NAACP National Board of Directors member Hazel N Dukes testified at a community forum hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee and two subcommittees regarding law enforcement accountability and strategies for ensuring improved policing and greater public confidence. The forum, held in New York and attended by many Congressional officials, was in response to tragedies like the police shooting death of Sean Bell in New York and the recent beating of three unarmed African American men by Philadelphia police that was captured on videotape.
On April 25, New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Cooperman cleared three New York City police officers in the shooting incident that involved the officers firing 50 shots into a vehicle of unarmed men, killing Bell, paralyzing one of his friends and severely injuring another. The U.S. Department of Justice‘s Civil Rights Division is investigating the case.
"This decision, if left to stand, gives the police a license to continue to disrespect us, abuse and even kill us with impunity," said Dukes, who also serves as New York State Conference NAACP president. "The signal sent to the African American community by this decision was, when weighed in the balance, the collateral damage of the loss of innocent African American life is an acceptable price to pay even when the police are in the wrong."
In testimony, Dukes called for a federal civil rights trial in the Bell case and a thorough investigation of the New York Police Department "to root out the policies and practices that create the culture of death and disrespect" in communities of color in the city.
To address the complex issues within law enforcement, for the last 8 years the NAACP and others have endorsed the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Conyers.
The legislation establishes a Federal Task Force on Law Enforcement Oversight and an Immigration Enforcement Review Commission, calls for the establishment of national minimum standards for accrediting law enforcement agencies and establishes civilian complaint review boards with real resources, oversight and enforcement power.
The act would also codify standards for acceptable use of force that were established by a two-year U.S. Department of Justice review process that involved law enforcement agencies, police unions, civil rights and civil liberties organizations and religious groups. Funding for additional training of police officers, the establishment of early warning programs and anti-discriminatory traffic stop procedures are also part of the measure.
"The Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act takes a comprehensive approach at the issue of the police accountability that is needed to build trust between police departments and the communities they serve," Dukes said. "As long as people or even one person feels that he or she is receiving unfair, disparate and in many cases harsher treatment by those charged with protecting us there can be no long-term national security."
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