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Is Brazilian jiujitsu making policing safer for everyone?

Mary Hall Dray Clark

March 03, 2022 |

NewsNation |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Minnesota

The St. Paul Police Department is one of a growing number of such departments which have integrated training in Brazilian jiujitsu for officers as a way to reduce not just civilian injuries but also the amount of money spent on lawsuit settlements as a result of police misconduct.

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Black students fought to defund school police in LA and hire mental health counselors instead

Aaricka Washington

February 01, 2022 |

Capital B |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

After a period of backpack searches and police pepper-spraying students, Students Deserve, a youth-led activist group, pushed for the Los Angeles Unified School District to withdraw all funding for school police and divert it to mental health support for Black students. The school board approved a plan to cut one third of the school police budget, roughly around $25 million, and instead use it to fund “221 psychiatric social workers, counselors, “climate coaches,” and restorative justice advisers to schools with the highest number of Black students.”

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How a Newark Program Is Pushing Police and Community Members to Heal Old Wounds Together

J. Brian Charles

January 11, 2022 |

The Trace |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Newark, New Jersey

To address deep divisions and mistrust between the community and police, Newark launched Trauma to Trust, a conflict resolution program that brings officers and residents together for mediation and discussion. Participants receive two days of training around trauma, critical race theory, and implicit bias, and more than 500 people have taken part since the initiative began.

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Santa Fe's once-vaunted diversion program for people with addictions has dwindled to nearly nothing

Ted Alcorn

December 22, 2021 |

Santa Fe Reporter |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Santa Fe, New Mexico

One of the nation's first programs using police officers to get people into drug treatment instead of jail succeeded at first, and inspired other programs throughout New Mexico. But the original Santa Fe program now serves as a lesson in what can all but kill such a program, thanks to a leadership vacuum and mistakes that undercut the cultural change needed within a police department. Like the first program of its kind, in Seattle, Santa Fe's LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) program takes aim at people whose drug abuse deeply entangles them in the justice system when what they need is treatment.

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Burlington, Vt., ‘defunded' its police force. Here's what followed.

Emily R. Siegel Hannah Rappleye Stephanie Gosk

December 19, 2021 |

NBC News |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Burlington, Vermont

In Burlington, a city of progressive politics with a police department long seen as forward-looking, city leaders' decision in June 2020 to respond to social-justice protests by cutting the police force by 30% has backfired in a number of ways. By moving quickly without an analysis of optimal staffing or how to shift duties to other agencies, the "defund police" measure prompted more police resignations than expected. Residents complain about conditions on downtown streets that make them feel unsafe. The city has since restored some of the police positions while moving more deliberately toward alternatives.

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How role-playing helps police do their job without firing their guns

Caren Chesler

December 12, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Training courses based on role-playing that supplement classroom teaching have helped some police departments reduce incidents of unnecessary use of lethal force. In response to protests over police shootings, more departments are using a variety of courses that train officers to seek alternatives to shooting when they perceive a threat. The most expensive and intensive course uses live actors. Others use video and virtual reality headsets. The key to effectiveness is the realism of a training that lets officers repeatedly act out the lessons so that they become second nature.

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'It seemed like our lives didn't matter'

Margaret Coker

November 30, 2021 |

The Current (Georgia) |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Glynn County, Georgia

The murder of Ahmaud Arbery sparked nationwide rage, but the people most affected by local racism felt it most keenly. A Better Glynn formed to seek reforms in Glynn County law enforcement after years of status-quo racism and resistance to change. The group worked with an existing group of Black pastors and other leaders and found success in the firing of the police chief, his replacement by the county's first Black chief, the district attorney's reelection defeat, and the beginnings of police reforms.

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St. Paul police credit jiu-jitsu training for reducing injuries — and excessive force settlements

Mara H. Gottfried

November 28, 2021 |

Twin Cities Pioneer Press |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Paul, Minnesota

When St. Paul police studied controversial cases in which officers used physical force, they found troubling examples that were products of the training given to officers. So they began training new and veteran officers to use tactics inspired by the Brazilian martial art jiu-jitsu, which prizes teamwork by two officers to use leverage to restrain resistant people rather than using brute force, weapons, or chemicals. In the six years after the training began, St. Paul officers used force far less often, injured far fewer people, and cost the city much less money in settlements payments.

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Police Have a Tool to Take Guns From Potential Shooters, but Many Aren't Using It

Zusha Elinson Dan Frosch

November 15, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Diego, California

Nineteen states and Washington, D.C., have added red-flag laws in recent years. Also called extreme risk protection orders, or temporary risk protection orders, the laws give police and the public a way to seek a court order to confiscate the guns of a person deemed dangerous. San Diego County used available grant money from California to train police and prosecutors, and it now has used its state law more than any other county there. But many places in the U.S. use their laws rarely if ever, thanks to lack of interest or training among police and lack of awareness in the public.

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Why Albuquerque's latest experiment in policing doesn't involve officers

Henry Gass

November 12, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque established a new city department, Albuquerque Community Safety, that handles some of the 200,000 calls to 911 every year for a range of low-level, non-violent problems that don't require a police response. Since its launch in August 2021, the department has fielded just two teams of behavioral health specialists on call during the day. The city plans to expand the team's hours and responsibilities, though some are uneasy about exposing the unarmed workers to the potential for violence. The city has a long history of police shootings of mentally ill people, and ACS is meant to curb that threat.

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