response to the hundreds of bodies found at Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as well as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk's call for an independent investigation.
"Would you support such an independent investigation?" Said Arikat asked during a press briefing. Patel responded, "Right now, Said, we are asking for more information... That is squarely where we are leaving the conversation."
Patel added that "I don't have any details to match, confirm, or offer as it relates to that. We're aware of those reports, and we have asked the government of Israel for additional clarity and information. And that's where I'm at."
When Said asked a follow-up about potential U.S. support for a probe, Patel reiterated that the administration is awaiting information from the Israeli government.
Later, Niall Stanage asked Patel to explain U.S. "resistance" to supporting a probe, the spokesperson insisted that "it's not about resistance to this particular situation, it is me not wanting to speak in detail about something which Said posed as a hypothetical question when, from the United States' perspective, I don't have any additional information on this aside from the public reporting."
After Patel again stressed that the administration has asked Israel for more information, Stanage inquired, "And do you believe the government of Israel is a credible source in enlightening you?"
The spokesperson interrupted Stanage to say, "We do."
While supporting the six-month Israeli assault on Gaza that the International Court of Justice has found to be plausibly genocidal, the Biden administration is also arming Ukrainians' resistance to a Russian invasion. Brian Finucane, a senior adviser for the Crisis Group's U.S. program and a former legal adviser at the State Department, pointed to the latter.
"Somehow I don't think the U.S. State Department would defer to Russia as a credible source to investigate itself if a mass grave were discovered in Ukrainian territory it had occupied," Finucane said on social media in response to Stanage's questioning.
Meanwhile, European Union spokesperson Peter Stano made clear Tuesday that the E.U. supports an independent probe.
"This is something that forces us to call for an independent investigation of all the suspicions and all the circumstances, because indeed it creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committed," Stano said. "That's why it's important to have independent investigation and to ensure accountability."
Human rights groups around the world joined the call for an independent investigation on Wednesday, as the official death toll in Gaza hit 34,262 with 77,229 people injured and thousands more missing and presumed dead beneath the rubble.
In an Arabic statement translated by Al Jazeera, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that the number of bodies found in the mass graves is "alarming, and requires urgent international action, including the formation of an independent international investigation committee."
The group added that some of those killed were subjected to "premeditated murder as well as arbitrary and extrajudicial executions while they were detained and handcuffed."
Amnesty International senior director of research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns Erika Guevara Rosas said in a statement that "the harrowing discovery of these mass graves underscores the urgency of ensuring immediate access for human rights investigators, including forensic experts, to the occupied Gaza Strip to ensure that evidence is preserved and to carry out independent and transparent investigations with the aim of guaranteeing accountability for any violations of international law."
"Lack of access for human rights investigators to Gaza has hampered effective investigations into the full scale of the human rights violations and crimes under international law committed over the past six months, allowing for the documentation of just a tiny fraction of these abuses," she noted. "Without proper investigations to determine how these deaths took place or what violations may have been committed, we may never find out the truth of the horrors behind these mass graves."
Guevara Rosas continued:
Mass grave sites are potential crime scenes offering vital and time-sensitive forensic evidence; they must be protected until professional forensic experts with the necessary skills and resources can safely carry out adequate exhumations and accurate identification of remains.
The absence of forensic experts and the decimation of Gaza's medical sector as a result of the war and Israel's cruel blockade, along with the lack of availability of the necessary resources for the identification of bodies such as DNA testing, are huge obstacles to the identifications of remains. This denies those killed the opportunity to have a dignified burial and deprives families with relatives missing or forcibly disappeared the right to know and to justice—leaving them in a limbo of uncertainty and anguish.
Noting that the International Court of Justice directed Israel to preserve evidence in its initial genocide case order, Guevara Rosas said that "amid a total vacuum of accountability and mounting evidence of war crimes in Gaza, Israeli authorities must ensure they comply with the ICJ ruling by granting immediate access to independent human rights investigators and ensuring that all evidence of violations is preserved."
"Third states must pressure Israel to comply with the ICJ orders by allowing the immediate entry into the Gaza Strip of independent human rights investigators and forensic experts, including the U.N.-appointed Commission of Inquiry and investigators of the International Criminal Court," she added. "There can be no truth and justice without proper, transparent independent investigations into these deaths."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Sanders Launches Probe of 'Outrageously Overpriced' Ozempic and Wegovy
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee chair said that the popular medications "will not do any good for the millions of patients who cannot afford them."
Apr 24, 2024
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday opened an investigation into an "outrageously overpriced" medication manufactured by a Denmark-based company whose value by market capitalization is larger than the Scandinavian country's gross domestic product.
Sanders (I-Vt.), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, sent a letter to Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk. The company makes semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist used to treat Type 2 diabetes under the brand name Ozempic and, when sold as Wegovy, to treat obesity in adults with at least one weight-related comorbidity.
"The scientists at Novo Nordisk deserve great credit for developing these drugs that have the potential to be a game-changer for millions of Americans struggling with Type 2 diabetes and obesity," Sanders acknowledged. "As important as these drugs are, they will not do any good for the millions of patients who cannot afford them."
"Further, if the prices for these products are not substantially reduced they also have the potential to bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid, and our entire healthcare system," he added.
Sanders continued:
Today, Novo Nordisk is charging patients in the United States up to 15 times more for Ozempic and Wegovy than it charges patients in Canada, Europe, or Japan. For example, your company charges $969 in the United States for one month of Ozempic but just $155 in Canada and just $59 in Germany. Further, Novo Nordisk charges Americans $1,349 for one month Wegovy but just $140 in Germany and just $92 in the United Kingdom.
"Meanwhile," the senator noted, "researchers at Yale University estimate that both of these drugs can be profitably manufactured for less than $5 a month."
"The result of these astronomically high prices is that Ozempic and Wegovy are out of reach for millions of Americans who need them," Sanders said. "Unfortunately, Novo Nordisk's pricing has turned drugs that could improve people's lives into luxury goods, all while Novo Nordisk made over $12 billion in profits last year—up 76% from 2021. That is unacceptable."
As of March 2024, Novo Nordisk was Europe's most highly valued company by market capitalization. Its $554 billion market cap is significantly higher than Denmark's annual gross domestic product of approximately $410 billion, according to International Monetary Fund figures.
Sanders also pointed out that Novo Nordisk is charging different prices for Ozempic and Wegovy, even though they're "the exact same drug."
"Novo Nordisk charges Americans with obesity nearly $400 more every month than those with Type 2 diabetes for the same product provided in similar doses," he wrote.
"The unjustifiably high prices of Ozempic and Wegovy are already straining the budgets of Medicare and Medicaid and severely limiting access for patients who need these drugs," the letter says. "Last year, researchers at Vanderbilt University's Department of Health Policy and the University of Chicago's Department of Medicine estimated in the New England Journal of Medicine that it would cost Medicare over $150 billion a year to cover Wegovy and other similar weight loss drugs."
"To put this in perspective, the cost of all retail prescription drugs covered by Medicare in 2022 was less than $130 billion," Sanders added.
"As chairman of the committee, I am asking Novo Nordisk to substantially reduce the price of Ozempic and Wegovy so that these important drugs can be available to Americans with Type 2 diabetes and obesity," he wrote.
Existing law empowers the government to step in to lower drug prices in service of the public interest. Under the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980—legislation meant to promote the commercialization and public availability of government-funded inventions—federal agencies reserve the right to "march in" and authorize price-lowering generic alternatives to patented medications developed with public funding.
However, U.S. administrations—including President Joe Biden's—have been loath to exercise "march-in" rights.
Under pressure from the public and lawmakers led by Sanders, Novo Nordisk last year announced that it would cut prices by up to 75% for some of its insulin products.
Responding to Wednesday's letter, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America—Big Pharma's leading lobbyist—accused Sanders of "attacking an innovative company to advance a political agenda instead of addressing the real cause of affordability challenges."
Noting Novo Nordisk's bigger-than-Denmark market cap, Warren Gunnels, the HELP Committee's majority staff director, wrote on social media that the company "made over $12 billion in profits last year by, among other things, charging Americans $969 for Ozempic while it can be purchased for $59 in Germany and costs $5 to make."
"Our political agenda is to end this greed," he added. "Guilty. As. Charged."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Texas State Troopers in Riot Gear Crack Down on UT Students' Gaza Protest
"Why do we even have these institutions of higher learning if we won't let students speak their conscience and protest?" said one University of Texas professor.
Apr 24, 2024
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
Civil rights advocates on Wednesday expressed alarm at a rapid escalation by Texas state troopers who descended on a student-led protest at University of Texas at Austin, which was organized in solidarity with Gaza and other U.S. college students taking part in a growing anti-war movement.
UT students gathered on campus at midday and were promptly given two minutes to disperse by state troopers, who had already been called to the scene.
The troopers were equipped with riot gear, with some carrying assault rifles and several stationed on horses.
Erick Lara, a 20-year-old sophomore, told The Dallas Morning News that the nonviolent protest transformed "within minutes" after the police began arresting demonstrators.
"I didn't think it would escalate this far," he told the outlet. "And I didn't think there would be this much police intervention from what's supposed to be a peaceful protest. Not very peaceful when there's a bunch of aggressors around, especially on horses."
The organizers called the gathering "The Popular University" and said it was aimed at pressuring UT to "divest from death."
The protesters walked out of their classes to demand UT divest from weapons manufacturers in order to end its complicity in Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza, which has killed at least 34,262 Palestinians.
Student-run newspaper The Daily Texanreported roughly 50 state troopers were deployed to stop the initial protest of about 150-200 people.
Ryan Chandler, a reporter for NBC affiliate KXAN-TV and UT alum, reported that there were at least 10 students detained.
"Went here for four years, never saw anything like this," said Chandler, posting a video of a group of police pushing one student to the ground and arresting them.
Joseph Pierce, a Stony Brook University professor who attended graduate school at UT, also said the escalation was an unusually "drastic response to students advocating for an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people."
"It is a response that did not occur when in 2005 we protested the anti-gay marriage bill; in the late 2000s when we protested anti-immigration bills; in the 2010s when we protested the open-carry bill," Pierce said. "It is a clear attempt at silencing Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish voices."
The students faced the state troopers in a standoff on the university's main street.
"This violence against peaceful student protesters at UT Austin is absolutely horrifying—and should be condemned in the strongest terms by every politician and mainstream journalist," said former New Yorker editor Erin Overbey.
UT media and Middle East studies professor Nahid Siamdoust said the university "brought out everything but the kitchen sink to make sure" students couldn't erect an anti-war encampment like students at Columbia University, New York University, and other schools across the U.S. have in recent days.
The university had informed organizers with the on-campus Palestine Solidarity Committee on Tuesday that exercising their First Amendment rights in support of Palestinians in Gaza would "violate our policies and rules."
"The freedom to protest is integral to our democracy," said the ACLU of Texas Wednesday amid reports of the crackdown. "UT Austin students have a First Amendment right to freely express their political opinions—without threats of arrest and violence."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular